Senator Daniel Inoue (D, Hawaii) September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012
A truly great American has left us.
He enlisted in the army as soon as the ban on citizens of Japanese ancestry serving was lifted. He served in the legendary 442nd Infantry a segregated Nisei unit that is considered the most decorated infantry unit in the history of the US Army. During the Italian campaign he was given a field promotion from Sergeant to Lieutenant for his incredible courage during the epic relief of the "Lost Battalion".
In 1945, while leading a charge against a heavily defended hill, he was gravely wounded but refused to be evacuated while his troops were under fire . He continued fighting untill they won, at one point taking out a pillbox with his last grenade...which he first had to extract from the death grip of his own severed arm.
Second Lieutenant Daniel K. Inouye distinguished himself by
extraordinary heroism in action on 21 April 1945, in the vicinity of San
Terenzo, Italy. While attacking a defended ridge guarding an important
road junction, Second Lieutenant Inouye skillfully directed his platoon
through a hail of automatic weapon and small arms fire, in a swift
enveloping movement that resulted in the capture of an artillery and
mortar post and brought his men to within 40 yards of the hostile force.
Emplaced in bunkers and rock formations, the enemy halted the advance
with crossfire from three machine guns. With complete disregard for his
personal safety, Second Lieutenant Inouye crawled up the treacherous
slope to within five yards of the nearest machine gun and hurled two
grenades, destroying the emplacement. Before the enemy could retaliate,
he stood up and neutralized a second machine gun nest. Although wounded
by a sniper’s bullet, he continued to engage other hostile positions at
close range until an exploding grenade shattered his right arm. Despite
the intense pain, he refused evacuation and continued to direct his
platoon until enemy resistance was broken and his men were again
deployed in defensive positions. In the attack, 25 enemy soldiers were
killed and eight others captured. By his gallant, aggressive tactics and
by his indomitable leadership, Second Lieutenant Inouye enabled his
platoon to advance through formidable resistance, and was instrumental
in the capture of the ridge. Second Lieutenant Inouye’s extraordinary
heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions
of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the
United States Army.
Despite the loss of his arm he remained in the Army until 1947. He was elected to the Senate representing Hawaii in 1962 and has served ably ever since.
In many ways, I am more disheartened by the so called
generic commenter†than I am by the out and out spammer.
Why? you ask, Because at least the spammer is completely
open and honest about their intentions! We know what they are doing.
The so called generic commenter is a con man and also a charlatan You can probably tell that I have very strong
toward this group of commenters
1
There was a spambot over at Wonderduck's whose message was something to the effect that "some of the commenters here seem brainless". That one certainly rivals this one.
Episode 24 of Sword Art Online brings the Asuna in a Cage arc to an end of sorts....maybe.
The biggest disappointment of the episode is that Lightning Flash Asuna doesn't get to do much except put on a brave face. This is terribly unfair to the character who has really been a very well realized female lead.
The journey of Y.U.I. and Kirito to Asuna's prison was almost anticlimactic, until it wasn't.
Sugo is an exquisitely wicked villain. A petty, venal yet brilliant man who is utterly devoid of conscience and on the cusp of controlling human minds. He is also present and has moderator privileges so they're screwed.
What follows is about 12 miutes of really disturbing sadism as he reduces or heroes strength to one, increases the gravity, engages and dials up their pain sensitivity, tortures Kirito, molests Asuna and taunts them with tales of how he will edit their minds. Kirito takes a moment from this agony to reflect upon the fact that for all his skill levels, he is a kid who plays video games and little else and has accomplished nothing in the real world. Yeah...utter defeat.
Fortunately for our heroes, Ubu Roi was right. Akihiko Kayaba is alive, or at least a copy of him exists
in the mainframe. It seems that he and Sugo have been rivals for some
time and he was most displeased when Sugo took over his game and
re-skinned it into Alfheim online. He gives Kirito HIS password, which as he designed the master game, Sword Art Online, trumps Sugos. Kirito "kills" Sugo, but does not do so quickly.
He then logs Asuna out, tries to log log himself out, but is informed by Kayaba that there is a price for his help. Kayaba gived him a shiny he refers to as the world seed and tells Kirito to plant it when the time is right.
Kirito puts it in his inventory and logs out.
Kirito awakens, thanks his cousin for her help and rushes off into the snow to see Asuna.
...And so that's how it ends. Not by wits, skill, determination or courage, but by sudden divine (or in this case debased) intervention. This was a vastly less satisfying ending than that of the first cour. Nevertheless it did not suck. The second half of this show has been fairly uneven in comparison with the first, but it has still been far above average.
Note that we HAVEN'T SEEN ASUNA AWAKE IN THE REAL WORLD YET and there are still at least 2 episodes to go.
1
Well, I was getting tripped up by the bug, back on Sunday, but maybe now...
My next prediction:
failure to account for Sugo in the real-world is about to bite Kirito in the a$$. I think that's where Asuna is going to have her chance to shine, when she denounces him in front of her father and pledges her life to Kirito. That should quickly resolve the problem and we can get on to an episode to deal with the seed.
Also, damn but Kirito got medieval on Sugo. He deserved it too.
Posted by: ubu at Wed Dec 19 17:08:06 2012 (SlLGE)
2
Oh, and it wasn't so much debased divine intervention as it was databased divine intervention.
Oh, I am so going to hell for that one...
Posted by: ubu at Wed Dec 19 17:12:34 2012 (SlLGE)
3
I'm not sure that Sugo is still a problem in the real world. Remember the comment that with the threshold below 2, Kirito's real world body would be taking damage. And then Kirito set the threshold to 0 before getting medieval on Sugo. It's entirely possible that Sugo is dead, or a drooling idiot.
Posted by: David at Fri Dec 21 14:58:39 2012 (I6iFS)
Some Quick Thoughts on Recent Events
Evil exists.
No writ of law or regulation will banish narcissism and hatred from mans heart.
It cares not one whit whether you acknowledge it's blackness or you make up politically correct excuses for it.
Evil will always find a way to arm itself in some manner, and it will gravitate to those places where no one else is able to do so. For evil is not impressive, it is generally cowardly, venal and narcissistic.
Mass shootings take place in schools, movie theaters and workplaces in part because these are places where no-one is allowed to carry a weapon and options for escape are limited. The lessons from this are obvious, but they are not the lessons being espoused by those who want a nation of compliant subjects and not citizens.
No, the maniac in Colorado shot up the theater because he was a
pathetic weakling unloved by women and incapable of satisfying them and
so retreated into a twisted babydick world of power fantasy.
Same thing with this guy.
I'm going to go against my political team, here-- although
conservatives often say "Label evil as what it is, Evil, and leave
therapy and psychology out of it," I'm going to say No, not in these instances. Because Evil (notice the capital letter E) is powerful in these sad losers' imaginations, and they want to be called the Big Scary Man, the Shadow That Menaces At Midnight.
For an impotent, weak, ineffectual man, that is an attractive fantasy.
What they do not want and could not abide is an accurate assessment
of their psychology, their physical stature and shortcomings, their
ability to succeed in work or school, their loser history with women,
and so on.
Yes. Don't encourage the worms that might follow him in search of some affirmation of their value via infamy. This dickless wonder should not be a source of dread but beneath our contempt.
Wow!
It was getting sappy there for a minute, but Girls und Panzer #9 was an astonishingly entertaining bit of mayhem. The climax was one of the best paced, most pitch perfect action sequences I've seen in a while, particularly because all the Ooarai girls, but especially Goosfish and Turtle teams, were smart andused their inferior equipment to its best advantage. Nicely done.
The bit of exposition at the beginning about the Student Council's motivation makes as much sense as anything else in the show.
Works equally well in the Artillery world as well my friend
Posted by: Kevin at Sun Dec 16 14:54:33 2012 (C5wee)
2
I'm puzzled (and a bit disturbed) by the one screenshot you posted above. IIRC, Debutante Tank Fighting was supposed to involve mock battles, using low-impact dummy ammunition. However, that tank looks to me like it's been hit by a real high-explosive shell. Please tell me that isn't the case.
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Sun Dec 16 20:41:24 2012 (ElBzz)
That's a heavy hit, then, and I can see in the screenshot that the tread was knocked off the drive wheels. That means that the shell was a real one, which wound up in one tank's ammo load either by accident or by chicanery on one team's part.
Did the shell penetrate the tank's armour? That possibility is what really disturbs me about this; like SDB, I disapprove of anime that shows girls dying ugly deaths, and being in a tank that "brews up" is an especially ugly way to die.
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Sun Dec 16 21:40:38 2012 (ElBzz)
5
In the action against Gloriana it is mentioned that the interiors of the tanks have been fitted with a special carbon composite crew compartment that is impervious to WW2 era ordinance. Saori mentions this to Miho when trying to get her in the tank as there is obviously no protection to someone who'se head is sticking out. It seems to be strongly implied that there have been accidents.
Note too that in the flashback to the match Miho lost, it's clear that the other tank crew WOULD have died had she not gone to their aid (loosing the match in the process). She was DISOWNED for doing this, indicating that a fatality in a tournament is not unexpected.
One final note. Legal adulthood in Japan is a multi-step process, but I think that high-schools are still not compulsory, that is. you can go get a job at 16. High schools are either college prep schools or trade schools and the students are more or less considered adults. This varies from school to school I'm sure. These are not juviniles in the same way we think of them. Yes they are adolescents and an adult wil burn in hell and go to jail if they sleep with them, but they are otherwise adults in a way similar aged people in the US* simply are not.
This sport is like a junior college league of NASCAR...but on steroids and with more 'splody.
* ...or a lot of twenty and even thirtysomethings nowadays...but that is a rant for another time.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Dec 17 10:30:33 2012 (vp6an)
6
There is real-world precedent for that. The inside of the M1 Abrams is lined with Kevlar cloth, to protect the crew from spalling.
7
OK. I just re-read the whole post and realized that the below the fold portion was rather incoherent. It looks like I'd deleted half a
paragraph...or something..in the process of posting it. Anyway the bit
below the fold makes grammatical and contextual sense now
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue Dec 18 17:10:14 2012 (vp6an)
Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test Test
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Why so testy?
Test Test Test Test
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UPDATE:
OK a bit of Meta blogging here for those using mee.nu.
The CAPTION tag only works on pictures that are centered. Interestingly the CAPTION TAG does center pictures just like the CENTER tag.
I've been having some issues with pictures and tags so I'm trying to see if I can get centered pics and captions below spoiler tags again and all text properly hidden as well...unlike the SAO 23 post.
Lets see how this works...
"N..no...It's just tankers hair."
It was a dark and stormy night, but no shadowy figure lurked in a rambling old house. This wasn't some cheap dime novel, it was a high-budget ploy by Actas to pounce on the void left by Gonzo with Strike Witches.
It had been a good run, but now they were behind schedule. They were on location(!?), it was a dark and stormy night and on top of it all, Turtle team's PanzerKamphwagen 38(t) had thrown a track again and was stuck in the mud. A Typhoon had stranded Tsutomu Mizushima in Okinawa and the company had sent in an Executive VP to act as relief director. This fellow had originally tried to get the series concept changed a late night live action show and almost been successful. He had been overruled, but his efforts had resulted in several props being bought, and contracts being signed that resulted in the show being produced using the unwieldy process of rotoscoping.
The ersatz director ordered the Duck and Anglerfish teams to get out and help change the tread. The scriptwriter objected that this would destroy the pacing of the battle but the Relief Director was adamant, pointing out that the tread fix had been done off camera in episode 4 and that the audience demanded realism. The scriptwriter objected that the tread break wasn't in the script anyway and they should just fix it while they filmed the scene with Anzio Maya Yoshioka had 6 minutes of dialog left to film as Anchovie and while quite professional, she was not experienced in location shooting.. The relief director screamed various expletives at him. He also ordered Anglerfish team to strip down to their skivvies...but he was adamant that Duck team keep their athletic outfits on as they all...wallowed...about in the...mud. The scriptwriter at this point stormed off the set. What was said on set at that point is somewhat conjectural, but it is believed that the relief director then went on rambling about blue ray sales and ordered the girls to change the tank tread.
...but nothing happened.
At first...
The director had forgotten one very important thing. the young ladies may have been his employees, but they not only had their virtue they had between them 3 tank guns. Mudwrestling in their skivvies was NOT in their contract and this asshole had been a perv from day one. After a quick consultation via cellphone they let loose on the director, Kana Ueda (who played Kawashima) missed and demolished the food cart but the other two hit home, taking out both the director and the camera. While these props only fired beanbags a 57mm and a 75mm beanbag will ruin a perverts whole day. The directors chair, the camera and the food cart were no more.
Tsutomu Mizushima arrived from Okinawa to a nightmare. With only 3 days left till the air date it was still raining, all the film for episode six had been lost, an executive VP was in the hospital and there was no food cart at the film site. After quick consultation with the board of directors it was decided they'd just throw in the towel and make it a clips episode. They shot one scene with Maya Yoshioka (in studio) re-edited some cut scenes and two quick scenes with the main cast during a break in the rain. The episodes were quietly renumbered with 6 becoming 5.5. Even with all the cuts the rotoscoping was done with less than 7 hours to spare.
Although the episode ended up significantly over budget (the vendor had to be compensated for the food cart), no action was taken against the actresses and the VP was ultimately fired. He has not been named and no one at Actas speaks of this incident any more.
Well, everything seems to be working again. (At least regards formatting).
5
Sadly, I'm clone free but it looks like it's fixed now.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Dec 15 14:30:18 2012 (vp6an)
6
What is this new tag of which you speak? (Worried that this will get me back into spending more time making caps than actually watching again).
Posted by: Mauser at Sat Dec 15 21:32:51 2012 (cZPoz)
7
The CAPTION tag lets you caption a picture. PIXY mentioned he was working on it.
I kept trying to get it to work for a picture that was justified right
or left of text so I filled the screen with ersatz text. It currently
only works with centered pictures though and it seems to cause some
wonkieness if used inside spoiler tags. However it dose reduce and
italicize the caption automatically. For the picture and caption under
the spoiler tag in this post, I used the 'justify center' from the post
menu which gets basically the same results. To make sure everything was
working I posted additional ersatz text there too, though it's not as
coherent as that above. Like the CENTER tag the CAPTION tag also
centers pictures nicely.
"Why would anyone want to?"
The
CAPTION tag is like the other tags, ie:[KAPCHUN] snarky comment
[/KAPTCHUN] but with caption spelled correctly and in lower case.
I
gather that Pixy is aiming to eventually have them work on pics to
either side of the page as well, which will greatly facilitate different
page layouts.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Dec 16 01:58:41 2012 (vp6an)
14 pounds
That's how much weight I lost Wednesday night and yesterday morning.
No, I did not have anything amputated, I got some bug and explosively expelled everything from my digestive track.
That was an exceedingly painful and exhausting experience.
I'm not sure what it was. I hadn't eaten anything for over 10 hours so food poisoning is unlikely. I note that something like this has happened every year in December or January for the last three years.
Perhaps I'm allergic to the solstice.
In any event, if the hippies are right about high colonics and purging then I'm just all kinds of healthy now.
I hope to be walking without a cane soon.
1
Good grief! I had food poisoning (salmonella) a while back and only lost half that.
Rest and fluids and get well soon!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Fri Dec 14 11:24:27 2012 (PiXy!)
2
I've had that happen a couple of times. Throw up until the stomach is empty and then sit on the pot until everything else is gone. It's awful, but at least it passes quickly.
3
Back in January I had a case of food poisoning/stomach flu... I had what Steven describes, except I also had a fever AND I couldn't keep any fluids in me. At around 3am, I was praying for death. Around 6am, I thought my prayers were being answered.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Fri Dec 14 22:01:42 2012 (cymHZ)
Has Crunchyroll Saved Anime for the US Market?
According to this article, the anime industry in Japan just packed it in and quit.
After the eighth episode of Girls und Panzer aired late Monday,
anime studios around Japan have collectively announced the end of the
anime industry and discontinued operation. "I would like to thank the
fans throughout the years for their continued support,†Shinbou Akiyuki
said as he addressed a crowd of reporters at SHAFT headquarters. "But
after the last episode of Girls und Panzer, we all know that there is nothing more to accomplish in anime.â€
Well, that's all folks I mean there's nothing to top this...
...The episode featured the team of protagonists engaging a Russian tankery
school in the snow. Around midway through the episode, to utter
disbelief of the television audience, the Russian team burst into a
rendition of the traditional Russian war anthem "Katyushaâ€. Voice
actresses Kanemoto Hisako (Squid Girl, Cure Peace) and Uesaka Sumire
(Sanae Dekomori) performed the duet. The episode concluded with a
dramatic fight scene and ended on a cliffhanger after the Oorai High
School team were surrounded by the enemy...
Yeah that musical number was awesome. I mean Everyone is talking abou...
...wait...
I don't remember any musical number.
"rewatch"
Nope.
There must be an explanation for this. If there were only some instrument we could use to determine what the hell is going on here..
He also provides us with this clip for those of us who were foolish enough to watch our anime legally.
Well, thanks to Crunchyroll's legal department, perfection has been averted here in America! Thus there is still a market for the stuff here! Yay!
And sure enough, Crunchyroll's cunning plan to punish us for paying them 7 bucks a month has borne fruit!
Via Chizumatic, we find that the Japanese are producing a whole lineup of shows for the winter season.
Scrolling through it though, I'm beginning to think less that we have Crunchyroll to thank for this and more and more that this is all their fault.
UPDATE: Avatar points out that for the largest corporations getting rights to a song is difficult and to do it in a week or two is nigh impossible even for a major studio. Crunchyroll is a small operation and did the only tenable thing.
It's my understanding that the song is in the public domain in Japan and not the US.
Given the difficulties of securing the Russian rights here, I'd not hold my breath for the sequence to even be included on the R1 DVD release frankly.
UPDATE 2: Lyrics for Katyusha
Apple trees and pear trees went into blooming,
River mists began a floating flow,
She came out and went ashore, Katyusha!
On the lofty bank, on the steeply shore.
She came out and sang she song about
Her young friend, the bluish eagle from steppe
All about the one she dearly loved,
The one whose letters she treasured and kept.
Hey, a song, the song of the young girl,
Fly and go after the bright Sun,
Find a soldier on the distant borderlands
Say hello from Katyusha waiting long for him.
Let him remember the young and simple maiden,
Let him hear the song she now sings,
Let him protect his Motherland for sure,
And their love Katyusha will protect.
1
Has Crunchyroll given any explanation of why they edited this episode? Although I have not watched this series, I too am a subscriber,and I thought I was paying for access to full episodes...
Posted by: Siergen at Sun Dec 9 21:29:43 2012 (Ao4Kw)
2
There's no explanation on Crunchyroll right now. However, the consensus seems to be that it's a copyright issue involving use of Katyusha and Crunchyroll did not have time to secure the U.S. rights to the song before they streamed it and so they played it safe. This is somewhat ironic given that the song was written by commies for commies.
A similar issue occourd with the DVD release of Van Dread a decade or so ago. Geneon couldn't get the US rights to "It's a Wonderful World"....but Louis Armstrong wasn't a commie.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Dec 9 21:38:04 2012 (vp6an)
3
Copyright probably explains the absence of 'Lili Marlene' from the English dub of Strike Witches, too.
Posted by: EdwardM at Sun Dec 9 23:52:39 2012 (moC4O)
4
In all fairness, it's not like this is the first time that the Japanese have secured "Japan-only" rights for a piece of music and put it in anime. Getting the rights can be a real production even for a full-on serious corporation which has people who do that. Doing so in a -week- is in "are you kidding me?" range. For Crunchy, which is... not a full-on serious corporation, with people to do that, to do it in a week? Not the way to bet!
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Sun Dec 9 23:54:38 2012 (GJQTS)
Actually, I think the song is in the public domain in Japan but not the US. Given how thorny a problem this can be, I'd be very surprised if Sentai was able to secure the rights for the DVD release.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Dec 10 08:36:02 2012 (vp6an)
6
I actually got CR to comment on this and it comes down to that Japan doesn't want to keep the footage in the episode. It probably won't be CR's place to pay for it, given the type of right required and the sort of licensing agreement they have (remember this is also a Sentai title). This is also not just an USA webcast, too, so in order to do it either CR or their licensor or whoever would have to secure the rights to a bunch of other countries: "Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and South Africa."
Also, I'm not sure if Katyusha is in public domain even in Japan. If they use the life + whatever that they use, and if Katyusha is copyrighted in Russia when they joined WIPO in '95, then it would be protected in Japan too.
Posted by: omo at Mon Dec 10 21:49:00 2012 (wKVu8)
7
Soviet-era songs don't have any copyright. Except retroactively. Unfortunately, stupid EU laws do work retroactively.
Somehow, nobody ever paid Western publishers and authors retroactively for all the Soviet-era official, legal pirating of copyrighted stuff from the West.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Mon Dec 10 23:21:08 2012 (cvXSV)
Suspension of Disbelief...
There are some things that strain credulity.
I was able to look beyond the premise of SAO and the implausibility of the technology. I could look beyond he occasional writers hand-wave.
But this is too much... See that thar nebbish, the one who goes by the handle of Recon? In real life Leaf Sugu his Kendo senpai. He pines for her but is shorter than Sugu, physically weak, socially awkward, and has a stammer. In the online world however, he's shorter than Leaf, physically weak, socially awkward and has a stammer, plus he's got a bowl cut and walks with an Egor style hunch. I just don't see him picking that avatar. I just don't.
Wait, where was I?
Oh yeah, Sword Art Online episode 23:
When last we left Sugu, she was smelling her knees and burbling, having had something of a mental breakdown upon learning that her brother was actually her partner in the game.
Kazuto, is somewhat taken aback as well, and really doesn't know what to say. I lieu of any sage wisdom, Kazuto informs her that he will wait for her at the south gate of Arun.
Sugu Leaf re-enters the game and is shocked to find that Recon, over the course of the last 4 episodes, (and quite off camera) has managed to escape from his imprisonment, poison his captors and track her down. As one can imagine, he's feeling pretty buff right now...so buff that he actually builds up the courage to confess his love to Leaf.
You may recall that Recon is shorter than Leaf, physically weak, socially awkward and has a
stammer, plus he's got a bowl cut and walks with an Egor style hunch. Recall too that Leaf is not in any sort of mood to take this affront to her dignity gracefully, so she punches him and throws him down the stairs.
Leaf then laughs a rather worrisome laugh and announces that Recon has given her a splendid idea! She then flies off to meet Kazuto Kirito, who is, as promised, at the south gate.
...and so they fight....inconclusively, although she does demonstrate that tactics and pure essence of yandere can counter even the highest sword skill.
After the fight Kirito explains that:
A: HE DIDN'T KNOW!
B: He won't be fully returned from Sword Art Online until he rescues his beloved.
For the first time Leaf actually groks the stakes of Kirito's quest. She realizes that his is quite possibly NOT a game and a life may be at stake. She and Recon follow Kirito and Y.U.I. to the entrance to the world tree where both agree to help him (Recon because he's still carrying a torch for Leaf).
Y.U.I. has analyzed the guardians of the gate from the recent battle (last episode) and is perplexed. She thinks that given the guardian's spawn rate, the gate may actually be unclear-able. In other words Y.U.I. thinks it's possible that this entrance is not actually intended to be cleared by players.
Of course, that would be crazy as clearing this entrance and entering the tree is, ostensibly, the whole point of the game, thus, it is decided that their best bet is to try to rush to the gate before the guardians become too numerous. the plan is to have Leaf and Recon (who have the ability to heal at range) heal Kirito as he rushes the gate.
Well....
That doesn't work.
The gate as seen from below near the entrance.
Same view, moments later after the guardians have started to appear.
Yes, it appears that the closer one gets to the gate the more guardians spawn...FRACTAL DIFFICULTY! Worse, the targeting algorithims of the guardians are different from other monsters in the game, in that they begin to focus on the healers, even though they do not advance have no weapons equipped.
Our heroes are being overwhelmed when Recon has an idea. He has a spell
that allows him to convert all his character points, inventory and XPs
into an explosion with that many points. This clever attack comes with
the 8 point limitation "ends character" but Leaf has convinced him that
this is a genuinely important task with real world implications.
...or he's just disgusted. In any event, Recon blows a huge hole in the guardians...to no avai it would seem... Kirito is overwhelmed as he tries to fly through it.
..or would be if the cavalry did not choose that moment to arrive.
There are Catgirl princesses on on fire breathing dragons. This is the best show ever.
The Sylph and Cait Sith armies from 3 episodes ago finally arrive
(and no doubt are wondering why these loons attacked ALONE...oh well). They have been preparing for this quite comprehensively and come equipped with dragons and magic swords, and hundreds of soldiers...some of whom are spellcasters with frickin' layzerbeams, but while they do inflict a great deal of damage, the guardians are spawning at an exponential rate. Both
armies are driven back by the unstoppable Mandelbrot set of mayhem coming at them.
However, both queens keep there heads and organize a fighting retreat
giving covering fire to Kirito (who is in the temporary gap made by Recon's self detonation and very near his goal).
By a miracle, the combination of dragon breath salvos and magic arrows,
along with his dual wielding prowess does, just barely, cut a hole in the
enemy line through which he slips just as the cloud of guardians closes
behind him.
Alas...
"Funny...It doesn't LOOK like cake."
Y.U.I. quickly ascertains that this "gate" is locked by system
administrators...no player can open it. The World Tree CANNOT be
accessed by players. The whole game is a lie!
Oh yeah...the guardians...they are approaching like angry bees.
Kirito remembers the card that Asuna threw them. He asks Y.U.I. about it
and she realizes that if used by her it can indeed unlock the gate. She does so just
the guardians descend upon them and the two are teleported (someplace)
in the nick of time as the credits roll.
OK! The episode suffered from an Asuna deficit, but despite that we're cooking with gas! Kirito has crossed a huge hurdle, though it remains to be seen if there is a mat or a bed of spikes awaiting him. The horrible awkwardness with Sughu was actually handled a bit better than I was afraid it would be.
3 episodes to go and it's coming together in such a way that I'm growing increasingly hopeful that the ending will not be a cop out or an exercise in nihilism. Fingers are crossed.
Speculation;
My guess is that the whole tree is set up along the lines of what Asuna discovered in episode 21. However, it is a VERY big tree.
1
They did say that your avatar's appearance was randomly generated; allowing you to upgrade your looks would be an obvious source of additional revenue. Sugu either got lucky, spent her allowance to make her character look just right, or the designers included a "real girl retention bonus". :-)
What Recon needs is a Groundhog Day quest, where he's forced to live out the same day again and again until he finally manages to bag a catgirl. The reward is a new haircut and the ability to stand up straight.
Speculation:
Our Villain doesn't strike me as a genius game designer, so my guess is that he had the legit staff design the quest, and then just locked the door and exponentially increased the size of the guard. The teleport may still be set to take the winning group directly to Oberon's audience chamber.
As for the ending,
I really, really want to see the epic battle between Hero and Villain end when Asuna comes up behind the bastard and hits him with a chair.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Sun Dec 9 12:35:54 2012 (2XtN5)
2
Hm. No on the ending.
She should hit the S.O.B. with a piano. From about six stories up. A chair is too nice.
Posted by: ubu at Mon Dec 10 13:25:49 2012 (SlLGE)
3
Ubu, given that Keiichi still hasn't got to first base, that's a hell of a thing to wish on a guy.
'Muppet, just... Get well soon, 'kay?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wed Dec 5 20:20:57 2012 (PiXy!)
4
I always thought Urd was hotter. But I never like the Anime girls that the fans in Japan are SUPPOSED to like.
On the third hand, I think your computer needs to be turned over to Skuld.
Posted by: Mauser at Thu Dec 6 05:29:50 2012 (cZPoz)
5
Pixy, you seem to be a bit behind on your AMG reading:
http://www.mangahere.com/manga/ah_my_goddess/c278/17.html
And in fact the current arc is dealing with consequences. It's quite interesting to find out that Keichi wasn't such a wuss on his own, it was part of the original contract mechanism....
And I'd never turn a computer over to Skuld if I wanted it to function for it's original purpose ever again....
Posted by: David at Thu Dec 6 15:10:14 2012 (jCwj+)
6
Oh, well, it's all right if it only takes him fifteen years to score! (cough cough)
The question is, is that Miku Dayo looking at a car she found flipped, or did she in fact flip the car?
Hang in there, man. One day you'll look at all this and think "well, most of it was worth it..."
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Thu Dec 6 16:30:00 2012 (pWQz4)
7
There are 3 ways to look at that pic:
1: It's her car, She wrecked it. ( the meaning I initially took)
2: She is empathizing with some Clannad fans misfortune.
3: MIKU SMAAASH!
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Dec 6 19:04:08 2012 (vp6an)
8
David, yeah, I gave up around volume 20. After the space whale, I think.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Fri Dec 7 01:05:23 2012 (PiXy!)
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Dec 9 01:18:39 2012 (LbiZL)
12
Oh, I don't know, David. A computer with inbuilt combat lasers and a self-destruct mechanism could be a nice thing to have (especially in this office).
Posted by: EdwardM at Sun Dec 9 23:47:10 2012 (moC4O)
It all turns to worms.
Asuna throws away her trump card. Now this does, in fact convince Kirito and Y.U.I. that she's up there, but she's lost her one ace in the hole and Kirito and Y.U.I. are no closer than they were to getting into the World Tree. Arguably they are now rather farther from their goal that they were, because, well...
Sughu figures out who her partner is...and does not react well.
"Oh... God...Did you just say Asuna Yuki?"
No indeed she does not react well at all...
"Burbleburbleburble...."
Interesting in that there are really only 3 scenes in the episode proper.
*A fight sequence as Kirito rashly tries to rush the gate of the world tree...and discovers why no one has succeeded.
*A brief interregnum where Leaf saves his ass, resurrects him and then learns who Kirito is.
*An extended scene in the real world where Sughu confronts her brother cousin and proceeds to have a complete nervous breakdown. This was actually pretty scary to watch.
Gut punches for everyone!
We all knew it was coming out eventually but I was not expecting this. Sword Art Online episode 22 actually turned out to be quite disturbing towards the end.
I'm pretty sure this show doesn't suck because this wasn't even a cliffhanger and yet I'm chomping at the bit to see the next episode because I'm seriously curious as to how they're going to proceed from here.
They've got some major hurdles to overcome and only 4 episodes to do it in.
1
It absolutely floored me, because I didn't think
Sugu was unaware of her partner's identity. It never even occurred to me that he never mentioned his avatar's name -- in fact, I thought the whole point was that she was helping him without his knowledge, because she was in love with him.
The fact that she was looking to Kirito to become the alternate "fix" ; i.e.: looking for love online, is indeed, very disturbing, as is the level of fixation she'd already managed. Without what I thought was the reason, her dedication to him is a little frighting.
2
It looks like they're working around the problems in the source material by making us care about the characters. As clever plans go, it doesn't suck.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Mon Dec 3 19:48:30 2012 (fpXGN)
Hobby Space News of the commercial space industry A Babe In The Universe Rather Eclectic Cosmology Encyclopedia Astronautica Superb spacecraft resource The Unwanted Blog Scott Lowther blogs about forgotten aerospace projects and sells amazingly informative articles on the same. Also, there are cats. Transterrestrial Musings Commentary on Infinity...and beyond! Colony WorldsSpace colonization news! The Alternate Energy Blog It's a blog about alternate energy (DUH!) Next Big Future Brian Wang: Tracking our progress to the FUTURE. Nuclear Green Charles Barton, who seems to be either a cool curmudgeon, or a rational hippy, talks about energy policy and the terrible environmental consequences of not going nuclear Energy From Thorium Focuses on the merits of thorium cycle nuclear reactors WizBang Current events commentary...with a wiz and a bang The Gates of Vienna Tenaciously studying a very old war The Anchoress insightful blogging, presumably from the catacombs Murdoc Online"Howling Mad Murdoc" has a millblog...golly! EaglespeakMaritime security matters Commander Salamander Fullbore blackshoe blogging! Belmont Club Richard Fernandez blogs on current events BaldilocksUnderstated and interesting blog on current events The Dissident Frogman French bi-lingual current events blog The "Moderate" VoiceI don't think that word means what they think it does....but this lefty blog is a worthy read nonetheless. Meryl Yourish News, Jews and Meryls' Views Classical Values Eric Scheie blogs about the culture war and its incompatibility with our republic. Jerry Pournell: Chaos ManorOne of Science fictions greats blogs on futurism, current events, technology and wisdom A Distant Soil The website of Colleen Dorans' superb fantasy comic, includes a blog focused on the comic industry, creator issues and human rights. John C. Wright The Sci-Fi/ Fantasy writer muses on a wide range of topics. Now Read This! The founder of the UK Comics Creators Guild blogs on comics past and present. The Rambling Rebuilder Charity, relief work, roleplaying games Rats NestThe Art and rantings of Vince Riley Gorilla Daze Allan Harvey, UK based cartoonist and comics historian has a comicophillic blog! Pulpjunkie Tim Driscoll reviews old movies, silents and talkies, classics and clunkers. Suburban Banshee Just like a suburban Leprechaun....but taller, more dangerous and a certified genius. Satharn's Musings Through TimeThe Crazy Catlady of The Barony of Tir Ysgithr アニ・ノート(Ani-Nouto) Thoughtful, curmudgeonly, otakuism that pulls no punches and suffers no fools. Chizumatic Stephen Den Beste analyzes anime...with a microscope, a slide rule and a tricorder. Wonderduck Anime, Formula One Racing, Sad Girls in Snow...Duck Triumphalism Beta Waffle What will likely be the most thoroughly tested waffle evah! Zoopraxiscope Too In this thrilling sequel to Zoopraxiscope, Don, Middle American Man of Mystery, keeps tabs on anime, orchids, and absurdities. Mahou Meido MeganekkoUbu blogs on Anime, computer games and other non-vital interests Twentysided More geekery than you can shake a stick at Shoplifting in the Marketplace of Ideas Sounds like Plaigarism...but isn't Ambient IronyAll Meenuvians Praise the lathe of the maker! Hail Pixy!!
Wow! 
See that thar nebbish, the one who goes by the handle of Recon? In real life Leaf Sugu his Kendo senpai. He pines for her but is shorter than Sugu, physically weak, socially awkward, and has a stammer. In the online world however, he's shorter than Leaf, physically weak, socially awkward and has a stammer, plus he's got a bowl cut and walks with an Egor style hunch. I just don't see him picking that avatar. I just don't.
When last we left Sugu, she was smelling her knees and burbling, having had something of a mental breakdown upon learning that her brother was actually her partner in the game. 
