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As someone who’s spent most of their adult life playing MMOs, this episode hit a little too close to home.

another great episode, Lizbeth's rousing speech rallied the troops, Leafa and Sinon are on their way in, nice seeing a cameo from the Sleeping Knights. Only thing I hated was probably when the Americans started speaking English it was clear that they weren't natural English speakers I felt like that they could've used actual English speaking VAs for that but all in all looking forward to next week's mid-season finale

Make no mistake:

Lisbeth was appealing to gamers everywhere, knowing their lives are ultimately surrounded by virtual realities and technology.

That speech made me want to go to hell and back for that cause.

Yo WTF I did NOT see this episode coming. This is easily my favorite episode of the whole arc.

First off, can they even do that?! I thought the Underworld was built around totally different tech from the Amusphere how would they even be compatible? I suppose if the Americans can do it, it makes sense Yui and Rath would be able to also.

Sinon and Leafa are forming the Vanguard! they're loading into STLs right directly at Rath.

Did Liz's big speech happen in the novel? Because holy shit, I've been waiting 2 and half fucking seasons for my girl to have a big moment again, but this was NOT what I had in mind. I didn't expect her to be the one to rally an army of ALO nerds to come rescue Kirito and Asuna.

When's all said and done, we're gonna get an even bigger team up than what we had in the Ordinal Scale fight inside the Underworld. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about SAO. One of my biggest gripes with the whole Alicization arc was that we left behind the rest of the supporting cast, but if they get to come charging in like the fucking Knights of Rohan at the 11th hour, that's just fine with me.

That better be Eiji and Yuna because god damn I can feel his vibe. I wanna see more this badass duo

I’ve been waiting forever for Lisbeth to get her own big moment in the series. Feeling so vindicated now, that was incredible

As an anime-only, Vector's strategy is genius and total madness to me. It is gonna be a real all-out war. I was wrong to think the dark empire was losing. Now they are back into the game.

Seeing sleeping knights makes me miss Yuuki a little. Getting her to join the war of underworld is equivalent of getting someone of Kirito's caliber which means a huge ass power boost to the human empire.

Lisbeth's speech should hit anyone who played MMOs at least a little. That was deep. Yui's speech hit me a little too.

Damn bro that episode was wild!!! War is about to happen !

Seeing Lisbeth cry in front of everybody, her explaining her troubles, surely brought a tear to my eyes. Not only that, but seeing her touch mostly the elites of the game, and The Sleeping Knights... damn..

I absolutely loved this episode. I do enjoy the Alicization characters, but the War of Underworld arc barely felt like SAO. Alice is really the protagonist, and without Kirito and the Underworld being so different than Aincrad, it just doesn't feel the same. Not saying that's a negative thing, as I'm loving this arc, and love Alice as the protag, but I did miss the old characters; this was a great episode to remind me that their still around - it made me really nostalgic.

Also, I think this episode perfectly summed up what SAO has always been about: that MMOs are in themselves a reality to the players, and that's okay. I've always seen SAO itself to be the perfect embodiment of an escapist fantasy, which I needed when I watched it the first time; and the show is saying that it's okay to indulge in that sometimes. This episode really brought that theme back that was missing in Alicization, and brought the series full circle. A lot of people would say it's an unhealthy message, but I think that some people just need that sometimes.

I cannot wait to see the whole cast in the Underworld!

OH MY GOD! This episode bring back so much memories, so many recollections.

Definitely one of my the best episode of Sword art online.

Sinon and Leafa is descending soon! And everyone make a comeback!

Yui and Lisbeth is taking the stage. So much emotion mixing and filling the episode.

A-1 did their best, clap clap. Hat off to them.

I hope Ray of Light will shine upon Underworld.

What was Sinon doing at 3 am?

Sword Art Online: Endgame

Lisbeth is best girl.
Who is the cloaked individual that appears in the hall towards the end of Lisbeth's speech?

So pumped for next week. This isn't looking particularly good for all our friends in the anime but we all know they're gonna bust out some OP shit and win the war.

Goosebumps Simulator

Wow. This season is doing an absolute amazing job of making you feel bad about the dark territory. Almost shed tears at Iskahn so worried about his soldiers.

One extremely big problem I had with this episode though is that I thought the Underworld could only be experienced by special fluctlight equipment the STL. Why is that people can enter it through their homes through commercial NerveGear AmuSphere? Doesn't make sense. Especially if the NerveGear AmuSphere has consumer safety protocols like pain absorption and failsafe logouts as previously described in the past.

Everything else seems believeable though.

Edit: Getting a lot of the same replies saying that users can access the Underworld via AmuSphere, albiet at a diminished state. Thanks. But it's still extremely disappointing that, up until now, the STL and UW were hyped up as next-generation tech/environment that is super secured in a manmade fortress and being warred against by real life governments.. and then just to have the anime say "oh yeah any motherfucker from home could have accessed it all along." I get that being able to do system call and incarnations are important, and a big reason why the real life harem would go with STL over AS, but this is not explained AT ALL in todays episode.

Oh My God, this is the most hyped I've been in a very long time.

Obviously other than Lisbeth’s incredible speech, did anybody get chills from Yui observing all the Americans logging in and knew she had to do something? Love her

YUNA IS COMING OMG YES!

Ok, was I the o my person that noticed the pugilist leader's eye at around 6:20-6:25? There was an audio cue and the camera held onto his face for a bit longer than usual as well as his RIGHT eye turning a more intense shade of red. I haven't seen anyone bring this up but this could be a big turning point for his character. And given the context and how much he seems to be annoyed at the fact his people are dying seemingly for nothing, I'm expecting a change of heart from him soon.

Ok, so some major issues with this episode.

Why is the Japan vs. US theme being pushed so hard? They could easily create another Beta for a defending team and American players would flock to defend the golden waifu over the dark edgelord. PVP is huge in America, so that's very odd they can't think to do that, especially as the Beta testers aren't aware it's connected to a spy op?

Secondly, why does Yui only have the Japanese players to oppose the hordes of American player? Do Koreans, Chinese, Russians, Philippines and other not also have legions of gamers that play late into the night? Or do they not count as they aren't Japanese? I'm living in Japan and even at 4am gaming with things like Monster Hunter... If I fire an SOS I get flooded with Chinese and Korean players coming to help in seconds.

Third, why doesn't this blow up? The Japanese development of offensive AI and the US attack on a Japanese research facility in peacetime would be an utterly humiliating incident and force an immediate halt of hostilities. Both countries are in the wrong as Alice violates Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and the apparent American attack on an ally housing US Troops would be a serious threat to American military strategy.

Forth, do they really think violence alone would immediately attract 20,000 players for a game nobody ever heard of IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY? Especially when GGO and other games have flooded the American market?

Fifth... the stereotypes and terrible engrish were pretty awful. It's pretty clear the author is a nationalist with a chip on his shoulder. Not only by forcing an American vs. Japanese fight when both countries are actually very close allies, but by also intentionally excluding other regional gamers from helping Japan.

Seeing Eiji just made my whole week

Let me ask you guys..

In this scenario, would you have joined Lizbeth & journey'd into The Underworld, without a Pain Absorber?

Be honest, I can't really say I would.. I'd be terrified pf possibly dying from the pain itself.

If i can only sleep 1 week,so when i woke up i can watch the latest episode of sao.Tbh every episode of sao is worth waiting

What a rollercoaster. Lisbeth speaking straight fax.

While I am super stoked to hear Lisbeths speech to rally the Japan gamers. I want to say our precious Nav pixie AI Yui is truly the best supporting character ever. At this point its totally overlooked but shes not only manipulating the real world by getting people places and Taxi services but also doing everything she can to save her mommy and daddy <3

Okay, this was amazing. Can't wait to see their faces when all the good guys appear

It feels like there's going to be a break after this episode....I really hope not cuz I need my fix

But can we appreciate Lisbeth VO! Definitely i can feel the emotion!

That was a fucking amazing episode

This episode left me speechless. I honestly can't wait for next week's episode! 👏

Ok, so it seems like not a lot of people are talking about a couple points:

1. The pugilist leader's right eye flashed a different color of red, signifying he's having deviant thoughts against the dark territory's set of parameters which is to PROTECT the dark territory. Meaning, he's potentially thinking about rebelling against this war to try and save his people. Maybe we'll see an alliance switch?? :D

2. Liz said you have to die IN GAME in order to log out which is another opposite, so-to-speak, like my above point of the Seal of the Right eye working on the opposing forces. It's a clever plot point flipping the whole "if you die in-game you die in real life" into "if you die in-game you log out/live in real life."

I love all the parallels and symbolism in this episode. Also everyone's convinced it's Yuna and Eiji...I guess I'll be watching Ordinal Scale again between now and next weekend 😆