English Dub Review: Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld “The Night Before Battle”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Alice arrives at the knights’ camp with comatose Kirito to report the nearly destroyed gate. Things don’t look good for them, as Eldrie tells her that the Dark Territory’s forces vastly outnumber those of the Integrity Knights’, not helped by previous shenanigans by Chudelkin keeping ten of the existing 31 knights out of the fight, then four guarding the cathedral and four patrolling the mountains, leaving just thirteen to lead their troops to fight. Eldrie is worried that caring for Kirito will just be a distraction, but Bercouli tests his abilities to show that his instincts to fight are still there, meaning that he’ll get out of this funk. Not only that, but he’ll be the strongest warrior they have due to his sheer amount of battle experience.

This both relieves and worries Alice. Relieves because he’ll recover, but worries her because her burgeoning feelings for him get harder to suppress. But before she can get a sneak kiss in, Tiese and Ronie arrive to learn of Eugeo’s death. They blame themselves for that and Kirito’s current state because their feelings for them must have been what caused this, but Alice tells them that they are allowed to feel however they want and accept themselves.

The knights strategize for the upcoming battle, planning to absorb the power in the area near the gate before the enemy can use it, though it will be up to Alice who will be crucial to that due to her apparent surpassing of every other knight. All forces gather in front of the gate as it finally crumbles to make way for war.

OUR TAKE

That wraps up another book being adapted as we fully set the stage for the titular War of Underworld. Alice has fully embraced her true self (or at least this version of herself since Eugeo took her memories for no reason which YES I am still bitter about thanks for asking) and returned to the battlefield to protect her homeland with the power she knows will help the war effort, which is apparently far more than she expected. I’m not sure what to make of that comment regarding her surpassing every other knight since I don’t remember her DOING anything that would have boosted her power that much, but maybe it has to do with how her soul is special enough to be picked out of the world to come to the real world. Plus she’s also becoming more accepting of her self as a person with feelings beyond her duty, which just so happens to also involve gaining feelings for Kirito because…well, she’s a girl main character in Sword Art Online, so naturally her character arc involves crushing on Kirito at some point.

Yes, Kirito has just got so much swag that he can make girls infatuated even in a coma. In fact, a fair amount of this episode seems to be just a bunch of characters practically pulling down his pants and fellating him because he’s just that awesome. Kirito’s so awesome that he can block an attack while unconscious! And get women to be hotter by NOT being sexist to them! AND women shame themselves simply for daring to succumb to his inescapable charisma! AND when he wakes up he will be SUCH A BADASS that he will turn the tide of the war IMMEDIATELY. Man, Kirito is just THE BEST EVER. THINGS WOULD MOST CERTAINLY BE FUCKED IF NOT FOR KIRITO.

Good lord…it’s as if this show was holding back its “remind people Kirito is super special awesome” urges for four episodes but then they got to this one and the flood gates just BURST. Not unlike the gates separating the territories, actually. So now we get to see the war begin and show all these existing AND NEW Integrity Knights (at least new to us) show their stuff in combat. The clock is ticking until Kirito awakens and removes the stakes of the conflict entirely, but in the meantime, let’s see how the knights handle their darkest day.