Accel World Episode 7 ~ SUTORAIKUanime

Accel World just keeps getting better and better each week. With all the right pieces of the puzzle falling into place, we can the story to further develop in the coming episodes.

Firstly, with Taku being a guilty mess, he decides to quit kendo and rid himself of Burst Link to make up for his crimes. Hime challenges Taku to a duel, giving us some much-needed action showing Hime's newly revealed duel avatar. Personally I thought this was a nice touch, giving Hime a slightly edgy but highly determined demeanor, while Taku can be pulled out of his current sulky state. The fight scene had some great animation, with some good ol' animation instead of CG, not that there's anything wrong with CG. Hime's battle against Taku was to make him realize how much Haru trusts him. Still unable to atone for his sins, he's stuck beating himself up, so it's great to see Hime act so seriously towards Taku. In terms of the actual fighting, I wish it provided more of an impact to us viewers. In comparison to previous fight scenes, there's a lack of passion. Perhaps it's best that each battle have its own sense of passion and energy in order to give the viewers a truly exhilarating experience each episode.

Meanwhile, continuing from the previous episode, Haru and Karen tag-teamed up in an attempt to regain Haru's points. What I enjoyed about this episode's battle scenes was the fact that there was enough dialogue, providing explanations and filling in potential empty spaces which would otherwise potentially be left as pointless fighting. Additionally, including legitimate scientific explanations for Sand Duct and Nickel Doll's abilities. I guess it's something that offers something for those who always judge by how scientific sense it makes, which always boggles my mind thinking someone would actually judge anime by how much science is included. Karen's duel avatar is rather interesting, appropriate to her name Aqua Current. She is pure water, and later revealed to be able to erase memories. To say she's mysterious would be an understatement. I'm hoping we'll get to see more of her in the coming episodes.

A little surprise revealed itself in the latter parts of this episode, as Taku makes his way to school, Haru and Chiyu's school, in their school uniform. With Taku having transferred to their school, things are about to get even more interesting than they already are. Speaking of interesting, as I've always said, the show is moving at a very appropriate pace. For those who have read the light novel, you'll realize that this is essentially an exact copy and paste from the light novel. There is a good amount of controversy surrounding the pacing of this show. Some are calling it ridiculously and unbearably slow, while others like myself consider it perfect. In order to watch a show without it feeling empty or meaningless, it must have a considerably effective introduction, with effective transitions and conflicts built up slowly, and I certainly feel Accel World has done nothing but that. As far as cliché phrases and concepts, hell, everything is cliché nowadays. It's difficult to judge a show simply based on clichés, one has to actually break down all aspects of a show and look at all the aspects individually. We have a whiny, overweight male protagonist who transforms from a pig into a silver robot with wings. We've got a cyber gang war going down, with people able to connect their minds using cables. If that's not original, I don't know what is. The only complaint I have of the show is the massive amounts of information in the form of dialogue that's shoved into our brains. However, it's understandable since this is the only way for the show to not seem like a slug in terms of plot progression. It is an anime after all.