Accel World – 21

[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_05.09_[2012.08.31_23.17.51] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_08.11_[2012.08.31_23.20.53] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_20.32_[2012.08.31_23.40.15]

If I had to choose one word to describe this episode of Accel World, it would be “refreshing”.

[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_00.54_[2012.08.31_23.15.12]I can honestly say this was the first episode of AW that I’ve really enjoyed from start to finish in at least a month, and probably more – since the current arc started, more or less.  There’s been such a pall over the series lately, with Noumi’s outlandish mustache-twirling and an overload of insufferable emo from Haru, Taku and Chiyu.  The series desperately needed a break from that, and while we got one with the Okinawa story it wasn’t particularly well-executed and as a result, didn’t serve so much as a revitalization as a procrastination.

[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_03.41_[2012.08.31_23.16.23]This is definitely a show – at least for my tastes – that’s at its best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Accel World doesn’t try to be funny as often as it should, because it’s actually pretty darn good at it a lot of the time (like the sequence with Haru and Taku on the bus) – and rather than all the gloom and depression and deep emotion, when it focuses on dumb but well-crafted comedy and pseudo-philosophy it tends to be much more watchable.  And Niko serves that end well.  She’s not a character I could take every week, but she blows through the series like a tornado, scattering all the dust and fluff and blowing it all outside through the windows she’s shattered with the sheer force of her tsundere.  I never liked the tsundere trope ever before it was beaten into the ground, but Niko’s take on it – so literal that it reaches the point of absurdity – generally amuses me to no end in manageable doses.

[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_03.50_[2012.08.31_23.16.32]The template of this ep is a good one – a quest, something with a positive goal rather than damage control and self-pity.  I also liked the addition of Blood Leopard (Kawasumi Ayako) the waitress who’s actually a lieutenant of Niko’s in the Red Legion – her treatment of Haru (something between a sack of garbage and a toddler) is pleasantly silly (and I LOL’d when she said “NP”).  I also liked the depiction of Akihabara, both in RL and inside the AW.  This is a series that’s always done well at creating atmosphere, and it only makes sense that Akiba would be something of a Mecca for burst linkers.  It’s reassuring to know that even in the future Akiba is still full of maid cafes, doujin shops, and game centers – and those towers, the skinny buildings with those tiny elevators…  Accelerated Akiba is a pretty cool place too, nominally Yellow Legion territory but with a battle zone where linkers from all legions can get together to test their mettle.  It’s only fitting that it should be in Akiba.

[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_05.02_[2012.08.31_23.17.44]As for actual plot, we got an almost Hunter X Hunter-esque dissertation from Niko on the nature of incarnate power, described by her as a means for overcoming your own weaknesses, not for defeating your enemies.  For each linker who wants to learn it that presents its own challenges – no less so for Taku, who reveals that he was bullied terribly as an elementary-schooler (you’d think he would have told Haru of all people about that).  As Niko is tutoring him in the rudiments of incarnate power, Haru and Blood Leopard are searching for clues about Noumi’s ability – which leads them to the aforementioned battle zone and bartender Matchmaker, who reveals the existence of an upstart named Rust Jigsaw who’s been upsetting the applecart in the battle zone, and seems to possess the same ability as Noumi.  Connected?  I can’t imagine they’re not – that’d be way too much of a coincidence… 

[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_05.45_[2012.08.31_23.18.27] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_07.31_[2012.08.31_23.20.13] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_09.20_[2012.08.31_23.22.02]
[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_14.15_[2012.08.31_23.33.58] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_14.54_[2012.08.31_23.34.37] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_15.32_[2012.08.31_23.35.15]
[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_16.18_[2012.08.31_23.36.01] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_17.53_[2012.08.31_23.37.36] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_18.14_[2012.08.31_23.37.57]
[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_18.46_[2012.08.31_23.38.29] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_19.43_[2012.08.31_23.39.26] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_20.09_[2012.08.31_23.39.52]
[Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_20.51_[2012.08.31_23.40.33] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_21.53_[2012.08.31_23.41.35] [Hadena] Accel World - 21 [720p][D5D4F09B].mkv_snapshot_22.18_[2012.08.31_23.42.20]
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3 comments

  1. b

    I think I see Infinite Stratos here. And lol FripSide. I'm sure there's a lot more in this pic but I don't recognize them. Also, Tekken.

    That bromance in the bus.
    And that explains why Cyan Pile, who is closer to blue which is a short range color, has a long range weapon. Who knew.
    I know Burst Linkers aren't older than 16 but Blood Leopard looks older than that. Must be the maid uniform. And she gets bossed by Niko? What a weird world.
    In any case, this was a good, Noumi and Chiyu free, episode. But the preview…It begins again. Let's hope all goes well for them with the rematch(again).

  2. d

    There was AKB48 too.

    So they have 3 episodes to beat information out of Jigsaw, beat the life out of Noumi and reunite of Kuroyukihime. Possible… just battles in Accel World seems to be becoming slower and slower.

    Japan is becoming a meritocracy? Niko ontop of blood.

  3. K

    http://lh5.ggpht.com/-_tFGOKWXjfk/UEG2IQV6O3I/AAAAAAABulI/fRBz-sI2liY/s1600-h/%25255BHadena%25255D%252520Accel%252520World%252520-%25252021%252520%25255B720p%25255D%25255BD5D4F09B%25255D.mkv_snapshot_03.50_%25255B2012.08.31_23.16.32%25255D%25255B2%25255D.jpg

    Man that bus sure is packed with giddy BL-fangirls. lol (BL here obviously does not mean Burst Link. 😉 )

    Rust Jigsaw is most likely the red avatar seen in the OP alongside Sulfur Pot and Dusk Taker, considering how like DT and SP, he has a penchant for playing dirty by concealing his name from the matching list.

    Kawasumi Ayako as Pard reminds me a lot of Fate Zero Saber, what with her stoic demeanor, awesome bike-riding skillz and tendency to address Haru as "Master".

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