kunori - Episode 16 Commentary (SAO II)

https://twitter.com/kunori_comm_en

Episode 16 starts in ALO, at the entrance to the floating dungeon, Þrymheimr, on the ceiling of Jötunheimr's core.
The term, "floating dungeon", feels sort of like a contradiction, though, lol.

The original《Cardinal System》was made to control the old SAO without relying on humans, so it has various surprising features.
Those include Yui's prototype, the counselling feature, and this automatic quest generation feature.

So the reason behind having Celtic mythology in Norse mythology was because Cardinal tossed them together!
Or rather, the 4th and 5th images from Yui's explanation are… sort of strange, aren't they…

By the way, it seems the MMORPG I played, World of Warcraft, has reached over ten thousand quests in total.
Of course, they were manually made by the staff from Blizzard. My, how frightening.

It would be pandemonium if the world map (with player homes) was utterly destroyed and unrecoverable… or anything… Backups are important…

As for why Cardinal's going berserk and what the management is doing… it's written in the "Calibur Slight Slipup version" in
Dengeki Bunko Magazine's July 2011 edition, but never recorded in the novels… I'll create the chance for everyone to read it! Or so I hope!

Speaking about destruction, it's already been around six years since Morroc was destroyed in RO, but it looks like the update patch for the
fight against Satan Morroc is finally getting implemented next month! I've been away the whole time, but maybe I should drop back in…

They haven't fought as a full party since Extra Edition, huh! The gold and black minotaurs are the boss monsters for Þrymheimr's floor two.
It seems floor one was a cyclops. This part has a little of Greek mythology leaking…

Yui's way too convenient, telling them the attack patterns and timing… lol.
Well, at least it's from observing the bosses' abilities mid-battle rather than knowing them from the very start.

The wood-branch-like wand Asuna has equipped is a wood branch! But it's no normal wood branch; it's snapped off from a branch at
the top of the World Tree Yggdrasil, making it a legendary-grade weapon, the《Crest of Yggdrasil》.

The details are written in, "Rainbow Bridge", an extra short story in the Extra Edition package. I have to write the continuation someday…

Must be horrible for Asuna, healing a whole party of muscle-heads, lol.
Leafa can use healing magic too, but there's a rumor going around that she's bad with advanced area healing magic…

Pina's《Bubble Breath》has 0 attack power with only a confusion effect, but that's really useful in a party… with a long cooldown to match.

Been a while since the pikyun! sound effect from activating sword skills! And there are elements unlike SAO, so the effects are flashy now!

The intensity of the action scenes are mesmerising… The one in charge of the storyboard this time is Koujina Hiroshi who directed
"HUNTERxHUNTER", a TV anime that grandly ended the other day. And the animation supervisor's the character designer, Adachi Shingo!

The sword skill Kirito first used is an eight-hit skill,《Howling Octave》, that's 40% physical and 60% fire elemental.

There's a delay after using a sword skill… but there goes Kirito's delay cancelling…! The connected sword skill's the
three-hit《Savage Fulcrum》, 50% physical and 50% ice elemental. The ice crystals scattering is way too cool!

And the good-old《Horizontal Square》! Judging from the effect light, it's physical, fire, ice, and wind…?

Klein's sword drawing skill effect's cool as well! Even the background's sliding off…! lol

Continuing off his comrades' sword skills, Kirito goes with his old《Vorpal Strike》. The elements are physical 30%, fire 30%, darkness 40%!

A pixel's left…! And here's Asuna stealing the spotlight, having changed into a rapier without anyone noticing.
As expected for the five-hit, 20% physical, 80% holy skill,《Neutron》, the effects sure are shiny, lol.

Farewell, black mino… Well, those tears are only to be expected…

《Skill Connect》is an outside system skill developed by Kirito, but of course, it's not exclusive to him; theoretically, everyone can do it
with practice. Well, that's the problem, though; a chain of four's the max even for him after swinging two swords around so much in SAO…

Asuna's adorable, getting déjà vu from Kirito and Klein's exchange, lol. I wonder if Kirito forgot or if he's just faking… lol.

The third floor's boss… just what is that, lol? I'm really glad Silica gets the highlight this time!

That's right, it's her performing as this young NPC lady! It's Minaguchi Yuuko! It's goes without saying that she has to be saved!

Klein's glowing…! Just to note, the proverb he shouted out should be "Even a chance acquaintance is decreed by fate (袖擦り合うも他生の縁)", lol.
[TLNote: He said "袖擦り合うも一蓮托生", mixing in another to form something like "even a chance acquaintance shares the same fate"]

The usual MP bar display is relative with everyone having the same length and the absolute values shown in numbers,
but ease of recognition is prioritized here with differences in bar lengths. Really now, everyone's low besides Asuna and Leafa, huh, lol.

Freyja's spell incantation's… too amazing… she should just continue on and become a regular party member…

That's right, it's him performing as the king of frost giants! It's Iizuka Shouzou! It's goes without saying that this will be scary.

Heck, he's huge.

Klein's glowing, pt. 2…! Just to note, the proverb he shouted out should be "To show no lack even without a proper meal (武士は食わねど高楊枝)".
[TLNote: He said "武士は食わねど高笑い", forming something like "To laugh out loud even without a proper meal.]
[TLNote: The original proverb is used as "keeping up an act even without the allowance to do so", in both positive and negative senses.]

I know I wrote it myself, but King Þrymr's words are practically sexual harassment… lol. Only natural the girls are making those faces.

Þrymr Punch! And the 16th episode ends! I look forward to seeing you again for next episode, the conclusion to the Caliber chapter!