I suppose the mental effects would be something like gender dysphoria, though I don't know what the physical ones could be, and would like to see this idea elaborated on. Kawahara states that playing as the opposite sex long-term causes "undeniable mental and physical effects", but doesn't elaborate. It doesn't seem particularly plot relevant, either.Īnother mechanism introduced in this book that stood out to me in a different way would be the gender assignment thing. I don't understand the reason converting a character into a new game means you can no longer use this character in the old game.
I'm not much of an MMORPG player, so it's very likely that I missed any gaming related elements that don't make much sense, but there's still something that seemed odd to me. I'm hoping we'll get a scene where she tells him off, and reminds him that she's as capable of taking care of herself as he is in the next book. Kirito not telling his wife the true nature of the dangerous mission he's about to head off on rubbed me the wrong way. Our protagonist isn't the best husband in this book, either. But it's off-putting how little she seems to be in Kirito's thoughts, or have any impact on the story. That she doesn't take the spotlight is fine, I enjoyed Sinon as a contrast to Kirito quite a bit.
I also wasn't that into this books' treatment of Asuna. There are a lot of elements I wasn't too fond of - it takes until the final two chapters for Kirito to actually enter the world of GGO and meet Sinon, the new female lead. Which means we get to see a character who is moving on with life after the adventure.
This is if I recall correctly, the first volume to really address the trauma caused by SAO - and it seems to come at the right place - through the ALO arc Kirito was still really stuck in the tail end of the incident, but by the time Asuna has returned to real life, it's finally over. And if you've been hoping to see a little more vulnerability from our protagonist, you will finally get your wish. If you're already enjoying the series, you'll probably like this SAO volume.
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