*Earlier this week*
*A man in a business suit walks up to Nitsuj’s house and rings the doorbell. The door gets answered by Nitsuj*
(Nitsuj): Oh hell no, not Aniplex again.
*Nitsuj grabs one of his swords and points it toward the man in the business suit who begins to cower away from the sword*
(Aniplex man): No, no, wait! I come in peace! I just came here to talk!
(Nitsuj): Better start talking fast.
(Aniplex man): On behalf of Aniplex, I would like to thank you for doing a positive review on The Promised Neverland and getting everyone excited for the next season. It was really helpful.
(Nitsuj): Oh.
*Nitsuj lowers his sword*
(Nitsuj): Yeah, no problem. Like I said if you guys make a good anime I’ll praise it. So, is that it?
(Aniplex man): Actually, we were hoping if you wouldn’t mind reviewing another anime from us? If you had the time that is?
(Nitsuj): Well, my schedule is pretty empty this month, what anime did you have in mind?
(Aniplex man): SAO: Alicization.
*Suddenly the Aniplex man is shot by Isis wielding a sniping rifle. The Aniplex man falls backwards completely on Nitsuj’s front lawn groaning in pain*
(Nitsuj): Isis!
(Isis): Sorry! I heard SAO and my finger just moved on its own.
(Nitsuj): Sorry about that, buddy. Tell Aniplex that I’ll review SAO: Alicization, but only on the condition that no matter what I say you guys won’t send anybody over to interfere with my work ever again.
(Aniplex man): Ugh~, deal. I’ll let them know immediately. Thank you for your cooperation.
(Nitsuj): And thank you for your business. Have a nice day.
*Present day*
Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. When it comes to SAO you find yourself in one of two groups. The first is the group that loves this anime and say it’s one if not the greatest anime of all time. The other group is the group that absolutely hates SAO and consider it overhyped and overrated. However, there’s a third group that’s been forming over the years and that’s the neutral group. The group that recognizes the faults of SAO, but still like it. That’s the group I’m apart of. I admit there are a number faults in the series, but there are some good moments as well. In my opinion, SAO is an okay series. It’s not the best but it’s not the worst either, and the recent season of SAO proved just that. Alicization was the next arc in the SAO series and by far one of longest and biggest ones. Done once again by A-1 Pictures (Gate, Saekano, and Magi) the arc got started near the end of 2018 and finished in the summer of 2020. It was 3 seasons long, there’s a lot to cover and talk about, so let’s dive right in. This is SAO: Alicization.
Opening and Ending Theme
The first opening is “Adamas” by LiSA and you already know this song is going to be good. Why? Because it’s LiSA. She’s one of the best singers in Japan. She’s up there with Aimer and Eve. Getting a bad song out of her is next to impossible. The song sounds epic, good, and gets your heart pumping for what’s to come. I really do like the beginning of the song and build up to the big payoff. It’s done well and once again LiSA captures the emotions perfectly in this song.
The first ending is “Iris” by Eir Aoi, another singer who delivers. I love the piano in the beginning and I like how the song sounds like something that would fit in the world of Alicization. Like I could really imagine the people of Alicization singing this song at festivals or at a tavern, it’s quite festive and paints a nice picture.
Episodes 1-4
The new season starts on an interesting note with a kid version of Kirito (aww~) hanging in the fields of some middle age world with his friends Eugeo and Alice. The three friends talk about getting ice to preserve their food for the summer, so Kirito suggests they venture into the mountains and get ice from a cave that was said to have once housed an all-powerful dragon. They all agree to this idea and on their next day off they journey into the mountains where they find the cave and discover that the dragon was killed by the hands of a human which is impossible according to them (Seras: I beg to differ. Hold my beer *picks up scythe*. I’ll be right back *Seras disappears into the system*. (Nitsuj): This is Sprite). They get the ice but head down the wrong tunnel and find themselves on the edge of the Dark Territory a territory that they are forbidden to enter into by their kingdom’s laws. While there they see two wyvern knights fight in the sky with the dark knight losing. Alice for some reason finds herself drawn to the knight where she trips (clumsy girl) and her fingers touch the ground of the Dark Territory (filthy! Filthy girl). They return back to their village not telling anyone where they were or what they saw but the next day a knight from the kingdom comes and arrests Alice. Kirito tries to save her but fails, Eugeo does some weird eye thing, and then the real Kirito wakes back up in reality (https://youtu.be/Va5_rn3vG3A). After that unexplained side trip, we get a slew of different plot points going on. The first is in GGO where this group of PKers is targeting Kirito and the others. The other one is the next BoB tournament where Sinon asks Kirito and Asuna to be her partners so that they can take down this legendary player who won the first BoB tournament. There’s another plot point where Kirito is working part-time for this company and testing out their new full dive system (this might explain what we saw at the beginning). The testing is sketchy as Kirito can’t remember his experience with the new system. All we know is that the system isn’t focused on the person’s mind but instead their soul. In the final plot point we see Kirito has decided to go to America to study full dive technology as apparently we’re a lot more advanced than Japan (really? We actually beat Japan in the technology race? I don’t know how I feel about that) and he wants Asuna to join him which she gladly says she’ll do. As they continue to walk home they get jumped by the last member of Laughing Coffin (seriously, how are all these people not in jail yet?) who attacks Kirito with some syringe, but Kirito knocks him out with an umbrella (well that’s just goofy). Kirito passes out from the syringe that was filled with poison (scene here: https://youtu.be/jK9lJknhQfI).
Episode 2 starts with Kirito waking up in the virtual world now in his teen years. He still retains memories of the real world and the last moments before arriving here but other than that everything is just a blur. As he continues to walk through the forest he comes across a giant tree where he meets an older Eugeo around the same age as Kirito where he doesn’t remember Kirito at all and neither does Kirito. The only thing that is certain is that Alice got taken away by the church for entering the Dark Territory but Kirito wasn’t in the story at all (this is all so confusing). Kirito isn’t sure if Eugeo is an NPC or another player who had his memories locked away due to testing out the system. Eugeo believes that Alice is still alive in the central city and wants to go there to search for her but there are two problems stopping him from going on his journey. First, it’s a weeklong journey to get to central (and the easy part?). Second, he’s not allowed to abandon his calling, something everyone is called to do and must do it no matter what (wow, a life decided for you without your consent). Eugeo’s calling is being a wood cutter and his mission is to cut down the giant tree known as the demon tree which is pretty much impossible as the tree absorbs all the energy in the area and despite people chopping at this tree for the last 300 years, they’ve only managed to make a dent in it (this tree puts redwood to shame). After a boring day of chopping at a tree they return to their town where a member of the town guard mocks Eugeo’s calling so Kirito stands up to him and says his calling is swordsman. Wanting to see this, the guardsman hands Kirito a sword to show his skills and he does this by chopping a log in half with one-swing (scene here: https://youtu.be/XwrNrZ8jCf8, enough with the wood cutting). After this, Eugeo takes Kirito to the church where he’s given a room to stay in for the night and tries to analyze everything he’s learned before falling asleep.
Nothing much really happens in episode 3. Eugeo shows Kirito the Blue Rose Sword a sword that came from the dragon cave and might just be the only thing stronger than the axe to cut down the tree. The only problem is the sword’s authority level is too high and they’re both too low to use it. Kirito finds out that Selka, the nun at the church, is Alice’s little sister and when she finds out why Alice got taken away by the church when they were little, she decides to do the same thing. Kirito and Eugeo go after her where they arrive at the dragon cave and see that Selka has been captured by a bunch of goblins who can talk (talking goblins!? Where’s Goblin Slayer when you need him?).
In the first half of episode 4 Kirito grabs a sword and takes on the large hobgoblin (where for the first time something exciting happens). Kirito manages to slice off the arm of the hobgoblin but that just pisses him off and he continues to fight with just one arm and manages to hurt Kirito. Eugeo sacrifices his body in order to protect Kirito and this makes Kirito go into his god mode where he manages to decapitate the hobgoblin (scene here: https://youtu.be/drd0r_P7iII, GS would be proud). The rest of the goblins flee (no honor among goblins) and Kirito wakes up Selka in order to use her healing powers to save Eugeo’s life. In order to save Eugeo, she uses a high skill ability which transfers the life force of Kirito and Selka into Eugeo and this manages to save him. A few days go by and Eugeo is back to his task of chopping down the tree (talk about dedication). Thanks to the fight with the goblin, Kirito’s authority level is now high enough to use the Blue Rose Sword and he uses it to take a good chunk of hp out of the tree (the pen may be mightier than the sword but the sword is mightier than the axe). Eugeo asks Kirito to train him in swordsmanship and Kirito agrees to teach him everything he knows (Kirito: Come, I will teach you how to be an overpowered character). After days of training, Eugeo mastered Kirito’s swordsmanship and used the Blue Rose Sword to finally chop down the tree (timber~). With the tree finally chopped down, Eugeo is now free to choose his calling, he could be anything he wanted to be now and he chooses to be a swordsman so that he can journey to the capital and rescue Alice. His request gets heard and he heads out to the capital with Kirito the next day.
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 takes the attention away from Kirito and returns us to the real world where we focus on Asuna and the others who are looking for Kirito (finally! They actually do something). We see that after Kirito got attacked by the last member of Laughing Coffin (who was defeated by an umbrella, wtf) his heart literally stopped for 5 minutes and he fell into a coma where the extent of his damage both physically and mentally is unknown. Kikuoka arrives and gives them the name of a facility with better equipment to help Kirito. When Asuna and Suguha go to visit Kirito they find out that they’re not allowed to see him and that he’s pretty much fallen off the map (you’re kidnapping people now Kikuoka? Man, you give my government a run for their money in the shady department). Asuna and the others do some investigating to find Kirito but come to a dead end each time until Asuna reaches out to Kojiro the former lover of Kayaba (https://youtu.be/zkbHS3U9lJM?t=2) for help and she helps Asuna reach the secret base of Rath using a disguise and comes face to face with Kikuoka to ask him where her husband is.
We continue Asuna’s story in episode 6 where Kikuoka explains that when Kirito was attacked his brain suffered severe damage and now the only way to save him is to use Rath’s soul translator machine to fix the damage done to Kirito’s brain. Kirito is now in full dive of the soul translator machine and won’t be able to come out until the damage has been fixed. But saving Kirito’s life is only the subplot of their big plan (of course). Rath’s real goal is to create an AI from the bottom-up. Allow me to explain, when it comes to AIs we start from the top and work our way down. As a result, the AI is programmed with knowledge and experience and over time, it will learn to replicate true intelligence (this is what I did for Isis and Chibi and something I’m sure the Nitsujs from other timelines did with Mira, Shizuku, Yin-Yang, and Seras. (Yume): What about me? (Nitsuj): Yes, you too). But one could argue that this isn’t a true AI since it’s programmed knowledge and not knowledge that the AI learned itself and as a result it can’t react appropriately to things it hasn’t learned about (Mira: Sort of like a new computer virus? (Nitsuj): Correct. An AI security program will know it’s a virus but can’t react to it in time because it has no prior knowledge to this virus and thus the computer gets infected and someone has to figure out how to delete the virus and then program that knowledge into the AI so that it knows what to do next time). This is where bottom-up comes into play as the AI is born with no prior knowledge or experience and instead learns things on its own while also learning from others (in other words, the AI has the closest thing to a human brain). Using the soul translator, Rath has succeeded in creating AI versions of the human soul but they all collapsed as the AI couldn’t come to grips that they were mere copies of someone else (Isis: Who could blame them?). Since making copies of full grown adults didn’t work, they decided to start making copies of newborn infants and raise them in a virtual world and monitor them (this is so cool and interesting yet so evil at the same time). Within their world a civilization evolved to a good population, but it didn’t take long for issues to arise in this virtual world. The governing body of this artificial world called the Axiom Church created laws known as the Taboo Index which contained laws that must be followed and unlike us they actually follow these laws to a T (and then they have one night a year where they do whatever they want to keep this law in check. I think they call it kill night or Black Friday. Don’t question it, it just works). Asuna puts everything together and figures out that Kikuoka is trying to create AI that can actually kill people (what the hell man!? We already have enough problems in the world, now you want to bring artificial warfare into the mix? We can’t even keep the hackers in check) and hasn’t told Kirito about this at all as he would never agree to do something like this. However, he’s already playing a part in Kikuoka’s game by influencing the AI souls in their world as we saw with Alice who later on in life tried to save someone and put that person’s life above following the laws of her world (just like what we wanted). After hearing all this information, Asuna tells the others what’s going on (weird science shit) and even they can’t comprehend everything (also, while this is all interesting, wouldn’t it have been better to blend the two stories together so that we can fully understand what’s going on. If this was being told through a book, I could understand the setup but this is an anime, a visual medium, you can blend the two stories together and still give us a full scope into what’s going on without taking away from either story).
Episode 7 returns us to Kirito where a lot has happened. 2 years have gone by (man time flies in this virtual world. Is this world part of the hyperbolic time chamber?) since Kirito and Eugeo left the village and are now in the capital where they’ve entered the Swordcraft Academy and are training to become knights (of the round table). In this academy, Kirito is the understudy for Liena his senpai who will be graduating soon and can sense Kirito’s true potential that he hasn’t been able to bring out yet because the sword that he uses just can’t match his skill level and because of that Kirito is limited in what he can do (it’s also hinted that your imagination plays a role in this too but it’s hard to describe. All I can say is that the stronger your belief is in something it’ll become real). But that might all change as Kirito has received a new sword from a metalsmith (and I have to admit that sword is beautiful. It reminds me of when I laid eyes on Yami no Period). On the day of the rest, he goes to practice with his new sword in the field where he slips and accidently splashes mud on Volo the top student in the academy and forces Kirito into a duel in front of the whole academy.
Episodes 8-13
In episode 8 Liena tells Kirito that Volo’s family motto is bathing the sword in the blood of your enemies to get stronger (well it worked for Guts in Berserk. His sword now rests on a celestial plane). Volo wants to use his sword to absorb Kirito’s sword skill and with his imagination (https://youtu.be/VbPWe9U4uPU) it might just be possible. The match begins where Volo tries to crush Kirito with the power of his family lineage. Kirito almost falls but he remembers everyone waiting for him (oh when did you get these memories back?) and manages to successfully block Volo’s attack and slightly rip Volo’s shirt. Before the fight can continue the sensei comes in to stop it and the match is declared a draw (bullshit, Kirito slashed his shirt, he wins. Scene here: https://youtu.be/EgpErkO9TJw). Later that night, some asshole nobles of Kirito’s class destroy his flowerbed (because assholes have to be assholes) with flowers he was intending to give to Liena as a graduation gift. A voice calls out to Kirito telling him to use his imagination (https://youtu.be/VbPWe9U4uPU) to ask the other flowers to give their life energy to Kirito’s flowers. Kirito does this and it works as the other flowers give up some of their life energy to Kirito’s flowers and breathes life back into them (in what I have to admit is in a beautifully done animated scene). The next day, Liena has her final exam battle against Volo where she manages to win and graduate at the top of her class. Kirito and Eugeo also become elite students and get disciples of their own, cute girls (don’t go abusing your authority).
Nothing really happens in episode 9. Eugeo’s disciple tells him about the asshole nobles and how one of them has been abusing his disciple by giving her requests that are unsettling. However, there’s nothing Eugeo can do as she’s a lesser noble and since the asshole noble hasn’t done anything that violates the laws, he’s fine.
Episode 10 is where things really start to pick up. Eugeo and Kirito’s disciples go to complain about the noble asshole’s behavior to his disciple to the asshole directly and beg him to stop (dumb! That was dumb on their part). However, they haven’t returned. Eugeo goes to the asshole nobles’ room where we see they’ve tied up the girls and are going to rape them (it’s a pretty disturbing and realistic scene). As the girls cry out for help, Eugeo finds himself unable to help them because of the law (laws are meant to be broken. Particularly dumb ones). Eugeo finally breaks free of his program (although he loses an eye in the process) and saves the girls by chopping off the arm of one of the nobles (scene here: https://youtu.be/DBEXSVwedDI, next time aim for the neck). The other noble is of course ecstatic as this finally gives him an excuse to kill Eugeo which is something he’s been wanting to do for some time (why do I get the feeling he would fit in the Purge movies perfectly?). Kirito comes in to fight him (where the hell did you go?) where he manages to overcome the noble’s imagination of himself and chop his arms off (again, aim for the neck. Come on Kirito, you’re no stranger to killing people, you should know what to do). The noble dies from both blood loss and probably a heart attack (this episode is dark. More of this please). The other noble runs away and the next day Kirito and Eugeo are sent to the temple of the knights where they meet Alice.
In episode 11 Eugeo is finally reunited with Alice but she’s a different person now. She’s not the same Alice he knew all those years ago. This Alice is cold, serious, and focused on upholding the rules of the Taboo Index and punishing anyone who defies them. She takes Kirito and Eugeo to the central cathedral where she will hear their testimony and execute them (you can’t prove nothing, you have no body). Kirito and Eugeo get locked up but escape easily and try to reach the top of the cathedral where they run into a knight who was lying in wait for them.
We start episode 12 with Kirito and Eugeo taking on the knight where they actually force him into a corner that he’s forced to use his sacred arts in order to turn the tide of battle (cheater). Eugeo recognizes the art and begins to reawaken the forgotten memories of the knight. Just when it seems like Eugeo and Kirito are about to free him, they get stopped by another knight who shoots arrows at them. They get saved by a sage named Cardinal who transports them to her library (scene here: https://youtu.be/7co2AXg7au4). While Eugeo goes to take a shower, Kirito talks to Cardinal where it gets revealed that Cardinal is an autonomous program created by Rath to oversee and control the world (oh my God this truly is the anime version of the Matrix. I swear I was just joking all these years, but it looks like I was right on the money). Okay, so long story short, a girl by the named of Quintella realized she could raise her authority and power by killing other things. So she began killing foxes (Yume: That bitch) and soon gained the highest authority in the world. Quintella soon came to be seen as a god by the masses and she established the Axiom Church as well as the Taboo Index to make sure nobody would gain an authority higher than hers. But as the years went by, Quintella grew older and weak until by some divine joke she gained access to the system’s command list (scene here: https://youtu.be/zEwcR30_Lpk, oh hell. If she wasn’t a god yet she is now). Quintella used the command list to restore her youthful beauty and stop her aging (because let’s face it, she’s just begging to be put in a doujin). She then tried to take over the cardinal system by stealing its authority level but through an accident, instead fused her soul with the cardinal system. Quintella ceased being a human AI and instead became an administrator who was bent on staying in control of the world she had created and would let no one take that from her.
The story of Quintella continues in episode 13 where the world went through 70 years of peace under her reign (she may be crazy but she’s not evil. In a sense). However, she discovered that her soul’s capacity for preserving memories had reached its limit (in other words, not enough space to download that app you want). So, Quintella came up with another diabolic plan, she would copy her own thoughts and memories onto others taking control of them and everything. After many tries, she finally succeeded but this would be a big mistake on her part, because by giving someone else her thoughts and memories she had unknowingly given that person an authority level equal to her very own authority (you dun fucked up Quintella). This resulted in the birth of Cardinal who tried to defeat Quintella but couldn’t because of her body (she’s too loli. Scene here: https://youtu.be/4rrVjdHPTdw). She managed to escape to the library and closed it off to Quintella where she spent 200 years trying to come up with a plan to defeat Quintella while Quintella in the mean time created the integrity knights using piety modules to control them and to prevent the creation of another Cardinal. In a one on one fight, Cardinal and Quintella are on equal footing but with the integrity knights, Cardinal is at a disadvantage and needs allies to fight beside her (are you in need of an overpowered MC swordsman?). Her search led her to Kirito and Eugeo where she wants their help to defeat Quintella, restore order to the world and bring it back to nothing destroying everyone. Why? Because Rath has dark creatures hiding in the dark territory who will attack and kill everyone so Cardinal wants to delete this world and stop their plan. Kirito will of course be allowed to save 10 people and Cardinal’s reward for all this is a hug (that’s all she wants. Nothing more, nothing less. She’s too pure for this world). Kirito agrees to join forces with her, but he’s going to keep thinking of a way to save the world and not let everyone die. They go to Eugeo where Cardinal tells them that the only way to restore the integrity knights back to normal is to remove the piety module in their heads and retrieve their stolen memory fragments which are located at the top floor of the cathedral where Quintella is waiting. Cardinal tells them not to be naïve and think they can reach the top without killing a few knights along the way (wouldn’t be the first time they’ve killed) but Eugeo can’t bring himself to fight Alice so Cardinal gives them these two daggers. All Eugeo has to do is stab Alice with it and she’ll be linked to Cardinal who will put Alice in a deep sleep and keep her safe until they can reclaim her memories. After that, she unlocks some hidden power within them, tells them they have 100 floors to climb to reach Quintella (always 100. Try to do them all this time) and then sends them off to save the world (will it be engulfed in flames, returned to nothing, or will a third option appear for them to choose. Bad, normal, or good? Only they can decide).
And that does it for the first half. Come back next week when we review the second half of the first season Alicization. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
*All videos, clips, and music are not owned by me and belong to their respective owners. All rights reserved*
Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment in the comment section or send your comments, feedback, or request to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com
And follow me on twitter for updates and other stuff: https://twitter.com/ProjectNitsuj