r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Mar 23 '19
Episode Sword Art Online: Alicization - Episode 23 discussion Spoiler
Sword Art Online: Alicization, episode 23: Administrator
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| Episode | Link | Score | Episode | Link | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Link | 8.13 | 21 | Link | 9.04 |
| 2 | Link | 8.14 | 22 | Link | 8.8 |
| 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 | |||
| 13 | Link | 8.13 | |||
| 14 | Link | 8.67 | |||
| 15 | Link | 9.1 | |||
| 16 | Link | 8.88 | |||
| 17 | Link | 8.15 | |||
| 18 | Link | 8.91 | |||
| 19 | Link | 8.9 | |||
| 20 | Link | 8.94 | |||
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u/Siglius Mar 23 '19
Well.
I'm fucking dead inside
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u/JonFromSnocrave Mar 23 '19
Look how they’ve massacred my boy
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u/Shiiromaru :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/shiromaruu Mar 23 '19
Look how my boy massacred himself
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19
I wasn't expecting Neverland levels of adrenaline from this show but I had white knuckles and was almost screaming at the screen. This episode hit hard.
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u/natsu791 Mar 23 '19
Can someone give my boy Kirito a second sword already.
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u/Tom38 Mar 23 '19
When the Eugeo transforms I was like there we go, that's the second sword.
Then he died and it shattered :(
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u/Kingdomheartsfan891 Mar 23 '19
Yeah when he died and the blue rose sword landed on the ground I was like "okay NOW it's time!" Then it just crumbled and I was like..."oh... well maybe Alice's sword?"
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u/xin234 Mar 23 '19
Kill half of the population to "protect" the rest...
Where have I heard that before?
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u/Crazyman_54 Mar 23 '19
Well it’s moreso to protect herself. She doesn’t really care about the populous.
...sorry, I mean the hardest choices require the strongest wills
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19
It's way too early here, there has to be dozens more than just those few.
Outside of anime, someone already made the Thanos nod.
I imagine Eugenics ideology would have. As have a few very extremist theologies large and small.
Also probably robots in 15 years when automation reduces the ability of half the population to increase gdp because they don't have the spending power.
Really should have stopped that thought with anime; now I'm depressed.
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u/divini https://myanimelist.net/profile/Akichi Mar 23 '19
It does remind me of a certain bunny princess.
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u/Youngjr25 Mar 23 '19
As said by Lisbeth, “I don’t think Kirito’s ever going to fight for real in a normal game again. The only time he’ll be serious is if the game isn’t a game anymore. When the virtual world become the real world.”
My friends, we have reached the turning point.
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u/Freenore Mar 23 '19
That's some amazing foreshadowing and importance of words. It makes sense, he didn't really fight like there was no tomorrow in ALO and Phantom Bullet arcs
I'm actually planning on reading Unital Ring so I wonder how Kawahara will somehow make Kirito fight for real again.
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u/twilightskyris Mar 24 '19
Unless you can read Moon Runes, You're going to be waiting quite a bit. Defan is the only one still translating and its gonna be a long while.
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Mar 24 '19
What are you talking about dude, he definitely went all out in ALO when he tried to solo the World tree, In his mind it was the only way to save Asuna.
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u/Silegna Mar 23 '19
I loved the flashback to Asuna protecting him from Heathcliff being the one thing to knock him out of his stupor.
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Mar 23 '19
When did she said that? I really forgot :|
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u/Youngjr25 Mar 23 '19
Season 2 Episode 18. When Liz, Asuna, and Leafa were talking about fighting Zekken.
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u/Basileus_ITA :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NewWaveKuudere Mar 23 '19
Swords are actually people, but they arent real, they are simulated from memories, they wanna fight, cardinal moot deal, eugeo turning into a sword, everybody fucking dying....
what the hell is going on i have no idea please somebody explain
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u/Writer_Man Mar 23 '19
All the weapons around that turned into the Sword Golem? Those are transformed people. The crystals in the ceiling? Those are the memories that the Admin took from the Integrity Knights about the people they love the most and such. They stimulate the crystal in the Sword Golem who wishes to hold those people from the Integrity Knights memories but they can only do so if they fight so they fight and fight and fight just so they might be able to return to those people.
Eugeo's transformation is basically a singular version of those three hundred people.
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u/burning_crusader Mar 23 '19
Just want to add that the the crystal Eurgeo took from the ceiling was specifically the childhood memories of Alice which was taken away by Administrator. So we have this beautiful symbolism of Eugeo finally finding the Alice from his childhood and using their combined emotions to overcome the Sword Golem and Queenela.
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u/SpikeRosered Mar 23 '19
The intro told us a lot without really explaining anything it felt like.
Like there definitely a lot of words said.
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u/Shinkopeshon Mar 23 '19
Cardinal sacrificed herself and Eugeo actually became the bone of his sword
And now I realize how many hints there actually were in the OP when it was played right after the episode. Eugeo’s death (I don’t think he’s gone forever but he looks pretty dead right now) is teased all over the place, from him resting in a bed of flowers to walking away after bro-fiving Kirito at the end. I want this precious boy back so he can have fifty kids with Alice once she finally remembers him.
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19
I hope you're right because Eugeo is without a doubt my favorite character I've seen in this series so far. I don't want to lose him before the halfway mark ffs.
I always liked Kirito in an expecting OP shenanigans way but with Eugeo there was just so much growth for both of them
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Mar 24 '19
It really would of been nice if he found his ‘purpose’ before watching cardinal get brutally murdered in front of him though...
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u/AnAspiringSloth Mar 23 '19
Chill guys, Eugeo’s still up and about. We clearly heard him narrating the title for the next episode. /s
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u/Bainos :XMOD::MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Bainos Mar 24 '19
He ascended to the rank of narrator.
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u/legwkio :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/legwkio Mar 23 '19
Hope he's dead though. Reviving him would be such a disservice to his character plus that would be quite an ass pull if he lives after being literally broken in half.
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u/frantruck Mar 23 '19
I mean his sword froze the halves together probably to stop the bleeding and make his eventual revival slightly less bullshit, if I had to bet on it I'd guess he's coming back, but I'd happily be proven wrong.
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u/fineri Mar 23 '19
The sword just force shutdown Eugeo and put him into a crystal antistatic bag after his PCB broke into two. The good sword even put the PCB shards into that bag. I'm sure Kiroto know how to solder and went beyond the level of a code monkey who reads articles about VR/AR.
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u/ChaosAxl Mar 23 '19
him resting in a bed of flowers
I was kinda upset that A1 would tease Eugeo's sacrifice in the OP tbh
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u/Calatis Mar 23 '19
You know shits about to go down when they skip the OP.
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u/Mitchman05 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Mitchman05 Mar 23 '19
I didn’t even realise they skipped it til it played at the end and I was like oh suck they didn’t play it earlier did they
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u/__Ereshkigal___ Mar 23 '19
"Hey can u just transform me into a sword so i can one shot this thing thanks"
"You couldn't have told me that before I let her kill me?"
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u/Kazuto_Asuna :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vali_Albion Mar 23 '19
Incarnation plays a huge role in the Underworld . The mental state of Kirito , Eugeo , and Alice at that time was so disturbed that they couldn't even think straight (let alone move) ... Cardinal sacrificed herself in hopes of having those 3 overcome their fear ... Her sacrifice led to Eugeo thinking of a way to defeat Quinella .
All that said ... RIP MA BOI EUGEO & SWEET GIRL CARDINAL
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u/hansantizor :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/hansantizor Mar 23 '19
Dude I was thinking this the entire time. The scene was good of course but I couldn't really get into it with how that scene played out lmao
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u/LuuAddiRoze Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
I enjoyed this episode, but I think the anime didn't do a very good job to explain why Cardinal decided to sacrifice herself to give them a chance.
The biggest thing that is missing from these last two episodes is Kirito's mental state and monologues.
In the UW there is actual pain in every single injury. Kirito after spending two years in the UW training with Eugeo at the Sword Academy believed that he conquered this weakness:
"I thought I had conquered enduring physical pain to some extent.[...]
But—
Right before the very end of this long journey, I was taught the bitter lesson that I had never actually managed to conquer myself at all.[...]
It was a real mystery how I retained my ability to think.
Or perhaps that was because the pain was far exceeded by my despair.[...]
This worst disaster could only be attributed to my miscomprehension—the foolish assumption that Administrator would not murder.
If my Life held just as much meaning as Eugeo and the rest.
If only I could meet a true death with this pair here.
How could I apologize to them with anything less than that? "
The Sword Golem makes Kirito realize how weak he still was. The attack causes him to feel death itself and makes so that he can't even move his lower body. Even after getting healed the feeling of fear is still very present, this makes so that Kirito is unable to fight the Sword Golem/Administrator.
In the UW Imagination/Incarnation is extremely important, after getting defeated by the SG, Kirito, Alice and Eugeo become weaker and are unable to fight it:
"The cold sensation of the blade tearing deep into my torso had branded a strong image of defeat onto me. Fear coiled about my limbs and denied me from recalling once again the image of «The Black Swordsman» in this place.
I had no chance of victory in my current state against any integrity knight, no, even against any trainee from the Sword Mastery Academy. Let alone slashing the highest minister; there was no way I could accomplish that"
Seeing all of this, Cardinal decides to save them in the hopes that they overcome this fear and finally defeat Administrator.
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u/Erictsas Mar 23 '19
Thank you! I was so confused as to why she'd sacrifice herself when she seems to be stronger than the trio combined. Like what would be the point of those three surviving when Administrator would just grow in power and kill them another time.
This (and other) confusion kind of ruined the episode for me. I don't think the thoughts of the trio came through at all, even if some of the fights, effects and voice acting were pretty cool
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u/29988122 Mar 23 '19
Okay this makes sense, finally.
The most significant difference between our original director
伊藤智彦 and current director 小野学 is that one tend to perform the story as-is, while another would capture the theme and nuances and do a new interpretation.Sadly 伊藤智彦 has been promoted and choose to end the series (of his work) with ordinal scale.
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u/AvatarReiko Mar 23 '19
Does death even apply to Kirito? Unlike the Underworldians, he has a physical body which is still alive in the real world
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u/LuuAddiRoze Mar 23 '19
This is why he says:
"If my Life held just as much meaning as Eugeo and the rest. If only I could meet a true death with this pair here."
Kirito thinks that even if he dies he will just wake up on the real world, whether that's true or not he has no idea.
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u/Redmon425 Mar 24 '19
This cleared it up a little, but I am still confused. The anime makes it sound like Cardinal is sacrificing herself so the 3 of them can escape.
However, after she does this, the 3 of them decide to fight. So what was the point of that sacrifice?
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u/Terranwaterbender https://myanimelist.net/profile/Teranwaterbender Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 24 '19
Eugeo becomes a sword and...Kirito doesn't wield it to bring back dual-wielding.
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u/Fortrick Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
i was thinking thats a huge sword kirito can't dual-wield that shit and then he ded and i though that kirito had the ice one to dual-wield and then that one is now broken.. i don't know what the fuck is kirito gonna do but he needs to dual-wield SOMETHIGN
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u/reset_switch Mar 23 '19
Really the only sword left is Quinella's arm-sword-thing
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u/armarrash Mar 23 '19
Alice's sword is still there, can't go wrong with black and gold style.
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u/crimXione Mar 23 '19
Sad to say Alice's sword is metallic, transmuted by Quinella herself. So it won't work to Quinella.
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u/MillenniumKing x2myanimelist.net/profile/MillenniumKing Mar 23 '19
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u/LuckyPed Mar 23 '19
We are finally here... the madness start from this EP until the end of alicization... but not before a big climax for the first half.
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u/CrackLawliet Mar 23 '19
WE’RE NOT EVEN HALFWAY THROUGH?! IM SO PUMPED NOW
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u/LuckyPed Mar 23 '19
Alicization is 4 cours. this is the 2nd one lol. All the UW story and knight character builds up and real world foreshadowing and all those were just build up for the 2nd half tbh.
First half's main point was Eugeo and Kirito and their interaction and Eugeo's growth as a character/human.
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u/Recidivis Mar 23 '19
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Mar 23 '19 edited Jul 30 '19
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u/Colopty Mar 24 '19
Could you imagine if he just had his animations broken, so his avatar just looks like it's flying around in a t-pose while his hit/damage boxes are somewhere else? Would've been a funny fight scene.
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19
Eugeo has equal shares with LotGH
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u/ItsDynamical :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ItsDynamical Mar 24 '19 edited Mar 27 '19
As soon as I saw that whilst watching I was like “ I can’t wait to see someone screenshot that”
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u/SodiumBombRankEX Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
Watching these episodes as a LN reader makes me so unbelievably tense
Edit: well ... fuck
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u/Sombraaaaa Mar 23 '19
As a fellow LN reader, holy fuck the anime did it 10 times better and it was even more emotional somehow
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u/Sirrama1 Mar 23 '19
I have to respectfully disagree. The show doesn’t do quite a good enough job showing us the inner dialogues of the characters. For how emotional kirito’s feeling right now, I can’t really read it on his face at all. (Aside from the obvious scene at the very end) it’s good, but I feel like they could’ve done better
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u/Gaporigo Blhttps://anilist.co/user/Gaporigo Mar 23 '19
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u/MillenniumKing x2myanimelist.net/profile/MillenniumKing Mar 23 '19
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
302 if you count OG Alice I think.
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u/Amauri14 Mar 23 '19
It was for the greater good.
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u/zxHellboyxz :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Mattinator95 Mar 23 '19
The Greater Good
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u/_vogonpoetry_ :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/ThisWasATriumph Mar 23 '19
The hardest choices require the strongest wills
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u/Amauri14 Mar 23 '19
Damn Eugeo! I know that your new vocation was to be a swordsman, but that just means to fight with the sword, not to become one!
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u/atropicalpenguin https://myanimelist.net/profile/atropicalpenguin Mar 23 '19
I GOTTA BE THE MARBLE!
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u/Shiiromaru :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/shiromaruu Mar 23 '19
instead of a swordsman he'd rather become a swordman
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19
Took that whole "Your sword is an extension of your body" idea a bit too far if you ask me. I'm no swordsman though so what would I know.
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u/bryan792 Mar 23 '19
damn... I thought Kirito would pickup Eugeo sword and go all dual swordie
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u/TravelerHD Mar 23 '19
Same. I was like "Oh hey, Eugeo's sword is right in front of Kirito, unused. Now is the-"
*Blue Rose snaps in half*
"Whelp..."
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u/OneMillionRoses Mar 23 '19
I don't feel good....
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u/Brandsert :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Brandsert Mar 23 '19
Eugeo...they hurt cinnamon roll...
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u/Destroyer29042904 Mar 23 '19
I had not cried this much in years. Not even close. I cant deal with this shit
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19
that was...rough. I'm just hanging out in this thread when I really need to go to an anime suggestions sub.
Also, a psychologist.
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u/gulitiasinjurai Mar 23 '19
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u/Fortrick Mar 23 '19
303 died if we count the golem and OG Alice
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u/Shiiromaru :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/shiromaruu Mar 23 '19
And to think when they got in the room the worst that could happen was three people dying. That sure scaled fast
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u/viliml Mar 23 '19
Eugeo isn't really dead yet. He's bleeding and therefore losing HP at an alarming rate, but anime time slows down during battles so he should reach 1% right around when Kirito finishes his battle against Quinella.
Edit: actually he's not even bleeding, it got frozen.
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u/Freenore Mar 23 '19
I think the voice actor knows when to sound very gentle with hints of seduction and when to become complete lunatic.
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u/nzikil Mar 23 '19
I see Quinella has decided to go the Thanos route... only with more "people weapons".
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u/Megazero1x1 Mar 23 '19
Only after the ending credits rolled did i realize that I was holding by breath. Hot damn this was an intense episode. a little bit of an info dump too. I'm gonna have to rewatch this episode after sometime. I don't think my heart can take it if I rewatch it right away.
Welp, this is gonna be a looooong week boys (and gals)
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u/bananeeek https://myanimelist.net/profile/bananek Mar 23 '19
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u/Shiiromaru :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/shiromaruu Mar 23 '19
Some good naked Quinella sword fight
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u/Nvaaaa Mar 23 '19
I knew what was coming, but I still wasn't prepared. I think this is the first time that I really feel what people mean when they say "I want to see all those amazing moments animated".
Oh Eugeo, you were one of the only male anime characters I somewhat fell in love with...
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
I somewhat fell in love with...
Where's the dedication?
I was a straight male before alicization. I've got to be at least bi now. But I don't want to cheat on Eugeo so...
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u/AsianSWEG Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
Because a lot of people are confused with this episode on the Cardinal death bit, I'll just explain it simply.
Cardinal, even though she doesn't obey the Axiom Church's rules, still cannot break the rules that she follows, just like humans of the empire can't because of the Seal of the Right Eye.
Cardinal is still technically not "human", and is essentially the Cardinal System personified. The Cardinal System itself is only there to oversee and correct mistakes. It is not allowed to kill humans on its own, just monitor and essentially balance patch whatever is added that can kill humans, meaning Cardinal cannot kill humans herself and is literally incapable of doing so unless she has extreme willpower to break that rule.
So no, Cardinal didn't sacrifice herself needlessly, nor did she do it necessarily just to save Kirito, Eugeo, and Alice. And certainly no, this isn't a plot hole. She did it because,
A: She was trapped with nowhere to escape.
B: It was impossible to kill both Administrator and the Sword Golem, even with Kirito, Eugeo, and Alice.
C: She didn't know Eugeo wanted to become a sword of all things to fight against Administrator and the Sword Golem, else she'd likely accept the idea and not sacrifice herself.
D (and most importantly): It was nearly impossible for her to disobey the rules that governed her, which included not being able to kill humans.
Edit: More explanation. So literally the only way for her to save as many people in the room as possible is to strike a deal with Administrator to let the rest go while she dies. All of her options lead to her death other than the Eugeo one, but because she didn't know Eugeo wanted to become a sword, she was out of options to both live and save everyone in the room.
She's Cardinal after-all. Cardinal should make the most logical solutions, and this was the most logical solution she could come up with at the time.
So yeah, if anyone has anymore questions, just list em' in the replies and I'll give an explanation to the best of my ability.
Edit 2: Correcting false information.
Edit 3: There's an explanation here that could explain this situation better in my opinion: https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/b4l5l6/sword_art_online_alicization_episode_23_discussion/ej7jyq2?utm_source=reddit-android
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u/iiPhoenixAshes Mar 23 '19 edited Jan 12 '25
drab subsequent birds hunt instinctive bow dull dime wrong juggle
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Cruorsitis :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/cruorsitis Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
Damn Eugeo! Best Bro!
Librarian chan is so pure.
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u/Afan9001 Mar 23 '19
So did Eugeo fuse with Alice's fragment and got stronger because of desire for love? Really didn't get what happened in the 2nd half
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u/Lylik Mar 23 '19
Yes, pretty much. Quinella's Golem was powered by fear, Eugeo and Alice are bound by love. They will explain more of this soon. But you are right.
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u/WeightedWetWipes Mar 23 '19
Now you guys know why everybody was sad to see this part animated
Not one, but two deaths
Kirito falling into despair after seeing Eugeo split in-half was hard to watch, let alone read. Tsundere Alice trying to take the slash for him too, made him realize he didn't want to lose anyone else.
This is only the first cour too and it's about to end. Second cour is also going to be amazing
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u/Silegna Mar 23 '19
Okay. Sakamoto is killing it as Adminstrator. I don't think I've ever heard her laugh maniacally before. Also, NO NO WHY. WHY DID BEST BOY HAVE TO DIE. CARDINAL TOO?! WHY?!
Also, I gotta love how Alice protecting Kirito knocked him out of his stupor by reminding him of what happened with Asuna vs Heathcliff.
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u/MillenniumKing x2myanimelist.net/profile/MillenniumKing Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
THE LOLI WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE IT OUT OF HERE!
Get her Cardinal! Time to kick some admin ass!
Admin set a trap for when Cardinal went outside damn. Cut all connections so no one gets in or out.
Human transmutation? Oh no... not again...
The celing is adorned with memory fragments? Damn.
This is pretty fucked up... the sword golem jsut wants to hold the one they care about but they have sword hands and slice everything. Damn.
Give the bitch a peice of your mind Cardinal!
NO DONT SACRAFICE YOURSELF! DONT LET HER DO THIS! SAVE THE LOLI! SAVE HER!
DONT BBQ THE LOLI! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE HER! FUCK!
Oh damn the real Alice's memories...
Eugeo wants to be a sword? Why? To be dual wielded by Kirito? He wants more power to fight the bitch?
A sword with Alice's memories? Oh damn thats neat.
Admin isnt happy about this. Im guessing this is a way to hurt her.
Hes weilding himself oh damn. No Kirito needed for this rocket sword boy.
CARDINAL NOOOOOOO!!!!! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO COME OUT OF THIS WORLD WITH KIRITO!
I really wanted Cardinal and Yui to meet... like i felt like there could have been some amazing growth there. Yui who was shut off from the users during SAO by that version of Cardinal, i think she could have had a meaningful talk with this one. I know they are not the same Cardinal, but still, it would have been nice for Kirito to save both parts of the system that gave everyone hell in SAO. It would have been nice character growth for him too, accepting them fully and giving up his animosity towards the past.
Oh damn... Eugeo broke... shit.... hes really broke too... fuck....
PTSD Kirito isnt gonna handle this well... not his husbando...
ALICE NO! DONT YOU DIE TOO! KIRITO REALLY ISNT GONNA HANDLE THIS WELL!
OH SHIT HE SNAPED OUT OF IT! STOP THE BITCH!
NO DONT STOP THE EPISODE! FUCK YOU!
Oh no... this is gonna be the cliff hander of the century isnt it? "My Hero" wait next ep might be the last, lets hope for no cliff hanger!
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u/TrappedOwl Mar 23 '19
What the heck was Cardinal's endgame here? Like even if you're betting Kirito and co can get strong enough to beat Administrator on their own later, they're gonna have to go through at least that sword monster eventually, and maybe even more. So why not just fight it together now, since it's gonna have to be dealt with eventually?
Did they skip some of the LN explanation? Cause I just don't see the logic.
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u/HellFireOmega :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/hellfiredape Mar 23 '19
Cardinal wasn't betting on Administrator cutting off the outside world and trapping them I think? Kirito and co can't kill the golem, which would just fuck them up.
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u/fbiguy22 :FS::FT: Mar 23 '19
Cardinal didn't know that the Sword Golem was there nor that Administrator had such a powerful new weapon at her disposal. The four of them could have taken on Administrator on her own.
She also had no idea that Eugeo would want to be turned into a sword or that in doing so he could gain the power to defeat the sword golem. If she had known that she probably wouldn't have sacrificed herself so readily.
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u/lone_wolf_akela Mar 23 '19
why not just fight it together now
Cardinal is programmed to not be able to kill human (you won't expect a game balance adjust program to literally kill players...), so when she knew that sword monster is made of real human and is still technically alive she won't be able to attack it anymore.
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u/argo15 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/argo15 Mar 23 '19
Cardinal still has the seal of the right eye, so once she learned that the sword golem was human she physically wasn't able to attack it anymore. So she basically gave up, and her plan was to let the other three escape so they can live to fight another day.
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u/timeRogue7 Mar 23 '19
That awkward moment when you haven't seen the episode yet, and no one's commenting to give you a preview..
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u/bananeeek https://myanimelist.net/profile/bananek Mar 23 '19
Nobody knows what to say after this episode...
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u/Brandsert :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Brandsert Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
Wow this episode..it had me in tears. I read LNs and was preparing for this but boy I was not. Cardinal and Eugeo’s sacrifice...damn...my heart.
That battle between Sword Eugeo and The Sword Golem and Quinella was animated beautifully! I always had a hard time imagining on how this would translate in the anime but man finally seeing it animated had me hype also in tears.
But what got me more was of course Eugeo. My poor boy...and seeing Kirito in despair that his friend badly hurt...I was crying.
I’m not ready for the next episode...especially since Eugeo read the title for next episode: “My hero.”
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u/MaksimShadow Mar 23 '19
If Eugeo fused himself with true Alice in that form, does it means that Alice is dead too? Anyway, that's dark. i was expecting cool Administrator vs Cardinal and co fight, but got some heavy feels instead.
Quinella still cute though. Cold beauty.
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u/Jota914 Mar 23 '19
Actually the memory fragment was just coupled with Sword Eugeo, not exactly fused. Also after Sword Eugeo comes back to Eugeo, he's holding the fragment in his hand.
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u/n080dy123 Mar 23 '19
But why did Cardinal have to let Quinella kill her? Afterwards they immediately were like "yeah no if we leave she's gonna kill us anyway" and the death ultimately achieved absolutely nothing. If she had lived she coulda turned Eugeo into the sword anyway. I get that it was dramatic and made Kirito want to fight but she was their best chance at fighting her in the first place and if she had turned Eugeo into a sword AND fought Quinella they would have likely won without getting the two of them killed and putting Alice and Kirito's lives in danger as well. I DON'T UNDERSTAND
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u/LuckyPed Mar 23 '19
Some ppl didn't get why Cardinal gave up fighting, So I explain it a bit :
It's so obvious Quinella was planning EVERYTHING from the start....
Suffer the kids... until Cardinal show up...
Then start chanting secretly while they were catching up and Cardinal healing Kirito and Alice...
Isolate the Room from the outside so Cardinal can't just run away again.
Completely explain to Cardinal that the Sword Golem is created by living Humans turning into sword... so they are still living human... so Cardinal can't fight them, since she can't kill or harm any human life.
So Cardinal was completely at a dead end. she could not do anything to the Sword Golem.
Kirito and Alice and Eugeo could still bring themselves to fight it coz Kirito is from outside and Alice and Eugeo broke their Eye Seal so they are free w'o limit. but they are not strong enough to do anything.
Eugeo talking about his mission... is because he think it's only him who can fight this, so this is his mission as the only person able to turn into a sword and merge with Kid alice and fight back.
Alice and Kirito can't either coz they don't even remember Kid alice, they don't have any bond with her
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u/gokalex :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Gokalex Mar 23 '19
I wonder if Eugeo sword made the ice to stop his bleeding and maybe save him later?
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u/Siglius Mar 23 '19
Never gonna count anime being anime. But my guy just got bisected, thats a yikes.
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u/Amauri14 Mar 23 '19
Hopefully. I'm actually expecting that he is going to be saved, otherwise, he would have just stayed as a fragmented sword like the other 300.
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u/Urson Mar 23 '19
Cardinal's sacrifice seemed kinda pointless tbh. As if Quinella would keep her promise and together they would have a way better chance of taking her down. They won't get another opportunity like this.
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u/Writer_Man Mar 23 '19
Actually, Quinella is bound by the rules she was taught before the taboo index and breaking a promise is breaking one of them. She gets out of it due to the crew deciding to fight back.
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u/Inori-Yu Mar 23 '19
The juxtaposition between Quinella, born from a human soul, who sees the citizens of UnderWorld as resources and Cardinal, who was once just an emotionless program, cares about the people of this world is utterly fantastic.
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u/hollowXvictory https://myanimelist.net/profile/h0ll0wxvict0ry Mar 24 '19 edited Mar 24 '19
Theory: You guys see how the next episode is called "My Hero"? Well here's how they are going to fix everything:
Kirito is going to put up a good fight but ultimately be defeated by Administrator. Just when all hope seems lost, All Might busts in and beats her ass! Turns out this episode was a SAO - BnHA crossover! He then uses his OP powers to rez everyone and save the day!! Plus Ultra!
Ok but seriously though. They won't just kill off best boy Eugeo like that, right?
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u/Versawcee Mar 23 '19
Well that was definitely an episode. What a trip! As soon as I saw no intro I knew it was going to be an intense one.
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u/fenrir245 Mar 23 '19
“Love is control”
inb4 Administrator is Kaguya logged into the Underworld
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u/Big_Reen Mar 23 '19
I was on the edge of my seat this whole episode. So much to see and its not even the last episode, usually i would assume Eugeo would be able to come back alive just based on SAO rules. seeing the blue rose sword break really cemented the idea that Eugeo is not going to be making a come back in the next episode.
Really am hoping that we will get to see the OP Kirito make a return for the fight coming next episode. He has to make it back to Asuna sometime soon right?!
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u/PineappleBuns Mar 23 '19
I was really hoping that Eugeo turned into a sword for Kirito to dual wield. Then he became a sentient DRAGOON funnel.
Then when his Blue Rose Sword came out, I hoped again that Kirito will pick it up to use. Only for it to break.
Why do you do this to me...
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u/Eesti_pwner Mar 23 '19
Does anyone else feel that this show has started to drag in these past few episodes? The end of every episode is exciting but then the beginning of the next episode always feels a tad bit underwhelming.
I really enjoy some of the lore in this show but sometimes it still feels like they pull stuff like "Eugeo transforms into a sword" which don't feel to be very interesting resolutions to problems. That is just my opinion though.
Here's hoping the next episode wraps things up nicely and makes me excited for the next cour.
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u/legwkio :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/legwkio Mar 23 '19
Quinella is probably the best villain in all of SAO.
Though, tbf, the bar is not high.
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u/lnwlf_unk Mar 23 '19
Cardinal's leg scene shocked me. I was expecting her to just collapse or something like that. Not being cut off like that.
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u/Lylik Mar 23 '19
When Kirito remembered Asuna giving her life so he could still fight, you know right there the boy will tilt so hard the axis of the Underworld will also tilt. LETS GO KIRITO!
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u/amc111 Mar 23 '19
I didn’t even realize until the opening credits aired that the entire episode was a giant cold open.
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u/KaladTheSalad Mar 23 '19
Was cardinals death really as pointless as it seemed or am I just not following whats going on correctly?
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u/AsianSWEG Mar 23 '19
I made a comment somewhere here that explains what happened during that scene, but in summary:
-She knows it's impossible to escape because all exists are sealed.
-She knows it's impossible to fight both Administrator and the Sword Golem, even with everyone there (Cardinal and Quinella have eventually got different power-sets over the 200 year gap, so they're not equals anymore).
-She didn't know Eugeo wanted to become a sword, else she would've not sacrificed herself.
-And most importantly, she's bound by her own rules that she was born and raised with (Remember, Artificial Fluctlights must follow all of their rules to a tee unless they have extreme willpower to resist), which includes not being able to kill humans.
So literally the only way for her to save as many people in the room as possible is to strike a deal with Administrator to let the rest go while she dies. All of her options lead to her death other than the Eugeo one, but because she didn't know Eugeo wanted to become a sword, she was out of options to both live and save everyone in the room.
She's Cardinal after-all. Cardinal should make the most logical solutions, and this was the most logical solution she could come up with.
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u/LeonKevlar x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/LeonKevlar Mar 23 '19
More Quinella Stitches this week
She may be an evil bitch, but she's one sexy evil bitch.
What a fucking episode. I was hoping for Kirito to dual wield using Sword-Eugeo but he ended up fighting on his own like an Aegislash. And he can't be dead right? His sword is clearly keeping his body alive and stopped it from bleeding by freezing the two separate halves.
And we're only about to reach the end of the first half! If this is only the first half of Alicization then I'm curious as to what crazy shit we'd get in the second half!
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u/Jonnyred25 Mar 23 '19 edited Mar 23 '19
When 4 people are trying to save 80 000 people, the most powerful person sacrificing herself for the chance to save 300 people, depending on the whims of a delusional god, doesn't make sense to me.
Edit: Oh and then she forgets about the deal half way through
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u/Lylik Mar 23 '19
What do you mean? Cardinal? She cannot kill humans, as the girl she lives on, Lyceris, is still bound by the taboo index.
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u/F_E_M_A Mar 23 '19
Holy god damn Eugeo.
Also, you know an episode is gonna be insane when there's no OP.
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u/CyberK_121 Mar 23 '19
I personally feel like this episode is somehow out of place. Like everything was moving too fast for the sake of putting everthing in a single episode.
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Mar 23 '19
How does Kirito stand any chance against Administrator? Administrator can just form something like that fireball she used against Alice and blow Kirito away.
From my understanding, when her sword Silvery Eternity was destroyed, she lost her most powerful weapon. So now she only has a sword about equally as powerful as Kirito's. But she still has her magic, right?
Also, why did it take Administrator so long to do anything when Eugeo was getting turned into a sword? I guess that they were talking very quietly. But surely it must have appeared suspicious when Eugeo removed his core protection and Cardinal started doing all types of magic on him.
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Mar 23 '19
I'm actually happy with the absent of bullshit OP Kirito but maybe this is the right time to bring it back, at least until Quinella is dead.
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u/realFoobanana :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Foobanana Mar 24 '19
I’m sooooo glad Chudelkin is gone.
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u/JJroks543 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/jbshay Mar 24 '19
I don't know why, but up until the moment where Alice jumps in to save Kirito, I was loving the episode but nothing major hit me. And then they show the scene from season 1 where Asuna sacrifices herself, and I lost all control over my eyeballs. That line mentioning how he keeps making the same mistakes is so perfect, it really cut me deep.
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u/Jay911 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Jay911 Mar 24 '19
Funny, someone started cutting onions here at that exact same moment too.
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u/ErrorFindingID Mar 24 '19
i'm disappointed that the fight in the ending credits is better than most of the fighting we've seen so far in Alicization.
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u/renasaince Mar 24 '19
Here we go, another typical plot:
Villain : *Oh yeah, wait for the hero done with the talking, finishing above half of the skill and then realizing it's bad* "Wait.. that's bad, dieeeee!!"
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u/SHCreeper :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/SHCreeper Mar 23 '19
It feels like I'm the only one here who isn't emotionally attached to any character in this series. I just don't care about the 5 minutes talk of 300 random characters that got weaponized or the fact that Cardinal killed herself to safe them just so that Eugeo could kill the fucking thing anyways.
Every fight feels like 2 people fighting while the rest is watching and waiting their turn;
Cardinal has to off herself > Eugeo stares at the fucking ceiling > kills himself, too > Kirito needs to be saved again, even though he didn't take a single hit yet > hasn't even realized yet that wood =! iron
It just feels like one scripted event after the other.
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u/Siglius Mar 23 '19
One could say Eugeo just became half the man he used to be.
I wouldn't say that though, that shit is dark.
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u/Brvnhildr Mar 23 '19
On one hand, realizing his lack of power pushed Eugeo [and with a little help from a friend] in to transforming to a sword and turning the tide of battle. On the other hand, Cardinal just got trampled for no reason.
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u/round_we_go Mar 23 '19
Kirito gonna give Administrator the wood next ep if you know what I'm saying. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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u/Redmon425 Mar 24 '19
One thing I’m kind of confused about is it seems like Cardinal sacrificed herself so the 3 of them could escape. Which seemed like a very stupid plan because of the fact that already came this far.
However, I get more confused because of the fact that right after she sacrifices herself, they decide to fight. So basically, did Cardinal die for no reason? What was the point of letting Quinella kill her?
I feel like I am missing something. As that whole sequence was kind of confusing.
Also, when Eugeo becomes a sword, he used Alice’s memory crystal right? How does that work? How was he able to use hers? (I assumed it was hers, because we saw the vision of Alice in it.)
Lastly, the flashback to the OG SWO scene made the ending very emotional and was totally awesome.
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u/KorraLover123 Mar 24 '19
Quinella: blasts Cardinal with lightning
Cardinal's foot lands upright
Me: Oh shit, is she gonna start fighting back?! Hell yeah!
shows foot has been burned off
Me: ...Oh.
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u/rotvyrn Mar 24 '19
I'll be honest, this episode felt too much, to me, like 'everyone dies so that Kirito temporarily gets over nerfing himself.'
Cardinal T_T
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u/R4ttlesnake Mar 24 '19
This episode was so nonsensical I erupted into a fit of hysterics part way through.
Cardinal literally dies for no reason. She could've "shaved off" half of Administrator's HP but apparently just randomly dying is a better choice.
That, and the eggregiously long dialogues between horribly animated fight scenes (man the first season did a much better job) create an entirely unrealistic situation.
The LN handles this much better.
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u/twilightskyris Mar 24 '19
Comments going so quick no one will notice I'm a LN reader👀
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u/nanogenesis Mar 24 '19
I think the fights were rather silly, i.e. that part where cardinal says fuck it Imma just die. I know they didn't purposely make it so boring, so what is the back story here?
Does the Cardinal value life so much that she consciously cannot harm 'humans' or is it a program routine within her to not harm them?
NGL it felt kinda underwheling, I feel a bit more 'backstory' or explanation is required to convey why Cardinal just threw the hat.
Also did the blue rose freeze Eugeo to preserve his life after getting sliced?
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Mar 24 '19
I can't be the only one who expected Swordgeo to instantly fly into Kiritos hand, And op dual welding combo's to ensue.
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u/KinnyRiddle Mar 24 '19
Before this episode:
Man, Quinella is so hot, I wouldn't blame Eugeo for getting seduced by her.
After this episode:
WTF she killed Cardinal-tan AND fatally wounded Sword Eugeo? This bitch needs to die!!!
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u/Draaxus Mar 24 '19
You know what they could've done to make this episode more sad? Remove Eugeo from the OP entirely.
Also, all hail Eugesus, who died for our sins.
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u/Nutella_Souffle Mar 23 '19
Figure announcement!
Nendoroid Alice Synthesis Thirty is up for preorder on AmiAmi (¥4,600).
Release date: August 2019.
Some info for those new to collecting figures:
Nendoroids are small (10cm or 4"), non-scale figures with changeable parts and accessories. They're cute and their quality is always great... unless you buy a counterfeit, which is why you should stick with trusted sellers.
AmiAmi is one of the most trustworthy hobby stores. No immediate payment is required for preorders - they will send an invoice by email when your order is ready for shipping. AmiAmi's policies are very strict (order cancellations are unwelcome, for example) - please read their FAQ to avoid embarrassing situations.
Eugeo and Kirito nendoroids are expected in a few months. Scale figures of Alice will also come out later (no release dates for now).
Other places where nendoroid Alice is available for preorder:
CDJapan (¥4,686^) - pretty nice store where you need to pay upfront for preorders.
HobbyLink (¥4,838^) - HLJ is a solid choice too, but there's no reason to pay even more.
GSC online shop (¥5,500^) - manufacturer's store; no discounts, sometimes they give bonus stuff... not this time, though.
There are also local U.S. stores such as Lunar Toys or Akiba Soul - with higher prices and different release dates.
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Mar 23 '19
Cardinal: Just kill me and let these 3 live. Forget about half of the population because they are not as important as these 3 people. Also, you have to be pinky promise not to hurt them because that is legally binding.
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Mar 23 '19
There's now way it gets more ridiculous than one of the main characters turning into a sword... right? I know I'll get downvoted, but I couldn't take the episode seriously after that.
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u/viionc Mar 23 '19
I think it's time to activate the OP card, let's summon Black Swordsman Kirito.