Accel World – 09

[UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_10.04_[2012.06.01_23.39.05] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_16.47_[2012.06.01_23.09.11] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_21.20_[2012.06.01_23.13.44]

No complaints here – that was non-stop fun from beginning to end.

Whatever malaise came over this series for a few episodes – I don’t know if it was the show or me – seems to have lifted, because the last couple of episodes have recaptured the briskly entertaining spark of the first few.  No doubt a lot of it is the presence of Hidaka Rina as Scarlet Rain – yeah, that type of character has been done to death but she has the effect of immediately bursting (no pun intended) the bubble of self-seriousness that can tend to form in Accel World at times – slowing things down to a crawl when it does.

Of course it’s a bit of a mystery to me why Kuroyukihime should feel quite so threatened by a ten year-old, even the ten year-old is taller than her boyfriend Haru.  Of course the real reason is because it’s entertaining as hell watching the two of them go at it in Haru’s apartment.  No, “So black I wouldn’t be able to see you in the dark of night” and “It’s be fun to hang you from a traffic light and watch the cars stop” isn’t exactly the stuff of the Algonquin Roundtable, but it’s stupid enough to be hilarious, which just about describes most of Yuniko’s (“Call me Niko.  No –chan or –tan!”) killer loli act.  She’s a force of nature, this one, both inside the Accel World and out.

Of course Niko does have a larger purpose, and the episode isn’t entirely about watching she and Snow Black go at it like rutting elk.  And her little subplot is interesting, in that it takes us deeper into the Accel World and shows us just how little Haru knows about what’s really happening there.  The story of Chrome Disaster and his cursed armor could have come straight out of Norse mythology, but the way Kuroyukihime relayed it via a sort of shared VR memory download was kind of cool. I was only disappointed that Niko didn’t sit on Haru’s lap after claiming the short cable.  Kids today – confusing cable length with intimacy…

There really wasn’t any one element here that blew my away, but the overall experience was highly entertaining, which seems consistent with the appeal AW showed early on.  This is a series about world building, quite literally – it’s not really about the character interaction so much as the atmosphere.  It works because if the impressive level of detail that’s gone into constructing both everyday life in 2046 and the Accel World itself, and because it reflects the high-quality look Sunrise’s Studio 8 typically produces.  This is definitely a show at its best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously, though I don’t especially dislike any of the characters – I just don’t think the writing is at its best when it reaches for gravitas.  And there was certainly no danger of that this week…

[UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_06.16_[2012.06.01_22.58.40] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_06.20_[2012.06.01_22.58.43] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_06.40_[2012.06.01_22.59.03]
[UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_07.09_[2012.06.01_22.59.33] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_07.28_[2012.06.01_22.59.52] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_08.26_[2012.06.01_23.00.50]
[UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_10.35_[2012.06.01_23.39.19] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_11.02_[2012.06.01_23.03.26] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_12.24_[2012.06.01_23.04.48]
[UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_13.54_[2012.06.01_23.06.18] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_15.12_[2012.06.01_23.07.36] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_16.02_[2012.06.01_23.08.25]
[UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_18.06_[2012.06.01_23.10.30] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_18.39_[2012.06.01_23.11.03] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_19.56_[2012.06.01_23.12.19]
[UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_20.28_[2012.06.01_23.12.52] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_21.02_[2012.06.01_23.13.26] [UTW]_Accel_World_-_09_[h264-720p][C16BFEEA].mkv_snapshot_21.51_[2012.06.01_23.14.14]
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

16 comments

  1. i

    I think Sunrise may have finally found how fast the pacing should go…(I know the LN was like this too, but let me dream)

    the more significant thing would be that last scene in the end, both touching and concerning at the same time…(and related to the arc of course, but that's for ep 12…maybe)

  2. S

    Accel World is at its best when it's being Bleach//Sign. When it tries to get serious it falls apart. The source material just isn't that good and the Accelerated World's rules just weren't well thought out enough at the beginning to allow for true depth there.

    But when they're in the extremely interesting "real" world and acting much more like people, rather than plot devices, the show is a complete riot. I even loved them pointing out that Haru being an Expy of any of his other characters (It's Kaji, after all) would have done everything differently.

    Also, KYH is just a gem when she's jealous. They've got the tone for that down really, really well. But we even saw that before the attempted murder and it worked really well. It also REALLY helps when Haru isn't clinically depressive. He's slowly graduating into "standard shounen protagonist" mode, albeit short and fat. It'll make the rest of the series, hopefully, a good watch.

    I still have a bad feeling we'll drop into far too much melodrama multiple times along the way, but if they don't get stuck in it, it should be fine.

    Oh, and another "fun" problem with the Accelerated World itself. No one would ever join a Legion. You need a way to punish people, but the Legion head having the ability to remove the person from the Accelerated World? Everyone would just have loose confederations. It's nice as a plot point but renders the Legion system pointless.

  3. b

    Well the good thing about joining legions is that you can gain points safely via group battles. Also when you belong to a legion and control an area(Nega Nebulus' area is the Suginami area btw), you can safely connect to the Global Net and reject battles from random people within the area. However the tradeoff is you put your neck in the hands of the leader. So yeah.

    And I'm kinda excited to see people's reactions for the next arc. It will be glorious.

  4. i

    and hopefully your explanation's going to be repeated next week….

    *weeps that the "next arc" is at September*

  5. b

    Hardly a spoiler I think.
    Probably a spoiler, though it was mentioned in the novels as a narration in the part where they were having a group fight and Haru was taken down in the sky. Plus it's trivial stuff. Mentioning the history of Chrome Disaster, now that's a spoiler which I won't do.

    Wait, September? This is split cour? I thought this will run the full two-cour? Source?

  6. I'm with Belat here – I thought this was a straight two-cour.

  7. i

    I thought I saw it @ Animesuki, though I may have misread something…

    But then both SAO and Horizon are airing next cour as well…

    some random discussion of the extra stuff on BD/DVD as well as the cour issues: http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showthread.php?t=109922

  8. i

    found the pages to the split cour argument on AF… page 16-17 in the AW (anime) thread…

  9. I see nothing there that convinces me this is split…

  10. F

    I sorta feel like Haru's comment about him having an "older and younger sister", while tactically unwise, wasn't completely out of line. KYH and Yuniko certainly feel a lot like a pair of bickering siblings, and for all their glaring and arguing, fit together quite nicely.

    Also, you don't cuddle up and sleep on the couch with someone you despise.

  11. B

    This is a 2 cour show? Excellent. I honestly thought it was 1. For a show that initially seemed too stupid to possibly be anything but a way to kill 20 minutes, I must admit it's drawn me in enough that I am genuinely pleased to learn it's longer than I thought.

  12. Well it's definitely two, though I guess there's some disagreement about whether they're contiguous or broken up by a season.

  13. B

    Either way is fine for me, I can be patient, it's not like there will be any shortage of shows to watch next season even if this one is broken up ;).

  14. b

    Did some digging. The 2nd OP and ED are already announced. The OP will be sung by ALTIMA and the ED is by Kuroyuki's seiyuu. So yeah it's a straight 2-cour.

  15. F

    Oh jesus. ALTIMA would be good if the female vocalist went solo. But the male back-up rapper just kills the songs.

  16. d

    I found it weird and sad that these people dont just tell Hatuyuki all the information he needs to know. And he is left to learn by himself. Good when it comes to a novel as the reader progress with the character but this is just dam silly.
    First his lack of points when leveling and now this

Leave a Comment