Sword Art Online Episode 10: True Love’s Kiss

“Let’s get married.”

Summary

Kirito begins his duel against the leader of the KoB, Heathcliff, who possesses a unique skill just like he does. With such a high level defence, Kirito struggles against the paladin and manages to find an opening at the last minute – only to have Heathcliff’s shield move to block it at an impossibly high speed, leaving Kirito open to an attack that ends the match. Joining the KoB, Kirito is sent out with fellow members Godfrey and Kuradeel to the 55th floor dungeon, where Kuradeel exacts his revenge and paralyses his team mates, killing Godfrey and almost doing the same to Kirito. When Asuna arrives, Kuradeel is quickly outmatched and killed, having revealed himself as a Laughing Coffin member. Kirito and Asuna kiss, and decide to leave the front lines, moving to a forest clearing on the 22nd floor.

Impression

I want to cut straight to the chase – the sex happened. It must have. It was definitely initiated in the light novel as Chapter 16.5, where Asuna continued by going “…it’d be stupid to stop now, wouldn’t it?” or something along those lines. SAO’s <Ethics Code Off> does allow it…I suppose even virtual avatars have needs. It was practically hentai, yet I seem to recall that Kawahara did confirm it as canon in the past. It was legit enough for people to include it in PDF versions of Volume 1, anyway. Besides, there was a suspicious gap between Asuna happily giving us some fanservice and them in her bed, where she was ~suspiciously~ fully naked. That, boys and girls, is what two people do when they love each other very much. Also, there was a marriage proposal! I’m so happy they’ve finally poured out their true feelings to each other – it’s a really, really sincere love, one of the pairings where I actually scoff at them paired with anyone else because it’s just not happening. It’s actually really important they have this kind of love for each other especially later on in ALO, and it’s really scenes like this that keep you forever loyal to everyone’s OTP of Kirito x Asuna. Kirina? Or Asuto? Probably to the chagrin of Lizbeth, it’s official now, sealed with a kiss~

We’ll work our way backwards now, to Kirito’s fight against Heathcliff. Known as the <Paladin>, the strongest player (which they conveniently skipped out), he owns another unique skill that combines the best of a sword and shield, giving him amazing defence abilities that have the advantage against someone like Kirito, whose attack and speed is his best friend. He obviously wants Kirito’s skills for the Knights of the Blood, and is willing to fight for them – and he was definitely a skilled fighter. I’m sure, though, that all of us picked up on the very last moment of the duel; that final shield movement that was just too fast. It’s suspicious, even more so when you remember that it’s system assist guiding all the skills, and not your physical ability.

Heh, if you think Heathcliff is suspicious, Kuradeel the stalker has pretty much confirmed that the KoB isn’t only full of good guys. Poisoning water is so cliche, yet still so effective. No matter how wary Kirito was of Kuradeel, to suspect someone who fully looked like he apologized is not what anyone would have done – and Kuradeel knew that. You have your Rider-type character (Iskandar, not Medusa) that’s brawny but cheerful introduced, who ended up the victim of an old guy that still tried to talk his way out of it after clearly grinding a sword into a paralyzed Kirito. He’s a fucking ass, and I don’t have much remorse in his death. Asuna hesitated at that last moment, and he took advantage of that – typical Laughing Coffin, whose members have no sense of honour or fair play. I admit I didn’t really believe Kirito would die, as painful as it was to watch – he’s been through his fair share near-death situations recently.

The pacing was slightly rushed again today, which was a little unnatural after all the played-out storytelling we’ve had lately. The Heathcliff fight was rather short, as was the transition to Kirito joining the KoB, though to be fair the animation of the fight itself is going to be much shorter than its LN descriptions. Despite that it was still enjoyable, and I prefer minor rushing to Accel World’s multi-ep dragging out.

Taking a break from the front lines does mean taking a break from the KoB too, so Kirito’s stint in the guild didn’t turn out to be too long, after all. The tranquil forest on the 22nd floor is the setting for the next scene – technically Kirito and Asuna’s honeymoon, but also the place where the next side story, Morning Dew Girl kicks off. Featuring a little girl named Yui, it’s one of my favourites, and is definitely the most heartwarming out of them all – and because of that, possibly the most heartbreaking too. We can get to that next week though. Meanwhile, ASUNA FANSERVICE TIMEZ~

• The uniform was hilarious, by the way xD