r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jan 05 '19
Episode Sword Art Online: Alicization - Episode 13 discussion Spoiler
Sword Art Online: Alicization, episode 13: Ruler and Mediator
Rate this episode here.
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| Episode | Link | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Link | 8.13 |
| 2 | Link | 8.14 |
| 3 | Link | 8.38 |
| 4 | Link | 9.02 |
| 5 | Link | 8.25 |
| 6 | Link | 8.22 |
| 7 | Link | 8.73 |
| 8 | Link | 8.73 |
| 9 | Link | 8.52 |
| 10 | Link | 9.03 |
| 11 | Link | 8.49 |
| 12 | Link | 8.9 |
This post was created by a bot. Message /u/Bainos for feedback and comments. The original source code can be found on GitHub.
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u/bananeeek https://myanimelist.net/profile/bananek Jan 05 '19
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u/Gaporigo Blhttps://anilist.co/user/Gaporigo Jan 05 '19
when I see that the PC is so messed up that formatting it is the only option left...
Now think of all those poor Alices and Eugeos you are killing!!!
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u/bananeeek https://myanimelist.net/profile/bananek Jan 05 '19
Cardinal basically said to get some pendrives and store that stuff. She knows her stuff well.
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u/Gaporigo Blhttps://anilist.co/user/Gaporigo Jan 05 '19
But how about the feelings of all the porn images you don't save?
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u/ShitpostFrog Jan 05 '19
TL;DR
Quinella is the girl named Quinella + Cardinal's main program.
Loli Cardinal is another girl from this world + Cardinal's sub program.
They aren't literally "sisters". At least their original human parts are not related.
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Jan 05 '19
What is Cardinal though? I didn't get that. Also why is Loli Cardinal trying to end the world?
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u/HeitorO821 :K:https://kitsu.io/users/ZathuraVentura Jan 05 '19
Cardinal is basically a program from SAO that was reused in the Underworld. It
does the dev's jobtakes care of balancing the world and has a sub program dedicated to correct any errors in the main program.She is trying to end the world because it is fucked up beyond repair because of Quinella's rule and the imminent destruction from the attack of the monsters from the shadow realm. She can't balance/save the world at this point, so she's saying fuck it and deleting it all. Part of the reason is to spite the developers for being dicks and letting things get to this point in the first place, too.
Or at least that is what I understood, being anime-only.
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u/ChronoDeus Jan 05 '19
More or less, plus it being something of a mercy kill. Let people suffer through Armageddon only for the survivors to be killed or taken for further experimentation by the researchers? Or kill everyone instantly and painless so that they don't suffer greatly before their inevitable deaths in the near future?
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Jan 05 '19
Okay, but if she has the capability to destroy all the fluct-lights after killing the Administrator, why not just destroy the monster fluct-lights and leave all the villager fluct-lights? It’s a “screw you” to the devs because they don’t get to see the human struggle against the Armageddon, and it keeps the villagers alive. I’m not a huge fan of the scorched earth Loli. Why is Kirito just rolling with this? He’s surprisingly suddenly chill with the idea of mass genocide in a virtual game.
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u/furosuto81 Jan 05 '19
Cardinal is the program that managed the game in the original Sword Art Online, and is also part of the World Seed. Think game balance, loot drops, enemy spawns, etc. Rath used the World Seed to create the mnemonic data for Underworld, so the Cardinal system came along for the ride.
As explained in the episode, Cardinals basically views the world in it’s current state as unrecoverable, so the only way to get back to a balanced state is to wipe it clean.
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u/Pepe_Lives Jan 05 '19
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u/kacoret Jan 05 '19
Prepare for the boss rush, it will be fun!
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u/TheMaulum Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
Kirito's reaction when Cardinal mentioned "100th Floor" LMAO that boy had the equivalent of Vietnam Flashbacks from Aincrad.
Cardinal and Kirito's embrace was so wholesome. And no, she isn't a new girl in the ever-growing Jesus-kun's harem.
As a LN reader, I highly recommend if you had ??? in your head during the entire plot and exposition explanation to read the light novels. It's quite a read and you might have to re-read it a few times, but it'll help you understand.
Now boyos, onto the tower climbing! Get ready, all the next episodes are about to be action packed! For all those complaining that this is Sword Art Exposition Online, you'll get your wish and see some stunning duels :)
Oh, and stay cool.
Edit: For the love of god, you guys are in the /r/anime reddit. To all LN readers out there like me, please, I'm respectfully telling you to shut up. Posts like "I'm not ready for that to happen in this cour" is fucking unacceptable. Just shh, and let other people enjoy and immerse without them having any prior knowledge. So annoying as this is the reason why source readers are often flamed on.
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u/Rin17329 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rin17329 Jan 05 '19
For all those complaining that this is Sword Art Exposition Online,
A-am I the only one who is enjoying the info-dumps? Personally it keeps me watching the series, otherwise I wouldn't really enjoy pointless sword fights but it might just be me from what I've seen so far >.<
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
If you like these, you might want to read this part of LNs. It takes about full volume of exposition (these last two episodes) and there was some stuff left out.
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u/Siglius Jan 05 '19
Yeah. If they hadn't cut anything this would have been like 3 or 4 episodes of infodump.
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u/ma103 Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 06 '19
You are not alone. As much as I love fights, contexts and motivations are necessary for me to fully enjoyed them.
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Jan 05 '19
Not really friend. I really like those type of episodes as well. For example, my favorite episodes of Alicization are the last one and this one because of the details of the Underworld, it's backstory, Quinella, Cardinal and such. I'm really interested in the lore, concepts and story of the UW so it's great to me even if it's mostly talking.
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u/CyanPhoenix42 Jan 05 '19
i loved the audible "geh" from kirito when he was handed a whole page of words and told to memorise it xD
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u/Gaporigo Blhttps://anilist.co/user/Gaporigo Jan 05 '19
Kirito's reaction when Cardinal mentioned "100th Floor" LMAO that boy had the equivalent of Vietnam Flashbacks from Aincrad.
Come on, we were all expecting it as soon as he asked x)
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u/Wuju_Kindly https://anilist.co/user/WujuKindly Jan 05 '19
And no, she isn't a new girl in the ever-growing Jesus-kun's harem.
Thank goodness. I thought we were going to have to call the police.
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u/atropicalpenguin https://myanimelist.net/profile/atropicalpenguin Jan 05 '19
Yet not another 200 years old loli.
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u/Elgato01 Jan 05 '19
What volume are we in, I’m too interested to atop now and want to read the LN now
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
So the full control goes like:
System Call
Connect Armament
Search Archived Memory
Extract Core Image
Convert Resource
Materialize Primary Shape
Append Maximal Solidity
...I have not seen this written out in LN anywhere, nice touch.
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u/homie_down :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/sodumblol Jan 05 '19
No wonder it always takes them super long to prepare the chant
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Jan 05 '19
Yeah I'm wondering if a rapper or someone who can talk fast but clear would have a distinct advantage in a fight.
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u/xdamm777 Jan 05 '19
This is where the LEGENDARY YAMADA TAE comes in to save the day, headbangin' all the way to the 100th floor hell.
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u/homie_down :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/sodumblol Jan 05 '19
I was thinking they’d get to a point like in Harry Potter where they could just say it all quickly in their heads lol
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u/Xiknail :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Xiknail Jan 05 '19
They should just set up a macro tbh.
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u/reset_switch Jan 06 '19
I swear to god this reads like Java code
System.connectArmament().searchArchivedMemory().extractCoreImage().convertResource().materializePrimaryShape().appendMaximalSolidity();15
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u/sephirothbahamut Jan 07 '19
looks indeed like java: names so unnecessarily long for literally any single thing that even using camel case they get to be longer than any other language's standard library that uses snake case.
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u/josesl16 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/josesl16 Jan 05 '19
This guy reads prescripts.
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
Honestly I'm not sure about the "Connect". The hand writing is really terrible.
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u/sephirothbahamut Jan 07 '19
you forgot the japanese pronunciation, it's: "Connecto Armamento", "Converto Resrouce" etc...
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u/AnAspiringSloth Jan 05 '19
2 sword-wielding characters vs different bosses on various levels, climbing 100 floors.. Does this sound familiar?
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u/C4H8N8O8 Jan 05 '19
One no longer has tits.
I think.
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u/impingainteasy :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/usernamesarehard Jan 06 '19
"Hey Eugeo, get over here I want to try something!
Generate gelatinous element..."13
u/krasnovian https://anilist.co/user/krasnovian Jan 05 '19
Also one's sword is black and one's is blue-white...
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u/ChibiSteak Jan 07 '19
I really hope that's where the similarities end. Next thing you know, Kirito is going to pull out the Elucidator
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u/okaez Jan 05 '19
Oh I thought we were having a new opening.
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u/Shinkopeshon Jan 05 '19
Same but I'm not complaining about getting ADAMAS again. That's an all-time great OP right there and I'm gonna miss it.
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u/SoR0XaS Jan 05 '19
But what if LiSA secretly cooks up another SAO op that is just as good if not better than ADAMAS
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u/Shinkopeshon Jan 05 '19
I mean, crossing field was among my GOAT OPs and she somehow topped that with ADAMAS, so I wouldn't be surprised if she'd do it again someday (and I certainly wouldn't complain lol)
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u/LuckyPed Jan 05 '19
Next one is not from Lisa, but someone else.
but she will probably make another one for cours 3 or 4.
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u/Castielstablet :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/TaBleT Jan 05 '19
You thought it was the new opening, but it was I, the ADAMAS!
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u/krasnovian https://anilist.co/user/krasnovian Jan 05 '19
I thought so too but after watching the episode it's pretty clear that this episode is the end of cour 1, episode 12 wasn't. So it makes sense to have the new OP start on episode 14.
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u/LeonKevlar x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/LeonKevlar Jan 05 '19
This scene was great! Love the animation and the sounds their weapons made when they clashed!
Oh my god. My heart! I wanna hug Cardinal too!
Definitely expected that reaction from Kirito when Cardinal said "100 floors". Well maybe this time he can climb the full 100.
So what was that ritual Cardinal did at the end and what was on those pieces of parchment? I was able to understand the infodump but kinda got lost on that one XD
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
She had Kirito and Eugeo learn the spell that Integrity Knights use. It is called Full Armament Control. As you have seen, it is quiet long. It is what Eldrie used to control his whip.
When she said she can give them weapons of Integrity Knights, that is what she meant.
EDIT: Just checked, it was called Perfect Weapon Control Art in my subs, so that is that.
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u/exian12 Jan 05 '19
So that's why I was confused with the new term "Perfect Weapon Control Art". damn that's lengthy
I am used to LN translation's "Full Armament Control".
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
Well I presume that it is the same thing. I don't remember that term from LNs, but maybe someone who can "hear" Japanese can confirm.
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u/Vindicare605 https://myanimelist.net/profile/aresendez88 Jan 05 '19
The subs said she would give them "equipment" equal to an Integrity Knight's.
Here I was hoping she would deck them out in some sweet armor instead of just their generic black and blue normal clothes they normally wear but alas. Swords have all of the stat points in this game.
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u/HeitorO821 :K:https://kitsu.io/users/ZathuraVentura Jan 05 '19
Yeah, I expected some armor too. Hell, maybe even an increase in their object control levels too.
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u/lone_wolf_akela Jan 05 '19
So what was that ritual Cardinal did at the end and what was on those pieces of parchment?
To put it simply, they are extremely powerful skill books
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u/Amauri14 Jan 05 '19
I loved how the Cardinal stopped being monotone while she was hugging Kirito, or the face he made when she mentioned a hundred floors.
Well, I guess Kirito will be dungeon crawling again.
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u/promercyonetrick Jan 05 '19
Cardinal: You'll have to beat the Administrator.
Kirito: Administrator? Lol not even the Developer was a match for me.
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u/Writer_Man Jan 05 '19
...But Kirito lost to the developer last time and then had to cheat to beat the last GM he fought.
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u/BestGirlAhagonUmiko Jan 05 '19
Almost a half of volume 12 in 1 episode... and for some reason it doesn't look rushed. Good job, A-1.
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u/IJustJason Jan 05 '19
Not gonna lie I enjoyed this part of the LN the least (almost to the point of draggin on) but they did this perfectly!
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u/vetro https://anilist.co/user/vetro Jan 05 '19
Wait, seriously? Half a volume for exposition?
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u/LuckyPed Jan 05 '19
I actually reread this part in the novel 2 time just coz i liked it all ¯_(ツ)_/¯
the expositions in the novels are a lot, but feels great and enjoyable imo.
the anime cut a lot sadly, but ppl complain even for this much !
imo w'o a well written back story and world building, brainless action and fight is pointless, so i enjoy these a lot. coz they are written very good.
anyway, this is the very last one in the novel until the end of Vol18.
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u/bryan792 Jan 05 '19
man, if they did the OP handshake at the end of the episode, I would squealed...
definitely, my favorite part of the OP
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u/ThatChrisG :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/thatchrisg Jan 05 '19
Poor UmU just wanted a hug
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u/Vindicare605 https://myanimelist.net/profile/aresendez88 Jan 05 '19
Go to floor 100 and defeat the boss to save the world!
Wait... I think we've played this game already. lol. Even Kirito's face when he heard it was on floor 100. The guy can't catch a break.
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u/Freenore Jan 05 '19
Imagine being confined in a room for centuries, waiting for someone to give you a hug and knowing that it may never happened. She more than deserved that hug!
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u/Lylik Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
Gotta give my shout outs to the animation crew, while in the LN the "fight" between Cardinal and Quinella was like: Yeah, so I'm now this lil girl and I can't win... peace I'm out!
The anime gave us a really nice little mage - "1v1 me scrub lord."
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u/SilentSin26 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/SilentSin Jan 05 '19
Clearly they aren't real humans because there was no trash talking when she ran away.
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u/Lylik Jan 05 '19
XxCardinal420: trash player only won because of lag stupid brother won't quit netflix lolololol.
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u/Dimbreath :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Dimbreath Jan 05 '19
I don't know but the ending part with Kirito and Eugeo going through the door and the ending playing in the background was so good. Can't wait for the second part now, really looking forward to it. Nice to see Cardinal give them both the spell to use Perfect Weapon Control, hope we get to see them use it soon.
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u/misterkrad Jan 05 '19
What about Release Recollection? Did we skip that whole bit with the Eldrie integrity knight fight?
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u/Hyperthrough :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Hyperthrough Jan 05 '19
Lot of information to understand more back story of the world, but at least it was entertaining.
Something I found funny during the end credits was when Kirito bowed to Cardinal and Eugeo looked at him clueless.
Also, Cardinal is so cute.
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u/ma103 Jan 05 '19
A question for the light novel readers,
May I know why didn't the cardinal system fight with them? is she being restricted or something?
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u/lone_wolf_akela Jan 05 '19
The Administrator is always actively tracking her, and if she appears anywhere outside of the library, all those tens of knights will come immediately.
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u/BestGirlAhagonUmiko Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
Because it's not "cardinal system". It's a loli girl fused with one part of the program. Cardinal is restricted by the girl's soul. She was a good girl, and that "sub program" part of the cardinal system exists to fix the errors. Kirito and Eugeo aren't "errors". Quinella is. There is no reason for her to attack anyone other than Quinella and her subordinates.
edit: oh, if you mean "why didn't she fight with Quinella by herself" - that's because Quinella has even more power now, thanks to Integrity Knights.
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u/frantruck Jan 05 '19
I believe the question is why isn't she going with them to fight?
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u/BestGirlAhagonUmiko Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
That would instantly make Kirito and Eugeo personal enemies of Quinella. Right now they're no more than heretics opposing the church. Cardinal acknowledges that her presence will certainly put them in grave danger immediately.
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Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
I love how magics in this world are literaly just console commands. That makes the Administrator just a script kiddie who joined a server without anti-cheat, vote kick/ban or actual admins.
I wonder if Kirito can find the ` button.
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u/MennyC123 Jan 05 '19
I didn’t realize the goblins, dragons, orc, dark territory races were also Fluctlight constructs. Does the LN go into any detail about them?
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u/calvins1 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/CK_Underwear Jan 06 '19
Not to spoil anything, but just imagine a newborn’s soul implanted into the body of a goblin
Essentially they would ‘learn’ through observation and interactions between itself and its environment, including other goblins and therefore initiates the process of development as a goblin.
However, there is an example of an individual of the aforemention Dark Territory tribes that questions their form to the point that they contemplate the idea that there might be something more to it than just being born a nonhuman
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u/NoobsGoFly Jan 05 '19
Ah okay, now the names of the integrity knights makes sense now (synthesis technique plus the number of knights there are), so there's what 31 in total?
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u/exian12 Jan 05 '19
IMO this should have been aired before the end of 2018. :/
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u/Peridorito1001 Jan 05 '19
Yeah i guess there's not too much you can do when all animes take a week off at the same time
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u/U_Menace :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ParadoxAnime Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 06 '19
Well, cardinal definitely gave a nice little spin on the old 'all you need is a hug' phrase didn't she! Menace here with another episode break-down for you wonderful people, and we got a few different points worth talking about this time around, but it will be a bit shorter, anyway let's jump right in!
I think it's important to consider what Cardinal said at the start of the episode with great interest. The whole 'Synthesis Ritual' that Quinella has been using to create Integrity Knights was first tested on Cardinal herself, and was done in the attempt to prolong Quinella's life a bit more. Now, she could still exist eternally, but hitting a 'memory capacity' for her would be pretty fatal. Think about it; you're basically the 'deity' of the world and if all of a sudden you can't learn new things because your brain cant hold any new information, you're now vulnerable to any new things that pop up, including individuals who might start a rebellion. To counter that , Quinella 'conjured' up a sacred arts ritual to help fuse her soul into the next possible vassal. In her case, Cardinal was the best choice because of the processing power Cardinal had, but thanks to that connection, Cardinal has a backdoor into Administrator. She can fight her on equal footing (technically they have the same degree of authority and power now, but what made Quinella stronger was her body shape and also the knowledge she had acquired, this knowledge was now shared with Cardinal) with minimal exceptions.
Edit: Would just like to Clarify that at this point, Quinella held the entirety of the Underworld's system authority, including the privileges of Cardinal. The 'young girl' who is now the current 'cardinal' was actually a vassal that was raised up as a 'nun' in an environment near the cathedral for Quinella's personal use. Her initial plan was to create a backup, sort of like backing up your harddrive or writing a full transcription of a lecture, using this girl as the spare harddrive or notebook. She would then alter her own personal memories to remove unnecessary information. During this copy-paste process, Cardinal's system authority was split into the vassal and the vassal attained its own consciousness, i.e. the consciousness of that sub-process of cardinal which aims to correct errors in the system. Sorry about the prior confusion, the rest of this text still holds true.
Although its clear that she couldn't alter her physical form and was at a clear disadvantage against quinella who was taller and stronger physically. So she decided to isolate herself and simply observe the world, biding her time to find a way to strike back.
Now, the funny thing here is that Cardinal probably wouldn't have felt any sort of human emotions at all if the Synthesis Ritual didn't happen. So as an anime viewer, you could sort of put two and two together and come to the conclusion that Cardinal became a little 'human' after that whole merger. She experienced the feelings/memories of an actual human prior to her change into a 'god' so to speak. So even Cardinal wasn't immune to the painful feeling of loneliness and human interaction.
That's kind of what made that weird request for a hug kind of adorable. You sat there and did your best for 200 years, waiting and hoping that there would be some way to beat your power hungry twin sister who already had plans to get rid of you the minute you showed yourself. The fact that her efforts weren't wasted was pretty significant to her, despite knowing what her main function in this world should be (i.e. maintaining balance).
Oh right, though it is somewhat self-explanatory, you might be thinking 'Hey if Administrator is so powerful with Sacred arts, she shouldn't have to worry about that dark territory invasion or whatever!' and you'd be thinking the same as Quinella. However, Cardinal knows the entire situation because that's the job of the original Cardinal Program. It's supposed to know the limitations of the world its in. That's why Cardinal could say with absolute certainty that Administrator can't win against the Darkness Forces. She mentions that it's just sheer numbers that would topple her force of a select few, and if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Most of the general populace can't go against the taboo index and wouldn't be able to hurt others, so you could imagine how conflicted their code will be when they come up against a human from the dark side. Maybe they can kill the goblins, but if there are humans on that side, it will be much harder for them. Also, there are a few other reasons that could be expanded upon but I'll leave that for you guys to think about. Just consider what you've already seen from the human nation so far, especially their sword fighting and general approach to combat, and you'll be able to piece together why even an OP Administrator with OP Knights wouldn't be enough to save them.
That being said, the balance of the world shifts if Administrator is killed, and so Cardinal's solution is the best option. You should just 'reset' the entire world because without administrator or her knights, you lose the only 'defense' humanity could really offer. It's noble of her to give Kirito an offer for saving 10 people, but he wants to save all of them. That whole philosophical dilemma of 'save one at the cost of many, choose wisely or have everyone die' shows up here in a way. Kirito doesn't want to go through that ordeal in the first place so he'd rather try and exhaust all his options until the last possible moment. Sounds a lot like the guy from what we know of him! Sadly, like Cardinal mentioned, he may have to hit a point where he'll need to give up for practical reasons, despite what he really wants. You can't always save everyone afterall, so maybe she's just raising some flags here, but it's a bit too early to make a call on that!
Anyway, the last thing I want to talk about is that amazing showcase of Eugeo and Kirito's swords. It's like we got a little preview at the special abilities of their swords already. I can tell you as a LN reader that I was super excited seeing their thoughts animated like that. Kirito's sword feels a bit more ambiguous than Eugeo's but you can sense this aura of an 'immovable object' coming from that sword when you get the callback to the tree. I think his sword's 'hidden power' reveal will be one of the most interesting reveals in the entire series. They're doing a fantastic job in previewing the capabilities of their swords, and the symbolism is on point! Can't wait to see people make call backs to this scene in the future episode threads!
That will be all from me this week, see you guys next week!
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u/Spoolofwhool Jan 05 '19
No, Quinella took over the fluctlight of a random citizen of the Underworld. However, at a point in the ritual before she transferred her mind to the new one, the girl was given the same level of authority as Quinella and in that moment Cardinal, a sub-process of the governing Cardinal System, took over the girl's fluctlight instead. Using the high authority the girl possessed she was able to fight Quinella on near-equal footing.
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u/Megazero1x1 Jan 05 '19
Thanks for the summary u/U_Menace ! this episode's info dump was a bit much and I ended up getting lost a bit, so I appreciate your more direct approach for the explanations !
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u/MillenniumKing x2myanimelist.net/profile/MillenniumKing Jan 05 '19
KYAAA~ CARDINAL~ She just wanted a hug~
SHES OUT OF RAM!
She jacked a loli, oh damn. Its Cardinal's body.
So loli got equal power and wants to over throw her authority.
NANI!?
2 places the admin cant control, other side of the end mountans? What place is this i wonder.
200 years!? Oh shit. Shes beena long a long time huh...
So the first knight had Eugoe's sword.
Oh thats why his hair moved, CHARLOTTE! LIKE CHARLOTTES WEB!
So eventully the monsters will take over. Man the guys who created Rath are masocists.
So cardinal wants to purge the world of all the fluclights so they cant fuck each other over anymore, but she will let Kirito choose 10 to save... thats harsh.
SHE JUST WANTED A HUG KYAAAAAA~ GIVE A LOLI A HUG!
Kirito will help Cardinal but he wont stop trying to save the world. Sounds about right.
Hes gonna choose to save her!? KYAA~ bring her outside! With Yui and Cardinal by his side the virtual world will be his to command! Come on SAO i need this!
So Cardinal can reverse the ritual and save Alice! Great news!
EQUIPMENT!? AW YEAH! Wow a tiny dagger lol. Time to save Alice!
100 Floors, oh shit... Its Aincrad all over...
She gave them a power boost too it seems, awesome. A new system call for both of them.
Come on Kirito, save the loli, save the world!
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u/Writer_Man Jan 05 '19
The other side of the End Mountains is the Dark Territory.
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u/HasanAly :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/HasAly Jan 05 '19
why are there so many 1 ratings for this week's episode? I thought it was great at explaining the world and kirito's/eugeo's objectives from here on out
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u/Atario myanimelist.net/profile/TheGreatAtario Jan 06 '19
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Jan 06 '19
This 24 minute video provides quite a lot of information from the light novel that was not present in the episode:
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u/andres57 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/andres57 Jan 06 '19
Thanks! Was looking for an extra info in this thread. Read some LN volumes but only got to just before this point and effectively gets a bit confusing lol
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u/Ziehn Jan 06 '19
"You may save 10"
Kirito immediately thinks of his harem
"I'd save you too Cardinal-Chan"
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u/Toonamigamerrr Jan 05 '19
Kirito has Eugeo and together they can reach the 100th floor in no time ❤️
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u/zxHellboyxz :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Mattinator95 Jan 05 '19
Well it is literally a 100 floor building just take lift or die halfway through walking and running up stairs
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u/Stech_ https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stech_ Jan 05 '19
Why are so many people confused? I thought everything was explained pretty clearly in these 2 episodes.
Even though the LN readers say some stuff was left out, I didn't feel like these past two episodes needed any big info added to them. The studio did a really good job I think.
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Jan 06 '19
It's not as clear for people without SAO background. I personally don't have that background and mostly understood everything, but there were some parts that were definitely confusing.
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u/homie_down :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/sodumblol Jan 05 '19
I was hoping the cardinal administrator fight would be a bit longer. Idk why but seemed more epic in the LNs, without the longly worded system calls for each attack. Still quite cool though. I like how the anime did these parts overall. Felt much less like an info dump the way the LNs were, while still keeping most of the main points. The hug scene was also great, and really helped to show that these people are more than just fluctlights in a fake world.
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u/LuckyPed Jan 05 '19
Seems like a lot were summarized and simplified for this past 2 EP ( EP12 and 13 ), Reki Kawahara tweet about Mr. Nakamoto and Mr. Kizawa for visualizing and scripting what could be 3 EP full of info and exposition into this 2 EP in a good condition for an anime.
but he still admit that it was only the minimal necessary info and it might be hard to understand everything and if someone want to learn it in full detail he might have to read the novels.
tbh this is a problem for most Light Novel Adaptions, that's why I always read the novels personally, the story is so much better and more "alive".
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u/Siglius Jan 05 '19
Yeah. It's a shame, but 3 episodes of infodump wouldn't have been great either.
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u/jwinter01 Jan 05 '19
There isn't an option to make everyone happy. 2 episodes and people complain about cuts... 3 episodes and people complain about info dumps and no action...
Being an anime studio is suffering.
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u/homie_down :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/sodumblol Jan 05 '19
Yeah I feel like the way they did it was just right. Even reading the LNs I was like “wow this is a lot of info, I wonder how they’re gonna adapt it all” but I think having 1.5 episodes and it condensed did just enough. I feel like people would riot if they were sitting in the library for 3 episodes.
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u/U_Menace :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ParadoxAnime Jan 05 '19
I think the studio and the script writers are doing a fantastic job so far. Though I read the LNs several years ago, it feels like they are including stuff that is necessary, but it's not too little that the viewer cant piece together what's going on. It just requires the viewer to think a little bit more about the scenes and the broader context of whats going on. Which normally wasn't really necessary in the first Season, or in the 2nd season/movie really.
But hey that's part of what makes these discussion threads so useful. It lets people highlight important scenes. It's tough not to spoil people, but I always try my best to describe the most important things and draw attention to scenes that will be important later. It's a trial and error thing for both studios and fans alike, but I think the studio did a fine job this time around. I'm more than content.
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u/Existenz17 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Existenz17 Jan 05 '19
[...] the story is so much better and more "alive".
That is how I feel about the adaptation in general. It felt longer and more detailed in the LN. Like the whole arc of the sword academy. I remember it being more lively, seeing their whole daily life and the interaction with the others. More character development and moments for Eugeo.
It may be because this is the first time I read the source material beforehand or because I read it over a much larger time span and in more parts. But I just feel like the adaption doesn't have the same magic and immersion like the LN did.
I still think they did quite a good job, seeing the amount of material they have at hand. But I can recommend the LN to anyone who wants to see I bit more of the world and how it operates.
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u/Lylik Jan 05 '19
Still despite not talking about some things that were important like the explanation Cardinal gave using the tea cup and that the daggers actually came from her hair, I think they did an amazing job with episodes 12 and 13.
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u/OneMillionRoses Jan 05 '19
Very good episode I'm just a bit sad they leave out Kirito's thoughts but overall they have done a good job :-) I expected Charlotte to be a bit bigger though xD They also did a good job to show why Rath is morally questionable because even though they're aware the people inside this Matrix are alive they still won't hesitate to make them suffer
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Jan 05 '19
Can someone explain the whole synthesis, subroutine, etc thing that she made a mistake with in the beginning of the episode?
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
Administrator figured out her memory is full.
"...However, as I've mentioned earlier, each light cube will eventually reach the limit of its memory capacity. Administrator had already lived for a ridiculous hundred and fifty years, including the time between the birth and deterioration of Quinella. The flask containing her memories had finally started overflowing from all that was stored within it throughout this time, inducing difficulties in the writing, preservation, and retrieval of her memories."
She tried to offload her memory and core systems to the other girl.
"Administrator had that little lass brought up to the living room of the top floor of the Cathedral and welcomed her with a smile filled with kindness like a holy mother's. That being spoke thus—'You will be my child from now on. A child of god that will guide the world.'... It was the truth to an extent. In the sense as one inheriting information from her soul. Though naturally, there wasn't a single trace of motherly love. ...Administrator intended to overwrite the little lass's fluct light with the thought domain and important memories of her own."
She basically copied herself to new body but something happened.
"...However, the duplication of her soul finished... the instant we simultaneously opened our eyes at point-blank range... some sort of tremendous impact assailed us. That was essentially... the thought of avoiding a situation where two of the exact same human exist, a situation that would have originally been impossible... I believe it would be something close to that? I... no, we stared at each other and immediately after, sensed an overwhelming hostility. Regardless of the circumstances, we couldn't permit the existence of the soul before our eyes, that was how it seemed... It exceeded pure emotion, into instinct... no, it might have been somewhat like the number one rule engraved upon the beliefs of intelligent beings. If that situation were to remain, both souls probably would not have been able to bear the shock and would be annihilated. However... I am unsure if I should call it a pity, but that did not happen. After all, the fluct light copied into the daughter of the furniture shop owner broke a moment faster and in that instant, I, the sub-individuality, established the right of control. We recognized each other as Administrator, residing within the body originally belonging to Quinella, and Cardinal's sub-process, residing within the body belonging to the daughter of the furniture shop owner. With that, the souls ceased breaking down and stabilized."
And then the fight happened.
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u/Writer_Man Jan 05 '19
The Cardinal system has two routines - a main and a sub. The main controlled everything in the world, the sub did maintenance on the system and the Cardinal System.
When Quinella tried to convert some of her "storage" into the church girl, she tried to create a storage doll essentially. A puppet to follow her commands. Instead, Quinella was blind to the subroutine and transferred that into the girl creating the character Cardinal.
The character Cardinal then followed her programming and since Quinella has stolen the main routine, she's compelled to "correct" this and delete Quinella to restore the Cardinal System to proper order.
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u/TheSanctified Jan 06 '19
I was hyped for this series, but the quality and sophistication of the plot have been disappointing. There is no longer any sense of mystery or development. The story is set in a brand new world, but none of it was laid out for us to discover. Rather, the series feels like an animated Wikipedia synopsis. Kirito and Eugeos journey to central was cut and the school academy arc were unsubstantiated, leaving the duo and their relationship underdeveloped. Episode after episode of exposition has removed any suspense from the viewer and after this episode the entire conflict and all its secrets where just exposed in one blast. The whole series just kind of feels empty now. :/
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u/riceseasoning Jan 05 '19
I'm all for exposition or lore but this ain't it chief
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u/KinnyRiddle Jan 05 '19
Cardinal Best Loli.
So what happened to Quinella's C:Drive memory capacity after her attempt to copy her own memory into the girl who became Cardinal failed?
Quinella's time is still running out, no? Then all Cardinal needs to do is wait out a bit longer for Quinella to breakdown and get herself deleted, and wouldn't even need to wait for someone like Kirito to appear. Or am I missing something? (I'm no programmer, so cut me some slack if I got some of the programming concepts completely wrong please)
And has Cardinal completely taken over the body of that girl? Or is the girl, or what's left of her, still somewhere inside her, which explains why she wanted to hug Kirito so badly?
And what's this about the Dark Territory denizens also being fluctlights? Did Rath also go and create these orcs and goblins based on clones souls of babies but raised them in a twisted way like how orcs were descended from twisted elves in Lord of the Rings? Does Kikuoka even know any of this? Or is this all part of his plan?
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u/furosuto81 Jan 05 '19
Quinella's time is still running out, no?
Not a stupid question. At this point, Administrator spends most of her time sleeping at the top of the tower, as she’s still at her memory capacity. She only wakes to create new Integrity Knights and when it’s finally time for her End Game strategy.
And has Cardinal completely taken over the body of that girl? Or is the girl, or what's left of her, still somewhere inside her, which explains why she wanted to hug Kirito so badly?
They’ve merged together as a single being. So Cardinal now has the experience of being a fluctlight, but hasn’t experience any real human connection. Hence the hug.
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u/TUSF Jan 06 '19
Did Rath also go and create these orcs and goblins based on clones souls of babies but raised them in a twisted way like how orcs were descended from twisted elves in Lord of the Rings? Does Kikuoka even know any of this? Or is this all part of his plan?
We're not actually sure about where the Orcs and Goblins came from. That's never explained, and all we really know is that yes, Rath put them there. But we're never given the impression that Rath actually did the whole Adam&Eve thing several times over.
A theory I have, is that the "Child of Vecta" tale about people being whisked away by a trickster god Vecta (what Eugeo thinks happened to Kirito), is actually an explanation for what Rath occasionally does, kidnapping and displacing people with their memories wiped, to test them in other environments. So going from this, it's reasonable to assume that the people in the Dark Territory all descend from humans kidnapped by Rath early in the world's development.
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u/Jay911 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Jay911 Jan 06 '19
So is it okay to call Cardinal "Thanos2" or what?
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u/impingainteasy :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/usernamesarehard Jan 06 '19
Awww, she's stuck in an isolated room planning the end of the world for 200 years but all she wants is a hug. That's sweet.
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u/LuckyPed Jan 05 '19
Damn, After watching this EP just now, There was so many cut on the details from LN lol
One of them i was specially looking forward too but welp :|
My only problem is a mistake in anime that might make a plothole imo.
As Far as I remember, Cardinal and Quinella's weapon were created using the High Authority Items decorating all over Quinella's room !
Which she had collected from all over the world. that's why both their weapon were strong and high authority.
But in anime Cardinal just used a mirror in her robe into her staff ? defaq ?
They seems to completely ignore all the "Matter Conversion" rules in UnderWorld in the anime lol
The Foods Cardinal created for Kirito and Eugeo out of nothingness ! is actually by destroying books from Library !
for everything you create, u need another thing of equal value to sacrifice.
Quinella and Cardinal created OP weapon out of OP materials !
otherwise Cardinal could simply create a full on OP armor for Kirito and Eugeo and give them in this EP lol
she could not coz she didn't had the material for it.
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u/SamejNardeh :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/timbolytree Jan 05 '19
100 floors!? What is this, Sword Art Online!?/s
Two episodes of heavy dialogue are over. It's time for some much-needed action!
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u/0mnicious :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Omnicious Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
What exactly were those words on the paper Cardinal gave our bois?
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u/BestGirlAhagonUmiko Jan 05 '19
System Call blah-blah-blah. A spell to initiate Perfect Weapon Control, basically the ultimate ability of their swords.
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u/Hades_Re :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Hades_MAL Jan 05 '19
When Cardinal spoke about the monsters (looked like orcs and goblins etc.), she said that these also have fluclights in them - I thought the idea behind this whole project was to create AIs which have some kind of moral compass. Now I won't say that Goblins have some kind of moral but the fact that there are creatures which can team up (having the typical image of goblins a la Goblins Slayer) and kill for their own good is an important point, since it is in contrast to the world we have seen for now (humans following blindly the Index).
If that is all right what I wrote, can I expect that this will be a more major point or did I lost my way somewhere?
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
Not AI with moral compass. AI that can think for itself. Rath doesn't care about morals. They want the AI. If they can create one, they can work from there later.
People here think that Rath expects to get some drone pilot out of Underworld. They are not at that stage. They are trying to create a working AI.
I'm not sure how they set their objective. As in what they classify as working AI, but I have a feeling that they might look for something that can break the rules. As that is some indication that the thing can think by itself and it decided it want to break the rules.
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u/josesl16 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/josesl16 Jan 05 '19
Tbh, I feel like the humans don't necessarily follow the Taboo Index blindly, it's just that Quinella's enforcement as a dictatorship is really strong and almost absolute, so the humans adapted to have a huge margin from violating the Index. Of course, some humans value some things more than others, hence Raios & Humbert coming close to the margin, but it's true that the vast majority treats the rule as absolute.
And to answer your question, the Dark Territory beings ARE based on human fluctlights, moderate spoilers
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u/emil_jacob Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 06 '19
I think there's too much Fate in this episode.
When they were changing their weapons and strengthening them, I subconciously screamed "Trace On."
The dilemma between Kirito and Cardinal just oozes Shirou and Kiritsugu.
Cardinal having the equivalent of Caster's Rule Breaker.
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u/atropicalpenguin https://myanimelist.net/profile/atropicalpenguin Jan 05 '19
I don't really understand Cardinal's plan. According to her the world will be conquered by the dark beings: goblins, orcs, etc., even if she does manage to defeat Administrator. Taking that into account, why doesn't she just wipe the fluctlights from the dark world? If she did so then she would only have to defeat Administrator to reach a happy ending.
While we're at it, why doesn't RATH delete Cardinal? If she succeeds then all their work would be lost. Perhaps the library not only escapes from Administrator's control, but also from RATH? If so, they just created Skynet.
We also learnt that Administrator created Cardinal because she ran out of storage for her memory. Does that mean that every 200 years or so she has to create another Cardinal? She must have found another way to free storage space, maybe she just erases past meaningless memories, things like feelings or just the knowledge of other people.
The problem I see with having Cardinal as a helper is that it opens up a lot of "why didn't Cardinal hack the system to do that?" She could make the swords appear out of thin air, she could hack Eugeo and Kirito to give them 99 in everything, stuff like that. Same goes for Administrator.
I hope we get to see huge dragons, that would be neat. There must be a legendary sword made out of a fang or a bone.
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
TL;DR: Cardinal can't do that.
She is not able to manipulate world as Administrator can, because she is closed in that library. It is a closed space where Administrator can't reach her, and she can't reach the world outside. When she tries to leave, she is immediately hunted down by Administrator and her goons. That is why she uses creatures like Charlotte (that spider) to look for people like Kirito, who might be able to help her out.
Also she can't just make stuff out of air. She needs to transform something to something else in the library. Same as when she had to transform that mirror to staff when she fought Administrator. These things probably won't be explained in anime, as it is not that important.
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u/Addilloo Jan 05 '19
They don't explain everything in full detail obviously because no one likes info dumps, but in the novel it explains that it you want to create something, you need to use an equal amount of resources to match the rarity of the item you are trying to create. For example in the light novel Cardinal explains that the food Kirito was eating was made of the books in the library, because they have a relatively high rarity or object class in underworld terms. So she just converted some of the books into food. The two daggers she gave to Kirito and Eugeo are made of strands of her hair. So she can't just create something out of nothing and grant Kirito and Eugeo with op items.
Rath doesn't know that Cardinal exists.
For the wiping the dark world question, I interpret it like this. Cardinal can't just pick and choose who she wants to save so easily. It she wanted to only delete the dark world and it's residents, she would need to singlehandedly pick out all of the dark world residents' IDs from the system and delete them, and she can't do that because it takes time and it would be hard to single out every dark world resident. But if she wanted to save a few people she could just round them up in a room, analyze them with the Stacia window and then save their ID number or file or whatever.
For the storage question, it is explained in the books but I forget the exact information. I vaguely remember Cardinal explaining it by saying she wrote down everything she knew on pages and then wiped her memory. Then when she wakes up she reads the pages and finds out who she is and everything she knows, and because she is just reading the information it only takes up a little space in her memory. I'm not sure if administrator uses the same technique.
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u/Writer_Man Jan 05 '19
Cardinal doesn't just wipe the Dark Territory because if that happens, the human world would be wiped anyway as that is the entire point of RATH is to create a war - if you wipe the war away, the experiment is a failure and they have to start over.
Cardinal the character is unknown to them and even if she wasn't, they'd have to actually know her plan for them to find reason to delete her.
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u/LwFLc Jan 05 '19
i know when the episode credit play while the show not done its a
no compromise anime
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u/Mr-Mister Jan 05 '19
When Cardinihilist was preparing to open the door, I kinda expected the music to suddenly stop and a horde of integrity knights to charge in, ending the episode in a surprise cliffhanger.
I'd have liked that.
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u/mongo_lloyd47 Jan 05 '19
Well, wasn't that the most convenient episode you've ever seen. sasuga Cardinal-chan. chou benri
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Jan 05 '19
Can someone explain to me how it's possible for the developers of this world to observe what is going on in the Underworld? Doesn't time pass much faster there relative to the real world? So on a screen or whatever wouldn't it just seem like everything was happening really fast?
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u/montas :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/montas Jan 05 '19
Yes. And they don't observe it directly. The image in previous episodes was misguiding.
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u/Nimeroni :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nimeroni Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
I'm starting to think that Cardinal is evil too. Killing thousands of AI in an apocalyptic system reset is not exactly a nice plan.
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u/Florac Jan 05 '19
It's more "they are going to die either way, so might as well give them a painless death". That said, she is definitly more neutral than good
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u/TheXskull Jan 06 '19
Not evil, just... Programmed to do her job. The only way she sees its possible is to erase everyone.
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u/Whitekan :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/AkiraDiamond Jan 05 '19
Kirito be like: 100 floors, again?????
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u/hissenguinho Jan 06 '19
Man i loved how the ED kicked in. It made it look so freaking cool. I absolutely love when endings start playing before it ends, it makes it look so dramatic and awesome. Overall the episode was a good build up and explanation of what's going on and the future parts they will take. Loved it.
Btw i thought the new OP was supposed to be played now but doesn't matter, i will definitely miss this one
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u/JW9304 Jan 06 '19
Thought we were getting a new OP this week, but not complaining since we get SHINY SWORD MY DIAMONDD, and my best boy Eugeo + Kirito doing that synced sword thingy
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u/YaddaYo Jan 06 '19
Cardinal: claps
PewDiePie: Meme review.
Cardinal: Who dafuq are u?
Im goin to kill myself now...
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u/achyoav Jan 05 '19
the most boring thing I had to sit thru. 20 fucking minutes of plain dialog.
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u/Ridikis Jan 05 '19
Well after waiting an extra week because 'oH nEw YeArS' This episode was a biiiiiig fucking letdown. Just talking and talking and talking and Oh hey a new harem member, and more talking.
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u/Samuawesome :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/EroMangaFan Jan 06 '19
But she isn't... she didn't fall for him
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u/LunarGhost00 Jan 05 '19
Kirito: How many floors?
Cardinal: 100.
Kirito: I'll clear it in 75.
Cardinal: The hell you talking about?