So this episode had the expected big boss battle, but it was the aftermath that was definitely the most interesting aspect of it all. You can certainly speculate what is up with Yuuki and that guild in general. Something very uncomfortable is going on there and Asuna and everyone else is being kept in the dark.

I have no doubt that whatever they aren’t telling Asuna isn’t being withheld out of malice. And yet this is the situation they signed themselves up for. They wanted to take care of this boss battle by themselves, but that just wasn’t going to happen. So they picked up someone that could help put them over the top, but if they were hoping for a pure mercenary situation that just didn’t happen here. Now they are really in a position where they care about Asuna and she cares about them and they are awkwardly pushing her away.

I will say it was great that Klein also showed up to help there. I think that was really fitting in a lot of ways. If there’s a suicide mission to be had I think Klein would be the first person to agree to help Kirito out. Those two are always interesting friends and I’m sure it meant a lot to Asuna as well that Klein came to help them out. Of course even those two aren’t going to be able to defeat most of a raid team by themselves. That’s just asking for the impossible. But they were able to keep that group having to put all they had into fighting them off and that was all that mattered.

And just a random point at the end….I really do love the soundtrack for this series. Those classic action tracks just really work well XD. Also even though Kirito lost he still got to look awesome in front of the girl he’s dating. I have got to give the guy props there. He even makes losing look good. Though no complaints on that point, he did a great thing rushing out there to help Asuna out.

There was a good effort on the other side to break through the lines to the boss for Asuna’s group. They were up against a pretty solid group that wouldn’t be easy to break through. Asuna’s charge through the masses was kind of hilarious, but it worked. She was the person who spammed everything she could into speed. No one better to rush through the lines and take out the healers. Not surprising that she’s the type that keeps getting pretty over the top nicknames.

The fight with the boss was well cone. There was some nice tactics at play there and it was good on Asuna to spot the weak point. In that case though does that mean the bosses here aren’t the same as the SAO ones? Maybe that was already stated, but I didn’t remember. Otherwise Asuna should have known that long ago. The important point was that she was paying attention during that fight and realized what they needed. They figured out exactly what they had to do and executed it perfectly. The result being they won and got to rub it in the faces of the guys who had tried to swipe their kill.

To be honest I’m not sure what almost shut down the dinner at Asuna’s house thing. Were they worried it’d be too comfortable there? It’s a bit late to try and keep the connection informal and unemotional. I’m sure that whatever is going on will help that moment make sense, but it left be a bit confused.

Obviously something very serious is going on here. Something serious enough that they didn’t want Asuna to join up and that they are going to disband themselves. It hardly seems like something as casual as preparing for exams or something. At this point you are expecting the worst. Has to be a serious real world situation. Be it illness or family troubles or something. There are only so many things that aren’t game related that could be leading to this kind of response.

Certainly it makes you wonder with how severely Yuuki responded upon realizing she was calling Asuna her sister. Maybe Yuuki’s sister has passed away and that’s why she’s so fragile on that point. Could be a former SAO player that didn’t make it. A way to send a message to her sister by getting her name on the board?

At any rate I’m not sure what exactly is going on, but it’s clearly extremely serious and going to lead to many feels. The episode itself was really good. It allowed us to see Asuna’s tactical sense and leadership ability. This was a great moment in game for her. Now of course will come the major conflict with her mother and finding out whatever is going on with this guild. I hope they tackle the mother soon since at every possible scene I keep expecting her mother to unplug Asuna and it’s really uncomfortable.
Score: A-