10 Second Anime - Sword Art Online II - Episode 23

Sword Art Online II - Episode 23



Yuuki has a chance to share a regular day of school with Asuna. Asuna's mother agrees to let her stay in her current school after seeing her other "home".

Heh.

I think it's not a coincidence that Asuna's sub character looks like a younger version of her mom.

 

Hey Asuna, you just can't imply your mom needs to lose some weight. That's rude.

 

Aw. That was a touching moment in hugging Yuuki through a little camera on Asuna's shoulder.

 

Asuna's mom is a bit of a silver fox. Kirito should be so lucky if Asuna fills those, ah, boots the same way when she gets older.

Hmm.

Yuuki goes to school and Mrs. Yuuki goes to ALO. Along the way, we see parallels between Yuuki's old house, Asuna's grandparents' house, and Asuna's home online.

 

Yuuki wanted to see the last house she lived in before it's torn down. I think it was a bigger deal for her to see the outside world through the new interface so that she could touch a place, in a sense, where she last felt like a real person, instead of just going to school. It wasn't just the physical house, but the last place her parents and sister were all together.

 

Asuna was able to make a connection in her mother's mind by drawing a comparison between her online house and her grandparents' house, the house her mother grew up in. The mother's parents felt it was important to protect a place their daughter felt like home if she ever wanted to come back. Asuna, staying in school with her other SAO survivors, and seeing them online, touches on those same feelings, where home is not just the physical space, or virtual space, but the place where your most important relationships also grew and developed.

 

Keeping those places in the real world, or virtual world, is a way to keep those places more real in a person's heart. Asuna was finally able to convince her mother that a real world home is not that distinct from a virtual world home, especially for those who were trapped in one for two years.

 

Also, we got a hint of this arc's title, when we learned that Yuuki's family was Catholic, and her mother especially relied on her faith for comfort as their shared disease caused them so much suffering. I suppose Yuuki's mother's rosary will need to be found in the house before it's torn down.

 

The suffering is not over yet for Yuuki, although she can be happy she was able to meet new people and experience school again through her new friend Asuna. She makes it clear that she feels the pressure of time, so holding back in how she deals with people doesn't serve her at all. Perhaps Asuna explained it best to her mom - in the virtual world, there's no way to hold back your tears.