"Your soul will be so sweet"

I was beginning to think the GGO scene was going to be skipped.

Sad we didn't see Gabe's hobby and her childhood sweetheart memories.

Well seems like to be another rearrange scene, probably a flashback later.

Considering it was a "setup" sort of episode, it was really good. The ED song over Shasta and Lipia's meeting was sooooooo painful, knowing how both of them end up, and also how close Underworld was to peace, if it wasn't for motherfucking Gabriel. And Lipia being so damn gorgeous makes it even worse. :(

Asuna's moments were also fantastic, and I'm really happy they're continuing to include the rest of the cast more; it feels so much better than ignoring everyone until the very moment they show up nearly out of the blue. Using two iconic Aincrad-era tracks for Asuna announcing she wants to dive, and for the dive prep was fantastic too.

The BoB scene with Sinon was incredibly well done. Dark and intense, but without being gratuitous/"graphic" if that makes sense; it focuses on the emotional/fear side, rather than her actually being strangled. Seeing Shino in the real world again was really nice too.

Honestly, I'm fine with the pacing so far, even though it feels slow. It's good enough for an episode talking more on the context, and it's still fairly accurate to the chronology so far (aside from the rearranged scenes). The English for the VAs are funny, lol.

But okay. They did an amazing job animating that scene with Sinon and Subtilizer, and not to mention integrating that scene into a dream. I got goosebumps when I watched that scene unfold, it felt... dark. I'm still kind of waiting on how A-1 Pictures are going to animate Gabriel's backstory. Seeing him reaching out to Alicia when he dived into UW would probably give Anime-only viewers some hints/confusion. I lowkey really don't want them to tone down how brutal and messed up his backstory is lol

Also, these people are cruel for introducing Lipia and Shasta this early, because... of what happened to them. Not to mention Unlasting playing at the background.

Anyways, seeing how the next episode is probably going to focus on the antagonists, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY

REALLY WANT TO SEE MY BOY ISKAHN SOON. He is best boy.

I'm also digging the fact they're using the credits/ending for more scenes. I want them to do more on future episodes.

I hope they add Alicia and Miller's backstory eventually, even if they have to tone down a little the whole...ordeal.

Only 13 comments? Anyway, slow episode today, I’m also really shocked they’ve not shown the flashback of Gabriel killing Alicia since that’s pretty integral to the overall plot and his character motivations, maybe they’ll switch the order and show it in a dream or something even though it opened up book 15. I remember back in the summer I told people they’d probably skip it to save time and got downvoted, looks like I was right.

Seeing Lipia animated got me super sad tbh. Her death was hella tragic and downright uncomfortable to read

Looks like we should get the Alice asuna meeting in a couple eps, hyped

Somehow, I feel the rearranged scenes have taken away a lot from the weight and urgency of the whole situation. Also, be prepared for the anime-onlys to be complaining for 6 episodes or so why Asuna hasn't shown up yet as they forget abou the time-acceleration.

Subtilizer's scene was fucking creepy as hell made, though, so that WAS well-done. Poor Sinon. Also, all of the girls' faces on the semi-original/rearranged scene showed their worry and helplessness perfectly.

PoH and Vector appearing in the Underworld as Dark Knight and Dark God was also fucking on point as a scene. It gave me the chills.

Also...is it me or did PoH's VA change?

So they skipped the Gabriel Flashback Alicia scene but at least put Sinon's choking scene.

Hopefully we will have Alicia's scene later.

Also, My favorite couple Shasta and Lipia : https://twitter.com/rebecca_boom3/status/1188114982073815040

Finishing Volume 15 I was so depressed for a while coz of their fate even tho they were not in the story for that long :|

In episode 2 Alice got her eye back. When in the books did she get her eye back? I read up to book 16 and don't remember her ever getting her eye back this soon.

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Right, i can now join in on these threads since this is all new content for me. So, OP is great, sad i didnt get to (finally) see the ED this week, but hopefully next week will have both.

Episode jumped back into IRL, so all of that happened all at once. Im glad that they are doing this - cutting back and forth between IRL and Ingame would have problems if they paced it like the books, so changing the order slightly works.

Some minor change in what happened in the books compared to the anime was noticed even by me, but fuck that part of me, the anime is enjoyable.

What is not enjoyable is whoever did these subtitles, because unless Yui brought back America Online, someone at Madman needs a slap.

Though, i did not enjoy the scene where Sinon got the shit choked out of her.

Well, i mean, it was fantastically animated and super cool and i loved every second of the action, but best girl got beat in a fight and i am the sad. That was brutal, bruh.

(Real Talk: It was awesome)

Makes me look forward to future key battle scenes.

Sadly, we didn't get to see Gabriel's childhood but I really liked how they handled both Control room scenes.

Even so, I still find weird how they decided to give Asuna net access and so much liberty to use her smartphone.

The Obsidian Palace is what I've been anticipating the most so I'm happy we'll get a Dark Territory episode next week.

Why does this link go to the Episode 2 discussion?

Anyone else feel that Gabriel’s voice doesn’t sound as creepy as it could be?

I mean, it might be just me.

God this show is so pretty to look at, the Sinon vs Sub fight was great I got chills with how up close and personal it was! In reality it's just a gamer getting a kill, but the way it's shown makes it feel like it's a murder. If this fight which was less than a minute looked this good and felt this dark, I can't wait for the rest of the fights.

A little disappointed that they didn't present that Gabe was practicing his Japanese and had a brain fart when it came time to say "your soul will be so sweet" when choking Sinon but then said it fluently in the Main Control Room, would've made for a cool moment. Then again, the back and forth between what's said in English or Japanese even though it's all in Japanese probably would've made it confusing lol. Not sure why they couldn't go the Dr Stone route and just have a English speaker for some lines but eh, it adds to the charm.

Lastly, Lipia and Shasta! I don't think there was ever a illustration for her so I could never imagine how beautiful she actually was but the anime is doing her justice...until the next 1-3 episodes where they meet their fates. God, I'm ready and also not ready for this feels train but my ticket has been punched.

Question: why there isn't any password on the Dark Territory's accounts? It feels kinda stupid...

Wanna see our best boy Iskhan already!

Somehow, initiation of Asuna STL is seem to not match up. FLA is roughly 1000x, Asuna should be arrived in Underworld around 23.59 of 25th july real world time. She’ll have around 16hr to work with before Critter drop FLA to 1 at 0.00 26 july.

Next episode probably everything up to Vector command the army moving to Eastern gate and return to human empire at ep 5 i guess.

I’m a little bit confused when I’m watching the GGO flashback scene: in what way does Gabriel have to do with Sinon? Is that something I’ve missed from the earlier anime seasons or light novels?

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Dialogue and more dialogue.

Though I'd say between here and the novels it should be fairly accurate. Going back to the GGO scene from Part 1 Episode One does bring to light that it was all militarial practice for the operation (I guess).

Lol Engrish.

Vecta, Vector, I've unwillingly accepted this anyways. And Asuna being able to communicate with the outside world at all is rather jarring in comparison to Yui learning that Asuna had dived in.

That was pretty cool really, Sinon vs Subtiliser. Though I'm left a little disappointed that Subti didn't strangle Sinonon with his hands. Ah well, A1 delivered. ...hope they don't skip out on Gabe's back story. Despite Gabe being all sorts of red flags, his voice is all sorts of cool.

In Stacia's name, Lipia is beautiful. I had a difficult time envisioning her and Shasta but they looked so outstanding here that I'm left speechless. That same speechlessness, now with immense sadness, continued on when 'unlasting' started playing. Fucking hell, Kawahara.

"Your soul will be so sweet."

'unlasting' is too good at its job. Next: The Dark Territory.

Edit: after looking at the novel, it was indeed a chokehold. My mistake.