Sword Art Online: Alicization – Episode 21 Discussion (Anime Only)

Episode 21: The 32nd Knight

三十二番目の騎士

THIS IS AN ANIME-ONLY THREAD. LIGHT NOVEL READERS SHOULD DISCUSS HERE.

All spoilers regarding events not yet shown in the anime MUST be tagged. There is a zero-tolerance policy for any and all untagged light novel spoilers posted here - violators will be banned for 7 days and repeat offenses will be banned for longer, depending on spoiler severity.

Knowledge of the main series anime up to and including Ordinal Scale is assumed in this thread. Spoilers for SAO, SAO II, and Ordinal Scale can be untagged.


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The English dub airs every Saturday night on Toonami at 12:30am EST! It is currently behind the Japanese release by 17 episodes. For countries other than the US, check your local distributor!

Show Information

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Previous Discussions

Episode 20 - Synthesis

Episode 19 - Seal of the Right Eye

Episode 18.5 - Recollection

Episode 18 - The Legendary Hero

Episode 17 - Truce

Episode 16 - The Osmanthus Knight

Episode 15 - The Relentless Knight

Episode 14 - The Crimson Knight

Episode 13 - Ruler and Mediator

Episode 12 – The Sage of the Library

Episode 11 – Central Cathedral

Episode 10 – Taboo Index

Episode 9 – Nobleman's Responsibilities

Episode 8 – Swordsman's Pride

Episode 7 – Swordcraft Academy

Episode 6 – Project Alicization

Episode 5 – Ocean Turtle

Episode 4 – Departure

Episode 3 – The End Mountains

Episode 2 – The Demon Tree

Episode 1 – Underworld

Sword Art Online: Alicization – Episode 21 Discussion (Anime Only)

170 comments · 97% upvoted · other discussions

comments

AnjunaHD

grabs tit

"when you've fulfilled your mission, every inch of my body will be yours for the taking, for one night"

MY POWER IS OVER 9000!

kouhai-san

I'm sure she just lied to his face and remove whatever he remembered when it is done

diesal3

That malicious smile sure says that his wishes aren't going to happen for some reason or other.

kouhai-san

It was mainly because she knows underworld is not real, so gods are not real. And she swore in the name of a god she doesn't even believe so you know what is gonna happen. ( the bit with her knowing her world was not real was explained by reki recently )

Besides, can you imagine a vain person like her want to please something as disgusting as that clown?

diesal3

If he does win, she'd probably delete or rewrite his memory of the promise to something different.

Dragon3543

Anyone else realize that all three of them represent a powerful sword Kirito has wielded

Elucidator=Kirito

Dark repulser=Eugeo

Excalibur=Alice

Don’t know if this is a coincidence or not and probably has nothing to do with the story but thought it was pretty neat.

BleedingUranium

His main black sword, his trusty second blue sword, and his crazy OP gold sword. :D

I_Love_Alice

Huh, I've never really thought of their designs like that and I've been reading the LNs for years. What a neat observation, I really like that concept.

FlightlessAvian

They made the joke about nobody being dumb enough to wield two swords 2 episodes back when we see Kirito carrying his and Eugeo’s sword at the same time

sorenkair

i wasnt 100% sure if they were going for that until kirito picked up eugeo's sword and alice commented how dual wielding suited him.

im a bit disappointed he didnt actually get to fight dual-wielding tho. (yet?)

monkeymacman

with how big a part of his character it is, im gonna assume thats a strong "yet"

onesummoner

Kirito triple wield incoming!

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[deleted]

Great fight at the beginning, it was great to see how similar Eugeo and Kirito fight, but how much of a leg up the knowledge of the sacred arts (which I assume were in the piety module so he doesn't have that level of knowledge anymore) gave Eugeo.

Kinda lost my shit a bit when Eugeo used Enhance Armament though, he almost tricked me too, until I saw the droplet coming off it and how he still had Cardinal's knife around his neck.

The Prime Senator can fuck right off, I hate everything about him, there's not even one redeeming quality.

Good explanation of how the synthesis ritual was so quick though, not only because Eugeo gave in, but also because of the I guess "deleted" memories of Kidrito

The Pontifex seemed to have some kind of history with Eugeo's sword, I wonder if she just remembered it being Bercoulli's or if there's something more, it would be kind of weird to make Bercoulli leave his sword in the cave anyway, so I wonder if it was more like a punishment for trying to betray her or something

Felt so good to see our main trio together and finally on the same side though, can't wait to see more of that

So, fighting a giant flame demon thing next episode, should be fun, seems like Eugeo's sword is the perfect counter to it, being ice and all, with Kirito being at a disadvantage

Ryuuji_Gremory

That sword was never Bercouli's, Bercouli found it in the White Dragon's lair but when he tried to take it the dragon woke up and became furious so Bercouli left it behind right there. Afterwards he only saw it when he went to slay the dragon on Quinellas command, but again he left it there.

What she was referring to was the fact that Eugeo's sword isn't made from metal, she just told us about how she made it so that no metal can even scratch her skin, and this huge barrier activates to protect her if you try, only for Eugeo to break through it a moment later with his sword simply because it's not made from metal.

[deleted]

I see, I thought it was Bercouli's and he had used the sword to slay the dragon, but I was misremembering things

n3mosum

ahh. so kirito has the same advantage too, right? isn't his sword carved directly from the gigas cedar?

Ryuuji_Gremory

Exactly, the wood is abnormally hard, durable and heavy and the sword has an actual razor sharp edge that wont loose to any steel blade but technically it's a wooden sword.

[deleted]

And Alice's sword too right? That's from the Osmanthus tree

I'm starting to think that the Pontifex specced into the wrong defensive upgrades

Ryuuji_Gremory

That one is a bit more vague.

It wasn't carved from the tree, the whole tree was transformed into a sword, it might have been transformed into a form of metal along the way, just like the daggers from Cardinal. The anime skipped that explanation but they are made from Cardinal's hair (the hair she had let grow for about 2 centuries ) but they were transformed into metal and because of that became useless against Quinella .

It's been long since I read that part and I don't really remember if the LN ever mentioned whether or not that sword counts as metal or not but afaik it were only Kirito and Eugeo's sword.

niks071047

specced into the wrong defensive upgrades

sums up pretty much every single one of my MMORPG experience

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AgentNeko

until I saw the droplet coming off it and how he still had Cardinal's knife around his neck.

I couldn't quite understand how Kirito and Alice get away with the Enhance Armament. How do the droplet and the knife connect to that?

[deleted]

Basically Eugeo didn't go all out with the Enhance armament, so the ice that he trapped them in was really weak and already melting by the time he left the room, hence the droplet

And as for the knife, when Eugeo undid his buckler and it showed that he still had the string attached to the knife around his neck it seemed pretty clear to me that he was going to get the knife out

AFellow_2003

so the ice that he trapped them in was really weak and already melting by the time he left the room, hence the droplet

Ohhh! I saw that as a tear, and thought it had something to do with his internal struggle.

insecuredane

Me too

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diesal3

That little flash of Eugeo not being an Integrity Knight just before he uses his Armament :D

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[deleted]

The droplet on the ice means the ice isn't as cold as before (Like when it was used against Bercoulli), it was melting, it was only for show. If he was totally on the Pontifex's side, he also wouldn't wear the dagger that was supposed to be for saving Alice/sealing the Pontifex, since it would have no meaning to him. That's what I assume at least.

vhbaiao

The droplet was related with the ''sadness of kirito'' in that scene. It doesn't have nothing to do with the fact of the ''ice melting faster''. Alice has the Olive sword, did you guys forget? She had already melted Eugeo's Enhanced Armament technique with the fire.

[deleted]

When Eugeo did it before Alice's sword wasn't encased in the ice, this time it was

The power of the weapons in the Underworld is related to what the wielder infuses them with, effectively the strength of the wielder's will, Eugeo had already broken out of synthesis, there's no way he'd use his full power to encase Kirito and Alice in that situation

It doesn't make sense for it to be "Kirito's sadness", since the target's emotions have never had any effect on the result of an ability.

All Eugeo wanted to do was buy himself some time to fight the pontifex

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IntegrityKnight

HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT OP IS AMAZING

[deleted]

Sorry for my ignorance, but what does OP stand for in this context?

IntegrityKnight

OP refers to the Opening song or sequence that plays at the start of an episode, and the counterpart would be ED or the Ending song or sequence played when the episode ends! :)

I’m just super hype about how this week’s episode has updated visuals for the Opening, they look really beautiful!

AFellow_2003

The 'new' op's visuals look so incredibly smooth and satisfying. I get the feeling that this is one of those openings that I'll never get sick of, no matter how many times I replay it.

-There's one part in it where Alice runs up the monster and attacks that reminds me of Asuna vs Gleam Eyes in Crossing Fields.

-You can tell Quinella's viciousness from the way she fights Kirito

-Alice smiling?? What is this?

Eugeo's blank expression at the start of the fight goes really well with the context of how he has no memories.

His Enhace Armament looked so well animated. Though, truth be told, so did the rest of the episode. It really surpassed my expectations.

I get the feeling that Kirito can empathize with Eugeo's belief that he has to atone for his mistakes from his own experiences in Aincrad.

Eugeo, Alice, and Kirito, fighting side by side. This is awesome! Especially loved how Kirito had this grin on his face just like when he was a kid with Eugeo.

Chudelkein is disgusting. Granted, Quinella is hot (but she's too much of a adminbitch for me to find her attractive) and she spends half her time walking around naked, but jeez, the way he asked that! Also, Kirito's expression during this request really cracked me up. Summed up my exact feelings. Also, this explains why he was pissed last episode- he saw Eugeo with her in bed.

Also, animators are really stretching the "not nude if the nipples are covered". I think there's one moment where her hair is actually to the side on one boob, and she's nipple-less.

​

Overall, I'm 100% satisfied with this episode. Unlike the one before, this episode felt like it was packed with events, every single one of which kept me at the edge of my seat. Honestly, if Reddit still had the rating feature, this episode would get a solid 10 from me.

diesal3

Must protect that smile :D

ma103

THE MADMEN ACTUALLY REANIMATED THE OP!

Meltedsteelbeam

When Quinella made that promise... mother of fucking god

[deleted]

[deleted]

swfanatic717

Goddamn it even in a fantasy world created by what are likely mostly computer geeks beautiful women still won't sleep with ugly men

...I'm just catching up to the series now

[deleted]

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StarForceStelar

She basically pussy whipped him

[deleted]

Hard to say what she was thinking there.

Either she literally gives no fucks at all, like Reki Kawahara said the other day. If she's unashamed at being naked, maybe she'll have sex with anyone, especially if it gets her something. She's a self aware AI, she's not degrading herself in the least. There's nothing to be ashamed of for her. She may be 100% incapable of shame. If offering a guy sex will get her what she wants, then why not?

Also, she made an empty promise swearing on a god she knows doesn't exist. But I don't think she's planning on reneging. My read on this is she expects the Prime Senator to lose. Either she thinks he has no chance, or she thinks he has a chance, but wants him to be overconfident to give the three heroes the edge they need. Either way she has no intention of letting him have his way with her. Not because she's disgusted by him, but because it doesn't get her anything. It's beneath her. A complete waste of her time. Though if he manages to eliminate the threat, she will have a lot more free time, and then there's no harm in letting him have his fun with her.

[deleted]

The OP looks especially amazing this week, is it just for this week or for the rest of the season?

[deleted]

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[deleted]

Sweet, I love it

Thicshigi

rest of the cour

[deleted]
vhbaiao

This episode was one of the best ones. 10/10

PixelTaku

Every is so damn horny. The animators drawing Quinella, Quinella, Chundelkin, Eugeo, those two noble rapists…

Remediesxx

If the animation style was like the mainstream ones, Quinella would be super distracting.

PixelTaku

Err what do you mean by that?

[deleted]

Yeah it is a bit weird that Quinella is like "oh it's time to fight, let me get nude first"

Seems to have absolutely no purpose at all other than fanservice

BleedingUranium

No, it's very much part of her character. She's like 400 years old, incredibly self-absorbed, and not even fully human anymore. She simply doesn't care in the slightest, and if anything it'll give her an edge through seduction and/or distraction.

It's an important part of what gives her such a creepy, villainous aura.

Alkein

kinda like a dr manhattan style of not giving a fuck and just going nude everywhere.

BleedingUranium

Exactly like that.

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HollywoodNA

A little weird, and I know this isn't the novel discussion, but its usually how she always was in those.

HollywoodNA

I was surprised they even gave her clothes at all, lol but good thing they did

TheDementedPalkia

No, there is a purpose. The whole point is to show just how confident she is of herself and how she views herself above everyone, therefore she finds clothes to be pointless in front of those beneath her. At least thats how I interpret it. I don't think it's just there for the fanservice.

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Vindicare605

They're finally all together, now let's see what they can do as a team!

Remediesxx

The Prime Senator better get his butt kicked for being super troll.

babyswagmonster

My boy Chudelkin did it all for some coochie smh

frikiestrella

The hell is going on with Asuna and them....Like don't give me 1 episode to fill in the outside world.

seitaer13

Remember there are another 29ish episodes left in the season.

frikiestrella

I get that but still need some info. Need to see sugu and the gang again.

antiquepierack

it's been like 2 minutes in the real world (since Eugeo and Kirito got arrested)

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Dreadwood67

Where are the doujins? Definitely would want to see Eugeo and Quinella in action.

eden_delta

Given how often "ugly bastard" doujins get made, they're probably gonna all be Chudelkun and Quinella.

[deleted]

Definitely would want to see Eugeo and Quinella in action.

You misspelled Kirito.

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Berion-Reviador

Oh my, this opening is really something! The next several episodes will be awesome for sure.

[deleted]

[removed]

[deleted]
  • So Quinella get lazy and just put a piety module in already existed hole in Eugeo memory, no wonder why he regain his conscious just by crossing sword with Kirito.

To be fair to Quinella here she has no way of knowing that the gap in Eugeo's memory related to Kirito at all

dark77638

She did manipulate him by showing Kirito going out with Alice in the forest in ep 19 and in this episode eugeo alice and a boy without clear face shown to eugeo, maybe she know?

BleedingUranium

So Quinella get lazy and just put a piety module in already existed hole in Eugeo memory, no wonder why he regain his conscious just by crossing sword with Kirito.

Yep, the hole she's referring to is the blocked memories of Kirito as a child.

Nambrok

I have a bit of a question, isn't Kirito technically one of the gods of the Underworld since he is a real human ? He might be what Administrator want the most since he doesn't have as much limitation as her. Right ?

ShadowAgentz

He may have more knowledge than them, but he is still diving on a account which he leveled. Administrator and Cardinal still have more authority than him. So no? ish

motleo95

nah, he's logged into a "common" account, not an admin. So he technically has the "knowledge of the gods" but has a normal avatar

DoubleJo

I have the impression that some people still misinterpret how Quinella operates so I'll give you the blunt novel version since it's not a spoiler anymore:

"…Very well, Chudelkin,” she murmured. “I swear to Stacia, goddess of creation. When you have fulfilled your duty, you shall have an entire night to do with my body whatever you wish.” Because I came from the real world, with all its lies and deceptions, it was laughably obvious to me that she didn’t mean a word of that promise.

It's the same deal we have seen with Eugeo. She saves herself some trouble if she makes hollow promises. Her beauty is just really convenient for that. The difference is just that Eugeo is emotionally vulnerable but Chudelkin is a fucking retard. Don't get how some joke like him can be the strongest caster of the Axiom church. He's basically the only one who normally interacts with Administrator but he understands her nature so little...

[deleted]

I don't think anyone watching would really expect the Pontifex to go through with that promise though, it's so clearly a lie

seitaer13

Never underestimate people capacity to interpret things incorrectly.

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MrGalaxy93

Anyone else can’t find it on Hulu?

grayfox11010

Hulu is up now.

BleedingUranium

"Because I'm with you to the end of the line." is what I had going through my head this fight, though the colours are reversed.

hausofmiklaus

OF COURSE.

TheDementedPalkia

New opening visuals are SICK!

bp100297

My goodness everything about this episode from the beginning to the OP to the end was animated beautifully. It blows my mind they’ve been keeping up with the quality animations while making 3 version of an OP in one cour. Animation team doing Alicization as much justice as possible.

Azurd

I always wondered how Quinella saw Kirito, as he is someone "outside the system". The only mention she does about him is "irregular unit".

Since she knows a person from real world who gave her the code for the right eye seal, I think she actually knows a great deal of what Kirito actually is.

furosuto81

It took a bit longer to get these done due to having to work all day, but here are this week's stitches (plus a bonus clip of Administrator...I'm sure you can guess the one).

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Sword Art Online: Alicization - Episode 21 Stitches

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delcanine

We are left with 3 more episodes. Hope that Eugeo survives all these foreshadowing, especially with the newest OP.

b9anon

Why can i not find episode 21 on Hulu?

[deleted]

You’re not the only one! For a while I thought something was wrong with my TV app ( •_•)

grayfox11010

Hulu is up now.

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kamilios19998

The new op is so Amazing. Can't wait for the next ep. I want to see how they will defeat that stupid clown. And what is going to happen next :D

OverseerNooter
Aerorite

Is anyone else not seeing the new episode on Hulu yet? -_-

DoILookUnsureToYou

Hey no summons that's unfair

[deleted]

Not on Hulu yet anyone know why?

lwedpon

How does Eugeo break the spell and turn Quinella naked?

https://youtu.be/1nl1EqlzDIQ

Guess we no longer need bikini armor - just hair glued to boobs!

HenarayaXXI

Quinella casted a spell protecting her from any metal piercing her skin but Eugeo's sword is not made of metal but ice.

insecuredane

Rarely have I seen anything as satisfying as Eugeo shattering Administrator's shield

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