Sword Art Online - Alicization - War of Underworld - Episode 18 - 10 Second Anime

Kirito overcomes his survivor’s guilt to accept his friends’ forgiveness and memories to become whole again.

Episode 18 – “Memories”

Hmm.

Because ultimately, it’s about redemption.

Kirito Jesus rose again on the third day, full in mind, soul, and body. Wielding two swords perfectly, the broken one the builders rejected becoming his cornerstone. Anyone who falls on this sword will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.

It has become clear that SAO’s Alicization Arc was to be the allegory of Kirito’s early experiences in the original world of Aincrad in Sword Art Online. We never saw the full story of Kirito’s first party, the relationships he built, and the trauma he carried when all of them died in front of him. It was only backstory by the time we saw the solo player “Kuro” clearing floor bosses by himself, becoming a legend, and letting the stronger guilds explore the new levels. Kirito was obsessed with defeating the game and it was only when he needed help for the last few floors that we picked up his story. We didn’t see what drove him to single-mindedly climb higher up Aincrad’s levels, never partying, never player killing, seemingly to vow personal vengeance on SAO by himself.

Alicization was different, because we saw him build relationships with his key friends from children all the way to overthrowing the anomaly breaking the virtual world of Underworld and preventing the creation of a greater number of free thinking artificial souls than the one he helped create. With Alicization, we know exactly why Kirito fights so hard to protect the ones he loves. In the original SAO, we received a general sense of trauma that found healing in the love he found with Asuna and Yui, which allowed Kirito to accept new friendships.

However, Kirito’s survivor’s guilt never left him, and we see why Eugeo became so important to the plot, even though he’s been dead since Kirito’s injury to his soul. Kirito needed a dead soul the audience came to know and root for to come back and forgive him. That wasn’t possible with Kirito’s original party in SAO because those souls were real people who died. Eugeo’s fluctlight fragments reside in his sword and Kirito’s memories. Kirito’s three girlfriends’ memories were enough to make him whole, but it was the dead Eugeo who needed to forgive him and let him accept that he could rise again from the limbo state Kirito felt he deserved. The Sacrament of confession is only complete when the sinner accepts God’s forgiveness. Kirito never accepted the forgiveness of his friends for surviving the first strange months of SAO and killing in self-defense. But his best friend from childhood coming back to tell him? Yeah, he’ll have to take that.

SAO Alicization was Kirito’s path of redemption, where he finally forgave himself for the deaths that he felt responsible in the Sword Art Online game.

Kirito Jesus has taken on the sins of the Virtual World and broken open the Gates of Hell. Woe unto the devils who stand against a figure in black wielding two swords of righteousness.

Heh.

Ugh. Kirito trapped himself inside his own memories. This is going to be the worst flashback episode ever. Oh? Underworld characters are in here, so maybe that’s the references we see to those characters appearing in Japan in the opening credits. We’re going back all the way to the beginning. Kirito’s first party and his first unrequited love Sachi in the game Sword Art Online.

Oh? The opening credit sequence is a bit different. Alicization Lasting. And Alice is walking around with electronic camera eyes! And that view of the Earth... did Alice end up in a space vehicle as its AI?

They’re really beating the drum on Vassago’s evil villain performance. He learned that he could keep using magic if there’s material to convert, so he’s making the beta players kill themselves to use up their bodies. This is just like the Dark Territory army when they walked into the Human Guardian trap of a lifeless canyon.

Vassago wants Kirito to wake up. To kill him himself, I suppose. Aw. Asuna draws on Yuuki’s memory for another gasp of strength. They’re bringing everyone from all the arcs into this story. Unfortunately, without any context or explanation of why Yuuki’s “ghost” is here, I can only roll my eyes at this cynical ploy to elicit an emotional response. Try harder, SAO. Haha! Nice little bump from the Earth Goddess. Reminds me of the lame magic power Katarina from Hamefura.

Hoho! Vassago made his yandere confession of love for Kirito. He’s always given him hope and joy! He wants to be the only one to kill him and die in his arms! So, Kirito needs to heal up before Vassago can have his way with him. Yup. Vassago is cray-cray. Blurgh. Yuuki again and now an Earth Goddess gets angel wings. Asuna’s shouts of not losing to Vassago have another layer now that we know he’s in Kirito’s harem too.

Of course, Vassago missing his chest is not enough to kill him if he has his butcher’s knife. Perhaps he mastered having a sacred relic bonding with him too. I think we’ve taken Asuna and her forces as far down the depths of despair as possible, so it’s time for Kirito Jesus to get up.

Ugh. This is how Kirito lost his first friends all at once. Watching them die and the last one commit suicide in front of him. Kirito got a bunch of issues from that. Uh, why throw in the ALO and GGO scenes? Those guys weren’t going to die in real life.

Nice transition to Higa’s bloody hand. I’ve been waiting for this! The power of Eugeo’s friendship saves Kirito’s soul. See? A harem king needs a bro friend to be a complete man. Three adoring women weren’t enough. Eugeo needed to fill in the missing parts of Kirito’s soul. I like the sound effect of a machine starting up when they all held hands. Kirito the game breaking machine is booting up.


Yas! Slay King! Awesome way to bring him back, with Asuna smelling roses after the ice sword froze everyone. Vassago is giddy. This is not good for the bad guys. Kirito is the closest thing to a walking God of Underworld right now. Vassago, let’s dance!