Kirito and Asuna play house. No, really. And that’s the highlight of the episode.

What They Say:
“The Sword Dance of White and Black”

After 2 years, people have gotten used to living in SAO, with a dwindling front line it might just be up to Kirito and Asuna to continue the charge.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
So, it has now been 2 years since the death game started (or as another member of our review staff called it, “World of Gantzcraft”). For the first time since episode one, we hear the name of Kabaya, the piece of human waste who created this death trap. A bleak graphic informs us that Kirito is on Floor 74, and the date is now October 17, 2024. It looks very empty on the front line.

It just so happens that Kirito snares a rare item: rabbit meat. But he decides to sell it, since his cooking skill is too low to do much with it. It so happens (there’s that phrase again) that Asuna comes by and she has maxed out her cooking skills. Isn’t that convenient?

So, the ragout rabbit is a convenient plot device to get Kirito and Asuna together alone, and as it just so happens, at her house, which is on Floor 61: Selmberg. When they get there, we have a change of pace from the fighting and medieval fantasy, as Asuna changes into modern casual clothing and gets to cooking. As for cooking, Asuna herself says “cooking in SAO is oversimplified. It’s boring.” Sometimes, I feel that way about the plot and character development in this show.

Let us pass over the cooking and eating. During their discussion, however, it’s revealed that fewer people are participating in the clearance part of the game, with the front line crew consisting of fewer than 500 people. People are growing accustomed to this world. Asuna and Kirito do not feel that way, however. They want to go back to the real world, but it is getting harder to do so. Asuna notes that ever since they hit Floor 70, the monsters have become much harder to predict in terms of their movements. It’s going to get very hard for a solo player to do it alone anymore. Kirito knows this, but he is still not the kind to join any guilds or make parties for the long term. So, Asuna forces him to join up in a party with her at knifepoint.

Okay, then.

Later, we see Asuna running away from her guild escort, Kuradeel. Apparently, he takes his duty to guard Asuna a bit too far, practically stalking her at her house. She runs away and meets up with Kirito. There, a bit of a dispute occurs between Kuradeel and Kirito, so the Blood Oath Knight challenges Kirito to a duel. We know what the result is going to be, of course. And it is an easy victory for Kirito. What is unsettling is one of the bystanders, who is dressed all in black with a hood covering his head. Wow, how not suspicious that is. Let the eye rolling commence.

We end with Asuna and Kirito playing around on the front line, but it gets serious when they stumble upon the boss room of Floor 74. This one, called “The Gleam Eyes” (ah, Engrish), looks like a giant goat-headed demon of some sort. It’s probably going to be a very tough opponent.

The problem with this show continues to be it’s predictability and lack of creativity. Any half-attentive viewer could see a mile, no, several miles, away that Kuradeel was going to pull some sort of stunt like challenging Kirito to a duel. Asuna being a great cook fits the usual gender stereotypes to a T. Shows a great lack of depth in the characterization department.

And that’s just it. There is a significant lack of depth all around in this adaptation. I cannot speak about the novels, but if the anime is a faithful adaptation, then the characters are poorly crafted from the start. Another reviewer at another site noted how Kirito is perfect, too perfect. He is. And you know what? Asuna is too perfect as well. Both of them are excellent fighters and there seems to be little they can do wrong. And the evil scientist who created this screwed up world designed everything too perfectly, so that no one can foil his fiendish plan, whatever the hell it is.

They say that the perfect is the enemy of the good. And we have a good example of that here: the perfection of the major characters is what prevents this show from being good.

In Summary:
Kirito acquires a rare item: a special rabbit meat. He doesn’t, however, have the required cooking skill level to do much with it, but that’s where Asuna comes in. The two play house for a brief moment, drop some important exposition, and then go off to fiddle around the dungeon for a while. And that’s what this show is doing, fiddling around.

Grade: B-

Streamed by: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard