[Kawahara Reki's Twitter Commentary] Alicization War of Underworld Episode 17 Commentary

Update: Part B commentary translated as well. Click here to scroll down directly to Part B

Seeing as a lot of people were interested in Kawahara's commentaries of the WoU epiosdes on Twitter, I decided to translate them. However, since I was busy the past weeks, I couldn't get around to doing them. So, I decided to start off with yesterday's episode, since it's the hotest topic right now. I'll work my way back to the previous episodes over time at a later time.

-Gsimenas

Introduction

Sorry for keeping you waiting! I will now be tweeting the petit commentary for Alicization WoU Episode 17, "The Demon Child". For the "I don't need this!" folk, please mute the #WoUcom tag.
Also, I would like to apologise; since I get the feeling that I won't be able to actually make this a petit commentary with all the tweets I need to make, I'll be splitting the commentary and covering it over a period of 2 days. Today, I will be making a commentary on Part A. Look forward to it!

Pre-opening scene and opening sequence

We start off with Yui observing the status of the Ocean Turtle network. She noticed that a new connection from Japan had originated from the old SAO server.
At the present moment in August 2026, the old SAO server is kept in the machine room of Argus's headquarters in Motoakasaka, Minato Ward. Legally, the server belongs to RECT, who had handled Argus's liquidation; however, since it is the most important piece of evidence for the SAO Incident, even RECT can't just sell it off.
Exploiting this situation was none other than Professor Shigemura, the external board director of Argus; using his status as the head investigator, he salvaged the 《Ordinal System》 hidden on the SAO server, teamed up with RECT's rival Kamura (...)
(...) and released the 《Ordinal Scale》 (henceforth referred to as "OS") AR game with them. Although OS's main server is located in Kamura's subsidiary company, SAO's AI program (referred to as the language engine in the story) was the one thing Shigemura had failed to extract, (...)
(...) so he connected the activated old SAO server to the OS server in order to make YUNA (the Black Yuna) work in OS. After the OS incident, YUNA's management rights were taken over by Kamura and an entertainement business known as Ario Room and some things happened afterwards, (...)
So, even now, the old SAO server is still operating behind the scenes. I'd like to write about some of the details somewhere someday!
Some may think, 'Is RECT home to a bunch of idiots for not noticing this?', but since RECT Progress screwed up big time under Sugou's leadership, they are unable to lay their hands on Argus's headquarters until the various court proceedings come to an end.
By the way, the reason why there were SAO level AI (such as Urd and Thrym from the Calibur arc) operating in ALO was because Sugou created ALO by just copying over the entire data of the SAO server.
If Shigemura had done the same thing, he would have been able to run YUNA on Kamura's server too, but it seems he had no good reason for copying the whole thing, and doing so would have made it impossible to switch over to the Ordinal System on the copy.
Now that we have that out of the way, let's head to the OP. I have a feeling that the meaning of the cut where Kirito is sitting in an empty classroom... will finally be made clear...!

Part A

Part A. At last Kirito is dragged out before Vassago. The traces of tears are heartbreaking...... "Stand up! Good morning!", with these words, Vassago knocks over the wheelchair, showing his true character.
Seeing Vassago slapping Kirito's cheeks, Klein is no longer able to care about himself and hold back his rage. He has plenty of famous scenes, but I would consider this one to be in my top three... even if it is painful to look at...
Making no progress with his palms, Vassago is about to strike Kirito with his carving knife next, but just then a player charges in, is that...! I like that Klein, the person hurt by the boy in Ordinal Scale, is the first one to mention his name.
Eiji's scene here is a plot point that was, of course, not present in the novel, but since the anime version of Alicization was created after the movie, we couldn't just settle for showing glimpses of the Augma as a gadget... so, (...)
(...) the time was just ripe for him take center stage. You could see glimpses of him during Lisbeth's speech and throughout the battle scenes that came before. Filling his role is, of course, Inoue Yoshio-san, just like in the movie!
Eiji's action scene, filled with leaps and spins, being based on his Ordinal Scale moves sure gets you fired up! I've grown an urge to rewatch the movie again now!
Vassago once again firing up his Incarnation of instigation. The pixie that interrupts him... why if it ain't Yuna! The real deal, ain't it! As with Eiji, Kanda Sayaka-san also reprises her role for Yuna...!!
Now then. I shall explain how Yuna was able to dive into Underworld despite Yui being unable to right away.
For starters, the reason why Yui couldn't dive in using the STL was because she didn't have a Fluctlight necessary for connecting with an STL. She doesn't have a player account that she could convert either, thus she couldn't dive into UW's lower level in the same way Liz and the others could either.
Now, the difference between Yui and Yuna is that Yui was originally a counselling AI program in SAO, while Yuna was there as a player named 《Yuuna》, so Yuna is linked to her account.
That is to say that the connection from the old SAO server that Yui had noticed was Yuna converting Yuuna's player account into UW. The reason why she appeared as a pixie and then transformed into Black Yuna... would be too long to explain, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave that out!!!!
The Pixie Yuna's design sure is great... The "Zudoon!" sound effect when she transforms into Black Yuna is also awesome! Also, the cut with her winking is so awesome that I'd like to use it at the bank every week! Let's create "The Electronic Diva Miracle YUNA" or something as a spin-off, Niwa-san!
And seeing as Yuna's here! We simply must get her to sing, am I right! Maaan, to think that I'd be able to listen to "longing" in the Alicization Arc... As for where the musical accompaniment is coming from... I'm sure it has to be the special effect of the mic Yuna brought along!
She's granting the same buffs as in OS! Among the attack buff and defence buff icons, I can see what most definitely looks like a storage capacity expansion buff; Yuna, why would he need something like that, lol
Eiji's "It's time for round 2" line sure makes you tingle with excitement...! Hearing Yuna's song, even the red knights come to their senses, as if saying "Like hell we have the time to instigated at a time like this!"
Vassago's being pinned down by Eiji's fierce attacks. Just moments ago he treated him like some small fry, but now he founds himself asking, "Bastard, who the hell are you". And Eiji's answer to that...!
"I am... a member of the Knights of the Blood... Nautilus!". While I do recall this line (and plot point) being brought up during our script meetings while we were arguing about the story, I strangely don't recall who proposed this line... It might have been born out of the passion we had during those heated talks.
Eiji transforming from his ALO avatar into his Knights of the Blood outfit. Having dived in with an AmuSphere, he shouldn't be able to use Incarnation, thus if I were to rationalise it, I would have to say that it's probably somehow related to the SAO server, though I would like to consider this to be the power of Incarnation...!
Eiji, the guy who had denied his past self in Ordinal Scale, now uses Nautilus to challenge Vassago=PoH, who had been the embodiment of Death in Aincrad, to a showdown; you can't help but feel the history behind the story and characters here... So fired up!!
The flash of Eiji's full-powered Sword Skill drags out a memory of Vassago's past. A young Vassago Casals on a stretcher in a Japanese hospital's corridor, as well as a man and a boy watching over him.
Vassago cutting off Eiji's right arm in a counterattack. This doesn't mean that Eiji's emotions were outdone by Vassago's, rather it just means he couldn't compete with Vassago's Incarnation as he was using an STL... probably. 《You can only compete against Incarnation with Incarnation of your own》...
That's it for the Part A commentary. I plan to do the Part commentary at about the same hour tomorrow!



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Part B

Sorry for the wait! I will now begin the second half of my petit commentary of Alicization WoU Episode 17. Those of you who are now thinking, "I dun wanna see this!", please mute the #WoUcom tag!
B part begins in San Francisco, America in 2015... 11 years prior to current events. Vassago was an unwanted child; for starters, Vassago is the name of a demon, thus it's not the kind of name a parent would give to a child they loved...
Vassago's father is Japanese and when he found out that the woman he had had an affair with during his stay in America had become pregnant, he did not allow her to have an abortion, forcing her to give birth to the child, but this wasn't out of love either... He was just thinking that the child might serve as a kidney donor for his son in Japan (from a different mother, of course), as his son was suffering from heriditary renal failure.
Vassago's elder brother from a different mother resembles Kirito quite a lot, but that's not to say that they have any sort of relationship by blood. However, the elder brother's facial features did probably have an influence on Vassago's personality deep down. The role of Young Vassago is played by Okamoto Nobuhiko-san!
Although Vassago's hatred towards Japanese was now set in stone after undergoing nephrectomy, he didn't return to America and instead led a wild life in Japan. (Though, his story was a bit more complex in the novel...) One day, he found out about the SAO incident and descended on Aincrad as 《PoH》 in order to enact the revenge he so desired.
Afterwards, he continued sowing the seeds of discord among players by any means possible; so much so that he eventually decided to use up 《Laughing Coffin》 as a disposable pawn when he grew tired even of the PK guild he himself had created. His top targets had always been Kirito and Asuna, though perhaps Vassago at some point realised that rather than simply killing Kirito, (...)
(...) he actually desired to have him devolve into a PKer and take him up as his own 《partner in murder》. However, before he could fulfil his desire, SAO was cleared at Floor 75, and Vassago returned to America, where he gained employment at Glowgen Defense Systems' Cyber Operations Division (the division that provides VR battle training to their clients).
His work there caught the attention of Gabriel, which led to him being assigned as the sub-leader of the Ocean Turtle raid; Vassago's joy upon encountering Asuna and Kirito during his dive to Underworld probably knew no bounds.
Now that the flasbacks are over, we return to Underworld once again. Despite having both of his arms severed, Eiji does not give up and goes in for a bite! His guts here serve as proof of his growth. However, even that wasn't enough to take down Vassago; instead, Eiji suffers a fatal injury.
Running up to the colapsed Eiji, Black Yuna turns into Yuuna! The reason why Black Yuna has Yuuna's memories inside of her was briefly mentioned in "Cordial Chords", the short story that came as a bonus with the Ordinal Scale BD/DVD package, thus I won't explain this in detail there, but in short, due to Ario Room's reckless misuse of Black Yuna after the OS incident, (...)
(...) Black Yuna was on the verge of collapsing, but White Yuna = Yuuna sacrificed herself to repair her inside the old SAO server, causing them to fuse together and this resulted in the present situation... please interpret it as such. I had intended to cover the story I mentioned here (the sequel for Cordial Chords) in the form of a series of Material Editions, (...)
(...) but then came Corona crashing along... Two COMITIAs in a row have been cancelled, but I do plan to one day write this story for sure, thus I ask all of you to wait patiently!
"Have I... been able to do what I had to...", in response to Eiji's mutter, Yuuna says "You did your best, Eh-kun". Although they have fused together, this doesn't mean that Black Yuna can just freely transform into Yuuna; rather, this is an exceptional phenomenon that came to fruition because of the special environment that is Underworld.
Although Eiji and Yuna have logged out, Vassago's deception has been riddled with cracks due to their effort, and so even the red knights realised the truth. However, just then Vassago unleashed his greatest Incarnation yet. Half of the red knights mentally fall under his control and assault their comrades.
In the rocky mountain area, the aerial battle between Sinon, armed with her Hecate II, and Gabriel, armed with his XM500, continues to unfold. Although Sinon continues to struggle despite having her left leg blown off, she is overwhelmed by the difference in their ammunition stock and thus loses her right leg as well. Gabriel fires the finishing blow at Sinon as she falls down.
Meanwhile to the north, Leafa contiues fighting against American players all alone in the area near the gorge. The name 《Verdurous Anima》 that Leafa shouted out is not the name of a skill, but rather that of her sword. Ｖｅｒｄｕｒｏｕｓ　Ａｎｉｍａ means "the life of fresh leaves" or something of the sort.
Even as she is skewered by swords, or has her arms lopped off, as long as Leafa has the Terraria account's power of infinite regeneration, her Life can never fall down to zero. However, this by no means implies that she is invincible, as she continues endlessly suffering pain from the damage dealt to her... I'd like to tell Higa-san 'Someone really messed up designing this GM power!'
Leafa unleashing an Incarnation Vorpal Strike, while screaming "I am Kirito the Black Swordsman's... sister, after all――!!", a line that was remarkably notable even in the latest trailer for the anime. 'ALO didn't have Sword Skills, so how is she able to use one here?', I assume some of you may have had such a thought; New ALO has been acquired from RECT Progress by Ymir, (...)
(...) who have implemented all Sword Skills that had existed in SAO (excluding the ones for the Dual Blades skill), thus Leafa has practically mastered all techniques for the One-Handed Sword. Although she was able to increase both the power and range of the skill severalfold with Incarnation, she was unable to eliminate the post-skill rigidity, while left her open for a spear attack that had been just waiting for this opening...
When writing this scene for the novel (actually, make that for the web version), I felt that in order to have Leafa's battle hold the same weight as Sinon's and Asuna's when Leafa could just heal herself infinitely, I had to portray her suffering as much damage as humanly possible as I didn't have illustrations for the text, which is why a scene like this came about, (...)
(...) though now that the scene has been turned visual form by the letter, it sure ended up being painful to watch, beyond all measure... Same goes for when she had her Life sucked up by D.I.L; I feel sorry from the bottom of my heart for all the horrible moments Leafa had to go through this cour! Conversely, thank you very much to Taketatsu-san for her performance!
On the other hand, however, the way Leafa just pulled out the spear that had pierced her head, then stomped on the ground to heal, and threw the sppear away with a grin was just way too cool...! I do at times get the feeling that this girl here is in fact the strongest character in terms of all-round battle capabilities.
Once again returning to the rocky mountain area. Subtilizer's bullet that was supposed to pierce Sinon as she fell down without her legs gets stopped by the electrode pendant, saving Sinon once again. Wringing out her will to fight upon seeing this, Sinon activates Anhilate Ray's special 《spatial resource absorbtion》 feature, allowing her to fire an eighth shot from the ammoless Hecate in the form of an energy bullet.
The energy bullet landed a direct hit on the XM500 and dealt heavy damange to Subtilizer, but it wasn't enough to kill him... Seeing Sinon once again having lost her will to fight, Subtilizer flies away, in order to prioritise his ultimate goal of capturing Alice. Sinon, you did great too! Sawashiro-san, I really have to thank you here!
On the Ocean Turtle, Yanai is right about to pull the trigger of his pistol, aimied at Higa... or was, but just then came a monkey wrench thrown by Rinko-san! Although it didn't manage to hit him, Yanai slips off into the duct by dodging it. The monkey wrench is the most powerful weapon in the real world, after all, there was nothing he could do.
Higa-san, you see... has always liked Rinko-sempai, ever since his university days... Overwhelmed by his emotions, he ends up asking her, "How's about we go eat together once we have everything under control", in the heat of the moment, but Rinko didn't catch the underlying message in his words whatsoever... I hope he at least gets to eat so many burgers and gyuudon out of her pocket that his belly bursts!
Higa returns to his job of operating the STLs that had been interrupted by Yanai. Despite feeling dizzy due to the blood loss, he musters all his willpower to hit the enter key. "Kirito-kun, it's about time you woke up already!"
Shino's, Suguha's, and Asuna's STLs get connected to Kirito's STL, beginning the 《restoration of his self-image》.
Also, a fourth voice calling out to Kirito through the broken Blue Rose Sword...!
Kirito waking up in a school uniform in an empty classroom. The first cut in the anime's OP is based on this scene. "Oh... was that a dream", with this murmur, Episode 17 comes to an end. An unexpected... "this was all a dream" punchline!? Find out in the next episode!!
Seeing Kanda Sanda-san's and Inoue Yoshio-san's names at the end of the list of names of the cast on the ED, an "Oooh!" rang out in my head. Having faith that we will one day get to see Yuna and Eiji again, I hereby bring this week's petit commentary to an end! Thank you for keeping me company!
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