Black Swordman’s Awakening

Sword Art Online: Alicization-War of Underworld Episode 43 Review/Recap

Sword Art Online fans rejoice, for the Black Swordsman Kirito has returned. And he is already kicking serious butt while he’s at it. I’m so excited about this that I’m skipping my normal intro and skipping straight into the recap.

Recap

Now that Kirito’s awake, PoH gets giddy with excitement and starts spouting how he wants to kill him more than anyone in the world. Kirito wisely chooses to ignore his ramblings charges straight at the leader of Laughing Coffin. Despite briefly gaining the upper hand due to Kirito only having one sword, PoH makes the mistake of threatening to kill even more people in front of the young man’s eyes. As a result, the memory fragment of Eugeo’s able to appear before Kirito and helps him repair the Blue Rose Sword. And as a result of that, Kirito’s able to alter his appearance to resemble what he wore in Aincrad. The Black Swordsman returns in full.

Next, he uses the Blue Rose Sword to sap the foreign players lives until they peacefully log out (good riddance). Then he uses the Night Sky Sword to suck up all their life force. In short order, Kirito proceeds to demolish PoH, but the psychopath declares that he won’t stop until Kirito and Asuna are dead in the real world. So, for his many heinous deeds, Kirito uses the Night Sky Sword to transform him into a tree. He’ll never be able to log out of Underworld as long as he lives.

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As the heroes celebrate Kirito’s return (with the Underworld soldiers kneeling to him,) Kirito takes Asuna with him and uses his deep understanding of Underworld mechanics, flies off in pursuit of Alice. Not long after, though, they get a message from RATH. Gabriel and PoH’s flunkies have rigged the Underworld Server to accelerate time far past its safety parameters. In other words, if they don’t get Alice and get out of Underworld, they’ll be trapped in there for the rest of their lives!

Meanwhile, Alice reaches the World’s End Altar with Gabriel right on her heels. Despite telling her dragons to flee, they try to hold Gabriel off, only for him to nearly kill them. Before that can happen, though, Kirito shows up. The Black Swordsman and Subtilizer finally meet!

Recap

Oh my gosh, you guys, this is the exact kind of thing that I have been waiting for us to see. It was fun to watch all the other characters get their time in the spotlight, but there’s no denying the badassery that is Kirito the Black Swordsman. Speaking of Black Swordsman, I love the fact that Kirito changed his appearance to what he wore in Aincrad. I’ve always thought dusters are so cool, and Kirito rocks it. And he just managed to end PoH!

For clarification, Kirito is well aware that leaving PoH trapped in a tree form until someone pulls him out is basically sentencing him to death. However, given the fact that he wouldn’t stop coming after Kirito and Asuna until he killed them, I’d say this was justified. And with the Underworld about to be accelerated to super crazy speeds, he’s as good as dead. Now all that’s left to deal with is Gabriel.

There are only five episodes left in the series, so they’re going to have to manage this final fight carefully . It can’t be too long, not too short, it has to be just right to get the maximum amount of awesomeness. And I, for one, am looking forward to seeing Kirito wreck Gabriel! Go BLACK SWORDSMAN!

I Give “Awakening” a 4.5/5

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