Previously in Sword Art Online:

Kazuto Kirigaya once again becomes Kirito in order to enter a whole new virtual game called ALfheim Online (ALO for short). His mission, to rescue Asuna from her virtual prison. Spoilers Ahead.

Kirito successfully rescues Leafa from her pursuers, defeating two of them causing the third on to retreat, and in return she treats him to a drink. During their sit down, he asks more about ALO, specifically about the World Tree and what he needs to do in order to reach the top of it. Meanwhile at the top of said tree, Asuna is being held captive in a cage by none other than Sugou, who also plays the game, referring to himself  as “Oberon” (king of fairies for those unfamiliar with Shakespearean lore). He then proceeds to harass Asuna as he tells her his plans for the players of ALO.

We get an expansion on the mechanics and lore of ALO through Leafa as she explains it all to Kirito. It is quite interesting as there is basically hatred and distrust among the various races, or “classes”, in ALO. For example the three men who were hunting Leafa were of the Salamander class and dislike Leafa because she is of the Slyph class, Kirito himself is a Spriggan. Each class also comes with it’s own territories with rules. Leafa takes Kirito to Slyvain, which is Slyph territory and explains to him that he can’t attacks Slyphs due to being a Spriggan, but that can attack him. Each class also has special abilities such as Spriggans being good at treasure hunting and illusion magic. This is a nice change compared to the SAO arc where classes, jobs, and skills were mostly just shown rather than fully fleshed out and explained.

We also get a closer look into the World Tree as it is the goal of all players of ALO to reach the top of the tree and be rewarded by Oberon. The reward for clearing the Tree is that the player is rechristened as a Alfs who have the ability to fly unhindered (normal players can only fly nonstop for about 10 minutes) this is shown to be ALO’s “Grand Quest” but the means to complete it are pretty ambiguous. Most players believe that there is a secret quest they have to complete while Kirito thinks that all the races have to work together to complete it. Leafa however states that is Kirito’s suggestion is really the case then no one will ever be able to ascend.

Both Kirito & Leafa get development in the episode. Kirito seems much more laid back compared to how he was in SAO and even cracks a few jokes, but he also has his serious moments such as when Leafa tells him about the World Tree and when he comforts Yui when she worries about Asuna. Leafa is initially hostile towards Kirito at first due to his being a Spriggan but eventually warms to him, possibly even being attracted to him. This becomes awkward however when Leafa logs out of the game and is revealed to be none other than Suguha.

The biggest moment in the episode is obviously Asuna, since this is really her first conscious scene since SAO. She has been trapped by Sugou, now calling himself Oberon, and is being held within the game against her will (obviously). These scenes are pretty cringe worthy as Sugou continues to sexually harass her in order to assert his dominance over her. He doesn’t go too far but it was still enough to make me wanna strike me flat screen in rage. Anyway he explains to Asuna that during SAO’s final log out he rerouted 300 of the players nervegears (including Asuna’s) to the ALO servers and is using them for experimentation on human bran waves in order to manipulate emotions, memories, and even senses. Asuna is powerless to stop him as she can only wait for Kirito to save her (Just gonna put that into the “things that piss me off about this arc so far” folder).

Asuna & “Oberon” Sugou

“Captive Queen” was a decent episode that expands the world more. We get an update on Asuna, a new antagonist with a new goal, and character revelations so all in all a decent package. No real action but the world expansion makes up for it. The quest continues next week as Leafa takes Kirito & Yui to the World Tree.

4/5