Sword Art Online: Alicization | E19 to E20: Uh, what did I watch?

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Okay, so the later stages of Sword Art Online: Alicization are giving me serious SAO Season one, ALO vibes and not the good type of vibes. If you’re well versed in the first season of Sword Art Online, then you’d know that Nobuyuki Sugou is worse than scum in what he tried doing. The Administrator basically does the same with Eugene and you know what? Watching that whole thing play out was really weird and mildly disturbing.

I thought we were going to be seeing another genre of anime creep into the series for a second, but luckily that isn’t the case. I don’t know why this has been the case for Sword Art Online: Alicization but there has been a lot of inappropriate or mildly disturbing scenes and to be completely honest, I’m not sure if anything of that was really necessary.

So what were my thoughts on episodes nineteen and twenty of Sword Art Online: Alicization? Again, similarly to the last couple of episodes, they have been very chatty and you already know that is something I don’t really like. I mention it in almost every blog post I do at this point, chatty episodes = not entertaining. Are they needed? Yes, because they provide context. But when an episode is only twenty-three minutes long and most of that is just characters talking their heads off, it can get really boring real fast. Kirito has got to work his magic on Alice, I get it, but come on now, a whole episode dedicated to Kirito telling you about the memories that were forcibly blocked by the Administrator. Was that really needed, I mean they literally just sat on a ledge and talked, maybe we could have walked and talked at the same time or something.

I mean, it’s like they forgot that Eugene was still in the tower alone, vulnerable to the Administrator. It’s as though at that moment in time, Eugene and the Administrator didn’t matter. What did matter was jogging Alice’s memory and making her believe that what Kirito is telling her was true.

Then in the next episode Kirito and Alice are like “What happened Eugene?!” and he replied with “I don’t know and I don’t care, I do the bidding of the Pontifex”. I’m not a scientist but even I saw that coming. Since the start of the season, Eugene has been a very timid and fragile character, one who lets his emotions get the better of him. If you leave him alone in a tower with the Administrator who has absolute power, what do you expect will happen? Eugene will be taken advantage of and that’s what happens to him.

I must say, episodes nineteen and twenty were poorly executed episodes. I expected better from the Sword Art Online franchise. Highly disappointed with how each episode turned out.