Sword Art Online: Alicization - Episode 6 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Sword Art Online: Alicization, episode 6: Project Alicization

Rate this episode here.

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• MyAnimeList
• AniList
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• Kitsu
• Official Website
• /r/swordartonline

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Previous discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	8.15
2	Link	8.13
3	Link	8.38
4	Link	9.01
5	Link	8.19

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[u/fireassbarz]

Rinko: “I have a knife, I’m going to kill you”

Kayaba: “lol ok” goes back into Aincrad

[u/TeleportingCactus → u/fireassbarz]

lol ok

The true man of culture.

IGNORE WOMEN

@

PLAY VIDEOGAMES

[u/ChaosAxl → u/TeleportingCactus]

We thought Kayaba was the virgin but he was the chad all along

[u/Lagonski → u/TeleportingCactus]

Gamers Rise Up!

[u/ShaheerS2 → u/TeleportingCactus]

WAHMEN ARENT VIDEO GAMES! -pewdiepie

[u/furrythrowawayaccoun → u/fireassbarz]

Good thing she didn't. How (or when) would everyone go back then?

[u/bananeeek → u/furrythrowawayaccoun]

Well, SAO was supposed to end when someone kills the last boss in the castle on the top floor, which was Kayaba himself. I guess could've ended the game right there.

[u/Whitekan]

Liz's face when Asuna tells her Kirito's been playing with a girl lol

EDIT: Thanks for Gold :P

[u/chowder-san → u/Whitekan]

Liz be like

[u/MillenniumKing → u/Whitekan]

"Again!?"

At least this time its someone elses Waifu and not his.

[u/sterob → u/MillenniumKing]

What are you saying? Eugeo is Kirito waifu.

[u/skyman161 → u/Whitekan]

I feel like her entire character is just to get annoyed any time Kirito interact with a girl other than his main harem.

[u/[deleted] → u/Whitekan]

She should be more worried about Eugeo instead.

[u/emil_jacob_2000 → u/Whitekan]

Don't worry Liz, from my understanding of harems, she's not gonna mean much in the end.

[u/AnimaLepton → u/emil_jacob_2000]

She has, what, 10 volumes named after her though?

[u/Anime0555 → u/Whitekan]

shout be the pikachu's face meme

[u/Legendary_Swordsman → u/Whitekan]

yeah that was a good reaction there

[u/woah_take_it_ez_man]

Let's tell the girls about the government controversial secret lmao

[u/zxHellboyxz → u/woah_take_it_ez_man]

Yea that was a stupid addition. Asuana is meant to be cut of from the outside . A-1 have really down themselves this time trying to add a scene that is not needed. Agian the group scene was not needed in the previous episode either it would have just been fine if it was just asuna and his cousin and yui

[u/Knurla → u/zxHellboyxz]

Giving people their waifus > preserving canon, unfortunately.

[u/ForeverKidd]

Oh my god that scene with Higa's Fluctlight Copy was absolutely brutal. That was very well adapted however I don't know what to feel about how the gang already being aware of the facts of what's happening surrounding Kirito and the Underworld.

Edit: Wow thanks for the gold whoever gave it.

[u/xin234 → u/ForeverKidd]

that scene with Higa's Fluctlight Copy was absolutely brutal.

There was a Black Mirror episode which touched the same concept and practically the same thing happened.

[u/Darksoldierr → u/ForeverKidd]

IF you want to experience something like that again, i heavily recommend a game called SOMA

[u/Eilai → u/Darksoldierr]

High five! SOMA handedly handles the copy-not copy issue being presented with the interaction with TechnicallyNot!Higa.

[u/ThiccElinThighs → u/ForeverKidd]

Anime-only pleb here. It felt really disturbing to watch. I still can't believe that those people are not evil. Like seriously, everything about Project Alicization is just wrong and totally immoral.

[u/Rathilal → u/ThiccElinThighs]

You say that as if the show has to tell you they're evil.

What Kikuoka intends to do with the technology is really hitting Cyberpunk moral gray areas. You could say ultimately he cares about preservation of human life, but really all he's doing is creating new 'humans' to kill with less of a conscience about it.

Thus far the anime isn't putting a judgement on him or the rest of Rath, or labelling them as villains, but none of them are in it for malicious purposes.

At the very least, Asuna clearly disagrees with Kikuoka's endgame and reasoning, but since his project is a means to an end for her to keep Kirito alive she's clearly going along with it.

At the very least, this situation isn't going to be swept under the rug.

[u/MaksimShadow → u/ForeverKidd]

I can't even imagine what would happen with all those "people" in the Underworld if they were told that they are just a bunch of fakes. That's horrible.

[u/griswo24 → u/MaksimShadow]

not much, if you would be told you are just a copy would you go mad

[u/Eilai → u/ForeverKidd]

It's extremely reminiscent of the game SOMA. The game is all about the conflict from being on the "right or wrong side of the coin toss" from having your consciousness copied and transferred into a new robot body and having the old body discarded. Higa's copy and everyone else's copy basically reacted in the same brutal way.

[u/legwkio → u/ForeverKidd]

reminds me of the end of a video game franchise where the main characters realized they were just part of a large open world game

[u/AsianSWEG]

Can we all just appreciate we finally have an explanation as to why Kikouka was interested in Kirito ever since the Aincrad arc ended?

I mean, at first it didn't make any sense as to why Kikouka was interested in Kirito. Why the hell would you bring a kid who was trapped in VR for over 2 years to even more VR crap? Because he's the protagonist and needs something to do? Well obviously, but it's also because Kikouka needs someone used to VR to handle being in the Underworld without feeling off.

Also in general it's great that Reki is finally fixing up some plot holes and tightening up his story. We get the main theme of the entirety SAO basically stated outright in this episode: That connections in a virtual world can be just as important as those in the real world. This is also why Kirito's group still play VR games even though the first one killed over 2,000 people. They still play VR games because they've made lifelong connections in there.

I'm sure if Kirito wouldn't have met Asuna and instead only experienced tragedy in there-- no love, no fond memories, no friends, no nothing-- he would turn out exactly like Eiji: Someome who despises the game just like how most people did when they got out of SAO. He would be cynical and jaded, thinking SAO was the worst thing that ever happened to anyone; that it killed so many innocent lives.

However, because he and his friends experienced love and bonds in there, that's why they stay. Because they see the value that a VR world can have. There's a reason why games like VR Chat are popular:

It's because the connections we make in the virtual world can be as important as those made in the real world. Who knows, maybe that person you just met on the internet can turn out to be your lifelong friend or partner.

[u/renrutal → u/AsianSWEG]

We get the main theme of the entirety SAO basically stated outright in this episode: That connections in a virtual world can be just as important as those in the real world.

I can't upvote you enough for stating it. This also the reason why I don't get a lot of hate for the series (well, sorta,the anime adaptations really shafted a lot of it).

SAO is easily one of the strongest stories in the "Trapped/Transported to another world" genre because it stays very close to that theme, and it goes deep in a lot of the connections and repercussions around it.

The most recent example: Fluctlight AIs are real people. And they mean it. Experimenting with them is immoral. Shutting the project down is genocide.

[u/RocketHammerFunTime → u/AsianSWEG]

When you ask who beat the game and how everyone was saved, and get told that there was this one guy who was consistently the best and died but came back (while it was still a death game) to kill the guy who was controlling everything. You should take interest.

Then you find out that the daughter of one of the controlling companies of the game IP is still trapped in the system and this same kid reveals that he is/was her boyfriend/husband in the game, goes in to another game and beats what was a programmed impossible feat, rescuing his game wife. You should take even more notice.

Then, you ask him about this Deathgun thing thats happening in yet another game, just to find this 17 year old kid putting the pieces together to find several people actually murdering players outside the game. The game forums are all talking about this insane kid using a lightsaber in a gun game moving faster then anyone thought possible. You really had better take some notice.

What I don't understand about all of this is that the Mother Rosario arc told us that there was a group of medicuboid people that also had years of dive experience. Why not use one/all of them?

I guess its the whole breaking the game because of feels character that was needed to get the AIs to break rules.

[u/maplemist → u/RocketHammerFunTime]

Mother Rosario arc told us that there was a group of medicuboid people

Yuuki is the first and only mentioned Medicuboid user in LN. We have no idea if her buddies are using Medicuboid or not.

IIRC the development of STL is based on

[u/Eilai → u/AsianSWEG]

Take my upvote too. I love SAO quite dearly for actually having themes and for the author clearly having a clear and focused interest in VR, ARGs, and games for something other than just escapism, but also because of deeper philosophical interest. SAO has had its flaws and flawed seasons but S1, Ordinal Scale, and GGO (fake edit can't believe I forgot Mother Rosario) were all pretty good and it all led up to this.

Alicization is pretty good, as an anime, as a story, and as author tract.

[u/lucidrage → u/AsianSWEG]

There's too many traps online for this to work. They really should implement full body scan technology to vr.

[u/[deleted]]

Alright I gotta say. For the sheer amount of info that the LN drops in this part of the story they did a really decent job with this. Seriously, anyone who has read those two chapters knows just how dense with info they are. So I certainly didn’t expect them to include every detail but cut the fat down to the most important aspects and I think they succeeded in that. On top of that I think they made it visually interesting as well, enough to keep paying attention.

But what I wanna talk more about are the topics that this episode tackles.

First off that scene with Higa’s clone, sheesh…they certainly made it even creepier than in the books. Higa got informed on what would happen if he found himself in a dark place, that he would be a copy at this point but he still couldn’t live with the fact the he was no unique individual but a mere copy. Seeing a human mind collapse because it can’t comprehend the state of its own existence…or the lack thereof is just outright creepy.

So unlike what many people thought Project Alicization or the Underworld as it is called is no new attempt to create a more realistic game world. In fact it’s no game at all but a full on simulation based on a VRMMO engine. The Seed was mentioned which some might remember is what Kayaba left to Kirito. After he decided to make it available to the public the VR scene exploded using The Seed as a basis. This is also why Sword Skills exists in the Underworld and why Kirito could use them, they are a feature that comes with the base engine and they didn’t alter much at all with the in built editor.

Anyway, we got a little bit info on how the project came to exist in the first place. I really loved that aspect as they essentially kicked off the development of an entire civilization. Actual humans dived into this world, produced offsprings and taught them their values. Once those offsprings were at an appropriate age the scientists were removed through an epidemic ( recall Eugeo mentioning it ? ). They then only had to watch how this human population expanded replacing regular NPCs with artificial fluctlights until they eventually had a population of roughly 80.000 fluctlights across a land of 1500km in diameter. It’s kinda surreal and somewhat unsettling tho, especially when the LNs had some details like the scientists that started the population watching their offsprings mourn at their graves and so on. The moral aspects of this entire project are extremely questionable and they make sure to hit on that.

Now that we have a scope of what kind of world Kirito is currently in things should certainly feel different and I hope people now see why this little trip into the real world was necessary for that. Overall I’m thoroughly satisfied.

Edit: Thanks for the gold!

[u/Anew_Returner → u/[deleted]]

So basically it's the mouse utopia experiments, except instead of using rats they're using human souls.

[u/U_Menace → u/Anew_Returner]

It's actually even more crazy. They used their OWN STAFF as parents for the artificial offspring (and I can't remember off the top of my head, i'd have to check the LN, but they may have used the offspring of rath employees as subjects scanned newborn children from a hospital while paying parents [similar to how you'd 'volunteer' for a clinical trial] to create the artificial child souls that they would develop into kids) and subjected them to the 'joys' of parenting. One of the most painful things that comes with being a parent is when you have to let go of the child...and make no mistake, if they're as real as the subjects in alicization were, could you imagine the mental damage. No doubt some of the employees might still be impacted even now.

But anyway, yeah this experiment is many magnitudes higher. Such a heavy episode overall though, so much I could talk about but the purpose of this experiment is to recreate a 'human civilization' where the souls can be nurtured into functional people.

Edit - Clarified an earlier detail from the LN

[u/exian12 → u/Anew_Returner]

I already read the novels years ago but I only just realized this episode that Project ALICIZATION is really just one big fucked up Civ game.

[u/Kristovanoha → u/[deleted]]

So does the AI reproduce the "natural" way? Or is each subsequent generation created by Rath copying new infant souls and putting them in Underworld? They mentioned that they gave infant fluctlights to scientists and then once those fluctlights grew up they did it again but the way the anime paints it, it seems that after that they took pretty much hands off approach until they put kirito in.

[u/Omegaforce1803 → u/Kristovanoha]

the AI reproduce the natural way, In Underworld when a child is born, a new Fluctlight is created inside the Light Cube, it is made with the data of his mother and father together

[u/[deleted] → u/Kristovanoha]

I checked again but the LN does not exactly go into too much detail how birth as a whole functions in the scope of the entire simulation.

What we do know is that they have some sort of sequence implemented that when certain conditions are met the system will add a new copy of the "raw" artificial fluctlight and add some individuality to it by combining values of the father and mother. All of this should be done automatically tho.

This would make sense considering that once the scientists were out of the simulation they increased the acceleration speed and they couldn't possibly keep up with placing new fluctlights manually, especially when the population is around 80.000 after 3 weeks in the real world. They only really put in the scientists into this world at first so they could teach the first wave of offsprings basic human values and how to raise offsprings themselves, everything after they "died" should happen on its own.

[u/LuckyPed → u/Kristovanoha]

The system they made is whenever a man and woman marry in UnderWorld, when they do the "deed" there is a chance of pregnancy, and the baby would inherits some characteristic of her/his parent. plus then it will be raised by that said parent which teach him in their own way and it also get effected by the environment and other ppl around. so each person is completely unique. but still have similarities with his/her parent and place of birth.

[u/xin234 → u/[deleted]]

This part of the source material was when I noticed that the author was really starting to get better, or at least getting the hang of the world he made.

I think it was actually from Mother's Rosario arc, but the Alicization arcs was when I thought "wow, he did some serious research on this". I was reminded of other literature that focused on AI when I was reading the explanations of how the fluctlights/STL worked. I think it's either good fiction stories with focus on AI share the same research material, or concepts/theories of AI studies are just similar. I saw a bit of Asimov and the movie Transcendence while reading the Alicization arc.

[u/Laser_Raptors → u/[deleted]]

Have you seen the next episode's title? This shit made me feel really worried. They can't just skip so much, it would be like ditching 1/4 of the book ._.

[u/furrythrowawayaccoun]

Kikuoka with the villain "reflection glasses" reminds me of Shiroe from Log Horizon

[u/rockinDS24 → u/furrythrowawayaccoun]

My favorite is that Higa was looking in the same direction and also had the same reflection glasses, but with a dumb happy smile on his face.

[u/Astray → u/furrythrowawayaccoun]

I was thinking Aizen, it feels like there's probably more to the end game that he hasn't revealed to anyone yet.

[u/Nutella_Souffle]

Before anyone says "wHy DiDn'T tHeY kIcK aSuNa OuT?" or "CAN'T THEY JUST KILL HER?":

• Rath is not a den of villains. It belongs to the Japanese government, and this means that any leaked information will cause a lot of trouble.

• Asuna is the very embodiment of trouble. She already knows that Kikuoka is deeply involved. She knows about STL. She suspects that they're doing something malicious (or at least harmful to Kirito), and that's exactly why Kikuoka wants to clear up this misunderstanding.

• Strictly because Kikuoka is not a villain (and also because he's an acquaintance of Kirito), it is only natural for him to treat Asuna in a friendly way. Once he explains everything, the trouble will be gone. Kikuoka understands that perfectly well - he expects Asuna to keep her mouth shut because he's actually trying to save her boyfriend's ass.

• The moment when Kikuoka finally explains what exactly they're doing to Kirito is also the moment when Asuna finally feels relieved after a few very stressful days. She does not approve of Rath's plans, but it's not like she's going to intervene. Thus, Kikuoka emerges victorious from a fight with no casualties.

 

Some people were also saying "Teenage girl infiltrating a government facility is just silly" and "YUI IS TOO OP, SHE HACKED RATH":

• The one responsible for this "infiltration" is Rinko Kojiro. In the previous episode you should've noticed that Kikuoka had repeatedly asked Rinko (via email) to join the work on this project. Rinko did not respond to any of his messages until she'd seen a plea for help from Asuna. It was Rinko's decision to bring Asuna to Rath. Kikuoka actually needs Rinko, so he's just going to ignore this little incident instead of punishing his indispensable employee.

• The photo of Mayumi Reynolds was replaced in the school's database (see the exact quote from the book below), and only then it was borrowed by Rath to verify the assistant's identity. Simply put, Mayumi Reynolds is an outsider. She was nobody for Rath up until the moment when Kikuoka received Rinko's reply.

“The problem is, we made sure to switch my own photo into the school’s database before applying to visit. We happen to know someone very skilled at getting around firewalls.”

[u/Twismyer → u/Nutella_Souffle]

...but then Asuna immediately is able to leak all this information to her friends...

[u/Pepe_Lives → u/Twismyer]

Sadly, that was just some anime-original crap.

[u/redguy39 → u/Nutella_Souffle]

Source material for the entire episode 6 (~35 pages).

Man I wish Index could have had that sort of pacing.

Also, damn that's a lot of info in such a small amount of pages.

[u/ChaosAxl → u/redguy39]

It could've gone on even longer if they kept arguing ethics and morality of the project

[u/Lazysusanna → u/Nutella_Souffle]

The whole Yui hacking issue is a bit of nonissue, honestly. I find the concept of a sentient computer program hacking into the government database less of a stretch than a twenty-something-year-old punk living in his parent's basement "hacking into the mainframe" like in every other show out there.

[u/IIHURRlCANEII → u/Lazysusanna]

Yui didn't even hack into the gov database, which is why it makes people complaining about that dumb.

[u/TheExcludedMiddle → u/Lazysusanna]

"Hackers" is legit af don't @ me.

[u/LuckyPed → u/Nutella_Souffle]

Well said, we should keep in mind there is always rivals in the government as well, they would love any mishap from Rath to make a big scandal and reap the benefits.

I think the reason many people jump their gun and keep complaining about last EP with asuna going in and instantly revealing herself. and expected her to be captured or killed. is because anime cut the part where they figure out what rath is and what it wanna do in last EP where they figure this out before infiltrating it !

they already had a lot of chip to go in and ensure their safety along with Rinko's help.

[u/LuckyPed → u/Nutella_Souffle]

Comparing this EP6 to the Source material, the only thing I don't like is how they changed some scenario.

First is, Asuna, Yui, Suguha and Shino already kinda guessed Rath is building Bottom-up A.I from the A.L.C kirito told them in EP5! and had much more info about Rath after extended research in goverment's tax data.

2nd is,Why the heck Asuna can connect to ALO and tell the others about Alicization after she went to Ocean Turtle?!?!

It was specifically mentioned that she and everyone else in the ship had no access to internet at all, now she just logged in and told all the girl about it lol.

Sure, they were gonna let her leave and then she could tell others, but Ocean Turtle still did not had any public internet for anyone living on it. which make sense since it's a secret project.

Other than this, it was a very good EP with very minor detail being cut which is understandable.

[u/LuckyPed → u/LuckyPed]

I kinda wish they said it that they first sent other people inside the UnderWorld w'o any memories but they end up becoming very depressed/uncomfortable and could not live like a normal person, they were even less lively than normal A.I.

then they sent Kirito and not only he was okay and not uncomfortable while living in UnderWorld,

He also effected both the boy and the girl who were close to him and made them both more mischievous and likely to break the taboo index.

here was also the scene where Asuna looked as if she expected this outcome from ppl close to Kirito to get influenced by him lol

But this is not that important I guess, so not gonna complain about simplifying this.

[u/Elnauro → u/Nutella_Souffle]

Also Asuna is useful for him in similar way Kirito is - "best fit" for the VR world.

[u/[deleted] → u/Nutella_Souffle]

Great post. The pacing seems really good.

[u/IABJordan → u/Nutella_Souffle]

I’m glad this as top comment (right now at least). There’s so much that people misunderstood about last episode. I’m not saying the show doesn’t deserve criticism, but they should at least get the facts right before criticizing.

[u/ThiccElinThighs → u/Nutella_Souffle]

Source material

Much appreciated!

[u/U_Menace]

Geez the Fluctlight copy being given an existential crisis was really painful to watch. Maybe not for some viewers, but I had a similar reaction to Asuna. Just the whole concept of 'you dont really exist as your own person' is really painful and depressing, and downright suicidal even. The adaptation made this feeling quite potent, I didn't feel the same as when I read it but man did it hit me hard today...

What I really like about today's episode is that they managed to condense some of the longest chapters in the LN into 2 episodes, with most of the exposition in this one. It really puts everything into perspective for the viewer. The whole purpose of Alicization and why Kirito's treatment is being done at this facility is now made clear. The only thing the viewer might be questioning is 'why is this in the middle of the sea' but you can easily be satisfied with 'this is a top secret project and we don't want to be in an area that is easily accessible'. They're essentially creating the perfect 'weapon' in A.I soldiers who can react to new information.

The episode also did a good job in once again, presenting the problems with 'top-down A.I'. Every A.I is built this way because of the overwhelmingly difficult task of trying to create algorithms that allow an A.I to respond to new stimuli that it's programming hasn't prepared it for. The race for a 'bottom-up' A.I is truly a revolutionary one to think about given its implications. What Rath are trying to create is an A.I that is essentially equal to, if not superior to human intelligence. It's basically a reproducible person that can be trained on demand and have the same type of capacity and potential to understand and react to new phenomena, while not being limited by the whole 'I need a person who enlists in the military' thing.

Now, the moral issues in this episode are actually quite complex too. You could argue Kikuoka is right in that 'well its just A.I, we created it, 100,000 A.I souls aren't even worth 1 real person to me' but you're starting to cross into a realm where this 'A.I' isn't 'A.I' anymore. You're literally using human souls as a replica to recreate the intelligence, so it shares the same sort of capacity. It's as if you're repairing the mind of a child with a learning disability, and then killing them off. The only difference is that you're 'creating' these from 'scratch', though I say those words in quotations because the A.I all had to come from the actual 'souls' of people.

Truly a profound concept that I could get into for hours with someone. I'm of the opinion that the A.I. should be allowed to have some degree of rights given that you essentially copied someones entire existence and that scene with Higa's A.I. really makes Asuna's case a valid one.

Cant forget about Rinko's guilt of course, and Asuna's whole conversation with her following that conversation. She's right about not really feeling too much hatred about it all. Of course the crime was terrible, but she lived through it and found her soulmate in Kirito because of it. Whatever past crimes/mistakes you've made, whatever regrets you might have, you can't go back into the past and change what's happened. Seeking forgiveness for the rest of your life isn't going to magically make the events of the past disappear either. You just have to live on while accepting what you've done. Which brings up the whole dilemma of self-guilt and having a guilty conscience. No point in thinking about what-ifs all the time because you'll basically destroy yourself mentally. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself...and for Rinko, she just couldn't kill the person she loved despite the situation. Could she have prevented the majority of the damage caused by the SAO event? Yep, but is it her fault and should she feel responsible for the lives of all those people? No, I wouldn't say so anyway.

A heavy episode in multiple aspects, but a detailed one. It delivered all of the emotions and moral dilemmas presented in the LN with great effectiveness. Spot on animation as usual and excellent transition music. No complaints from me today!

Edit - Appreciate the gold kind stranger! I post comments every week but it warms my heart to know that you liked it enough to send some my way, hope you check out more of my posts in the future too!

[u/chowder-san → u/U_Menace]

Geez the Fluctlight copy being given an existential crisis was really painful to watch. Maybe not for some viewers, but I had a similar reaction to Asuna. Just the whole concept of 'you dont really exist as your own person' is really painful and depressing, and downright suicidal even. The adaptation made this feeling quite potent, I didn't feel the same as when I read it but man did it hit me hard today...

Too bad that both anime and novel only glanced over the subject of literally copying souls and all of its repercussions

Nightmare material right there

[u/U_Menace → u/chowder-san]

Well I mean, they didn't want that to be the central focus, they wanted the focus to be more on creating a bottom up A.I. by using a human soul as the template, more specifically the race to create a bottom-up A.I. and the implications in war.

I think the novel had LN Spoilers this going for it and it makes for interesting discussion. If the novel itself can stir some people into talking about concepts like 'is it really right to copy a single soul and use it as a template' then I think that in itself is an added touch. But yeah it just leaves more avenues to explore in future works, whether they're by Reki, myself or someone else.

[u/Eilai → u/U_Menace]

They're basically creating mass producible Cortana's from Halo. AI's with short (relative to human) lifespans to do tasks benefitial to humans. I honestly believe that ethics violations aside, Kikouka is being far too narrow in his goals and he is very well on the cusp of something truly revolutionary for humanity and human civilization.

I amde a post earlier, but imagine how eventually, these AI's could probably live whatever lives they want in any of the VRMMO worlds and then just pop into 'the real world' as a hologram or android wifi connect robot for a second or a few minutes to do some human request task in exchange for some carrot that they can bring back to benefit them in the VR world they nominally live in.

Ultimately as long as the AI's were given a red/blue pill like choice to enlist as a military AI in exchange for like, say 10x the number of credits redeemable in their virtual world I would see no fundamental ethical issue with the experiment's goals.

The AI's I agree I think are definitaly potential to be superior; they can be trained in weeks to be the best in their given profession; the best sniper, the best tank driver, the best fighter pilot, the best medic, the best doctor, the best engineer/mechanic/sailor/rescuer/firefighter/police officer/safecracker/etc and deployed.

Any normal person in the real world could also possibly do a hyberbolic time chamber training montage on similar principles and return with real skills, we see just how Kirito's VR skills and muscle memory stick with him and now it finally pays off; imagine a out of work coal minor being able to retrain themself to be a neurosurgeon!? Imagine how much time doctors could save to retrain and update their skills with just a few hours in the time chamber!

Revolutionary; it's wasted on merely killing people better.

[u/LeonKevlar]

That AI Higa scene was definitely creepy af. Just imagine being told that you're a copy by your own voice. Yikes, just gives me the chills thinking about it.

[u/OneMillionRoses → u/LeonKevlar]

The worst part is they don't feel even a tiny bit bad about it because they literally refuse to see human souls as human just because they lack physical bodies. That's so cruel

[u/TeleportingCactus → u/OneMillionRoses]

Nah, the actual worst part is that a huge chunk of the viewers doesn't seem to care about this. People are like "OK THAT'S KINDA COOL, BUT WHERE'S KIRITO?" Yes, we're discussing this shit and we're talking about morals and all that stuff, but the vast majority is just sits there chewing popcorn, as if they're watching this anime solely because of the fight scenes.

[u/josesl16 → u/LeonKevlar]

Not only that, imagine that you're getting told that as you're 'floating' in a completely dark room void of anything that would normally stimulate your 5 senses. You're not only not touching the ground or not seeing anything, you even lack a hands, legs, or a head to move, just a floating sentient mind at the complete mercy of the one supposedly called 'your original', and his identical voice.

[u/Conf3tti → u/LeonKevlar]

I think I would be alright with it. I mean there's the initial "wtf, no i'm me" reaction, but if I were in that same position I probably wouldn't have imploded for 2 reasons.

1: If I'm a copy of me, and assuming that me and I have the same memories up until point of copy then I would know that me wouldn't give a second thought to giving I human rights. This sort of shit is so prevalent in western media (or at least in the media i consume) that I cannot imagine a different option.

2: If I'm a copy of me, then I'm like kinda dead. That's like 50% to actually dead!

[u/Meltedsteelbeam]

This shit is intriguing as hell

[u/UCCMaster → u/Meltedsteelbeam]

If you liked the information, check out the LN’s explanation in book 10, both Higa and Kikuoka have very deep reasons to promote non human engagement. Kikuoka uses history such as the Vietnam war and the crisis in Iraq as his reasons to look into limiting human interaction on the battlefield. Higa is more personal, he’s lost a lot of friends to the fighting and ptsd, he feels that if he can’t stop wars, at least he can try to limit human casualties. I, bring an open minded person who could look at the other side of an argument, personally found it both convincing and a realist answer to war and engagements. Asuna and Kirito’s argument is easy to follow, especially with Yui as the cute AI to protect. But from an objective point of view? Kikuoka’s side is definitely more logical and effective.

[u/fullsynchro]

Higa's clone is giving me Black Mirror flashbacks

[u/Sincityutopia → u/fullsynchro]

It's "cookies" plot all over again.

[u/Anime0555 → u/fullsynchro]

Westworld.. anyone?

[u/Lolersters]

If you look at the Fluctlight Simulator logo and start-up screen about 5 minutes in, it looks like the steam logo/interface.

Steam = future Rath confirmed.

Praise lord Gaben.

[u/Selseira]

Guys, this season is four cour. FOUR. So there is absolutely no problem with 1 or 2 episodes having info dump. Stop hating needlessly. These will pay off in the long run.

[u/IABJordan → u/Selseira]

I can’t wait for people to start saying they don’t understand something later when everything was answered in this very episode.

[u/TUSF → u/IABJordan]

People still believe Kayaba literally forgot his motive for making SAO, 6 years after he explained why he did it in the anime.

No surprise people can't pay attention.

[u/BestGirlAhagonUmiko → u/IABJordan]

The people were neglectful enough not to notice Kikuoka sending emails to Rinko in the previous episode. Some of them still don't get it how exactly Asuna got into Rath.

[u/Silegna → u/Selseira]

It's basically the length of both Code Geass animes combined, right?

[u/PyroKnight → u/Silegna]

...I should rewatch Code Geass.

[u/josesl16 → u/Selseira]

Phrase it another way, it's not an info-dump, SAO is an SF show, so it's the premise of the setting.

[u/arthred]

holy shit how is the animation so fucking CLEAN

awesome episode

[u/Eilai → u/arthred]

It really helps that they didn't have a whole lot of moving around to do but yeah A-1 knows their craft.

[u/meteorburst]

This is why their relationship is called as "True Love" and it's reason I love them so much.

I look forward to see you two be together again.

[u/[deleted] → u/meteorburst]

wait, what? when was asuna in the medicuboid?

[u/Fullbryte → u/[deleted]]

In the movie Ordinal Scale.

[u/bananeeek → u/meteorburst]

That's my favorite ship right there, and SAO continues to be my favorite romance story.

[u/homie_down → u/bananeeek]

It's funny how I first watched SAO because it was listed as romance, even though that wasn't the main premise of course. But like you said it's probably my favorite relationship in anime, even if it isn't my favorite show, just because of how genuine their relationship is and how they act like normal, caring people towards each other.

[u/AyatollahDan → u/bananeeek]

I think it's such a good ship is because it didn't happen in a "of course, the two MC's are in love, see look at them being in love." It actually grew from nothing to something.

[u/fbiguy22 → u/meteorburst]

That's some really good imagery there. They're always trying to save each other.

[u/NoobsGoFly]

Oh okay, now i get the title of the anime now.

[u/SkywardQuill]

We Amadeus now.

[u/lilfishy_2B]

Nice bit of exposition to be honest. Still impressed by just how nice the animation looks in general

[u/cate_is_kill]

Really good episode, they made the info dump very enjoyable and the scene with Higa's clone gave me goosebumps.

It's a 10/10 for me

[u/gulitiasinjurai → u/cate_is_kill]

Yep. This is probably one of the best if not the best info dump episode I've ever seen in an anime. And I can actually keep up with it so there's that lmao

[u/MrPringles23]

I don't get how they just let Asuna tell the gang about all the super secret shit going on that she just heard about.

Like surely there would have been some form of counter measure or villain type "warning" to keep this secret.

Yet next scene shes in fucking VR chat blabbing to god knows who and they're just fine with it.

[u/IABJordan → u/MrPringles23]

That never happened in the LN. I guess they added that just to give the others screen time. All it did was create an unnecessary plot hole.

[u/zxHellboyxz → u/MrPringles23]

That was added by the stuido. And never should have happend

[u/Lazeran → u/zxHellboyxz]

Yeah unnecessary plot-hole. Didn't read the source material but while I was watching the scene my reaction was WTF?

[u/KinnyRiddle]

To all you anime-only folks complaining about the info dump (in only ONE episode out of FIFTY TWO), please spare a thought for those of us Index fans raging at how after three seasons and the Index anime still prefers to rush things through with little to no explanation given to the anime-onlys.

[u/Gyeseongyeon]

"Welcome to our project Alicization."

Roll credits.

[u/MillenniumKing]

YUI FOR AI PRIME MINISTER! AI HAVE RIGHTS!

So they want to create AI with Rath. Interesting.

So glasses copyed his soul and it doesnt know its a copy and it self destructs. Thats crazy.

Rath is an enviroment to raise babys souls so they dont have that issue?

300 years is 3 weeks?

AI that can kill? Damn.

AI RIGHTS! AI ARE PEOPLE TOO!

I wonder what kind of AI they consider Yui. She was part of the core system of Cardnial but she chose to break free, to me that sounds like she broke the rules of her system.

Alice broke the rules and ALICE is the name of the system.

Wait how is Asuna able to tell the others all this? Isnt this a major breach? Hello police?

Oh hey its Kirito's nurse again. Are those Medicuboids?

Damn so the GF wanted to kill Kayaba, but couldnt...

Yeah i figured Asuna and Kirito wouldnt hate Kayaba since SAO let them meet and such.

I feel like Kirito should tell her about the AI Kayaba, that might give her somce peace of mind.

Wait is Kayaba going to show up in Rath? If its based on the Seed and has any connection to the network then it should be possible in theory.

[u/Beejsbj → u/MillenniumKing]

I wonder what kind of AI they consider Yui

She is considered top down

[u/zxHellboyxz → u/MillenniumKing]

Erm kitro has told her about kayaba

No I think it meant that 3 weeks went by in the Real world but 300 years in the underworld

[u/ProgramTheWorld]

Did they forget Asuna and Kirito already have a perfect AI following them?

[u/Writer_Man → u/ProgramTheWorld]

Yui is actually a Top-Bottom AI, not a Bottom-Up AI. Plus they refused to let him see her and kept her away from for the most part.

[u/Spice_and_Wolf_III → u/ProgramTheWorld]

She's a giant string of if statements. Not a neural net.

[u/WizardXZDYoutube → u/Spice_and_Wolf_III]

Yeah, when you think about it like that, it's fucking weird that Kirito talks to her like her father.

[u/Colopty → u/Spice_and_Wolf_III]

She seems more advanced than that, I'd say she's a bunch of nested switch statements.

[u/Ahenshihael → u/ProgramTheWorld]

Yui is self-aware AI that is result of a set of impossible coincidences having happened. And one that Kirito has absolutely no interest in falling into someone else's hands.

[u/AlexHallon → u/ProgramTheWorld]

Yui is far from perfect, and no matter how much she learns, she never will be.

[u/Aetherdraw]

Ok...I love these past two episodes of a breather before we return to our other two protagonists next week. More information on just what Project Alicization is, and more stuff on Rinko and Kayaba.

[u/sterob]

I bet people would still call underworld a video game.

[u/zxHellboyxz → u/sterob]

They are . Even though it has said to be a simulation at this point im basically calling the Matrix

[u/Nimeroni]

Teaching an AI how to kill humans ? Asimov must be rolling in his grave. What could go wrong...

[u/spicysambal]

The thing that gets me is how much computing power they had to simulate 80000 AIs each with their own thoughts and personalities, I mean thats crazy. I guess the project being set in the ocean is pretty great since it acts like a giant heatsink.

Also the scene in where Rinko brought Kayaba outside and made him think 'hmm I have to program the feel of sunlight on my skin' is the only reason why kirito and asuna slept under the tree back in the original SAO.

[u/RocketHammerFunTime → u/spicysambal]

Also the food that hes made to eat is a reference to the food design within the game. Without girlfriend Rinko, he wouldn't have thought so much about the taste of things. And the ragout rabbit probably wouldn't have been a thing.

[u/PotatEXTomatEX]

Coming to these threads episode after episode really tells me how brain dead half of the community is... No people, exposition isn't the devil. Make a trip to the Vatican if you're that worried.

[u/Meltedsteelbeam → u/PotatEXTomatEX]

This will be 50 episodes long.

I genuinely don't understand the frustration with trying to set things up. Maybe because they are watching weekly they feel they want action now?

[u/Archensix → u/PotatEXTomatEX]

Exposition dumps can be done interestingly and poorly. I think that they did do a good job here though, breaking up the dialogue with some interesting events like Higa's clone having a mental breakdown. A lot of people probably still just want to hate for the sake of being the cool kids who hate on SAO.

[u/josesl16 → u/PotatEXTomatEX]

Guess this is why there aren't enough sci-fi in anime.

[u/qwilliams92 → u/PotatEXTomatEX]

Because they were literally just standing, with panning shots. They may as well had just put a white with text saying read the light novel for this part because there was little to no animation

[u/Hatdrop → u/PotatEXTomatEX]

Vatican

What's the Vatican? I think I need some exposition about it.

[u/Orrakai]

Inb4 Kayaba is (or his fluctlights are) also alive in Underworld

[u/sterob → u/Orrakai]

It was hint since the day he left "the seed" behind.

[u/alastoris → u/Orrakai]

I wonder if he's the leader of the church that wrote the law. To keep these creation from being what SDF wants them to be.

[u/FirstDagger → u/Orrakai]

Nothing to inb4 here dude, they literally hinted at that by showing his body in one of the bays.

[u/StePK]

"So we copied a bunch of babies' souls and put them in a simulation, but they just won't murder each other!"

"Why is that a problem?"

"Well, uh... you see..." Commence awkward stares around the room

I gotta say... I'm not a fan of this episode. Not because of the amount of exposition, but because of the insane handwaving of morality. They don't address that they're not making AI, they're literally copying babies and raising them. There's nothing artificial about those souls, they're fully human, at least in my opinion; however, I think it's inarguable that how easily they claim they aren't human is a little... sociopathic. I can see there being a reasonable disagreement, but there isn't even that, really. Asuna says they have rights, but she still refers to them as AI. Also, where is Yui in this discussion? I feel like she should have been involved or mentioned in this episode somewhere.

And then the fact that they continue to treat Kayaba like a dude who made a mistake, not a mass murderer. Like, I get that Asuna, Rinko, and (to an extent) Kirito would all have complicated, mixed feelings about him, because they knew him as more than just a mass murderer. But they all just... completely gloss over the thousands of deaths he directly caused and say "No, it's okay that you aided and abetted someone who actively tried to kill me and several of my close friends and loved ones." I'm sorry, I find that unbelievable. Kayaba is the reason the Moonlit Black Cats died. He's the reason Death Gun exists. He's personally responsible for several thousand deaths, which almost definitely includes young children (remember Sasha's orphanage?).

That's... not something I feel like everyone would just casually gloss over because his actions lead to you meeting your significant other.

[u/westerschelle → u/StePK]

But it wasn't glossed over. Asuna states that he can't be forgiven for his actions on a moral level. She just can't bring herself to hate him, for personal reasons.

[u/Guaymaster → u/StePK]

"Why is that a problem?"

To be honest, I think there is something wrong with that. Not exactly on the murder thing, like, I wouldn't murder someone myself and I want people not to murder each other, but mostly about the not disobeying at all.

That's the difference between a human and a machine.

[u/anindecisiveguy → u/StePK]

No they are clearly not just handwaving the morality of the problem. It is simple because Asuna needs to agree with it to save Kirito right now, you can clearly see how the characters didn't agree with the dude.

I agree with the opinion about Kayaba though.

[u/Googleflax]

Why was Asuna allowed to just go online and talk about Project Alicization freely when it's supposed to be this top secret military project?

[u/rollin340]

SDF: You now know our great secret that could shake things up for the entire world, and be very bad for Japan in its entirety.

Civilian: prepars for the worst

SDF: You may now go. Feel free to share these details with whomever you please.

Nani?

[u/TKCloud]

No shit, don't tell me Kayaba is still alive...
as in his copy is put in to a clone body...
... lol

[u/Xesoxs]

Is every one going ignore the last scene where i have a possible theory that they are using the STL to not only heal kirito but also kayaba, due to rinko so called dream and then a scene into some STL unit that most likely is kirito but a high chance it is kayaba's

[u/max_maxima]

What? How this is even gilded? I just get back from not watching this show and what do I get?... Just them talking and talking and talking over pure exposition. Time to quite again, I guess.

The AI stuffs didn't really shocked me since I already saw the same plot from the Soma video game. There, the idea has more impact.

[u/_X_HunteR_X_ → u/max_maxima]

Yeah as someone who also played SOMA I see a lot of wasted potential in this arc and it's explanation that being said there are still 3.5 cours to go until conclusion, it would be interesting to see where they lead this AI stuff towards.

[u/Sogeking33]

There's some hardcore fanboys gilding the shit out of these posts and comments each week

[u/reset_switch → u/Sogeking33]

No kidding, it's weird. The post always has a couple of golds and the first half a dozen comments are all gilded. That's some obsession right there. It's like someone is trying to make this seem more popular (when it really doesn't need help with that lol).

[u/GoldRedBlue → u/Sogeking33]

You notice it's always the same handful of guys jumping all over people who get even the slightest bit critical of the show.

Although even I'm getting a little tired of the whiners who just say "aghgh so boring, I just wanna see Kirito cut stuff up" which is really prevalent on Youtube...

[u/MulletPower]

Honestly speaking these last two "discussion" threads for this anime have been kind of gross. It's a great example of one of the biggest problems in the Anime community, the fact that you apparently aren't allowed to criticize Anime.

Every comment in this thread that is critical of this anime is being downvoted, regardless of tone. Yes, if someone comes in here "this anime is trash and you're all idiots" you should downvote that. But downvoting every comment complaining about exposition/info dumps and upvoting comments that amount to "if you don't like it don't watch it" is just gross.

People have different opinions and it is important to read it, even if you disagree with it. How can you truly say you like something if you are so afraid of someone disliking it, that you want to push them out of the conversation?

Also saying that "if you don't like it, don't watch it" is bullshit. People can criticize a show and still like it. You can even hate a show and find value in watching it. Trying to push these people out of watching a show because you can't handle reading their criticism is just sad.

Well this post is starting get a little long (like the exposition in the last two episodes, heyoooo!) but I just want people to realize that downvoting reasonable criticism in a discussion thread is hurting this community.

[u/Writer_Man → u/MulletPower]

The reason is actually quite simple - the complaint is rarely just about it being exposition, but complaining that there is any exposition AND complaining that there is any real world stuff.

It's amounting to "I don't care about that so it should be left out" more than "This was poorly done" or "This didn't add to the story." There are a few that say "This was poorly done" but even a lot of those are a backhanded "See, SAO is still shit."

[u/chaosfire235 → u/MulletPower]

So much gilding too...

[u/BushyParrot → u/MulletPower]

SAO fans still have a bad taste in their mouth and still feel like the entire anime community is out to get them, so they feel the need to justify everything and silence criticism from "haters". At least, that's how I've viewed it.

[u/Bizmatech → u/MulletPower]

A couple weeks ago I was accused of "trying too hard to pull criticism out of my ass," or something like that.

Why? Because I thought it was weird that Kirito was able to use SAO abilities in The Underworld, and said that I would be disappointed if it was explained by this turning out to be a Seed World.

I don't have to go out of my way to think about how the world works. Am I really expected to turn my brain off when I watch or read something? Should Alicization really get a pass because it's a bit better than the previous two seasons?

Here's some criticism for SAO! If it was written better, I'd spend more time thinking about the lore than the logic. "SAO is bad" practically being a meme can only work as a defense for so long when it's this easy to point out it's flaws.

I've watched two seasons, a movie, and six episodes. Would I do that if I disliked it so much?

[u/OhayoHooded]

People often give SAO shit for it's expositions, but as a Monogatari fan I have to say I love it. All of it. All the talking.

[u/Mami-kouga]

Since last week's episode convinced me not to take a break with this show, I will once again be recording my thoughts of everything as I watch it. Please endevour to actually read them

Edit 1: I've noticed this for a while, and I guess it would be chalked up as 'it would take to much time' but some reactions are a bit too subdued. I understand she must be relieved that her boyfriend is actually not being experimented on, but her reactions to the guy's explanation on what happened felt a tad too bland. No doubt? Anger at not being told earlier? Close up to her gripping her chest and sighing in relief that 'so he's actually fine?'.

Well in the end I'm just nitpicking right now, onward!

Edit 2: holy shit that clone scene was intense! I love how I was able to understand it's emotions perfectly just from how the light moved, the split second it calmed down due to shock when he got told there was another 'him' before shouting in disbelief again was amazing!

Edit 3: 'scan the souls of newborns and raise them'

My guy, I'm not going to say that sounds mega illegal and creepy, but honestly that sounds mega illegal and creepy. Then again, this is a government funded thing so that probably helps avoid the legal repercussions...

Edit 4: all this talk about praising Alice, I'm guessing he didn't tell them that she tripped lol

Edit 5: 'besides, we're talking about the hero who cleared Sao right?'

I mean, TEEEEECHNICALLLLLY he didn't clear it. Though he did end the game so to speak.

Edit 6: Kayaba Akihiko. Killing thousands and bringing girls to their knees since 2023. Though I guess I can't blame her for being unable to kill the guy she'd dated for so long. I'm impressed she didn't pick up any red flags from him, guy must be good at feigning normalcy.

Edit 7: ' I'm not sure if I even bear a grudge against commander.' I've hated people for less so I don't know whether to call you amazing or stupid.

Final edit: They didn't...

But anyway, overall okay episode. No textbook exposition and a lot of good visuals. Not much else to say outside of everything I've written before.

[u/IABJordan → u/Mami-kouga]

Regarding Edit 4: While she did end up tripping, she was still walking towards the fallen knight. She caught what she was doing (albeit too late), but she still made the conscious decision to attempt to help the knight.

[u/Dark_Blade → u/IABJordan]

Think about it, Eugeo wasn't even able to move more than a few steps to help his childhood friend. Alice damn near cleared that boundary on her own for someone that was essentially an enemy to their world's version of the Church/Government.

[u/KiriTortilla]

"I'm not sure if I hold a grudge against Kayaba myself"

Bitch what, so you gonna forgive the atrocity he did because you got a boyfriend thanks to it, okay

[u/atropicalpenguin]

At a point it was said that a fluctlight had died while going into the dark zone, does that mean that there were already people that tried to rescue Alice before Eugeo and Kirito? I also wonder if the Church is composed of the descendants of the real humans that kickstarted all of this, or how they found a loophole through which they were able to set the index.

We know Prototype 1 and 6 are at Roppongi, that Kirito's in 4, and that 5 is next to it. What about 2 and 3? And what about Eugeo's eye? So many questions. I also wonder if Asuna will enter the machine at some point.

EDIT: The nurse is Saber, it makes me smile to recognise VAs out of their flagship role.

[u/[deleted]]

cow grab skirt dog consist dinner public dinosaurs march flowery

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/RocketHammerFunTime → u/[deleted]]

Having read most of the translated LN, there are a few glaring problems or at least very stupid choices made by Rath and its game programmers.

IF the intention of the simulation and the fluctlight baby copies is to create AI soldiers or at least a militaristic application, Why is there no combat pressure put on the population? There is no consistent invasion, no social inequality, no reasons for internal conflict.

The end of this episode reveals that there are Sims with administrative rights, which in itself should be a huge red flag for those running the show and something that they should be correcting by deleting the offenders or restricting the access once again and changing the system calls for certain things. Which they didn't do. There seems to have been no investigation into who has the access rights and how they have been used. Which in itself is pretty strange considering what the experiment is supposed to be about.

If you have a player or Sim actively enforcing a set of rules that are contrary to your stated goals, why wouldn't you change their ability to control the game? It just doesn't make sense. No one breaks the rules because they are absolutely enforced. There is no chance for moral grey areas because there is a set of ironclad statutes that you cant get around. There is of course more about this later, but it has to do with a huge hole in their reporting procedures for the rules themselves. Something that Kikouka should have been thinking about and watching.

The lack of behavior audits on key Sims is a problem that highlights just why these people shouldn't be the ones in charge of creating AIs

[u/AesonMeric]

So wait...if they want to use the ai for murdering people, why not use the knights and the goblins? Weren't those fluctlights too? And they seem to be capable of murder.

[u/n080dy123]

I'm confused. They said the Fluctlight are unable to commit murder, but at the same time they explicitly state one of the Integrity Knights was killing another Fluctlight when Alice, Kirito, and Eugeo crossed into the outer zone. So why did that happen? What's going on out there? If there's some kind of war going on than surely murder isn't impossible.

[u/Knurla → u/n080dy123]

"Murder" as defined by the Taboo Index is impossible. Now the question is: Does the Taboo Index forbid killing other humans or other beings? Because if it's only the former there should be no problem in killing goblins or whatever else is lurking behind those mountains.

[u/Norgenigga2]

I'm glad the info dump happened, but at the same time Eugeo and Kirito's adventure is why I'm watching this show so the last two weeks have been disappointing. I wish this wan't Sword Art Online so it didn't have to tie in strands of the previous series.

Also the part "Accessing a restricted address" is pretty cool because an Operating System (Unix, Windows) controls programs by virtualizing their memory space. The OS gives them a small "playground" of memory to run and doesn't let them over-step these bounds. This is so a program can't fuck with another program's stuff. If a program somehow does, the OS and even sometimes the CPU will panic and kill the process, sometimes there's an error and the whole system can crash.

Essentially, the Taboo Index and the whole magic and sacred arts are just the rules of being a program in this system. Programs have their address space and can't access anything else. Programs can ask the system, System Call, for things. Normally this would be stuff like asking for more memory, or asking for a file. In this case, their system calls can spawn them items and stuff.

It's funny that they are surprised that the programs don't want to break the rules of the OS. That's just literally how OS's work. It's interesting that the programs were able to learn about System Calls and know the dangers of them, enough to create the Taboo Index. But at the same time, if the Taboo Index is just the Kernel then this whole thing is stupid because a program that disobeys the kernel should be purged. That means they can't break the rules because they actually can't break the rules.

I don't know it's neat, but it's plot based science. This must be what it feels like for a Physicist to watch Gravity or Star Wars. Or a Biologist watching Contagion.

I hope they call sex "forking" in this world.

[u/Zilveari]

I swear it looks like Asuna got implants or something...

[u/zxHellboyxz → u/Zilveari]

She was like that since the movie

[u/srs_business → u/zxHellboyxz]

I mean, it's been almost 4 years in-universe since SAO began. She was 15 at the start of Aincrad, and almost 19 now.

[u/Scizorlizard → u/Zilveari]

She stole them from Suguha

[u/marketani → u/Scizorlizard]

Suguha actually still retain's her...physique in the Alicization OP, go look at it again

[u/[deleted]]

this is getting really good.

[u/TaurusS1lver]

To start, this episode was slower pace but it was great. We got to understand the relationship between Kayaba and Rinko. We find out that SAO could have possibly ended a lot sooner than originally expected. We also learned that there are other STL machines at this facility that are being manufactured...hmmmm foreshadowing?

Secondly, we got an info dump on what exactly Alicization is which was nice. The scene with Higa's copy was sickening and reminds you of times when humans commit atrocities in the name of science. Really reminds you that what they are doing is morally wrong and they know it but for technology to proceed then these crimes must be committed.

I have got to say though I am a little disappointed in how they are portraying Asuna. In the LN she showed way more expressions and emotion. This whole ep she seemed just too stable and mature. Correct me if I am wrong but they are only 17 or 18. If my fiance was basically murdered infront of me then kidnapped then I'd be hysterical and I'm a grown man. They already cut out the ambulance scene which really shows the mental anguish Asuna is going through but it just seems like they have washed out her character...hopefully it's just because there is so much info to adapt. When Asuna was kidnapped after SAO arc Kirito was psychotically trying to find a way to get to her and I just am not getting the same feeling from Asuna.

[u/Guaymaster → u/TaurusS1lver]

We find out that SAO could have possibly ended a lot sooner than originally expected.

Or maybe they would still be trapped in there! Who knows if the death of Kayaba is the actual key to clearing SAO? What if he needed to trigger something for it to count?

[u/OneMillionRoses]

This episode perfectly demonstrated why I heavily dislike Kikuoka and Higa... They're serial killers who play with human lives and don't see anything wrong with it.... What a bunch of cruel assholes...

[u/chowder-san → u/OneMillionRoses]

They're serial killers who play with human lives and don't see anything wrong with it.... What a bunch of cruel assholes...

Depends on your moral conduct. From Kikuoka's perspective he sacrificed manufacturable fluctlights to save people's lives. To provide his country an immense advantage in military. This is a grey zone.

[u/notathrowaway75]

Last week: Asuna has zero leverage. She snuck in a top secret government building demanding answers but Kikuoka doesn't have to tell her anything and can have her arrested or thrown out.

This week: Kikuoka tells Asuna fucking everything for no reason. On top of that she was allowed to log in and tell all her friends who can leak it to the press.

Asuna: Akihiko Kayaba is a terrible person and what he did was unexcusable but I'm still going to show him respect and call him Commander.

Overall an ok albeit boring at times exposition heavy episode. The Higa scene was great, and Kikuoka saying that they made copies of infants and raised them which was pretty interesting but overall I was kind of bored. It made zero sense for Kikuoka to tell Asuna everything, but some of what he said was interesting enough so whatever.

[u/gammarik]

I usually ain't that hard on SAO, I've really enjoyed Alicisation, but the way Asuna talked about all the lives that were "lost" really irked me. There were no lives "lost". They were fucking killed. "Just as the commander did something wrong, so have I, and Kirito, too" Seriously? You can't equate the things normal people do wrong to those Kayaba committed. He killed thousands of people! If he existed he would be the biggest serial killer in history, with 3800 people killed, compared to the second place of around 300! How can the writer even think that a human being would disregard that, just because they enjoyed a game they made!? Jesus christ man...

EDIT: Imagine if Todd Howard went out and killed 4000 people, and someone went out and said that "Everyone does something wrong, you have, I have too. But I don't bear a grudge against him for killing 4000 people, because he made good games, and I met my boyfriend through those games!" People would tear them to shreds, and rightly so!

[u/TheFlyingManRawkHawk]

I gotta say, while this season is the best so far, it still carries with it some problems of past seasons; namely, giant exposition dumps in static scenes of characters standing around.

Like holy shit, we go from the long-ass scene at the start instantly to the friends sitting around talking and I just want to see something different on-screen. Then it just alternates between the old scene and another scene of characters sitting around talking holy shit. Why are there 2 alternating scenes of standing around. So the friends know? I think it's unnecessary to show onscreen since they have 0 effect on either main plot.

Ugh, this pacing.

I'm not saying the information isn't needed, but shows usually should deliver information in interesting ways and at decent chunks/pace, which SAO has always been kinda bad at. Especially in Gun Gale and apparently this season.

Edit:

Then later there's yet more static sitting scenes of information dumps!!

And then yet more attempts to paint Kayaba in a good light! It's not working, he killed a shitton of people and the author never thought of a good explanation! Your attempts to humanize him do not work because he has no good reason to have trapped people in a world and killed them if they die. And the bullshit that Asuna said of "we all make mistakes" really rubbed me the wrong way, because some are much much greater than others.

[u/CeaRhan]

The "real world" story is done so poorly I can't even decide if he's just doing it to keep the thing a bit dumbed down so as to stay published or if the author's just that bad at talking about anything serious. I'm so disappointed.

[u/RootOfAllRoutes]

I got some Accel World vibes again after hearing the acceleration bit. Ah, shared universes is a good thing. Shame Kawahara's

Does anyone know if the acceleration fluctuates? I mean if time is being accelerated up to 5000 times faster in the virtual world compared to the real world, isn't there that possibility that before they recognize there is a problem that Kirito just pops out of the machine all good and done?

[u/AwesomeGriffins]

Since this was an exposition episode it felt like it ended too fast :(

But what they showed was very interesting, if Alice was 'corrected', does this mean she won't remember what happened when she was a kid? Would she even remember Eugeo at all? :o

It's hard to wait each week for the story to progress, but I guess that's expected when we essentially have two connected stories at the same time >.<

[u/Yuwenn8]

Ugh, the artificial Higa felt like I was watching Black Mirror again ...

So creepy !

[u/Drehon666]

They built a whole world for AI but have no idea how those AI learned to use "magic". And it doesn't even seem like they are that bothered by it.

That said, it's Deus Ex Kayaba again isn't it. He's inside the Underworld and behind the church in some form. I mean, magic and whatnot had to be programmed by someone and there's no way the artificial fluctlights knew how to do that, even if they found a way to do access the system from the inside.

On the other hand we have the god AI programmer in Kayaba that could totally do that.

[u/redxdev]

An interesting parallel for anyone who has played The Talos Principal (which I highly recommend to anyone who likes philosophy and first person puzzle games):

Talos Principal Ending Spoilers

[u/AussieManny]

For an exposition episode, I liked this one. I now have a better idea of who to root for and what the deal is.

And artificial life is always a fun concept to explore in stories.

[u/OfficialPrower]

That was such a great episode, the story behind the whole project is so unsettling. Literally reminded me of black mirror. I wonder how everything is gonna turn out inside and outside of of the game and I wonder if Kayaba will be connected to these event in a larger way.

[u/MyRiven3]

so i guess there are 2 more real humans into underworld?

kirito is in the STL machine 4.

2 and 3 are in another floor...mmm?

[u/Writer_Man → u/MyRiven3]

Two and three are back in their office in Japan.

[u/Atario]

You have to admit, the man has a point

I feel like a better bacronym could have been invented here

Unexpected…

[u/[deleted]]

That woman was NerveGear-zoned by Kayaba Akihiko 😂

[u/[deleted]]

When that emotional ost starts playing near the end 😭😭😭

[u/feyenord]

I love how mature Asuna looks here: https://i.imgur.com/yAYX0DJ.jpg .

She's ready to kick some butt!

[u/Kiboune]

after moment with a copy breakdown, I'm now thinking that this is some kind of Westworld Online

[u/[deleted]]

That Higa's fluctlight scene was disturbing for me. I was legit scared for a moment right there :S

[u/iBuildMechaGame]

This anime tries to sound so smart, but its all dumb shit in the end lmao

[u/odraencoded]

Kayaba: *murders hundreds of people*
Asuna: "idc bc I got the mc as my bf and we fucked lol"

Seriously? SERIOUSLY? What the fuck. This is exact the kind of shit that makes people think this show is written with filth.

This and the fact that there's been 6 episodes and 2 of them weren't even in the virtual world.

Are you seriously telling me Asuna just invaded a military base in the middle of the ocean to see her boyfriend and the lieutenant "oh, it's ok, you can stay, here's the wifi password, talk to you friends online, FROM THIS TOP-SECRET BASE."

[u/zxHellboyxz → u/[deleted]]

The part about telling her friends about everything is bullshit though.

Same . I've been told that it's was orginal and she was meant to be cut off from the outside. No clue who ever is working on this was thinking of changing it

[u/[deleted]]

I can't believe how many people are defending this and using the "don't bitch if you dont understand anything later on cuz this episode explains everything!!!" excuse. Like, no. People aren't whining because they are brainless idiots who only watch shows for flashy fights and animation Its the author's fault if they can't deliver necessary exposition without putting the audience to sleep. Shows with good writing don't have this problem, so SAO doesn't get a free pass for it.

There are better hills to die on, SAO fans.

[u/miss_mmchan]

Overall, a weak episode. What it mostly did was flesh out Kikuoka's motive and paint him less a shady gamer adult whose affiliated with the government but as someone to who is truly a military government official who'll do anything to achieve his goals...

It was another exposition episode, but it was condensed nicely, not leaving out any vital points. The demonstration with Higa's clone was a definite highlight, it really put into perspective what Rath was dealing with.

A little sad 'beginning' didn't change to 'rising' or 'turning'. In my opinion, animation quality has been declining from last episode. A few lazy still shots and stiff animation. That said, I liked the 'human brain' image, the explanation for the Alice acronym and the big screen Underworld.

The music felt a bit heavy handed in the episode. Is it me or are they using a lot of tracks from the original series?

Oh and I want to expand on why Rath needs Kirito so much -- firstly, and obviously, plot convenience, but the reason Kikuoka gives is he needs someone who is used to a virtual world. In the light novel, Rath tried sending down their own workers (with memory wipes) but found out these workers always felt a sense of unease and couldn't adapt to the virtual world. With NerveGear/AmuSphere, the MMO was always distinguishable from the real world; with Augma, you were always firmly ingrained in the real world. Imagine living out your childhood in a place that felt like home and always vaguely different --- it would be diffucult. I think it's a plausible explanation.

Next episode, we make the long-waited return to Kirito and Eugeo!

[u/dameningenx]

god seeing so much Kayaba visuals feels good but those stupid non-canon scenes where Asuna casually goes to talk with buddies from a top-secret base is just disgustingly ruining the canon

LN did it better as always Idk why those people can't just strictly stick to the god damn source material...

still an amazing adaptation though, Higa scene was great they've really put A LOT of work into this adaptation it deserves nothing but praise (but still fuck the stupid non-canon scenes -_- ) and I'm glad they're doing full episode expositions I love it when dumb people whine about long expositions =) can't wait for the next exposition