Reminder to everyone: There won't be a new episode till January 5th 2019.

First of all, that brief fight was even more epic animated than I thought. I loved when Eldrie unleashed his Not-Bankai snake-of-death attack, it looked even more amazing than I thought :D Also, ouch, Eugeo should have broken a lot of bones from that...

The part of them trying to make Eldrie 'remember who he is' was truly more dramatic than I remembered, visual aid truly made that bit even deeper, especially when remembering his mother.

Also, Deusolbert keeps looking way cooler than I ever thought while reading the novels...and sheesh, Kirito is just continuously getting mauled in this arc, eh XP?

There are a lot of things I want to say about the next part, but the most important takes priority: UMU! (OMFG CARDINAL HAS NERO'S VOICE, YESSSSS!)

...ehem, yeah, that aside, Cardinal-chan is even better than I thought <3 Also, holy shit, Quinella's story already gave me chills when reading the novels, but holy cow, you can actually FEEL her growing 'madness' and how twisted she was with every part of the flashback there. I truly shivered when she awakened and declared herself 'Administrator'. Truly, the upcoming episodes are gonna be amazing.

And now it's time for a break for holidays, I guess :3 Have fun, everyone!

Best part of the episode was Quinella's backstory, very well done. Everything else again seemed to be....rushed? I really wish they would spend more time on the fight scenes. The scenes are typically comprised of 90% dialog & 10% actual combat. Dialog is important but balance it and reward the viewers.

Wow, that fight was a little short lived but what they gave us was so great I have no issues.

They could theoretically "explain away" the small error with how they were forced to handle Enhance Armament by saying you need to build a deep bond with your weapon before you can do that. That way we won't get an influx of "good thing Kirito and Eugeo didn't have their swords during that fight, coulda just copied his command" jokes.

Same as with the fight, Cardinal scenes were slightly shortened but I'm sure a decent part of that is due to the medium of delivery change so again, no issues with me.

Quinella's back story was handled amazingly. You could truly feel her decent into madness and her obsession with power. I can't wait to see the fight between her and Cardinal animated, let alone all the other upcoming fights.

A lot of big reveals in these upcoming episodes, I'm personally hoping next week's episode (the last before the short break) finishes Quinella/Cardinals story, gives us a beautiful animated fight between them, and maybe gives us Kirito and Eugeo's discovery of their weapons Enhanced Armaments. It would be a killer "cliffhanger" if they managed to get all the way to the armory to retrieve their swords and the episode ended with Desoulbert firing his first arrows at them and the episode ends with his standing there with more arrows nocked, ready to fire. As I type it seems like a lot to fit into one episode but after today's episode I think they could pull it off.

I guess the girl on the second cour poster was Quinella... nice 👍🏼

Also: MY GOD!! Seeing the library animated with my own eyes!!! It’s absolutely breathtaking

Was interesting. Especially the Quinella flashback was OMG. It was definitely top notch and chilling. The Piety Module was also well animated just like the Fluctlight visualization of Higa in Episode 6. Also Charlotte pulling kirito's hair at the fork and voicing the direction..,, lovely. Very good animation A-1. And Cardinal (UMU!!) oh my. I was shocked in a good way when I saw the non sub version and heard it. Also Frost Scale whip release recollection was impressively done. I loved the episode.

UMU!!

I love the Cardinal voice actually

Am I the only one that really disliked that fight? They didn't really show them in intense pain or show that eldrie like shattered his fucking bones without wincing. The animation just seemed like a slideshow of stills to me with the epic music to back them up.

I'm surprised they started the flashback now, and leave us hanging for two weeks.

Then again Cardinal's story takes up a big part of a single volume, so...

Umu umu, a good episode umu.

The chain battle was alright I suppose, maybe I shouldn't have let my expectations go through the roof, but I did like seeing Kirito and Eugeo's cooperation animated. That and seeing how Offensive Arts are actually cast, but the movements there did feel pretty lacklustre.

That arrow to the foot was painful huh, Kiritard? Just you wait, it'll get worse. At the very least, you obtained a Stand I guess?

I love how Eugeo was the one to land on his feet instead of Kiritard but I guess you can't do much when you dive through a light door, and when a certain magical Emperor-Librarian of Rome tells you to dive in. Cardinal's a lot more cuter than I imagined, having her say "Umu" is just the icing on the cake. And to say, the way the Great Library is designed is even more amazing (and realistic) than what I thought of when reading, it truly looks like a library.

Didn't think we'd be getting World History so soon, not that I mind but that's a very good showcase of show, don't tell. While there were some things missing like what made Quinella behave the way she did through the greediness of Nobles and how qualities are carried down through generations. Otherwise it covers everything to a T and brings Volume 11 to a close.

To conclude, Umu, Umu Umu, UMU! Next up, Kirito and Eugeo will be Rising Up in 2019.

Just a thought but say the Beginning in the OP maybe it didnt change becouse its the Beginning arc /season

Finally got into the LNs, so I can comment on this thread now :D

After reading I figured the fight itself wouldn't be that long, and even though it was shorter than I expected it still was quite cool. Loved seeing the whip actually turn into a snake, since the design of it was so damn cool, and seeing Eldrie remember his mom, just that one scene was quite moving. Also I feel like the injuries that Kirito and Eugeo received were more severe, but not a big deal really.

Also seeing Kirito's foot get hit with the arrow looked like it hurt quite a bit even if he was still able to run. I guess one of the big changes that I've only now realized was that it took until here for us to see the Cardinal's observer for the first time. Whereas when I was reading the LNs I was constantly wondering when and where the observer would appear and enjoyed having that mysterious presence hanging over Kirito. But I guess since they cut the tournament there wasn't much of a need to introduce it sooner.

Since I just read the LNs and don't exactly know what's normal in terms of pacing and episode length, I wonder how long Kirito will be talking with Cardinal. I felt their discussion in the LNs was quite the info dump, but I can't imagine there being more than 2 episodes of just them talking. It seems like they went quite fast through Quinella's progression to where she became administrator, so just wondering what the next few episodes will be like before they re-enter the cathedral.

I guess now that I'm reading & watching it'll be a constant comparison between the two, but there are already so many things that I can't wait to see animated now.

The facts that Nero and Jalter voicing Cardinal and Quinella respectively blew my mind away XD

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To the actual episode itself, as it predicted the battle between Eldrie and our boys was short screened but thanks to the debut of both Enhance Armament and Release Recollection at first couple of minutes gives me a wide smile!

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I love how the handled Quinella's back story and yes it was beautifully executed also Cardinal-san is adorable :3 Giving her seiyuus is Tange Sakura, I could not believe when she says that iconic "UMU!" and "Bakamon!" XD

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Anyway, our first cours finally wrapped up (sort of) and happy holiday everyone!

Fantastic episode overall, I feel that everything was adapted pretty accurately. I especially liked Cardinal's backstory/lore explanation; it didn't feel like a long winded "talking scene" in the anime, due to the nature of being able to use visuals and flashbacks to show the viewer Quinella's history, rather than Cardinal just explaining it. Everything about that was presented exceptionally well.

Eldrie's fight was as expected. It was exciting to see the first usage of "Release Recollection" and the depiction of the piety module was almost exactly how I imagined it in the books.

Exciting stuff, not much else I can really touch on, let alone complain about. A-1 did a great job ending the first cour with this episode, and I'm excited to see the tower climb that comes next!

So why was Yuna so prominent in this opening if Ordinal Scale had almost zero impact on the first cour?

I loved this episode. The fight has always been one of my faves because they're so outmatched. And the Cardinal exposition was handled really well. Whenever the SAO anime has to really explain something I'm always pretty worried as it hasn't exactly had the best track record in that regard. However between this scene and the explanation of Underworld early on the anime team has done a really good job.

All hail the highest minister!

Awesome episode, and we're finally getting to see more of Administrator. Was anyone else taken aback by how 'cute' child Quinella was, only to watch her grow power crazed and wicked? I always pictured her as a Damien from The Omen type character, but jeez, she was adorable.

Does anyone have a rough estimate of episodes till you kno what happens?

So I picked up my reading pace to stay ahead of the series because I'd been slacking. I just started Invading and ....well....oof. No spoilers please because I only just started it, but faaaaaaack.

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I'm hoping they slow down the pace of the anime and spend more time on upcoming battles. It would make sense, they would surely be much more exciting to see animated than a lot of the exposition of this arc that has been most of the content up to now.

infodump where info was taken out cause this adaptation is shorter than it should be, well, im still happy that we got season 3 but, mnrgh, i wish they would've given A1 budget for what full adaptation, which would have been 5 cours (according to kawahara if im not horribly wrong)

A fight wih Eldrie was pace faster that i thought.

‘System call Enhance armament’ then BAMM full strength weapon, that was way too cheap. Man, if Kirito and Eugeo got their sword, they should be able to copy the incantation and get Atk buff. We cant really blame A1 cuz in the actual LN we never get a single full incantation for any Divine Object ever. Nice RR though.

Also, Eugeo’s shirt got object authority higher than his chain since he got whiplashed once and flew away but had no defect on his shirt like Kirito’s. Like in DBZ or Hulk, their pant was the strongest, most resistance object in the universe, lol.

Eh Kirito, you got a hole in your foot by an arrow yet you run like nothing happen!

Cardinal is cuteeeeee, damnnnnn. Very well, she took the stage for almost of the episode.

Quinella’s madness!!!!