English Dub Review: Sword Art Online: Alicization “Departure”

No sleep till Centoria!

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Kirito formulates a plan of attack against the goblins, using his SAO sword skills to knock off a few before confronting their leader. He even manages to disarm him, but lets his guard down and gets hurt worse than he ever has in other VR worlds. As the goblin leader gets ready to kill him, a scared Eugeo summons his courage. He remembers that goblins are afraid of light to distract the leader, but then ends up getting injured even worse. Eugeo starts bleeding out, but memories of his and Kirito’s friendship begin to return to the both of them. This gives Kirito the strength to kill the leader and drive off the rest so he can save Selka, but first they have to heal Eugeo. And the only way is with a risky spell that requires both of them to use their own health to save him. While the healing happens, Kirito hears a strange voice telling him that they will be waiting for him and Eugeo “at the top of the central cathedral”.

A few days later, Eugeo is mostly all healed and hard at work chopping at the tree. In addition, that fight in the cave helped increase both Kirito and Eugeo’s levels so that they can now wield the Blue Rose Sword. With it, they easily slice away at the Gigas Cidar, but more importantly, Eugeo now has the tools he needs to leave town and find Alice. However, he first needs to learn how to use a sword, so Kirito teaches him in his own “Aincrad Style”. After five days of training, Eugeo takes one last swing at the tree, finally knocking it down. With is calling finally complete, he’s allowed to pick his next, and he chooses being a Swordsman in Centoria. Before leaving, he vows to Selka that he’ll rescue Alice, then heads out with Kirito.

OUR TAKE

That closes the book on the first volume of the arc, so naturally it feels like the end of your usual Act 1 stuff. Heroes have a normal life, a problem occurs, they want to solve it but can’t, they overcome this and cross the threshold to confront the problem. The past few episodes have actually had quite a few thresholds for Kirito and Eugeo to pass through: stopping the goblins and saving Selka, wielding the Blue Rose Sword, and finally chopping down the giant tree so Eugeo can be free to leave. Really, this story seems to be more about Eugeo than Kirito at the moment. Sure, Kirito has his own goals, but Eugeo has more of a personal connection to his, is the one overcoming more than Kirito, and leaving his whole life behind to pursue his dreams. That said, this is very much a two-protagonist deal so far, but it definitely feels like Eugeo’s the star at the moment.

The fight with the goblins is also a good starter fight for both of them. It forces Eugeo into a similar situation to the one that led to Alice being taken; only now he’s older and can do something to stop Selka from suffering the same fate or worse. It also gives Kirito an example of how combat, usually his bread and butter, will be a little different, particularly in that he can actually get really hurt if he isn’t careful. This basically puts him back in early Aincrad days when he was a low level player working his way up, which makes him the most interesting he’s been in a LONG time. He’s still technically Eugeo’s teacher, but it’s looking like the two of them will be on equal ground soon enough so we can see them both approach situations from different perspectives. Or at least, that’s what I’m hoping for so we can start to get some better ways of fleshing Eugeo out a bit more.

Though with this recent fight and its physical costs, that raises some questions about this world and the story going forward. What purpose would there be to include pain in fights, and why are there enemies in it that can hurt people? Can someone die from their injuries, and if so, does that mean they die in real life too, like with SAO? Furthermore, was that voice that spoke to Kirito really Alice and how was it sent to him? And how will Kirito and Eugeo’s lost memories factor into things when they seem to get along just fine without them? These are all things I don’t need to know RIGHT now, but definitely at SOME point. Either way, it looks like we’re off to a good start with this season. Everything’s serving its intended purpose, so now we can move onto what might be the exceptional stuff. Only nine more books to go!