Marwile watches SAO 2 Part 20 "Total Quality Whiplash"

Seriously, what happened with this anime? I know I wasn't able to pay that much attention last week, but when did I miss the moment this became good? I always knew removing Kirito would improve this anime, but this much that fast?

The episode starts with Asuna waking up in her home and we get a great look into her family life (or lack of). Even though the temperature in her room being so low she can see her breath is a bit too on the nose. But yeah, father will come later, mother already waiting with dinner, no music or proper lighting, no talking, only the sounds of cutlery, they're going hard with the audiovisual metaphors.

And when her mother finally speaks up, she's probably worse than the bit we have seen of her father. She arranged a chance for Asuna to change to a 'better' school and disapproves her friends and hobbies and even tells her to find a proper rich future husband. Great, now I want Asuna to date Kirito just to spite this woman. When did we go from pointless filler to commentary on japan's success-obsessed school system?

Asuna tries to speak up against her, but it barely works. We get a look into Asuna's head and she fondly remembers her time in SAO, because of the freedom she had as a knight. I always knew she was much more interesting as Kirito.

We cut forward to Asuna spending time with Kirito. When it's time for her duel, she asks him what he told Zekken and he answers that he only quipped about Zekken spending their whole life in the game, to which he got a smile in return. He makes some weird vague theories about Zekken spending their whole life with VR games before they go.

They reach the island just in time to see a challenger resign and Asuna is shocked to find out that Zekken is a girl (loli no less), which she lets out at her friends, angry even when she suspects Kirito might have let her win just because of her gender.

She decides to challenge her anyway and is surprised to see how effortlessly Zekken, or Yuuki as it's revealed, manages to block her attacks, so she decides to go serious. And the battle that follows is actually really good, even if the multicolored explosions at the beginning are a bit unnecessary. Both get some solid hits with Asuna straight-up punching Yuuki in the gut at one point.

In the end Asuna even forces Yuuki to use her unique skill, though she stops before dealing the final blow. She congratulates Asuna and tells her that she only started with the duel to find a worthy friend. But when they shake hands she takes Asuna and flies away with her, where Yuuki asks for her help.

As I said, I'm surprised how this suddenly turned good and interesting. I'm actually kinda looking forward to the next episode, though I'm not sure there'll be one next week with Christmas and New Year soon.
Speaking of, Merry Christmas to everyone reading this, if I fotget to make a proper post on Monday.