Sunday, December 23, 2012
Well, this past Saturday was the series finale of Sword Art Online, and without a doubt this has been one of the greatest emotional roller coasters I've had the immense joy to follow from start to finish in years. With episode 24 came an amazing turnabout in the story's overall age limitation, for starters. Spoilers may be dropped as it is an episode review so bare with me while I try not to gush all over the page.
Episode 24 brings us to the beginning of the end, as Kirito's journey of lost love reaches its end. With the aid of his surrogate daughter and vagrant AI, Yui, he manages to make his way into the Administrator's area of the World Tree. Formerly thought to be simply a difficult trial, it is made quite apparent that no one was ever meant to clear the difficult trials of Alfheim's story quest. Instead, it suddenly becomes abundantly clear that the entirety of the MMO's purpose was purely to facilitate Sugou's twisted ambitions of playing God with the lives of those interlocked in the system.
Further fueled on by this realization, Kirito finally breaches through all of the obstacles thus far in his path, finally to be brought to a tearful reunion with the objective of his tireless journey. This scene alone was enough to break me of my crying streak, I've been forcing myself to stay dry-eyed through a lot of this arc of the series, but goodness I could not hold it any longer the minute Yui uttered that sorrowfully joyous 'Mama'. You try not feeling something for that little girl, she's like Clementine from The Walking Dead Game! Yet, as with all things in SAO, this happy feeling is annexed by unprecedented rage as Sugou, donning his Faery King Oberon avatar swipes the opportunity away using unreleased gravity magic to pin them before they can get too mushy.
It is about at this time that most people physically watching the anime will begin to have this apprehensive sense of 'edge of your seat' tension and anxiety. Given, to this point in the series, Sugou has teased and taunted us with his threats upon Asuna's avatar, but only until this point has my own personal rage been put on the back-burner with the forced realization he won't touch her; yet. Oberon has become the ultimate psychological villain, at this point, epitomizing his ever-apparent God Complex with the unprecedented controls he has over both characters, he strings Asuna up by her wrists. Kirito, on the other hand, isn't granted such a kindness; but instead, is run through by his own sword and pinned to the ground even more emphatically.
With an increasing sense of self-satisfaction in his own devious actions, he becomes emboldened to increase the overall suffering of both characters. Utilizing the admin controls, he begins to tamper with the pain simulators of the game's interface, making it possible to feel every agonizing inch of the blade driven through Kirito's gut. As if to add insult to injury, Sugou then begins to turn his gaze towards Asuna's dangling form and begins to maliciously molest her. Okay, at this point I have to make an author's note that I had to pause the episode and stomp around in a world-class hissy fit the world had nary seen before. The audacity and cowardice displayed by Oberon/Sugou's character is hardly rivaled at this point, as I have hardly ever felt this level of seething hatred for an anime character. IN. MY. LIFE.
Unprecedented amounts of adrenaline coursed through my veins as I watched this brazen display before Kirito's shocked and dismayed eyes. His desire to rectify Sugou's actions with the utmost brutality were hindered by his in-game limitations and the 5-foot long broadsword stuck in his back. At the brink of utter despair, Kirito is forced to shut his eyes away and begins to admit defeat in the face of the ultimate adversary: the very system he once thought he could overcome with sheer force of will, just as he had in the final days of SAO. But, of course, a certain someone could not have the hero of SAO become the plaything of an infantile pervert with a God Complex; thus, Kayaba Akihiko makes his final appearance as a major plot device.
Giving him the empowering speech of +4 to badass, he equips Kirito with the final piece of equipment he would need in order to make things right and become the Gilded Hero in which the episode was entitled: Kayaba's Administrator Account. With admin power and a grudge encompassing an entire arc's worth of regret, anticipation, and the contribution of the enmity of viewers like me; he makes his final stand against Sugou in what was, to me, the single most gratifying moment of my otaku life. Reducing the pain restrictions to zero, Kirito stripped Sugou of pride, power, and precious urine as he turned the coward's body into a pincushion for all his aggression. Thus, bringing the great arc to a splendid conclusion; or so it seemed.
