SAO: Alicization – WoU Part 2 | Episodes one and two.

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What a pleasant surprise! (I’m writing this blog after finishing up my review of Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld). It looks as though part two of Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld is already 100x better than the season that came before it.

The biggest issue I had with the first half of this animated arc was that there was more conversation than action. This is something that is corrected come episode two in the form of Bercouli facing off against Vector. This fight was outright epic and probably one of the best fight scenes (in terms of overall style and animation) that I’ve seen in a long while. What I liked most about this fight scene was that the style itself and how it was animated was different from what you’d typically expect from SAO.

You could sense the real gravity, emotion and importance of this fight. It’s a shame that they had to kill off Bercouli because he was one of those figures I’ve come to enjoy not only because of how cool he was, but because he felt like a Jiraiya figure. If you have watched Naruto then you know what I mean. He was an all around nice guy, extremely powerful, highly respected, loyal and honourable. He mentor, companion and father figure to all of the Knights.

Bercouli was someone who was always one step ahead, he knew what to say and when to act. He also knew when it was bested and above all else, he didn’t hold a grudge against anyone. His death reminded me that of Jiraiya but also of Asuma (from Naruto) because we find out that Bercouli and Fanatio are expecting a child. Unfortunately, like Asuma, Bercouli just won’t be around to raise the child. That moment where Fanatio broke down knowing that Bercouli won’t be there anymore was very emotional. I’m going to be real, I did get a little choked up, because you could feel her pain.

I won’t even talk about episode one because that episode made me really uncomfortable, especially with what that lady did to Leafa. Like anything that involves tentacles is an immediate “Yeah no. Not the episode for me”. Let’s be real here, no one wants to see that, I don’t. The fact that it was in the episode itself was questionable and I personally hope I don’t see anything of that sort ever again. But then again, it’s SAO so any thing is possible.

Overall, barring what happened with Leafa during episode one. I’d say both episodes have been pretty action packed which is the biggest positive. I hope the remaining episodes carry a similar level of action. Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld Part 2 is off to a good start.