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.

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.


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...


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.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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