[We’re kicking off our weekly GLORIO anime coverage with brief recaps and impressions of our favorite shows of the season. We promise to keep it safe and professional on the main page, but be warned: once you click “read more” we’ll be flying those spoiler flags nice and high.]

Recap: One month and 2000 deaths since the start of the game, Kirito grapples with the discrimination towards SAO’s beta testers as players party up to take down the boss of Aincrad’s first floor.

Iro’s Thoughts:

Sword Art continues its strong start by jumping straight into action – this episode quickly builds up to the second half involving the fight with the first floor’s boss. 99 more floors to go.

If you hadn’t gotten the point that Sword Art Online is indeed a video game, then this episode really hammers it home. There are numerous shots of characters opening up their inventory to eat food items or use health potions, and the boss dungeon is a typical raid with multiple parties. Kirito partners up with Asuna (the obvious main heroine, if her presence in the OP didn’t tip you off), befriending her by explaining game mechanics and sharing his food items.

While Klein was excited to find someone with more experience who could show him the ropes, many of the surviving players don’t see beta testers in the same light. They feel frustrated that there are those who have an unfair advantage in the game – a valid point, considering that they are indeed playing for their lives. They are silenced for a moment with the knowledge that beta testers have compiled a guidebook for the new players, but some of the game has been tweaked since the beta and the Floor Boss slays several players. After defeating the boss and taking the rare drops for himself, Kirito makes a self-sacrificing move to protect the rest of the beta testers from discrimination: he outs himself as a “Beater”, a portmanteau of “beta” and “cheater”, explaining the reasons for his advanced knowledge and drawing all of the ire onto himself.

Several things are changed from the novel, mostly cuts for time. Originally, Kirito meets Asuna while grinding in a dungeon, and explains to her why she should save on stamina instead of overkilling the monsters by spamming her strongest skills. He invites her to the meeting, and they end up partying up together because they recognize each other among the crowd of players preparing to fight the boss. After they eat together, he invites her to his room and Asuna is able to enjoy a virtual bath, mulling on how while in reality she merely stumbled through life, now she is forced to see every day she still lives as its own small victory.

The character of Argo the Rat was completely removed from the anime – she was a former beta tester with rat whiskers drawn on her cheeks, and an informant to the players of Sword Art Online. She is the one who compiles the info booklet that Egil shows during the boss meeting, and she meets Kirito again in other side stories. Her removal messes up at least one line: when claiming to have more knowledge as a Beater than any of the other beta testers, Kirito specifically claims to know more than the informant in a bid to protect her from angry players.

Much of Diabel’s characterization was cut, as well. He was a beta tester who recognized Kirito and held a one-sided grudge. He used both Argo the Rat and Kibaou as middle men to try and buy off Kirito’s upgraded sword in order to increase his own chances of landing the final blow on the boss and get the unique drop, and as a result he had a somewhat more sinister bent than the anime showed.

Next week we have the “Red-Nosed Reindeer” side-story: another lengthy affair that will probably be cut down for time – a pity, since it is crucial in defining what little character Kirito has.

Lifesong’s Thoughts
The one thing that really sticks out to me in this episode is just how well the author understands MMORPG politics. As someone who has sunk countless hours into playing them in the past I can appreciate the attention to detail as well the actions of the characters. This is a story where feeling gamey also manages to feel real – I applaud it for that.

Dragonzigg’s Thoughts
I really enjoyed the action and fighting scenes in this episode, but in contrast to Lifesong I felt the gamey aspect intruded upon the story this time round. It’s a little difficult to take a dramatic death sequence seriously when somebody says “you were after the last strike bonus!” Hopefully they manage to integrate it a little more smoothly next time. Still enjoying the show a lot overall.