This video is brought to you by all the animators
being saved to work on this single episode!
The big climax is here, the Black Swordsman
vs the Angel of Death in one final big showdown
as they go full Incarnate!
The War of Underworld has come to a close
with this climax, but there are still 3 more
episodes to look forward to, as the war on
Ocean Turtle is still continuing, and we got
a lengthy conclusion to the entire Alicization
Saga to follow afterwards in the Epilogue.
But that’s the next 3 weeks, for this week;
welcome everyone, it’s me Gamerturk, your
best source of Sword Art Online information
and this is Alicization EXPLAINED featuring
War of Underworld Episode 20, The Night SKy
Sword.
Short overview, we have adapted from the first
couple of pages of Chapter 22 Part 2 until
the end of the entire Chapter 22, or rather
Chapter 23 Part 3’s first couple paragraphs
with the in between content pushed to the
next episode, whichever way you want to take
it, it’s about 45 pages tops and 45 pages
mean a strong adaptation with short scenes
getting cut, it was a marvel on the animation
side of things, as expected from A1’s actual
gods taking the helm for this episode, we
still had quite the chunky cuts.
Luckily, nothing that will particularly trigger
anybody this week, or awfully vital, but still,
some of them were quite the iconic scenes,
but worry not, we’ll cover all of it.
But if you are new to my EXPLAINED series,
what I do here is essentially provide you
all the vital information on Characters, Events,
Action, Lore from the source material, Light
Novels, things that the anime did not convey
properly or just did not have the time to,
so you can still see the full picture.
If you want to jump to specific events, timestamps
will be in the description, along with Amazon
and Book Depository affiliate links so you
can grab the Novels for yourselves.
Remember, now that we are officially in the
Maximum Acceleration Phase, it is the perfect
time to read Moon Cradle, the 2 Volume Side
Story that takes place a year and a half after
the Acceleration began inside Underworld and
it is something that the Anime will not be
adapting in the Alicization Season, so I recommend
you jump on that!
With that, let’s cast away the sly foxes
spreading misinformation and get on with Alicization
EXPLAINED!
I need to first get the obvious out of the
way, the Animation is fucking top tier stuff
here, as I said all the top tier staff members
are here from animators to storyboarders to
effects artists, so I’ll just make this
blanket statement here that everything is
incredible and I won’t talk about how amazing
every single cut is.
Just wanted to get it out here because I know
there’ll be those 5 people out there who
are gonna go “Why you never praise the animation”,
it’s because my Explained series is not
a typical review, it aims to explain the intricacies
of the scenes and the world.
But there are also an incredible amount of
details in animation that you may never realize
so those things I will mention as part of
that explanation process.
And it’s kinda ironic that after saying
all that, I have to start with this, they
really used Amayori and Takiguri for a cool
ending shot last week and the moment this
episode starts, at the exact same point, they
are just falling to their deaths, so much
for continuity…
Anyways, this was the scene I was talking
about last week to see if they would cut it
or not, but no, they covered it very briefly
and it’s not like after you see Kirito turn
PoH into a tree, you would absolutely need
to know the details of what he just did here
to understand what’s happening in the anime,
but as I always say, I am pleased with the
Anime if all I have to do is fill the little
holes left here and there to expand the world
and concepts, rather than retelling entire
chapters.
Now let me be frank, we do not know what exactly
Kirito did, the scene until a bit later is
told from Alice’s perspective entirely,
and she states she can only try to interpret
what had happened and her assumption is as
follows.
As the HP of the dragons are so high, mere
element generation and healing Sacred Arts
deriving from it would not be able to restore
their health, especially with the wounds they
had suffered.
And unlike what Kirito did back after PoH
battle, he no longer has excess energy stored
in the Night Sky Sword either to use as a
healing bank.
So what he did, well, what Alice believes
he did is that he simply shrank the maximum
health value of the dragons, and the only
way to do it, without being an actual admin
in the world to temper with data, is to rewind
their age, remember, that is exactly what
Quinella had done when she was old.
By rewinding the dragons as much as possible,
he was able to not only heal the little HP
they would have afterwards, but also potentially
allow Alice to see them again if she were
to ever log back in.
The scene with Asuna creating the stairs,
I feel a bit…
“Animated liberally” let’s say…
Asuna is pretty much destroyed mentally after
all the times she used the Stacia Ability
already and to see her create such wide stairs,
I just couldn’t help but chuckle.
And also, it didn’t occur to me when reading
the Novels, but goddamn, you could have had
Alice run to the farthest side and she just
would be lifted, but hey, at least there is
no weird tension boosters like “tripping
when climbing the stairs” so it’s not
like it matters, especially you don’t really
get “physically exhausted” the same way
in Underworld.
Oh boy, that’s a very old reference, I believe
it was the first Alicization Explained of
the Human Realm arc where I explained how
physical fatigue actually works.
And again, with how much was cut from Asuna
fighting all the pain in previous weeks, it
may look weird when she appears to be shaking
it off quite easily, but yeah, as I said,
she had shaken off much much worse over the
course of the previous hours and if those
scenes would not have been cut, you would
understand that dis is barely a scratch in
her mind.
Now for the actual big guns as the fight is
approaching, would you be surprised if I said
the Anime completely changed Kirito’s tone
to the beginning of the fight?
It’s baffling really, we always say “Anime
hates inner monologues, that’s why it’s
never adapted” but we got Alice’s inner
monologue just before the OP and then we see
Kirito remembering Kiku’s warning as a flashback,
which was actually the minor extension of
the actual inner monologue by Kirito here.
How he remembers the warning alone, really
makes it look like Kirito is aiming to win
quickly to manage a last second escape, whereas
his actual inner monologue that was cut was
“Alice.
Asuna.
This is goodbye.”
clearly indicating Kirito has made up his
mind to sacrifice himself in order to allow
them to escape, he is not here to defeat Subtilizer,
he is here to stall him long enough to both
get stuck in Underworld.
And the reason he is not telling the others
obviously is because he knows if he says anything
about being stuck, they would stay back and
fight along too.
Kirito’s exchange with Gabriel, despite
shortened, is quite great with the way Subti
just immediately responds to every question
and turns it around to affect Kirito with
his incarnation, causing every answer to slowly
slip from his mind, he goes through over half
a dozen titles from his past before Eugeo
comes to his rescue.
When Kirito asked the guy his name, his head
was still not properly recovered from the
void, but when Subtilizer responded with his
real life name, Kirito sensed the appearance
of the guy turn a bit more real rather than
the expression that was so void that he felt
getting sucked into it, obviously a minor
nod to the fact that talking about his real
identity briefly broke Subtilizer’s grip
on his own incarnation.
These are the neat little details I love and-
Holy shit they actually adapted that minor
effect?
Wow, I sure as hell was not expecting this,
well done A1, well fucking done!
Also, this may be a good time to mention this,
the white, grainy background you see when
looking towards the Altar, that is actually
a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge wall to prevent Underworlders
from ever being able to surpass the allocated
limits of the world just in case they “never
encounter something they cannot comprehend
without proper guidance”, which is, again,
going back to Episode 6 Explained I believe,
the reason they picked a medieval setting
for the simulation was because they would
be much more in control of what happens, with
much less variables compared to a modern simulation
for example.
Of course, in the case of them surpassing
the wall, the Seed package is more than capable
of doing what is necessary to fill the area,
but that’s an entirely different topic.
The fight, including the wings, is very much
accurate to the Novels, I mean…
Accurate as in “All the inner monologues
and mental struggles and tactics are completely
ignored as usual” kinda accurate, so let’s
start from the beginning, there was a reason
Gabriel decided to stay and fight, aside from
the fact that he estimated Alice to take 5
minutes to get up.
The boy looked quite boring to him at first,
unlike Bercouli and Sinon, he possessed no
fighting spirit as far as he could sense when
he got a short grasp at his soul at the beginning
of their exchange.
And aside from that moment, he did not get
a single taste from his soul in general, making
him quite the “unfun” target for him.
But when he transformed his coat into wings
and summoned all elements to attack him, Subtilizer
was impressed by the boys proficiency in this
world and found it to be a worthy effort to
absorb his knowledge for when he built his
own VR World to store Alice in.
And that was the reason he decided to fight
Kirito properly.
And possibly to your surprise, there is a
shitton of mental battles going on for both
characters here, Kirito seeing that he is
simply absorbing all attacks and trying to
think of a way to actually harm Subtilizer,
and on the other side, Subtilizer was getting
more and more curious where that confident
smile on the kids face was coming from and
initially assumed the kid was just bluffing
his confidence to buy time.
His first act to break the kids spirit, was
to proclaim the fact that he had already stolen
something from the kid, as his jetpack bat
disappeared into wings behind his back to
mimic Kirito’s wings but much edgier for
someone who bears the name of an Archangel.
When Gabriel turned into his Angel of Death
form however, that was when he properly understood
all the little tricks Kirito had been showcasing
throughout the fight.
And looking at Gabriel extend his grasp over
Incarnation, Kirito in front of him was losing
his hope of actually stalling the guy enough
to allow Alice and Asuna to escape.
They kinda did hint at it during his inner
monologue too, which surprised me, but then
I realized it wasn’t an inner monologue,
it was an inner dialogue with Eugeo instead
so no wonder this one didn’t get the cut…
Ah but there comes the iconic scene they decided
to cut this time around.
Remember the time Kirito ripped out his heart
to crush it in his nightmare sequence?
Well, we had a massive reference here, with
Subtilizer going for his heart to rip it and
eat it up and that is why the entire scene,
you see Kirito completely soulless after Eugeo
talks to him, and while the anime portrayed
his soulless bluff, they decided to cut the
reason of it.
He was simply playing Gabriel here for him
to eat his heart, whereas he had just created
countless razor shaped metallic elements in
his heart just to back up his words to hurt
Gabriel when he was least expecting, another
one of his tricks to catch him off guard and
break his incarnation.
And when Gabriel lost his grasp for a moment,
that’s when Kirito used the Memory Release
of his Night Sky Sword and Eugeo’s Blue
Rose Sword to their fullest extent.
The gentle night sky covered the entire Underworld,
Dark Territory and the Human Empire alike.
It was unorthodox, but nobody was scared.
It was as if the sky exuded a faint warmth,
reaching out to everyone.
The first person to be embraced by the sky
as if it was one of the gentle hugs Kirito
had given him, was Sinon, who was waiting
for her wounds to drain her remaining HP.
The feeling was all too familiar for her.
As she reached back to the call of the sky,
a blue light flickered as a sole star.
The darkness reached Leafa who was also waiting
for her end, followed by a gentle breeze caressing
her cheek.
A green star appeared in the night sky.
It wasnt just them.
Renly, Tiese, Ronye, Sortiliena, everyone
who had time to spend with Kirito felt it
in their hearts that the gentle night sky
was the sign of the Black Swordsmans final
battle for the fate of the world.
And those who didn’t know him at all, still
felt the kind embrace of the darkness.
And at that moment, the entire Underworld
started praying.
It wasn’t just the Human Guardian Army and
the Dark Territory army.
Selka in Rulid Village, Miss Azurica at the
Swordcraft Academy, Walde twins on the outskirts
of Zakkaria, the Operator in the Central Cathedral,
even the citizens of the Dark Territory, all
the different races.
It wasn’t a prayer of uniformity, everyone
was saying their own prayers and wishes.
Countless prayers.
Let him be safe…
Save the world…
I love you…
Dear God…
All prayers from all around the world started
flowing straight into the Night Sky Sword
in the form of countless stars enveloping
the sky above Underworld like the gentle night
sky.
Alice immediately realized what those stars
were and casted her own with her final wishes.
Asuna didn’t even look back.
Her trust in Kirito was all she needed as
the tears falling from her face turned into
flickering stars and joined the rest.
But it wasn’t the incarnation of the living,
memories of the deceased were also casting
their own incarnation, what little had had
at the very least.
Shasta’s lesson he learned from his duel
with Bercouli about the murderous intent,
encouraging words of Bercouli, reminder from
the late Pontifex of the ways of the world
Kirito embraced during their duel, Cardinal’s
words about the connection of everyones souls
in Underworld, all charged into a single blow.
Not a killing blow, but one that would let
the one who devours all souls taste the wishes
and the brilliance of this world as he so
longed for.
Ten strikes of Starburst Stream.
Eleven.
Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…
The final 16th hit had a climactic pause before
it was dealt and Subtilizer saw his opportunity
in that very moment.
The wings of the Angel of Death cut off Kirito’s
arm that would have landed the 16th hit, severing
his connection to the sword.
But when all hope was lost, two hands that
didn’t belong to him grabbed the handle
of the Blue Rose Sword to block the finishing
blow of Gabriel, giving Kirito the opportunity
for a 17th hit that never existed before in
Starburst Stream.
And Gabriel Miller tasted the collective incarnation
of the entire world, to a point where his
soul no longer could process it, causing his
demise.
The moment the Angel of Death ceased to exist,
Alice got logged out successfully reaching
the terminal with Asuna.
All AmuSphere users disconnected due to their
devices not supporting any acceleration.
Sinon and Suguha got logged out due to the
satellite connection not being able to handle
the unsafe acceleration.
And Kirito felt the world plunge into a weird
feeling that he could not describe, but he
knew it meant he was now locked in this world
for more than double the amount of time of
his remaining projected life.
With the traditionally red sky of the Dark
Territory now shining a bright blue, first
thing Kirito sensed was the lack of the kind
presence of the flaxen haired boy.
It was not clear to him that the final clash
with Gabriel consumed the remaining soul fragment
inside the Blue Rose Sword completely at last.
And then came the startling realization as
he checked the Altar.
He did not see anyone around, which must have
meant they both were safely logged out too.
Lack of Asuna’s presence only caused the
lack of his friends to hit harder.
He broke down entirely, with only the sounds
of his tear drops hitting the stone paved
floor of the Altar.
But the sound of the drops were accompanied
by another sound, slowly coming closer.
He heard a nostalgic voice calling out his
name, and he slowly started lifting his head
up…
And I wish that was exactly where the anime
had cut this scene.
It was the perfect callback to the ending
of the Human Realm Arc of Alicization with
Kirito hearing “a nostalgic voice” and
his head going full blank with no longer remembering
who the voice belonged to, here we had the
same cut but this time, instead of losing
his grasp he regained it with the same nostalgic
voice, but hey, considering that ending moment
of the Human Realm Arc was one of Anime’s
biggest blunders during the entire Alicization
run, I am not surprised they did not go for
it here either, so they skipped an entire
chapter ahead to extend this scene into the
ending of Chapter 23 but even still, did not
adapt the 2 page long part for whatever reason…
Well, not “Whatever reason”, we all know
full well they saved the 30 second clip for
next week, because nobody will watch the Ocean
Turtle drama episode if they don’t hint
a Kirito X Asuna screenshot in the preview,
that’s exactly why they did this…
They also didn’t adapt a scene with Gabriel
Miller, chances are, we’ll get it next week
too, but unless you are binge watching, which…
If you are watching these Explained episodes
on release, you are watching them week by
week and thus the scene won’t have the same
punch as having it right after exploding out
of Underworld, but hey, we’re the only ones
watching it week by week so why do I even
care…
By the way, if you haven’t realized, these
remarks like “so why should I care” are
sarcastic remarks because I know there are
many people who go “WHOOOOOO CAREEEEEES
ABOUT THESE TINY DETAILS”, I do, thank you
very much.
It’s part of your narrative choices.
It makes a massive difference when and how
you are presented certain scenes, even half
a second of a pause before the delivery of
a single line can make a huge difference,
so I’d say not having the scene right when
it was meant to as a “What the actual fuck”
moment takes away the punch of that moment.
I’ll add here that it was a great addition
to show the people who just logged out, trying
to process what they just lived through, that
was a neat anime original addition that felt
very fitting.
But I got nothing else to say really.
Obviously it’s just as sad as always that
inner monologues get axed from what is a mental
battle in favor of a light show and yelling
about but at the very least it’s done in
a way that would make every Shonen series
watch in awe of the animation, because let’s
be real, that was as Shonen as SAO would ever
get, and the quality was only second to the
consistently amazing FGO Babylonia, which,
haha, time to make that reference again, has
pulled amazing fight scenes and choreography
on every other week rather than a last hurrah
for a final climax episode, but hey, maybe
in 7 years, Kadokawa will finally have a mobile
SAO Game that is not a blatant cash grab but
rather have a consistent and sparing gacha
experience rather than dumping 50 new marginally
different units with powercreep each month,
maybe they can get enough money to make Unital
Ring just as great.
But the fact that I’m going off on a massive
tangent is already the sign that I should
wrap the video up.
We got 3 more episodes, none of which will
be dedicated to Underworld, but we will have
some scenes back here, which I can see the
weekly screenshots really banking on them
for no other reason than hoping to bait you
into remaining interested.
This week was the Underworld conclusion of
the arc, Episode 21, Beyond Time, is all about
the physical conclusion of it back in real
life.
And from the looks of it, 22 and 23 will be
the Epilogue Episodes.
But yeah, as I said, at this point, you are
perfectly safe to jump into Sword Art Online
Volumes 19 & 20, Moon Cradle the Alicization
Side Story which takes place in the 200 year
accelerated period which the Anime won’t
be adapting in the Season 3 Alicization run
as should have been clear in the summary before
so go ahead and grab those novels!
Weekly Alicization Q&A is properly back on
schedule with me publishing an episode Q&A
shortly before the next episode airs, so every
following Saturday.
If you have questions that you feel like were
not answered in the EXPLAINED episodes, do
ask them below in the comments section with
#AskGamerturk.
If your question is regarding the future,
please add a spoiler warning and give it a
couple of blank lines to push spoilers away.
And no, I will not answer spoiler questions
for the sake of spoilers like “Is Subtilizer
going to kill Kirito”, if you are that curious
for spoilers, just read the books, Amazon
and Book Depository links in 
the description.
And if you made it this far, comment Release
Recollection to let me know.
If you enjoyed this weeks Explained, please
do leave a like.
If you’re new here, subscribe and hit the
bell icon for more in depth coverage on SAO,
with Alicization anime almost coming to a
close, I will have a lot of other lovely SAO
stories for you to experience in the near
future, like the evening of Kirito’s first
day on Aincrad where he was almost killed
by another Beta tester, so look forward to
the First Day!
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A huge thanks to all my Patrons and Channel
Members as always and until next time.
Stay Cool~
