Unlimited Translation Works

Sword Art Online – 22


Somebody’s pissed.

DOWNLOAD HD: [UTWoots]_Sword_Art_Online_-_22_[720p][903B7F36].mkv [DDL]
DOWNLOAD SD: [UTWoots]_Sword_Art_Online_-_22_[XviD][C11A451F].avi [DDL]
Joint with GotWoot Fansubs.
This episode had lots of action (and therefore relatively fewer lines), so I minded it less enjoyed subbing it. Hopefully you guys enjoy watching it too.
In all seriousness, though, it’s not a bad episode at all.

104 Thoughts on “Sword Art Online – 22

  1. klaynne14 on December 2, 2012 at 1:25 am said:

    wow that was early, thanks 😀

  2. >sao
    >good episode
    pick one

  3. Entrav on December 2, 2012 at 1:30 am said:

    Loved their conversation at the end. Great voice acting.

  4. Pingback: Sword Art Online Episode 22 - Entravity

  5. suomynona on December 2, 2012 at 1:32 am said:

    makes me sad that is only 3 episodes left 🙁

  6. Oo yeah so early
    Thx Raze 😀

  7. Kohiro on December 2, 2012 at 1:36 am said:

    [spoiler]
    Leafa got shot in the ass! can’t beat that with a bat! lol
    Now Seriously if they took out all the reminisces in this episode they could of fitted in the lost mini arc… not really but just a thought. lol anyways it was good, action was great and this time and it’s about time that we see Kirito gets his ass kicked! read the LN for a long time and wad waiting for this moment. LOL XD
    [/spoiler]
    Thx

  8. Asdfjuma on December 2, 2012 at 1:37 am said:

    Should we be expecting more SAO next year? Late next year perhaps?

  9. kinson555 on December 2, 2012 at 1:38 am said:

    Isnt there going to be a second season?
    There’s plenty of material in the light novels for at LEAST 2 more.

  10. Thanks for the subs! 😀

  11. Now it’s getting serious. Thank you so much for your awesome work!

  12. Murasaki no Tora on December 2, 2012 at 1:42 am said:

    Thanks for the release.

  13. PaulNamida on December 2, 2012 at 1:42 am said:

    the awkward moment when u realize u have NO SPACE in your HDD… DAMMIT!!! INEED TO WATCH THIS NOW!! *off to delete some porn* Anyways, thanks for the release *-*

  14. Sword Art Online out before Little Busters!? What trickery is this??

  15. Jimmeh on December 2, 2012 at 1:50 am said:

    Faster then usual, nice one 🙂

  16. shit>hit>fan;emorageensues

  17. THanks for the release fast. Hope they do me a second series of SAO

  18. Ashitaka on December 2, 2012 at 3:01 am said:

    It’s ending soon. This…cannot…beeeeeeee………….

  19. Jay-kun on December 2, 2012 at 3:04 am said:

    Thanks! 😀

  20. Geese1 on December 2, 2012 at 3:07 am said:

    Thanks for the episode!

  21. Cynthia on December 2, 2012 at 3:08 am said:

    Honestly, dude, don’t apologize… Your sister/cousin being a pervert is all on her. -_-

  22. Kazeto on December 2, 2012 at 3:32 am said:

    @Cynthia:
    Actually, had he not tried to distance himself first, she might not have fallen in love with him. I’m not saying that she wouldn’t, or that it’s his entirely his fault, but his conscience definitely isn’t white there.

  23. Thanks for your work!

  24. Revelations on December 2, 2012 at 4:18 am said:

    Harem route solves everything.

  25. Alexvrb on December 2, 2012 at 5:15 am said:

    Thanks again for the excellent and timely release!

  26. I was waiting the entire season for this scene, the ENTIRE SEASON. It did not disappoint. Delicious imouto tears.
    Now to wait for a possible season 2 so I can spend an entire season waiting for Shinon’s “Can you hold this hand that’s killed somebody before” speech

  27. man00ver on December 2, 2012 at 5:55 am said:

    I declare this the best episode of the series. It had it all: hope, obsessive determination, unreason, madness, hopelessness, loss, despair, and self-loathing. Passion. And bloody good fight scenes. That berserker grin made me shout!
    Thank you, teams! Did I mention how grateful I am that you hooked me on this show?

  28. Oh man, how did I miss the the post-credits art card. I thought Kirito’s sword looked weird, since it seemed to be neither his Not!Dragonslayer or Excalibur. Then I saw the “gem” in the hilt was a helmet and the cross-guard were wings.
    [spoiler]Leafa’s Black-Lotus Blade looks awesome too[/spoiler]

  29. Ohhhhhh man! Shit just got real! Can’t wait for next weekend as per usual…

  30. [spoiler]Blahhhhh they removed that one part that was the main reason for Leafa realizing it was Kirito.
    Part of it was how Kirito:first fight did the exact same action as Onii-chan in their sparring match, and that occurred to her. Right now it feels like “oh, he mentioned someone called Asuna he’s looking for. Guess that means he’s onii-chan.”[/spoiler]

  31. man00ver on December 2, 2012 at 7:44 am said:

    Oh c’mon now Cyou…
    [spoiler]In the morning, she sees her dream guy Kazuto mooning over nervegear-trapped Asuna.
    That afternoon, she sees her dream guy Kirito freaking out over ALO-trapped…Asuna.
    You really think the sword-swipe was her biggest clue?[/spoiler]

  32. macxxx007 on December 2, 2012 at 7:55 am said:

    Cool beans!
    Thanks so much for the episode and please have a good night!

  33. @man00ver:
    [spoiler]Consider that Suguha didn’t know that Asuna’s ALO-trapped, and I’m pretty sure there’s more than one Asuna in Japan. Also note that Kirito never specified whether Asuna was first/last name.
    Yes, that was a starting point, but part of it was “oh, hey, they move exactly the same”. It feels a little odd to remove that completely, and a bit of a leap of logic on Suguha’s part.[/spoiler]

  34. On another note, the spot they ended the episode at was nice.

  35. man00ver on December 2, 2012 at 8:37 am said:

    Cyou, we’ll agree about that! Next week will be another humdinger.

  36. archdevil917 on December 2, 2012 at 10:24 am said:

    Where’s the SD?

  37. Big_Boss_90 on December 2, 2012 at 10:30 am said:

    Thank you!

  38. Anonymous on December 2, 2012 at 10:34 am said:

    YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
    (Oh, the wonderful Suguha scene/s! The wonderfulness that comes from that moment of realisation..! Ahh, it was wonderful in the novels, and it is also wonderful in the anime! *joy!*)

  39. olexijl on December 2, 2012 at 10:46 am said:

    Poor Sugu. I really wish that would not hurt so much.

  40. Holy Shit. Good animation + aereal battle + kirito mode berserk on + the sublime flying skill of Leafa = Epic
    Epic – Shitty incest = Good
    I started to like Suguha until I remembered she is in love with her brother/cousin, whatever
    It don’t matter if he is he cousin, they were rise as brother .(_ _).
    P.D.: Don’t mind my english XD

  41. Faishal26 on December 2, 2012 at 11:39 am said:

    Make me couldn’t wait for next week!!

  42. Cynthia on December 2, 2012 at 11:53 am said:

    @Kazeto:
    Uh, that’s not how normal people think though. Normal people raised to believe someone is their sibling do not fall in love with them. And it’s actually the same for cousins, being blood related and all, so she has little to no excuse for that. I also don’t get the logic you’re working with here: why would his distancing himself from her make her fall in love with him? I know that’s her logic, but she’s not exactly a clear thinker, so I’m not sure why you think this sounds at all logical. Also, keep in mind that the end of the episode is basically her trying to lay a guilt trip on him for loving someone else and not her, and that’s… frankly quite twisted. I’m not even going to get into how obvious it is made that Kirito, in the game, has absolutely zero interest in either her or anyone else.
    @Cyou:
    There’s a point at which you have to start wondering just how stupid Suguha is though… This pic of Asuna in the cage has been circulating everywhere, by all appearances, and everyone seems to be talking about it. Then you have Kirito who’s not only desperate to get the World Tree, but to make it there pretty much on his own and at any cost. Pretty obvious he’s not playing the game just with the intent to clear it. Assuming Suguha would have seen that pic of Asuna in the cage, as of last episode she should have at least drawn some parallels if not outright reached the obvious conclusion. And yes, character appearance in ALO is randomized, but Suguha seriously couldn’t stop and think for one moment that hey, didn’t Kirito look an awful lot like her brother/cousin?
    @Nihil:
    My point exactly. Whatever else, she was raised as his sister, even ignoring the fact that they’re blood related cousins. A normal, healthy person doesn’t think of boinking their brother.

  43. Progeusz on December 2, 2012 at 12:01 pm said:

    Sugu ;_;

  44. Jennifer on December 2, 2012 at 12:06 pm said:

    I love this show.

  45. reverse on December 2, 2012 at 12:10 pm said:

    Just a thought. The use of sword skills wasn’t emphasized in the anime.

  46. @reverse
    If you are talking about SS in ALO the don’t exists, if you refear at the anime as a whole they could at least some of the names in the LN, in that I’m whith you.

  47. ChronoBlue on December 2, 2012 at 5:32 pm said:

    @Cynthia
    Don’t forget the Kirito/Yui conversations, always talking about “Mama”.
    I really like Suguha regardeless *.*
    @reverse
    The use of magic skills wasn’t either. For a magic centric MMO, most of the fights were sword fights… Courtesy of Kirito-kun, but stil…

  48. Kazeto on December 2, 2012 at 6:18 pm said:

    @Cynthia:
    Yes, I know. But weird things happen sometimes, and feelings of admiration can turn into something more if the person is distant enough.
    And I did write that I don’t mean it was his fault that she fell in love with him or that him not having distanced himself would result in that happening, because there is no certainty for that. And it’s his logic, not only her – after Kazuto learned that they are cousins he started trying to distance himself from her for no real reason, making them into something that wasn’t really like siblings more like acquaintances, and it’s his realisation that this might be part of why she fell in love with him that means his conscience is not white there.
    I don’t know if you’ve read the novels or not, so I don’t know if you know what will happen next, but well… Sure, she did guilt trip him, which only worked because of his fear that he was at least partially responsible for her feelings, and she didn’t really want to do that to him. She was just confused and angry at herself (and pretty much “broken”), and wanted to just have someone to confide to about it, with the only person there being Kazuto himself.
    Of course, I do realise her their situation is a rather unlikely one. But at the same time, I can’t say it is “impossible”, and because it is rather unique many things will appear to others in a way that can be easily misunderstood (case in point, people who say that they are disgusted because “incest” while not even Suguha herself knows if her feelings are anything more than admiration and when she is trying to do her best not to be with Kazuto).

  49. black_lightning on December 2, 2012 at 6:28 pm said:

    so, The instant death was only in SAO, they are not in SAO anymore and now they know for a fact Asuna is not in SAO, why don’t they just remove the nervegear from her real world head?

  50. JokerGist on December 2, 2012 at 6:32 pm said:

    Thank you for the release UTW ^^. I got to this late since my new house does not have internet at the moment :P, so I had to go to the library…but it’s worth it XD.

  51. Cynthia on December 2, 2012 at 6:37 pm said:

    @Kazeto:
    I think his trying to distance himself is more normal than her reaction to it though. If he just found out she’s his cousin rather than his sister, he’d try to treat her more distantly. It’s normal as an immature kid reaction, but I don’t think there’s any logic to falling in love with someone you’ve always considered a brother out of the blue. I think he blames himself more because he’s a nice guy than because she’s right to blame him, btw. Let’s just say that the end of this episode left me feeling rather disgusted with her rather than actually feeling sorry for her, which I would have if not for her guilt trip. Like I said, I think it’s about more than just her feelings for him: there were many signs that even Kirito was unavailable and uninterested. I’d say one of the more prominent ones is from the last episode too: when she cried to him about her broken heart, he didn’t comfort her as anything more than a friend. Didn’t make any overtures to her or anything.
    About the novels, I’ve actually been trying to find them, and I just found a torrent for them.

  52. man00ver on December 2, 2012 at 6:57 pm said:

    Cripes. Cool it with the incest prosecutions, already. Suguha is a nice girl, and it’s a bit hyperbolic to say she wants to boink her brother. The heart wants what it wants, and just because you can’t have it doesn’t mean you don’t want it anymore; quite the opposite, usually. She knew her feelings were wrong and she tried a different path. Now she has soul-crushing heartbreak in both the real and dream worlds, the latter being not her fault at all. She broke, and raged, and laid out her honest feelings.There’s nothing abnormal about this, and it’s far healthier than lying or suppressing. Now the healing can begin.

  53. Kazeto on December 2, 2012 at 7:20 pm said:

    @Cynthia:
    That’s the point there, she isn’t trying to guilt trip him. She did, but only because she was too broken and had to talk to someone about it and the only person there was Kazuto himself, and thus it ended with her throwing it out at him. You know, the sort of situation when someone made you feel really bad about something because of your feelings and not because of that person, and you want to talk to anyone about it so badly that when the only person you can talk to is that person, you start talking, and even though you are talking pretty much to yourself it sounds as if you were trying to chew on the guy. That’s how it felt for her.
    And the one about him not comforting her in the last episode, well, there is the fact that she brought a real-life problem inside of the game, and he wasn’t really supposed to react to that as anything more than a friend.
    As to how the whole thing with her “falling in love in him” happened, well. She admired him, the way younger siblings in Japan are supposed to admire their older siblings. Then, he started distancing himself and becoming a quasi-stranger, seemingly for no reason, while she was still admiring him. And then there was the point when he was in a coma for two years, with her suddenly not being able to push her away, and her being able to get as close as she once was. So she did, and she found out that the feelings she feels are somewhat different (I reckon they were still the same feelings towards a family member but she wasn’t able to notice that because the change was not gradual but instead sudden, due to him keeping her at distance for a few years). After he woke up, he started acting nicer to her again, and she was confused as to whether her feelings are admiration, love for a family member, or something else altogether, so she tried to distance herself too and it wasn’t working the way she intended for it to.
    Generally speaking, her feelings are something that is rather screwed up, not in the “ugh, that’s disgusting” way but rather in the “she should just talk to someone about it” way.

  54. so, its disgusting to be romantically involved with a family member?
    Well, I suppose you’ll never get married or start a family of your own with that mindset.
    And its an attractive 1-2 years younger girl falling for an attractive 1-2years older guy. Like if your gf or bf suddenly becomes your sister or brother. Then you magically change and start felling nothing about her/him ?
    Liking and loving someone isn’t something that can be bounded by logic. Its just the way it is.
    There are ways to start hating something that you like. Most common one is getting A LOT of what you like (like drinking alcohol every fucking day until you either go into a coma or just get sick of it). Kazuto-kun “ran” away from his sister, so, she didn’t get a lot of ONIII-CHAN, so, she’s still interested in him.

  55. littleogre on December 3, 2012 at 2:57 am said:

    Additionally considering they are just cousins, there is nothing legally wrong should they by any means decided to pursue a romantic relationship. This World is too crowded with people wabting to impose their warped moral codes over others. THAT is sickening.

  56. TalesOfGod on December 3, 2012 at 3:07 am said:

    Oh please. People can spread their moral code on whatever they want. If people were out killing each other and you were the only one knowing that it was wrong then you would try to stop them, wouldn’t you?
    Anyways, will you guys be doing a Blu-ray patch (1080p of the series Sword Art Online)?

  57. littleogre on December 3, 2012 at 4:33 am said:

    There ARE a lot of people people dying, but apparently there are more people worried about gay marriages, abortion and foster brothers relationships than about doing anything about it, TalesOfGod. It is easy to be an ass and try to dictate how someone else should live even if such people are doing nobody harm and just living their lives the way they want. It is way harder to put your hands were your mouth is and do anything about things that are really wrong with the world, on the other hand.

  58. Artemis3 on December 3, 2012 at 4:49 am said:

    @Cynthia:
    What Kazeto said is spot on, and there is one more element. In Japan, cousin relationship is OK, so learning that he wasn’t her real brother but a cousin, is equivalent in the west as if he was an adopted child. So yes, 2 years ago when she was revealed the truth, she let herself fall for him, a single sided love. She finally decided to forget it (because of Asuna), unfortunately she picked Kirito instead, leading to this.
    The novels are online in baka-tsuki among other places, no need to torrent. I think the original is actually a “web novel”, so it’s been “online” all the time 😉 This arc is nearing its end, i suppose the anime has 2 more episodes.

  59. i really can’t wait to see this in 1080p Blu-Ray xD

  60. Dat gums. Ty for the release x]

  61. Btw, regarding this episode.
    When Kirito died, Yui died as well? Since we only have seen his flame (and Yui nowhere).
    Also, just what kind of view did Kirito-kun had when Leafa just planted him in her cheat, again?

  62. Kazeto on December 3, 2012 at 6:09 pm said:

    @New:
    Well, sort of. She is not a part of the game itself but rather something that is in his NerveGear and gets access to the game via his avatar, so she didn’t really “die” but had no way to manifest herself when he was waiting for the respawn.
    And I don’t think he even noticed the view. He was thinking about Asuna at the time (and not even about Asuna’s “view” though that likely is a dear memory for him), so he didn’t really care about his imouto’s virtual chest padding.

  63. Ashandarei on December 3, 2012 at 6:49 pm said:

    So are there only 2 more episodes, or are there 3? I’m pretty sure this show was slated for 25 eps…

  64. Sicins on December 3, 2012 at 7:54 pm said:

    @Ashandarei
    there are 25 Ep planned, I think.
    and blah, it is just a bit tragic for sugu really. must say that i would have thought that she would have figured the whole thing out earlier… ah well, a bit disappointed with the action as well. wanted more things being sliced up! ha ha.

  65. Cynthia on December 6, 2012 at 3:27 am said:

    @Kazeto & Artemis3:
    I get that this is considered normal in Japan, but honestly doesn’t make it less icky. Like I said though, it’s that aspect of her, and the overreaction with the guilt trip that made me dislike her. As her game character, she’s a lot more interesting. I’m not gonna dignify the immature replies of other posters except to say that homosexuality is a completely different matter than incest. Don’t ever even try to compare two completely unrelated things and tell me that just because I consider one to be normal, I have to think the same about the other.

  66. Being normal in a culture does not imply that something is objectively healthy. I think Japan has a long way to go when it comes to healthy and positive family relationships and stories like this are evidence of that (not to imply that the USA is doing much better in this regard).

  67. Eh, I would have to agree with you, JR.
    Take out the trash in your home before you go help other people right?
    …And Japan has A LOT of trash. LOL
    Also littleogre, you are forcing your sick twisted morals on other people. To say that people should just accept gay marriage, abortion (no matter how you look at it, it is murder) and incest is just forcing your opinion on other people. That is truly sickening but I disgress.
    Either way, how the f*** did this turn into a relationship about incest? Oh right, Suguha.

  68. ChronoBlue on December 6, 2012 at 1:12 pm said:

    Viewpoints, Opinions, everyone has them.
    For the moment let’s quell the discussion and enjoy this great anime =)

  69. kidlat020 on December 6, 2012 at 4:59 pm said:

    “Someone’s pissed”
    You got me there UTW…

  70. Ashandarei on December 6, 2012 at 6:36 pm said:

    Trailer for next week’s episode:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf0tgoqKc74

  71. Ashandarei on December 6, 2012 at 6:38 pm said:

    …Wait, why did that happen? I posted the link, I thought, but the video itself was posted…? (and only the left half, for that matter…)
    Um, sorry about that…

  72. man00ver on December 6, 2012 at 7:07 pm said:

    Still watchable, Ashandarei – just left click and “pop out” to get the full video. Should be another great episode!

  73. Kazeto on December 6, 2012 at 7:32 pm said:

    @Ashandarei:
    Comments are trimmed, but there is no scaling so the video was cut off.
    Not much of a problem, it’s still watchable.

  74. ChronoBlue on December 7, 2012 at 1:13 am said:

    Wait, so… Don’t they get an army to clear the entrance? They just go themselves, round 2 against 10000 White Fairy dudes? (Kinda rethorical question, damn teasers…)

  75. Kazeto on December 7, 2012 at 2:44 am said:

    @ChronoBlue:
    Here is the answer…
    [spoiler]
    The army arrives late because Kirito was too eager to go and thus couldn’t wait. But it’s because of the army that Kirito was able to get inside and fight Oberon.
    And they don’t go alone, they also take Recon with them (duh, a real dream party).[/spoiler]

  76. Anonymous on December 8, 2012 at 12:16 pm said:

    (
    Noting the background conversation thread: the Westermarck effect comes to mind, relevant or irrelevant. Realistically, after living together for the first six years of Suguha’s life, it’s implausible that distancing at that point would have had a great effect. However, it can also be understood that someone might suspect it to have some effect.
    |
    Incidentally reminded of Kara no Kyoukai in which the sister deliberately distanced herself from her brother to try to make him more aware of her when they reunited, though that amusingly required her to feel that way about him from the start, which in reality might be unlikely.
    |
    Ultimately, these being fictions perhaps contributes to the presence of wishful thinking for the sake of plot points, such as people getting colds when they run out into the rain. Not entirely sure what prompts a reader to find individual strangeness irritating or not.
    |
    To take a step back from the question of realism, it’s worth noting that in this context ‘ickiness’ is not objectively present. Humans may be hardwired to some extent (e.g. the above-mentioned Westermarck effect) against incest as a result of recessive gene issues that would otherwise arise over time (though more cultural, the prohibition against cannabilism and a culture which practices it widely suffering from Kuru comes to mind), but other than logistically there’s little problem with it. –Hmm, one can go a step further and say that ‘If all children resulting are sterilised, there’s no problem with it’… but it’s safer ethically to imagine ‘If one of the participants is sterilised, or if other sure methods of absolute contraception are followed’. There, it’s no more ethically questionable than if both chose to remain celebate for life.
    |
    For someone who feels ickiness, it’s hopefully possible to break down the question through various diferent situations (‘What if not raised in the same environment’, ‘What if actually not blood-related at all’, ‘What if all recessive genes genetically replaced with unbroken ones’ et cetera) to identify the precise location, and then to show that it’s in fact baseless and only present due to inertia. The comparison was previously rejected, but interacial or non-heterosexual couplings have been attacked in the past due to the same category of gut feeling, and from those it has been shown that a gut feeling alone is inadequate for a position to be reached. Whether learned revulsion, or revulsion from imagining conducting such actions with one’s own sibling (again, the hardwiring matter) being applied to all situations, an emotional reaction no-matter-how-ingrained is not appropriate as a base for absolute decisions and/or condemnation without concrete reasoning to serve as that base.
    )

  77. Just to say guys, i love your work, but why do you guys love such a terrible series?
    I mean seriously, i will cite all the flaws in this show and why not to like it:
    Terribly animated, in modern standards, if this were an 80’s anime, then it’d be acceptable, but today, not a chance, there are just too many flaws in the animation to point out, for instance:
    Mediocre Battle Scenes: IF you have seen battle from other anime, i don’t see why you could like the battles in this one, i mean, all the battles do not even have choreography and there’s too much inconsistency with their forms and most of the time it just turns into unrecognizable blobs of SHit, also, if you guys have been paying attention, the battles aren’t even interesting anymore, he wins in the same manner, every single time, either from an instant power-up or one-hit kill.
    Inconsistent Character models: as i’ve said before, they turn into unrecognizable piles of shit, but not just in battles, in regular animation as well, sometimes it’s not well drawn, faces are not aligned, bodies are out of form, etc. (ex, i’m sure you noticed it but Kirito animated as Raging, actually just looks funny)
    Another point, there’s so much inconsistency to the story:
    1. They said they couldn’t feel pain in the first game, further reinforced by the fact that they could be sleep-Pk-ed, yet in episodes, you can clearly see him feeling pain, writing for the sake of plot
    2. That dual Sword skill : It was unrecognized in ALO right, so how can he use it then?
    these are just examples, it would take many pages to point all these out.
    Also, in the first part, was was the use of introducing all those characters in the side stories that took over almost a half of the anime only for them to not have even a role in later parts of the story??
    I would happily point out many others but i’ll put these for now.

  78. Just to add though, many things, you’d have to dig through the novel to completely understand, for instance,how did they suddenly turn up at the hospital? How were they supported despite 2 years of Coma? it’s just so terrible…

  79. jayssanh on December 8, 2012 at 1:54 pm said:

    @Kyle
    I must state that your entire two lengthy posts were extremely narrow-minded. You clearly speak from the point of view of someone who clearly knows almost jack-all about the series and novels and therefore were not readily prepared to make a complaint about the series here. Let me go on to trounce the foolish things you said.
    The animation, while not as totally advanced and up to scratch as it could be, is fantastic. The colours are vibrant. Movement is fluid and well done. Minor things like landscape panning and character expression are quite accurate too. All in all, I would place SAO’s animation standard above even modern anime such as Naruto, Bleach, Fate/Zero, etc. Please watch more anime before you comment, or set your standards to a more realistic point.
    In the case of the so-called mediocre battle scenes. SAO’s battle scenes are intrinsic to the series and to that effect are actually far better than most anime today. I don’t know if you’re somehow from the future where animation is truly excellent and battle animation is precise, but you are really looking for more than what can be achieved easily these days. Also, from the ridiculous ‘unrecognizable blobs of shit’ comment you made, I can easily tell you know next to nothing about the process of animation. Animating every single tiny detail of everyone’s face for each frame of every battle is the most far-fetched and stupid thing you could ask an animator to do. The time it would take to do such a thing would extend the release date of each episode by a large margin, to such a point that it would not be worth continuing the series. With regards to the battles ending the same way, why don’t you go watch an anime where the protagonist loses every single battle he is in and tell me how great it is. Idiot.

  80. jayssanh on December 8, 2012 at 2:05 pm said:

    @Kyle
    Furthermore, the problem with ‘feeling pain’ is not clear but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the few possiblities and refrain yourself from complaining about something as trivial as this. The first and most probably theory is that prior to SAO becoming a game of life and death, pain was not a factor. However, once they were unable to log out and their bodies were scanned into the virtual world, the NerveGears could have been programmed to send signals to the brain that indicate pain when attacked. A child could figure that out with a minute’s thinking, so what does that say about you? The other theory put forward by many is that the players seem as if they are in pain as a force of habit, because in the real world they are used to crying out or gritting their teeth when they are in pain.
    If you paid any attention at all to what the characters were saying, you would know that in ALO there are no Sword Skills and everything is based off the player’s own skill in swordplay. Therefore, any rational minded human would conclude that Dual Wielding is not a skill and can be done by anyone skillful enough. Think before you try and shame a great anime on a point that has no solid backing.
    The characters in the side stories are there for what ANYONE who watches ANY anime would call ‘filler’. If you don’t know about filler by now, stop watching anime and take up hobby or do something productive, because you’re wasting your time.
    For your final baseless and stupid point, in the interest of keeping up with deadlines for release dates, any developer/animator worth his salt would be smart enough to know that you can’t include EVERY SINGLE DETAIL FOR EVERYTHING in the final product. That would take a ridiculous amount of time and would not please fans in the slightest. Are you really so shallow that you could not see this for yourself?
    Case in point, if you don’t like the show just don’t watch it, instead of wasting our time and your own time by making stupid complaints lacking any solid evidence whatsoever on a forum full of SAO fans.
    Thanks and goodbye.

  81. Kazeto on December 8, 2012 at 4:44 pm said:

    @Anonymous:
    Yeah, the Westermarck effect and all that stuff. Honestly, I do find it somehow surprising that Suguha became like that, but then again the Westermarck effect is not defined as something absolute so exceptions can and do happen.
    Though one thing has to be added. Children born between cousins aren’t any worse than children between people who were not family, for as long as the cousins’ parents aren’t cross-siblings (so for as long as Suguha’s father wasn’t a brother of Kirito’s biological father, they would be safe). This is why marriages between cousins are allowed in Japan.
    @Kyle:
    Seeing as jayssahn has already replied to your comments for the most part, I’ll only add those two points:
    1. The “filler” characters will appear later, when he comes back to ALO and starts playing with them after he’s done with GGO. Heck, they even appear before he starts playing GGO, as his classmates. It’s just that right now they are not longer in SAO but not yet in school (Kazuto did say it’s going to start in the near future), and they can’t play other VRMMO games with him because he’s not “playing” now.
    And besides, the point was to show how Kirito has changed. From shunning himself to save the other beta testers pain, to being broken and wanting to solo floor bosses to atone for letting Sachi die, to helping the other players (including Silica) just because he could but still not caring about himself though no longer being suicidal, to genuinely wanting to live when he and Lizbeth were trapped. It was all meant to show Kirito, not the side characters.
    2. The “Dual Wielding” skill in ALO. Had you read the novels, you would’ve seen another character comment that dual wielding as a battle style isn’t anything new in ALO, many players tried it in the past, but because fighting with two blades is really difficult it’s something most people just aren’t capable of doing without system assistance. Kirito, who had fought with dual wielding since for the last 10~15 floors of SAO, had enough experience to replicate that, but for most people it would not be that easy.
    And speaking from personal experience, I had trained (as a hobby, but still) how to fight with a sword and with two swords for about three years total (though only two years for dual wielding, and even then with lighter swords not identical in size), and had I been in Kirito’s situation I doubt I would’ve been able to dual wield as well as he was. Because his sword style is something he was polishing in life-or-death situations, whereas what I’m doing is less dangerous and thus my body still doesn’t do it all reflexively.

  82. JUST HOPE THEY ANIMATE THE WHOLE FUCKING NOVELS XDD I <3 SAO

  83. @jayssanh
    “The animation, while not as totally advanced and up to scratch as it could be, is fantastic. The colours are vibrant. Movement is fluid and well done. Minor things like landscape panning and character expression are quite accurate too. All in all, I would place SAO’s animation standard above even modern anime such as Naruto, Bleach, Fate/Zero, etc. Please watch more anime before you comment, or set your standards to a more realistic point.”
    Umm, excuse me? i would accept putting the animation above bleach, Naruto, but Fate/Zero? You seem to be blinded by you liking this show that your answers are incredibly biased, F/Z’s Visuals were astounding, very fluid, and very detailed to every frame, if you compare it something as mediocre as animated as SAO, you’re like comparing Some MS paint made photograph to Mona LIsa
    ,i mean, how could you compare this:http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb5lqp27Er1rga4ybo1_500.jpg
    http://yousei-raws.org/sites/default/files/screenshots/%5BYousei-raws%5D%20Sword%20Art%20Online%2002%20%5BBDrip%201920×1080%20×264%20FLAC%5D.mkv_snapshot_16.53_%5B2012.10.30_22.27.31%5D.png
    To this:http://screenshotcomparison.com/images/Zero-Raws_8bit_6712938405.png
    http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa288/reversethieves/show%20images/Type%20Moon/Fate%20Zero/Screenshot2011-11-19at113544PM.png
    I could take screenshots all over the latest episode to show you your “Fluid” Movement and prove you wrong, but i don’t have time to upload on Imgur.
    and i have watched anime thank you very much, so much that Bleach, Naruto, And F/Z are not the only examples i’ll give that are better than SAO, but probably dozens.
    “The characters in the side stories are there for what ANYONE who watches ANY anime would call ‘filler’. If you don’t know about filler by now, stop watching anime and take up hobby or do something productive, because you’re wasting your time.”
    Fillers that last for 8 eps in a 25 episode anime? yeah, nice filler.
    “any developer/animator worth his salt would be smart enough to know that you can’t include EVERY SINGLE DETAIL FOR EVERYTHING in the final product. That would take a ridiculous amount of time and would not please fans in the slightest. Are you really so shallow that you could not see this for yourself?”
    DId you not watch Fate/Zero? It’s BD’S?
    If you want to find out in a point by point angle, Go to this Site: Seventhstyle.com, and read articles on the 4th Ep onwards, perhaps you’ll see my point better on how the quality of the animation is worse than many others.
    “In the case of the so-called mediocre battle scenes. SAO’s battle scenes are intrinsic to the series and to that effect are actually far better than most anime today. I don’t know if you’re somehow from the future where animation is truly excellent and battle animation is precise, but you are really looking for more than what can be achieved easily these days. Also, from the ridiculous ‘unrecognizable blobs of shit’ comment you made, I can easily tell you know next to nothing about the process of animation. Animating every single tiny detail of everyone’s face for each frame of every battle is the most far-fetched and stupid thing you could ask an animator to do.”
    Angel Beats, Fate/Zero, Kara no Kyoukai, Sword of Stranger, Old HunterXHunter? these all have intricate battle scenes, beautifully choreographed to the point where you’d think they’re “FROM THE FUTURE” As you said, but they’re not, they just know what they’re doing, it’s not stupid, it’s panning for better quality, and any animator who would fail to do this in the modern age fails by standards.

  84. “With regards to the battles ending the same way, why don’t you go watch an anime where the protagonist loses every single battle he is in and tell me how great it is. Idiot.”
    by same way, i mean it all ends in the same manner, i know MC’s Are supposed to win all the time, but could they not do it in the same way every single time? for instance, in naruto, would you not be pissed off if naruto just used rasengan every single fucking time and a single use was all it took to win? another ex, in Fate/Zero, would you not be bored if Saber just used Excalibur Every single Battle? Flashy moves are cool at first, but used for over and over, it gets boring, would hurt for them to use strategy once in a while.
    “The time it would take to do such a thing would extend the release date of each episode by a large margin, to such a point that it would not be worth continuing the series
    That would take a ridiculous amount of time and would not please fans in the slightest. Are you really so shallow that you could not see this for yourself?”
    Oh SHAFT and Ufotable, P.A Works, Bones, Hello there~~, it seems you have not seen series with true quality, to think that animations that are excellent in quality in every detail (Ex, like Another, Hanasaku Iroha, Angel Beats, Madoka, Hidamari, Fate/Zero,Zetsuen no Tempest, ) could take such time, and if you’ve been paying attention to those titles i mentioned, you would know that each of them has a large fanbase, so i don’t see how panning for more quality would didplease fans, you really need to watch your anime and get to know your studios, the studio that made this A-1, has been falling in quality lately since after Idolm@s and Working, such examples are Magi.

  85. @ Kazeto
    ” The “Dual Wielding” skill in ALO. Had you read the novels”
    Exactly my point, although they are of the same material, they are different mediums, an animation needs to stand by itself, you would not need to read the source material to understand everything, failing to do so, proves that it fails, and in case you tell me to go read a book if i want to be someone who looks into every detail, NO, there are many ways you can do this in animation, from simple dialogue, to simply delivery of the story.

  86. @ Jayssanh
    continuing proving you wrong,
    “by making stupid complaints lacking any solid evidence whatsoever on a forum full of SAO fans.
    Thanks and goodbye.”
    Lacking solid evidence? i’m sure i explained it in detail, and all of those things are in the early and present episodes.
    Again If you want to continue this argument with me, Go to this site : Seventhstyle.com
    read articles about the PVs and early episodes then continue to the 4th ep onwards, you’ll clearly see that these guys are unbiased, looking at an anime in depth, you’ll even see that we praise it when it was just starting, but by the 4th ep onwards, things went downhill, you’ll see, if you read
    Also, point exactly, you’re fans, ofc, even if the anime is actually good or horrible, you will go to such lengths to defend it,
    Everything i have said i have gotten from actually watching the anime, because i’m not a person who goes against it just because, i want to get “PROOF” i’m not basing this from nothing, but from what i have seen, i have seen many greater works in the 90’s such as TriGUn, GTO,Samurai X, HunterXHunter, Hajime no Ippo, etc., and in the present like Madoka, Clannad, DenYuuDen, Angel Beats, Gurren Lagann, FMA, Full Metal Panic, Kuroko no Basuke, Death Note, Another, ARIA (The slice of Life one), Kokoro Connect, Haruhi, Ari, Kanon, Darker than Black, Canaan, Oreimo, Hidamari, etc, So i think i would know what an anime is supposed to be, and when it is bad when i see it.

  87. I would love to continue the argument, but i see no point if you based what quality is on personal opinion. Quality is Quality when you see it, for ex, a copper-made jewelry might appeal to many people but not others because of the material it is made from, but one made of diamonds one whose quality is truly there, will appeal to everyone. Try to look at an anime based on it’s actual value, because of what you said about it being better than F/Z in animation quality, proves that you are really being biased and just like it so much that you are blinded from any flaws. go to that site i mentioned, make an account, my username there is Gargamesh, i’ll be happy to talk to you then,
    Oh and in case you plan to bombard me with childish and nonsensical comments there, read this first:
    http://seventhstyle.com/commenting-etiquette/

  88. jayssanh on December 9, 2012 at 3:53 pm said:

    Already you continue to embarrass yourself further. You merely showed me that Fate/Zero has a different and admittedly more detailed art-style than SAO. Pretty sure its common knowledge that an inanimate picture cannot depict motion or fluidity in that respect. So continue to waste your time and take as many screenshots as you like.
    Naruto had an entire 3-4 seasons of filler before Shippuden, so this should come as no surprise to any anime fan.
    Clearly you misinterpreted what I said about including every single detail. I meant every single bit of story-line. Including EVERYTHING that happened in the novels would be a huge waste of time. Try to understand what i’m saying to you better before you reply.
    I actually finished F/Z recently and can honestly tell you that while there were battle scenes with high detail, the scenes were relatively short (creating them would STILL be time-consuming), and most of the battles were carried out from birds-eye, top-down, etc. Wherein, detail is not required. Furthermore, if animators are doing said beautiful animations within deadlines, I commend them. Taking that into consideration, I don’t see why you think it is a necessity for anime to be of the highest quality animation just to be classified as good. Simply implying that proves you to be incredibly narrow-minded. Have you never watched Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha? Despite being old, i’ll use them as an example because they can still be considered greats among anime albeit not having the best quality in animation.

  89. jayssanh on December 9, 2012 at 4:04 pm said:

    Furthermore, I had to chuckle a bit at your response to my stating that watching an anime where the protagonist always loses is stupid. Your entire reply was implying that all the different series you mentioned did NOT end in the same way. For the most part and from memory, Naruto basically did three things throughout everything I bothered to watch. They are;
    – Use rasengan (or any variation thereof)
    – Use shadow clones
    – Summon Gamabunta
    – Use Nine-Tailed Fox power.
    To someone who doesn’t pay much attention to what they are watching (thats you), it would appear that Saber did variate her tactics in battle. However to someone who can read between the lines (thats me), Saber’s battle scenes consisted entirely of classic sword-fighting (with or without Wind). Otherwise, she usually ended any of her major or particularly important battles with Excalibur, and you can check it ALL for yourself if you’re willing, I wouldn’t bother though seeing as how I finished F/Z very recently.
    Here’s a fun fact by the way; In SAO, Kirito only used his dual-wielding ability Starburst Stream ONCE (potentially twice without shouting the name as he used it) and the rest of the times he fought, it was pure swordplay.

  90. “Already you continue to embarrass yourself further. You merely showed me that Fate/Zero has a different and admittedly more detailed art-style than SAO. Pretty sure its common knowledge that an inanimate picture cannot depict motion or fluidity in that respect. So continue to waste your time and take as many screenshots as you like.”
    Not different art-style, better animation, i merely said screenshots since in every frame of F/Z there is detail, where as sao, most frames look horrible, and i thought you know how anime was made, how do you not know about frames altogether making all in all, the movement? and i tell you, F/Z has more frames per second, so that’s the thing about fluidity.
    “Simply implying that proves you to be incredibly narrow-minded. Have you never watched Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha? Despite being old, i’ll use them as an example because they can still be considered greats among anime albeit not having the best quality in animation.”
    I have, and i honestly think they are what you think they are, but didn’t you read that long list of other anime as old by me for you to be still saying that?
    “Including EVERYTHING that happened in the novels would be a huge waste of time. Try to understand what i’m saying to you better before you reply.”
    Did you not read my comments?
    here is my quote of myself:
    “and in case you tell me to go read a book if i want to be someone who looks into every detail, NO, there are many ways you can do this in animation, from simple dialogue, to simply delivery of the story.”
    ” I don’t see why you think it is a necessity for anime to be of the highest quality animation just to be classified as good. Simply implying that proves you to be incredibly narrow-minded.”
    i’ll say to you the same thing you said to me “Try to understand what i say before you reply”, animation simply does not refer to the quality, animation is everything itself, It expresses the story, the mood, the setting , emotions of the characters, etc., Inuyasha and other anime titles as old and many in the present (that list of many anime in case you didn’t read) succeeded in that, i say SAO doesn’t .

  91. jayssanh on December 9, 2012 at 4:10 pm said:

    With regards to all the other studios being able to complete highly-detailed anime within their deadlines, did you ever consider the fact that these studios may indeed have animation teams several-fold larger than SAO’s studio? Or that the developers for SAO may feel like reaching a set deadline and pleasing their fanbase is overall more important than getting the angle of Kirito’s eyebrows when he is angry JUST right? When you yourself are not situated daily within these studios and are able to closely monitor their work as they do it, do not think to make ridiculous comparisons. I know the quality behind these few anime and as an ex-animator I know most of the process involved. Don’t think to school me in such things when you clearly have no knowledge of it yourself.

  92. jayssanh on December 9, 2012 at 4:14 pm said:

    “Lacking solid evidence? i’m sure i explained it in detail, and all of those things are in the early and present episodes.”
    Anyone can waffle on under the guise of expressing great detail, and fool those none the wiser. I, however, did not see a shred of this evidence you preach.
    Also, believe me when I say that I am totally unbiased when I argue my points (as hard as it may be to believe). I merely found it difficult to comprehend why you would say what you said, when in actuality next to none of it was true.
    By the way, this is the internet. Pretty sure I can address people how I want, within moderators guidelines of course. And stop linking me to Seventh Style, I don’t know what that is and I don’t care to know.

  93. “To someone who doesn’t pay much attention to what they are watching (thats you), it would appear that Saber did variate her tactics in battle. However to someone who can read between the lines (thats me), Saber’s battle scenes consisted entirely of classic sword-fighting (with or without Wind). Otherwise, she usually ended any of her major or particularly important battles with Excalibur, and you can check it ALL for yourself if you’re willing, I wouldn’t bother though seeing as how I finished F/Z very recently.
    Here’s a fun fact by the way; In SAO, Kirito only used his dual-wielding ability Starburst Stream ONCE (potentially twice without shouting the name as he used it) and the rest of the times he fought, it was pure swordplay.”
    try to read my posts clearly before saying anything okay?
    i said IF to those examples, and something like “wouldn’t you”, so those were merely what if examples, i’m not saying those were the truth.
    Saber, in case you weren’t paying attention had battles interesting to watch, how she battled with lancer/zero, the battle of wits in their conversation with rider and Gil, how she defeated caster, it all ended differently, and yeah, saber did end all with Excalibur if they were important, but did it come with zero consequences? that’s what’s interesting, a power comes with a price, unlike kirito in SAO, he basically uses a powerup out of nowhere, no price whatsoever.
    I was talking about Kirito ending every battle in the same fricking way btw, get’s cornered, gets a powerup, suddenly defeats the enemy, and goes on and on.

  94. “By the way, this is the internet. Pretty sure I can address people how I want, within moderators guidelines of course. And stop linking me to Seventh Style, I don’t know what that is and I don’t care to know.”
    you know what’s that called ? Biased.
    “With regards to all the other studios being able to complete highly-detailed anime within their deadlines, did you ever consider the fact that these studios may indeed have animation teams several-fold larger than SAO’s studio? Or that the developers for SAO may feel like reaching a set deadline and pleasing their fanbase is overall more important than getting the angle of Kirito’s eyebrows when he is angry JUST right? When you yourself are not situated daily within these studios and are able to closely monitor their work as they do it, do not think to make ridiculous comparisons. I know the quality behind these few anime and as an ex-animator I know most of the process involved. Don’t think to school me in such things when you clearly have no knowledge of it yourself.”
    So tell me as an ex-animator, do you have proof in what you are saying? because when you say i do not have proof, arguably, the same applies to you my friend.

  95. jayssanh on December 9, 2012 at 4:18 pm said:

    I’ve watched most of the other anime you’ve listed, a few of them I really liked and I can admire your taste there. But comparing them to SAO is like comparing Roman architecture to ancient architecture in Jerusalem. Both are great works of art, both took time and effort to create and both are so different that a comparison would be irrational.
    In any case, we’re flaming this comment section and I want to end it here by stating that had you simply began your first post by saying that it is your OPINION that SAO is terrible, I would have left it at that. However, the way in which you conveyed this opinion was that of someone who is stating something absolutely factual. Which is literally impossible for a subject such as this.

  96. @jay,
    It’s cool though, i’m not angry btw, it was fun to have this discussion or argument, we exchanged ideas, views, and i’m sure both of us learned a thing or two.

  97. jayssanh on December 9, 2012 at 4:23 pm said:

    Of course. There’s always something to learn. Apologies for any insults I may have thrown your way, have a good one!

  98. Same here, i may have gone a little overboard 🙂

  99. Kazeto on December 9, 2012 at 7:10 pm said:

    @Kyle:
    In reply to your comment about anime and novels being a different medium, I just want to say this. Yes, they are, but there is one piece of information in the anime that makes it possible to take just one mental step and come to the conclusion that dual wielding is not disallowed in ALO. Namely, it is the comment that Agil made about there being no sword skills in ALO (the reason why people didn’t try to dual wield in SAO wasn’t because they wouldn’t be able to move their swords, it was because they wouldn’t be able to activate their sword skills which were the most potent attacks there) and no levels and thus everything being dependant on the skill system and player skills. Ergo, after seeing “Dual Wielding” disappear from Kirito’s skill list, one might come to the conclusion that it is possible to dual wield there but only if one knew how to fight like that.
    I do admit it is not a mental step everyone is capable of making, considering that for the first 14 episodes it was established that if something isn’t in the system it is not allowed, and thus many of us had that in mind and couldn’t really make that mental step.
    Oh, and your fun fact (the one about Kirito only using “Starburst Stream” once and possibly twice) is sort of wrong there. But at the same time it is not wrong (because your observation was correct, based on the anime only, and only in the novels it is explained further).
    He only used it twice on-screen – against” The Gleameyes” and against Heathcliff in their first duel. But he used it off-screen when levelling the skill up (which he did since the time he got Dark Repulser). And the sword skill he used in his final fight is called “Eclipse”, and is even higher-level sword skill than “Starburst Stream” (though that bit of knowledge isn’t really relevant, but since I’m already replying I thought you might find it nice to know).

  100. @ Kazeto
    “Oh, and your fun fact (the one about Kirito only using “Starburst Stream” once and possibly twice) is sort of wrong there. But at the same time it is not wrong (because your observation was correct, based on the anime only, and only in the novels it is explained further).
    He only used it twice on-screen – against” The Gleameyes” and against Heathcliff in their first duel. But he used it off-screen when levelling the skill up (which he did since the time he got Dark Repulser). And the sword skill he used in his final fight is called “Eclipse”, and is even higher-level sword skill than “Starburst Stream” (though that bit of knowledge isn’t really relevant, but since I’m already replying I thought you might find it nice to know).”
    Umm, that wasn’t from me, that was from Jay
    “In reply to your comment about anime and novels being a different medium, I just want to say this. Yes, they are, but there is one piece of information in the anime that makes it possible to take just one mental step and come to the conclusion that dual wielding is not disallowed in ALO. Namely, it is the comment that Agil made about there being no sword skills in ALO (the reason why people didn’t try to dual wield in SAO wasn’t because they wouldn’t be able to move their swords, it was because they wouldn’t be able to activate their sword skills which were the most potent attacks there) and no levels and thus everything being dependant on the skill system and player skills. Ergo, after seeing “Dual Wielding” disappear from Kirito’s skill list, one might come to the conclusion that it is possible to dual wield there but only if one knew how to fight like that.”
    Then you mean to say that the giant sword charge like attack in the latest episode was not a Sword Skill and Kirito knew how to fight like that? No matter where you see it, that was clearly some sword skill, unless humans suddenly have the ability to create a massive wave of a sword by sticking 2 swords together, then i won’t bite.

  101. @Kyte:
    “Umm, that wasn’t from me, that was from Jay”
    Hmm… Maybe I really was tired at that time. Sorry for that.
    And the one in the last episode was supposed to be something else. To be exact, it was supposed to be him swinging the two blades so fast (not joined together, but independently swung) that the blades weren’t even visible for most people and that there was something like an insta-death radius around him because of that. Which he did happen to use without system assistance, by utilising his really high reaction speed while being on an adrenaline rush. Why did they change that in the anime, I haven’t an inkling of an idea. Though even then, before thinking it’s something like a sword skill I’d think it’s some sort of Spriggan magic (just like Fenrir Storm for Sylphs) if I didn’t know about the change.

  102. @Kazeto,
    I think we can all agree to blame the production on that one.

  103. @Kyle:
    Yeah, we can. They messed up.

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