Accel World has become rather interesting, not necessarily in regards to the plot’s content, yet in that while the story remains ridiculous, it’s at least going somewhere now – making progress, whether silly or not.
The protagonist unit determined they’re going to help the yandere loli – yet they don’t head out for that till the latter half of the episode, nearing the conclusion. Till then, much of it is spent on a variety of other subjects – each serving to be more preposterous than the last. One of such items of discussion is whether or not to make the short-haired side-character girl a member of the RPG which the leading characters are so compulsively obsessed with.
Conversing about it in the same tone one would speak of life and death, the matter of inviting the girl to the game is pondered aloud – with it being mentioned that a success could bring her closer to the former drug abuser, yet a failure would be as tragic as one would expect it to be for someone to live a life incapable of playing an MMORPG.
Let it be noted that everything to be said regarding “Burst Link”, up till now, and for the remainder of the episode, will sound laughably absurd in its entirety if attempting to consider it on a realistic, or standard logic scale – though there’s two details regarding that. First, these seemingly senile verbal exchanges make relative sense as per the “Accel World” reasoning. The same issue of the RPG talk being farcical was present earlier on as well – yet at that point, Accel World hadn’t well-articulated itself whatsoever, and so indeed, it was all drivel.
However, the second specific to note is this, around the time of the introduction of the yandere loli, Accel World begun to develop itself more before diving into anything further – and as result of that simple slowdown and reassessment, the story hasn’t become any less trivial, yet one can now recognize the direction at which the characters are approaching it.
And thus, we arrive at the second encounter – later into the day, back at home, the pig speaks with the loli on quite a personal level. As he asks her a random inane question, fitting of his lack of cognitive abilities, the loli switches to the softer side of her yandere credentials – proclaiming how she loves the black butterfly, before then delving into other RPG nonsense.
Yet the most significant lines spoken are those regarding becoming “level 10″ – it’s rumored that achieving such results in a conclusion of the game. The loli admits herself that “Accel World” is packed by a vast populace of people with nothing better to do in the real world – and of course, the ending certainly seems a fine method to exile them back to their reality, if nothing else.
There exists a debate however as to what exactly would be the most appropriate route of going about the game’s ultimate purpose of becoming level 10 – seeing as not everyone wants the same fate. Though no matter, the chat then shifts into the topic of uninstalling the game – something which one should already know from past episodes of this series, is far worse than death, especially considering most “Burst Linkers” don’t have a life to begin with, effectively rendering them in a purgatory of uselessness, assuming they’re not in such already.
In any case, the pig is determined to do whatever the butterfly ordains – and thus, skipping along, the moment of action finally comes to execute the plan to take out the comrade of the red loli. Basic steps are made – they venture ever slightly into the “Accel World”, with a few comical interactions between butterfly and loli, yet the episode halts unsurprisingly. The crew only advances a short distance before finding themselves facing a yellow clown creature who acts as the tool for what is supposed to be a suspenseful ending – results of such varying per viewer.
Nothing particularly spectacular, yet not much is worth of ridicule which hasn’t been already – a decent episode.
Jun 16, 2012 @ 8:33 CDT
I see lots of pain and beat downs next episode. That instantly qualifies the hype approval. My only rant is to do with the core mechanics behind this anime. “Hruyuki, do you remember that thing I taught you at level 4?”. He might, but we sure as hell don’t! It feels like they’re making it up as they go along.
But nevertheless, I still love this anime, Haruyuki is a kinda weak protagonist, but he has the face for it, and even so, it makes the moments he does come across as brave, and inevitably talk the talk to diabolical lolis worth the watch. Now to wait for a Red King dakimakura.
Jun 16, 2012 @ 14:57 CDT
They are making it up as they go along – they don’t even remember that thing they taught him at level. Who even knows if they actually taught anyone anything at level 4 – incidentally, “level 10″ was just pulled from thin air when it was introduced.
Jun 16, 2012 @ 9:20 CDT
I have a serious issue with Accel World… I really like the premise, and while the importance of the consequences of in-game actions seemed way to overblown for me at first, I’m now starting to understand their mindset on those matters, specially considering how it’s hinted (last episode) that the level 9s we know have passed way more time in the accelerated world than in the real world. On the other hand, I seriously can bear all the bickering between Kuroyuki and the Red King. I know I’m supposed to find it funny but it just doesn’t cut it for me, and it has been a little too exaggerated. Also, all the technicalities of the accel world’s workings seem to be made up with no foreshadowing whatsoever, much to my annoyance.
Although when I get that out of the way, I’m enjoying this quite a bit. I really like Kuroyukihime (non-jealousy mode Kuroyuki, anyway) and the developments are getting pretty interesting (I wonder what they meant the Yellow King plotted everything, was he the one who ended up with the armor in the inventory and gave it to that poor guy from the Red Legion?). Anyway, the cliffhanger worked for me, as I’m pretty interested in what’ll happen from here.
Jun 16, 2012 @ 14:54 CDT
I don’t like any of it very much – I’m understanding what they’re attempting to do, it just doesn’t seem particularly well executed at all. And everything, even the loli character who I’d normally like by default, is lacking any likable traits.
Jun 16, 2012 @ 18:05 CDT
A sad sad thing to admit, that a loli can’t save everything. A horrible burden, one that we’ve had to shoulder before, with other beloved character types; the recent pain of Tsugumi in Guilty Crown. Left to forge her own fate that could have been an awesome show. But much like our red loli; series composition, writing, and plot often get in the way of what should be a story with merit.
I’ve used the “as you may know” or “do you remember” expositional devices before. It’s a sophomoric approach that requires a post-graduate pay-off. In this case, the device tosses concentric rings around and paints a long foreseen bulls-eye on top of an upcoming scene. I would have some confidence in the show to not do this but for the whole “So it was YOU!” ending………..blargh. Checkov’s gun folks? No, an appearance by the character in the OP doesn’t count. If you mis-fire with it twice…..doomed storyline.
Jun 16, 2012 @ 18:34 CDT
I hope Sword Art Online isn’t this horrible – even if the light novel is good, that doesn’t exempt the animation from failure.
Jun 16, 2012 @ 18:40 CDT
SAO, our last great hope….
Jun 16, 2012 @ 19:41 CDT
Both for a good story, and a good loli.
Jun 17, 2012 @ 2:17 CDT
To be honest, the light novel is great. The romance as presented in the first book has none of this harem jealousy stupid issue, and while more girls are interested in Kirito in the later side stories (which I believe they will adapt in chronological order – aka. putting it before the events in the first book), the guy has all qualities to justify it. Also, the sense of urgency and reason to fight are way greater and make more sense.
The fact that it’ll be adapted by a different studio can also be hope-inspiring factor if you’re in need. (Despite the awful character designs, that is.)
Also, if you want a good loli, I can assure you Scilica is a much better character than the Red King. (She’s still a side character.)
Jun 18, 2012 @ 2:59 CDT
Going from the novels, SAO is great. Kirito is like the opposite of Haruyuki, someone who is competent and adapts quickly with no whining or “WOE IS ME moments” even in the face of death. One thing I really liked about SAO was the strong relationship between the main leads. There is a bit of harem hijinks along the way, but there’s no question about the main pairing. Although the loli in SAO is just a side-character, that’d be the only flaw XD.
Haha on another note, I’ve noticed you call out the character’s on account of having “no lives” as they devote too much time to the game. However the Accelerated world has an advantage other games don’t have; the actual game play takes up almost no real-life time at all! So the players are free to pursue real life matters such as Kendo or studies while devoting absurd amounts of time to the game. Although the gang are shown to spend a lot of real-time discussing the game, but it’s not as bad as some real life obsessives haha. I’d love to play a game that takes no real-time to play.
I recall you saying how the players here acted like elementary children trying to sound like adults, but it seems like what you said was spot on! Most of the players are probably elementary students who’ve played so much with the 1000x acceleration that their mental aged has become skewed.
Jun 18, 2012 @ 6:14 CDT
So in other words, instead of taking up time – Burst Link turns you mentally retarded instead.
That explains why the characters act the way they do.
Oct 18, 2012 @ 10:55 CDT
hmm, was reading accel world articles, reading comments, saw this, *looks at present time*, you are a true prophet seven