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Sword Art Online Alicization Episode 16 Review

Kirito was warming up his ultimate move last week and this week starts with him unleashing it. I’m going to be honest, for the build up, and given how pretty Eugeo’s skill was, I’m kind of disappointed with black light reaching out across the distance and just kind of brute force overwhelming the opponent. Even more wondering why said opponent flew upward and hit the ceiling given the direction the two forces opposed to each other were pushing (just kind of seemed a little physics breaking). Still, the fight comes to a suitable end just in time for Kirito to sermonise.

You know, Kirito was a lot more fun when he was a solo player. Because he helped people but he didn’t bother to explain his reasoning or motives, he just kind of did things and offered very little in the way of justification. Kirito in Alicization is endlessly explaining himself to Eugeo and trying to justify his choices and while it makes sense from the point of view that Eugeo really hasn’t had a lot of exposure to other ideas so kind of needs it, it makes Kirito a really dull and preachy character. We get it, the knights are humans so even though they are enemies you don’t want them to die… blah, blah. Tell us again. Sure, why not.

We then move on to an elevator ride up to the eightieth floor to really hammer home the point that the 100 floor thing was an entirely pointless conceit given we’ve seen exactly 3 of these floors. And guess what, they found Alice.

I think this is when I realised that finding Alice had long since moved from being the central goal of this anime. The problem is, I have no attachment to any of their other goals of defeating the administrator and preparing for some upcoming war. For me, the only goal I’m attached to is Eugeo finding Alice and realistically, mission accomplished, you know except the part where she’s still trying to kill them and all.

Realistically, Kirito’s finishing move on the fiftieth floor didn’t impress but got the job done. The fight with Alice was visually a lot cooler and the cliff-hanger ending works at making me want the next episode now, but as has become usual when watching Alicization, I’m increasingly wondering if the payoff will ever be worth all the set up and I’m finding myself more and more not really caring whether they actually succeed or not. Still, pretty lights, clashing swords, and hyped up music so it works well enough.

Thanks for reading
Karandi James

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Sword Art Online 9 (light novel) : Alicization Beginning

• Alicization Episode 1: SAO is Back, But Does it Work?
• Alicization Episode 2: He’s Back in the Game
• Alicization Episode 3: Oh Look, A Shiny New Sword
• Alicization Episode 4: Kirito is Back
• Alicization Episode 5: Asuna’s Turn
• Alicization Episode 6: In The Absence of Action, We Get Attack of the Talking Heads
• Alicization Episode 7: Can Eugeo Find the Confidence to Be Independent? 
• Alicization Episode 8: How Does Kirito’s Belief in Himself Cause Success?
• Alicization Episode 9: Discover the Noble Spirit Hidden Within A Would Be Swordsman
• Alicization Episode 10: Warning Labels and Defeating Taboos in SAO
• Alicization Episode 11: Why More Time Isn’t Helping This Story
• Alicization Episode 12: Short Battle Followed By Attack of the Exposition
• Alicization Episode 13: SAO Now Presents the Information Dump To Defeat All Information Dumps
• Alicization Episode 14: Fire Meets Ice Before the Tower Climb
• Alicization Episode 15: Harsh Comparison of Experience and Naive Ignorance in Battle
• Alicization Episode 16: They Came, They Rode An Elevator, Now They’ll Fight
• Alicization Episode 17: They’ll Need Teamwork If They’re Going To Make It To The Top
• Alicization Episode 18: A Frosty Reception After A Clash of Ideologies
• Alicization Episode 18.5: Recap
• Alicization Episode 19: The Story of Brainwashing and Exploding Eye-Balls
• Alicization Episode 20: The Friend Turned Foe
• Alicization Episode 21: The Power of Friendship Strikes Back
• Alicization Episode 22: Anime Characters Should Not Review Their Own Episode
• Alicization Episode 23: Empty Promises Preceding Empty Actions
• Alicization Episode 24: And Apparently We’re Done For Now
• Images from: Sword Art Online Alicization. Dir. M Ono. A-1 Pictures. 2018.