Mother’s Rosario

Synopsis

After many good memories with Yuuki, her condition worsens and Asuna decides that they must meet again in ALO before she moves on. Yuuki gives Asuna her swordskill, Mother’s Rosario. Her time has unfortunately come and Asuna calls everyone to give her a proper sending off for the best swordswoman in the game.

At the funeral, Siune has made a recovery from Leukaemia and greets Asuna. She talks to her about herself and Yuuki and gives her thanks for being with them.

Kurahashi and Kirito join them and they find out that the actual original designer of the Medicuboid system was Kayaba Akihiko.

With that and a happy picnic with everyone, the season ends.

Thoughts

Hmmm… Still didn’t feel as much as I feel I should have even during her death. As insensitive as that sounds, I still feel I just didn’t know her well enough. And we all saw her death coming from a mile away. The only thing I can really say is that it tied in nicely with saying farewell to the series as a whole. Unless there’s an SAO 3, which is very possible considering the bombshell they dropped at the end and how it felt to me like they wanted to continue that, but I’ll say hi again when that happens.

Whilst I couldn’t feel anything for Yuuki, I did feel that the long drawn out farewell, the huge gathering of friends and comrades and the ‘cross-bordering’ between the real and virtual worlds was a fitting end to cross to the finishing line. The majority of this season has been focusing on the disconnection of people from the real world to a virtual one. Here though, it was something completely different, yes it was a virtual world she was in, but as Yuuki rightly said, she definitely lived. Exploring what I would call two sides of the same coin.

Also as you may have guessed, if you’ve been reading my blogs, I am very happy to see the leaders of the clans back, even if they’re just decorations in the background.

I’ll say one thing, I never would’ve guessed Mother’s Rosario is the name of the sword skill. I actually thought it would be a rosary, relating to Asuna’s mother. However though, with Yuuki’s passing, it also sorta marks the passing of Asuna and her mother’s troubles, the name may be somewhat appropriate as a charm to protect her.

GGO was actually good in the end, it had more ups than downs for me and explored the dangers of the boundary between the virtual and real world. I enjoyed most of the fights and thought the animation was good. The only major thing I had to complain about in that arc was the overused and uncomfortable sexual assault scene which ruined what could’ve been a great ending. Still though, it was good. Excalibur was just a little fun and I enjoyed it exactly for that reason. Finally Mother’s Rosario, although with the centrepiece around someone I, even at the end, still couldn’t quite connect with, I’m sure many of you did and that ending would’ve seemed far better to you than me. I would say it pulled off an appropriate end to the concepts it explored.