The End of a Chapter, The Start of New Worlds!

It's Finale time for Sword Art Online episode 25!

A pretty good episode indeed filled with lots and lots of people we haven't seen for almost half the series.

First it starts out hopeful and dramatic... then it comes with some crazy real life sword knife fight action that leads to the eventual victor. Then the heartfelt romantic reunion scene we've all been waiting for.

Then... time skipping! School days!

Drinking (oolong tea) in a bar! SAO meet up!

Then a little exposition on "The Seed" which was pretty interesting.

Almost finally... a little (or a lot of) dancing in the sky between siblings.

And finally a new, but old challenge has [re]appeared! And it glows!


The amount of exclamation points in this post are ridiculous. But it certainly captures some of the feelings I felt for this finale and the series as a whole. One of the subtlely big "!" moments was seeing Asuna in her ALO attire. Quite a treat for the eyes.

Save the Queen, Beat the King

In the latest episode of Sword Art Online (episode 24), we get to finally see the great reunion of lovers and child.

Then we get to see a disgusting act by the so-called "king".

Then we see a badass bringing justice.

Happy times! Plus a little throwback to the SAO days.


I was a little bit shocked by all the admin control stuff though... I mean Yui really is crazy, but the other guy using it? Strange.

Anyways, next episode should be filled with happiness and awe as the lovers reunite once again, plus we get to see what this "seed" is.


And I probably skipped a ton of episode in between this post and the last on Sword Art Online. We missed a lot of sibling bonding and drama plus a little tiny bit of cross-race alliances.

Kirito - Beast Mode

On to episode 19 of Sword Art Online. We get to see some fighting happening with Kirito, Leafa, and some Salamanders.

Kirito gets to unleash his magic as a Spriggan. With support from Leafa of course. He goes berserk so to speak. Looking a little like Gleam Eyes there.

Then they head out to defend some diplomacy.

Little Busters 5 : Journey of Memories; Leafa Party

Today I watched Little Busters 5, and caught up on Sword Art Online episodes 17+18.

Let's start with SAO, since I blasted through that first.

These episodes were mainly to get the ball rolling as Kirito gets to know ALO and Leafa. Of course, Kirito gets to be the hero and what not, and is in "newbie" mode by asking all sorts of questions. While Leafa ends up being a bit tsundere as she gets closer to Kirito. Of course Leafa's real identity is pretty obvious, but they are both very oblivious. Later on they leave for the World Tree (or Yggdrasil). There were also some... Asuna moments as she is being held up by the creepy man. However, fun times await as it ends with a great Asuna moment.

All in all it's moving slowly but surely. I kind of hope Kirito can meet up with more old friends along the way.


--

And now for Little Busters!

As we journey along Komari's arc, there's a small interlude of baseball to start. Rin is always very cute when trying to handle anyone besides the Little Busters, especially with Komari. Komari has the strange and great aura that makes anyone feel different and great, even Kurugaya Yuiko, cutely called Yui-chan by Komari.

Then we get to the more serious parts. Again with the "who is Komari's brother". Shooting stars, old man getting serious, memories lost, rain and thunder, a walk through nostalgia. All of these and more in this episode.

What awaits Komari and the crew is a mystery until the next episode. Good luck Komari.

Elf World Online

Yep elves. And magic!

Brother and Sister

I recently watched Sword Art Online 15. Right now, it's after the whole SAO finale, so things have cooled down a lot. Although it was already in the outside world, I was surprised that there was some fighting going on. The main focus though, was Kirito/Kazuto's sister, who seems to play a major role in the next arc. 

Anyways, looking forward to Kazuto's quest to get back to Asuna. And hopefully beat that silly "childhood friend". 

Next episode: Goodbye swords. Hello elves!

End Game

Sword Art Online 14.

"The End of the World" is what it's called.

And that's what it was.

It was quite a bit quicker than I expected, and the whole epilogue part of it was seemingly lack-luster. Of course, the moments between Asuna and Kirito were great as always. The big reveal was already spoiled for me, but the way it played out was different than what I expected.

I continue to appreciate the spoiler-free, fat-free episode "previews" that only state the title of the next episode. Here's hoping for a great new opening and ending song combo. More LiSA and Haruka Tomatsu songs please!

Fishing and Reaping (and Faces)

Sword Art Online 13 was an episode that shifts from a silly side-story to the start of a crazy boss battle. With lovely Kirito and Asuna moments in between.

And it was also filled with a whole bunch of... interesting faces. Probably had quite a bit of help from some other side-studios.

Lots of non-spoiler images here!

Kirito looks perturbed.

Asuna being curious!

Oh Asuna. What interesting attire you have.

Shocked Asuna and shocked(?) Kirito.

Serious faces.

Not so serious face.

Shocked Kirito.

Serious fighting. Happens in the latter half of this episode.

Shakugan no Yui

That was all I could think about during this episode's boss fight.


Spoiler alert I guess, but Yui being like that was both expected and unexpected. Now where will Asuna and Kirito go from here?

Lovely Moments and a Child

Sword Art Online 11 was pretty much lovey dovey stuff between Asuna and Kirito. They are so cute together.

And then there is Yui. I wonder who (or what?) she is. Such a mystery.

A Wizard Rider; A Knight of Blood (and Love)

So today I was able to watch a few episodes of stuff after a long day of photo shooting.

I got to watch the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Wizard. Interesting that it starts with him and all his powers already, consider the previous two have them getting their powers out of the blue. Also... all that engrish is both fun a tiny bit painful to hear. I especially like the "Shabadobee, Henshin!" jingle. The "Hi hi. hi hi hi" (FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE) part is also nice. Good to see two recurring characters who may or may not get magic later on? Especially potent would be that guy who dreams of magic since his childhood. And perhaps the police lady.
Also... "Connect... Please" "Please" "Please"


Today I also watched episode 10 of SAO. Unexpected turn of events led to an expected outcome. I wonder what ability that Knight of Blood captain has. It had plenty of fighting. Plenty of loving. Forgive the bad pun in post title.

Beating Blue Baphomet

Where's his scythe?

Just finished Sword Art Online 9. Wow Blue Baphomet "The Gleam Eyes" is kind of a crazy boss huh? But the way Kirito fought it was even crazier. This episode was great, the fighting, the random bits of Asuna and Kirito, and of course the cliffhanger. It's also nice to see Klein and Liz again!

And this time I'm up to date very early. That probably isn't going to be the case in the next following months though...

Dragon + Blacksmith; Cooking + Partying

Finished the latest two episodes of Sword Art Online today.

Episode 7 was with a blacksmith girl called Lizbeth or Lisbeth depending on the romanization. She was quite cute. I wonder if she even shows up later since she's a friend of Asuna. Though this was probably another side-story.

Episode 8 was finally the start of the main story I believe. Starting with good moments between Kirito and Asuna. Or actually, it was pretty much Kirito and Asuna the whole episode. Finally reaching higher floors! Plus the whole ingredient and cooking part were fun.

The Mystery in a Virtual World Ends

This episode of Sword Art Online wraps up that little murder mystery side-story.

The concept for the "murder" or in-town PK was actually something that's actually plausible. It seemed ok to me logically, though the fact that Kirito could figure it out so quickly kind of irked me. What was even more disappointing is the logic being the actual murderer's reason for killing Griselda. Absolutely stupid, and even more so when Asuna gave that little "You treated her like a possession" speech. But whatever, that side-story's done, and up next is another side-story. More Asuna and Kirito moments I presume.


As an aside, my brother's been watching tons of One Piece lately. Surprisingly enjoyable to watch, though the "distraction" makes time fly.

A Mystery in a Virtual World

Late, but I did end up watching episode 5 of Sword Art Online on Sunday.

This episode was actually a change of pace from previous episodes. Although I hear that it is another side-story, it actually involves more than just Kirito and his solo-self. It also involes Asuna, while having minor appearances by people like Klein and Agil.

The pacing of the episode itself was actually slow for once, as it also seems to be a two-parter instead of one story squished into one episode. The side story characters seem interesting enough, and it makes me wonder whether it is actually a person or a curse or something else that has caused the mystery. I do quite like that there's interaction between Kirito and Asuna now.

Geki End; Magiranger Start; SAO Christmas

Today was such a mixed day of watching.

I just finished Jyuken Sentai Gekirangers, a slightly old Super Sentai series that I had put on hold for maybe a year or two now. At around episode 40 no less. But now I'm finished that great series and off to sample some more old Super Sentai. Although I can of doubt another series would beat Rio and Mele as the bad guys of the series.


And so I started Magirangers. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was a lot of fun for the first few episode. "Magi Magi Magirou!" and those other morphing/zord sounds are pretty hilariously done with that low voice. Also, the whole family being rangers is pretty different.



Also, in between watching those two, I got to see Sword Art Online episode 3. I did not know what to expect, but boy was it sad. No spoilers here though, except for the fact that I was surprised that they had a Christmas in that sort of game. Here's hoping that Kirito can get out of that lull and work with the other players.

In a Virtual World of Swords

Sword Art Online Episode 1.

It kind of reminds me of .hack in the whole virtual reality kind of way. Except this seems to have bigger ramifications. The whole system and the lack of magic is also kind of surprising.

The first episode was not what I expected. The lack of characters introduced was kind of surprising. You mostly get Kirito and Klein, and a tiny glimpse of the others before the episode ends. Oh and of course you get introduced to the crazy but calm GM of the whole thing.

Here's hoping it ends up living up to the hype from the novels.