Impression
Fuck, that’s really sobering.
I have to say, the award for ‘most shocking moment this episode’ didn’t actually go to the moment when the doctor said that Yuuki had AIDS; that’s what it was in the novel. In the adaptation, it went to the initial visual reveal – when the lights were turned on and Asuna saw Yuuki’s real-life condition for the first time. It just goes to show how stark a difference there can be between one mode of storytelling and another – certainly, the feels hit harder in the novel overall, although I’m not sure whether that was because I already knew what was going on. It felt like the doctor revealed it a bit too nonchalantly and clinically here, and the real feels were when Yuuki and Asuna met face-to-face on the little island and had their chat. The real deal under all the happiness and adventuring is a harsh truth – the Sleeping Knights are named as such because they’re all terminally ill patients trialling a pioneering medical technology, and as much as they love Asuna she can’t join as she’s not truly one of them. They’re not disbanding after the new year because a couple of the members will be busy – those members will in fact have succumbed to their illnesses and died by then.
With all that in mind, it’s not surprising at all that Yuuki and the rest of the Sleeping Knights are trying their best to distance themselves from Asuna. Part of it is to save Asuna the worry and pain that’ll come with learning of Yuuki’s condition – there’s no need to drag her in any further, and it might not be the best way to repay all the help she’s given her. But Yuuki’s scared, as well. Scared that Asuna might reject her, and that she might lose a friend. The doctor mentioned prejudice in passing, and from my fuzzy memory of the novel I think there was a bit more detail on this and many other trials Yuuki has had to endure – remember, she’s had AIDS practically from birth, although the condition really only kicked in when she was eight or so. And then there’s Asuna’s resemblance to Yuuki’s deceased sister, who also suffered from this hereditary drug-resistant AIDS. It must have been so painful for her all along – to talk endlessly about Asuna every day, then start crying once she was done.
The Medicuboid is an interesting concept, and I remember having mentioned it in my light novel review as well. Being able to explore virtual worlds is an incredible chance for those suffering from terminal illnesses – they can live a life they never would have had the chance to due to their conditions. Sadly, it doesn’t actually treat the illness itself, and thus amounts to an increase in quality of life most of all – though to be fair, in the case of terminal illnesses treatment isn’t exactly an option either way. So for Yuuki and the rest of the Sleeping Knights, it’s a chance to live out the remaining time they have in a whole new way, one almost definitely preferable to sitting in a hospital bed everyday – and that’s proven by how Yuuki has pretty much spent all of the last 3 years living in the Medicuboid, which is a year longer than the SAO survivors have done. She’s been a ‘product of the full-dive environment’ to the point that her reaction time trumps that of Kirito’s! While it may achieve good things, I have to say the machine itself looks terrifying. My heart broke when I saw Yuuki hooked up to it ;_;
A part of me has never been able to get past the unfairness of it. How someone so incredibly full of life could be trapped in a body that is rapidly dying around her.
“The doctor mentioned prejudice in passing, and from my fuzzy memory of the novel I think there was a bit more detail on this and many other trials Yuuki has had to endure”
Yeah. At the first school Yuuki attended, just as she started 4th grade some parents of students who were in her grade somehow discovered that she carried HIV. Even though she couldn’t legally be discriminated against because of it, that didn’t stop people from being cruel: protesting against her coming to school, using prank calls and anonymous letters to torment her. Eventually things were bad enough that the family was forced to move, and Yuuki transferred to another school. Right around that point, however, was when the AIDS began to manifest: her immune system weakening. She was infected with something vicious, was hospitalized and… well… things went downhill from there.
…I’m pretty sure I’m going to cry every episode for the rest of this series.
Life has indeed been unfairly cruel to Yuuki. She didn’t deserve any of the cruelty and pain, not one bit of it.
Even if there are tears next episode, I’m hoping it’s the happy sort as Yuuki spends the episode in school – it’s the first time I’ll have appreciated Kirito’s programming skills. But as for the final episode… ;_; It’s quite nice that they’ve managed to have Mother’s Rosario coincide with Christmas/New Year in the real world, which is around when it’s set in the story.
Poor Yuuki ;;
I agree that the most impactful scene was the one they actually showed her body… and that machine sure looks a bit terrifying.
I read somewhere that her disease began to manifest when people from her old school discovered about it and she began so suffer from discrimination/prejudice and I can totally see why it happened if it was the case. I understand too the fear the Sleeping Knights have in letting someone get too close to them(probably from their past experiences). It is not only the fear of them getting hurt by them but also the fear that they, indirectly of course, may end up bringing pain to their friends…
Yuuki is so admirable in the fact that she continues to push foward and keeps on smiling despite everything, I know she may not be for many people, but for me she is the better character in the series in terms of history and how she reacts to it, too bad she probably won’t get that much character development until… you know. ;;
The last episode is probably gonna be extremely sad… but yeah, at least everyone who watches this will probably learn something.