Sword Art Online

[ibabrak]

I'll say it again, since you might have missed it in my post. This episode came from the second novel, which is made of side story chapters that chronologically take place during the first novel, in which there is an actual story progression.

I haven't missed it actually. I was just trying to say that even though it wasn't that strong it at least kind of benefited the plot

Spoiler :

with his friends dying

I still like this serie a lot.. I don't usually get discouraged from watching a show by a single episode if it had some good ones before.

[Jasta85]

I'll say it again, since you might have missed it in my post. This episode came from the second novel, which is made of side story chapters that chronologically take place during the first novel, in which there is an actual story progression.

I saw your post too so I understand that the ep is canon, it's just that it didn't make any sense to me to have it as the third ep. ep 1 introduces the world, ep 2 shows them clearing the boss of floor 1, ep 3 does 2 big time jumps and has a whole bunch of stuff that doesn't seem to advance the plot much. it was just weird that they selected that to be in the third ep.

[mirkosp]

It was mostly to say that with the second volume, things didn't happen chronologically, although they're just side stories, and this might be the case with the anime. LN spoiler ahead:

Spoiler :

Keep in mind that the first volume ends with them out of SAO already. The first novel spans for the time of two years, and it ends with Kirito out to search for Asuna once awake. Novel 2 then ties into the events of the first novel and adds stuff.

But since we're talking about events that weren't even talked about in the first novel, it's obvious that they weren't necessary to show to begin with, so imho it's stuff they could have skipped entirely.
In any case, judging from the title of the fourth episode, we're in for another side story. So what I'm getting at is, perhaps they want to get the side stories all done now, and then go back to the first volume/main course of events and just focus on Asuna with the side story characters out of the way. I still think that ignoring the side stories entirely would have been better, but oh well.

[OropherZero]

ep3 is my fave so far. I don't mind the time gap and the lack of progression, I like the scripting and the sense that the emotions the characters are feeling are pretty realistic for the situation they are in, I think that was the purpose of the episode, it's much better than making the show another overblown shounen

[Jasta85]

It was mostly to say that with the second volume, things didn't happen chronologically, although they're just side stories, and this might be the case with the anime. LN spoiler ahead:

Spoiler :

Keep in mind that the first volume ends with them out of SAO already. The first novel spans for the time of two years, and it ends with Kirito out to search for Asuna once awake. Novel 2 then ties into the events of the first novel and adds stuff.

But since we're talking about events that weren't even talked about in the first novel, it's obvious that they weren't necessary to show to begin with, so imho it's stuff they could have skipped entirely.
In any case, judging from the title of the fourth episode, we're in for another side story. So what I'm getting at is, perhaps they want to get the side stories all done now, and then go back to the first volume/main course of events and just focus on Asuna with the side story characters out of the way. I still think that ignoring the side stories entirely would have been better, but oh well.

Spoiler :

I don't suppose they ever say what the government was doing in the mean time. You've got 10000 people plugged into a game for 2 years who can't disconnect and are slowly dying off and the government just shrugs its shoulders and goes "oh, it's too advanced for us, we don't know what to do". The helmets kill them by sending a specific overload or something into their brains, wouldnt some instantaneous EMP used on the helmet knockout the electronics before they could send the kill message? but then i'm probably reading into it too much

[mirkosp]

Spoiler :

Well, they were put on external support, as I'm pretty sure that he wakes up in a hospital or so at the end of volume one, so that's probably what the government did in the mean time. Other solutions might have been discarded as too risky, I guess. In order to destroy the Nerve Gear they need microwaves (or other electromagnetic radiations, which would at least damage the brain at that distance and at the required "strength."

[ZephyrStar]

Ep 3 was pretty good actually, good dark mood. Seems like the protag has hit a bottom, let's hope he comes back up soon.

[TEKnician]

WHOA WHOA WHOA!! SLOW DOWN! BRAKE! BRAAAAAAKE!!!!

Stop skipping ahead. Take the time to use cross fades like you did LAST episode.

But damn, this one made me feel pretty bad for Kirito. From the moment I saw Sachi, I knew what was gonna happen...

Then the writer decided to rub it in his face at the end. Damn dude, I hope you get to meet up with Asuna soon. =(

[Eake4]

Progresses way to fast, still pretty good series.

[Jasta85]

ep 4 was pretty good, I like how the had showed how big the differences in levels are, and how he was in a lower level area for a reason, not just wandering around randomly.

But I'm still a bit angry that there's still no continuity between episodes, they're pretty much all separate episodes at this point, it doesn't feel like the fight for survival like the first ep made it out to be. Also, there's new characters every ep and then they don't show up again. They'll probably all meet again in some of the final eps but I wish there was a bit more character development till then.