Sword Art Online: Alicization WoU Part 2 Episodes 13 to END

[GDB]

I like the implication that Eiji literally did nothing but sat back waiting for PoH to drop his guard, and then still did absolutely nothing. I guess there's only so much you can do when you try to force an anime/movie original character into an existing script, though.

Also, once again Sinon has to get bailed out by Kirito's willpower because she can't do anything herself apparently. I'm not even sure if I can call her the Worf anymore.

At least Klein showed how much of a bro he was, and Leafa had a good showing. I did like her comment about the regeneration being like a curse. Reminded me of a Doctor Who quote. "Immortality isn't living forever, that's not what it feels like. It's watching everyone else die."

[BluePhirePB]

Man Leafa took that spear like Asuka did with the Lance in EoE.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

I like the implication that Eiji literally did nothing but sat back waiting for PoH to drop his guard, and then still did absolutely nothing. I guess there's only so much you can do when you try to force an anime/movie original character into an existing script, though.

I assumed he was fighting solo away from the main force so he was able to rush in and sneak up behind them. I think what he and Yuna accomplished will pay off once they take Vassago out. It's already got the knights fighting among themselves instead of being a unified army.

Also, once again Sinon has to get bailed out by Kirito's willpower because she can't do anything herself apparently. I'm not even sure if I can call her the Worf anymore.

I think it was less Kirito's willpower so much as her own memory and feelings towards him made manifest to some degree. I definitely wouldn't call her a Worf since she actually did significant damage to Miller, even if she didn't permanently take him out.

At least Klein showed how much of a bro he was, and Leafa had a good showing. I did like her comment about the regeneration being like a curse. Reminded me of a Doctor Who quote. "Immortality isn't living forever, that's not what it feels like. It's watching everyone else die."

Immortality doesn't make things painless .

[GDB]

Technically nothing they did changed anything. It wasn't until they saw the Laughing Coffin logo that they started truly questioning the motives. And I'm assuming that just naturally revealed itself while he was flirting with Kirito in the novels.

As for fighting by himself... as far as we're aware, the only forces were the ones at the main camp here, and the ones fighting the Pugilists.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

Technically nothing they did changed anything. It wasn't until they saw the Laughing Coffin logo that they started truly questioning the motives. And I'm assuming that just naturally revealed itself while he was flirting with Kirito in the novels.

I thought Eiji managing to knick PoH was what revealed the Laughing Coffin symbol on his hand.

I read online that in the novel Vassago is changing languages for whomever he's speaking too, so I assume that's the case here. None of the Red Knights know what he was saying to Kirito or the heroes.

As for fighting by himself... as far as we're aware, the only forces were the ones at the main camp here, and the ones fighting the Pugilists.

I didn't assume he was closer to the Pugilists but was fighting out from the main army enough that he didn't get boxed in like they did.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I thought Eiji managing to knick PoH was what revealed the Laughing Coffin symbol on his hand.

In the anime, sure. But I'm guessing the novel didn't require that to show the sigil.

[l.kostas]

Concerning PoH from the novel:

TL;DR…

 

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[magnuskn]

Honestly, Vassago got too big a power boost, just to be built up as this big bad out of nowhere in such a short time. It's just ridiculous.

[GDB]

Wow, reading that excerpt, they made him a cartoon.

[Wandering Soul]

Eiji and Yuna's scene might have been more effective if I didn't have to watch a movie to know who they were. It also might have been more effective if they achieved anything.

[Jaden]

That's the most SAO thing I've ever read. It's probably for the best that they cut the hitman subplot from the anime...

Just for laughs, I'd love to hear the story behind why someone ordered a hit on a person that's dived into SAO.

Originally Posted by BluePhirePB

Man Leafa took that spear like Asuka did with the Lance in EoE.

Yeah, I got the same flashback...

[GDB]

I wish they kept the hitman subplot. It'd have been infinitely better than him just being a super racist murderer because daddy didn't love him.

[Endscape]

Originally Posted by GDB

I wish they kept the hitman subplot. It'd have been infinitely better than him just being a super racist murderer because daddy didn't love him.

Yeah, it's crazy that he would deliberately throw himself into a death game with no way out just to kill people. The hitman angle was actually more sensible

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Honestly, Vassago got too big a power boost, just to be built up as this big bad out of nowhere in such a short time. It's just ridiculous.

If anything I think him being the leader of Laughing Coffin makes him more relevant now than he would've been as just Miller's goon, and he's been a consistent presence since the start of War of Underworld.

Originally Posted by Wandering Soul

Eiji and Yuna's scene might have been more effective if I didn't have to watch a movie to know who they were. It also might have been more effective if they achieved anything.

I mean, Ordinal Scale was always treated as canon to the anime continuity, and actually lead into this arc, so it doesn't seem completely unfair to me, especially when the movie has been legally streaming since before Alicization even premiered (Yuna was even in the first Opening).

I guess anime fans are more predisposed to thinking that the movies are throwaways these days.

Originally Posted by GDB

I wish they kept the hitman subplot. It'd have been infinitely better than him just being a super racist murderer because daddy didn't love him.

That still explains a lot about him though...

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Frontier

I guess anime fans are more predisposed to thinking that the movies are throwaways these days.

With the exception of the 5 minutes or so of this episode, the 4 second flash of them when Liz was giving her conversion speech, and that 2 second flash in the first OP, it's still throwaway in the grand scheme of things.

That still explains a lot about him though...

Not really any more than we already had of him constantly shouting what he's been shouting. It doesn't make him a sympathetic victim who turned to evil, it makes him a spoiled bitch who turned to evil.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

With the exception of the 5 minutes or so of this episode, the 4 second flash of them when Liz was giving her conversion speech, and that 2 second flash in the first OP, it's still throwaway in the grand scheme of things.

Just having those elements kind of lends to the opposite more in my opinion. Maybe it's not 100% mandatory but I think it's better to watch the movie before watching Alicization even without the Eiji/Yuna stuff.

Not really any more than we already had of him constantly shouting what he's been shouting. It doesn't make him a sympathetic victim who turned to evil, it makes him a spoiled bitch who turned to evil.

I don't think we need to sympathize with him but someone who seems to despise the Japanese (and Kirito) so much and be so sadistic would probably have the kind of childhood Vassago was shown having.

It also makes him selling his own guild out make even more sense because they never mattered to him because they were Japanese. So using them as fodder against the Clearers just killed more Japanese and made other Japanese into killers like him.

Just like Miller's backstory doesn't make him sympathetic at all but explains why he's so obsessed with Alice and souls.

[GDB]

I just feel like villains who are evil just to be evil aren't interesting in the slightest. The best villains are those with either noble goals or at least some level of gray goal that got twisted along the way.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

I just feel like villains who are evil just to be evil aren't interesting in the slightest. The best villains are those with either noble goals or at least some level of gray goal that got twisted along the way.

I think it depends on the story. Villains who are effective and dangerous yet awful people can still be effective antagonists and make it all the more satisfying when the heroes defeat them .

[rladls2121]

I totally forgot about Recon.
Where is he? Where the hell is he?
I asked someone and heard he joined one of Sakuya's Sylph forces during Mother's Rosario.
And then the last time I saw him was in Ordinal Scale movie, he was looking for "Leafa-chan" inside GGO of all places and he got broadcast on TV while his avatar was still ALO's Sylph appearance. Never heard from him again ever since.

[FlareKnight]

I think the whole PoH background both source material and anime have their pros and cons. Both have some good elements and both kind of suck in different ways. So I'm mostly fine with what we got since it's just differently flawed from what we could have got. Not sure he needed to be a psycho racist or that he even really needed much of a backstory. Could have just been a really bad guy who got swept up in the SAO incident and did the only thing that came naturally to him...being a killer.

And yeah two people showed up, accomplished nothing, and then left after being defeated. Not even sure it really justifies watching the movie since if you cut out that action scene...nothing changes. It just killed some time.

At least giving the guy the ability to drive people insane or brainwash them helps save the Chinese and Korean players from being total morons and following the orders of some guy claiming to be an admin for little reason.