lathspel

That's a great point. It's possible that Kirito's ported character may have higher stats than anyone can naturally get in GGO - after all, he came from a game where you could argue that dexterity might be of higher value. That's compared to an ability like good aim, where maybe his SAO character could never rise as high.

So does the current Shippuden end title remind anyone else of Samurai Champloo? (I did not look up the original air dates to see if that was a possibility.)

It didn't look like Astronaut ice cream, that's usually in little pieces. At one point the performer guy just had a tub of it sitting on the counter. Completely agree on the perplexing question of whether the weird stuff is intentional or not.

Thanks for clearing it up. It does seem that Kirito hasn't told many people about his role, at least. He's dual wielding in GGO, if you think about it, although with a different connotation. The mental gymnastics are impressive: ward off your opponent's shots with the light sword, fire at your opponents (although he seems to mostly use this as covering fire rather than actually trying to connect), and not hit your own bullets with the sword!

Kirito says "if he knows me, I must know him", which is somewhat faulty logic. Kirito was sort of famous in SAO; probably plenty of people knew who he was. At least after he had saved them all (unless that wasn't public knowledge?). Edit: just noticed from the flashback that Kirito's SAO armor has a three-point connector on his chest, which is echoed by the three bolts on his GGO chest protector. Nice touch on the character design.

I liked it, particularly how Jake wasn't really put off by the two guys on his head. And BMO saves the day! At the end, they do the same thing (kissing the bird and looking back wistfully) that they did in the puppet show. At the marker - apparently ice cream doesn't have to be refrigerated in the future? Or, what are they eating that they call ice cream?

Between Lady Kiryuin's Gendo Ikari-style office, and the whole spiel about what clothing really means, it seems this show took an Evangelion turn. Presumably we're going to be on the raid trip for a few episodes, except maybe Ryuko?

I'm glad to see that Sango's brother didn't have to die. It feels like he's been lingering on the edge of death for years.

Sora is now sure that Asuma kied his Dad. I'm trying to decide if anime characters do this kind of "bad assumption because I didn't hear the person out" thing much more than is typical in real life, or if this is really fairly normal. It's getting annoying as a trope. (My personal life isn't full of this kind of misapprehension, but in the professional world I see it quite a bit.)

Nami had a better last line in her fight, but Sanji's was good too.

I guess we should've expected it was someone who didn't mind killing people in real life. Kirito's sword skills may become more of a liability now, since the matches are public knowledge. And, a glowing sword may be a bit of a problem in night environments. I suspect Kirito's failure to sign up for "top prizes" may come back to bite him. (Also, if the game is in a grey area legally, it seems strange that it requires your real life contact info, instead of, say, the bitcoin alternative of a Swiss bank account.)

Yeah, only Gamagouri picked up on it, it seemed.

I knew it would be Kazuma as soon as we get to the dad buying sweet potatos. They are good and all, but is it really sidewalk food? I did enjoy how Yamato got back at Asuma for interrupting his training plans.

Nami: "Nosopp!" Usopp, grumbling: "Now it's to the point where neither sniper nor king are in my name. "

Can't believe I forgot the first game was called SAO :x .

So is Kirito shooting left handed since he will have the lightsaber in his right? I don't remember him being left handed last season. (To be honest, I figured he'd dual wield a melee weapon, but I remember that was a rare skill in whatever the first game was (before ALO).) Yep, that "I'm really a guy" conversation will be awkward. Sinon was actually a lot less reserved than I expected she'd be - maybe because Kirito was pretending not to be a guy.

"Mako Mankancho - Underachiever" Mako is quickly becoming one of the best parts of each episode, at least during the election arc. And then, the girl who killed Ryuko's dad showed up. I did not expect that plot twist there.

I really hope the sweet potatos turn out to be a big part of this guy's powers, somehow. The telescoping bo staff is pretty neat as well. Sora is in for some bad news about his dad, I'm guessing. I'm a bit sad that we traded out Sai, right after he developed a funny quirk and started to seem almost human. Seems like a waste of characterization to sideline him now.

"That's not a threat... it's a forecast!" Good line. Nice to see that Nami can be deadly.

This one is feeling a lot more character driven somehow, which is refreshing. I'm intrigued by Sinon's back story. Although, it sounds like the RL girl's name is very similar to Asuna, which is going to be obnoxious. I want to read up on the character / weapon classes; it seems like (going back to ep 1) mid-building your avatar or its stats is a big problem.

A nice couple nods to the past in the fight with the majorette - her shoulder skull with sunglasses reminds me of Yoko Littner, while Senketsu's anchors blast out from under Ryuko's skirt a la Big O.

True. That reminds me - did it bother anybody else that at one point she made a big deal out of flipping the scope dust caps closed, but the rest of the time she ran around through the swirling dust and gunfire with them open?

Interesting that in real life, it's primarily used for shooting stuff, not people. And is typically fired from a prone position due to the recoil, so a 100-pound simulated girl firing it from in midair is even more questionable....

I was wondering if that was the reference, Sandman87. It was a great action sequence, although being able to aim that gigantic rifle while falling, without one leg for leverage, made me question the physics engine of this game a bit :) . I kind of hate the intro since it paints the picture that S2 is just Kirito and Sonine (short for SniperQueen!). But I can understand the need to branch out, I guess.

I'm ok that we're done with S&M guy. I really want to know what marching band girl's thing is. So Satsuki put together the Elites by promising something that each of them wanted, is that it?