My Top 5 “Oh Shit!” Moments in Anime – #3

Surely I couldn’t have been the only person wondering why the hell Kirito was carrying around two swords. We all saw what he was doing to people with one sword. So why did he have two? Why did he never use the second one? What did it do? There was an entire episode dedicated to Kirito getting the second sword, but not once had he used it. The suspense and mystery was driving me mad. Until that oh so wonderful boss fight.

Watching this sequence play out was damn near a magical experience. The animation was superb, the soundtrack was fitting, and the action was incredible. Everything about the scene came together in such a wonderful package that this particular scene has become a favorite of mine.

Initially when the action starts its clear that the Gleam Eyes may just be too much for the heroes to handle. Other players were being killed off in the background to prove the situation was serious, and even the heroes Kirito, Asuna, and Klein were looking human by this point. After a rather well animated sequence with Kirito and Asuna tag teaming against the boss the heroes are again pushed back. It’s at this point where Kirito asks the others to keep the Gleam Eyes busy. And then something magical happened Kirito equips an unknown skill and pulls out the second sword. He was using two swords. AT. THE. SAME. FUCKING. TIME! Do you know how insane that is? No one had done so in the show before. In fact, it was part of the rules that players couldn’t dual wield weapons. That’s how you know shit was about to get truly crazy.

And it did get crazy. Kirito Launches at the Gleam Eyes, and what follows is one of the coolest fight scenes I’ve seen. While the action on the screen certainly was a spectacle to behold, what caught my attention the most was what Kirito was telling himself during the fight. Throughout the series up to this point Kirito was more of a loner character. While there was certainly a reason for this attitude what happened during the fight was so interesting to me. Whenever Kirito would be hit he would say “faster”. He was more concerned about defeating the Gleam Eyes to protect his friends that he did not care about whatever damage he took. It was such a great character moment for Kirito.
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And, my oh my, what an ending.