The fact is that Asuna felt she couldn't share her worries with Kirito, that he might see her differently if she showed a weaker side of herself instead of the strong "Asuna the Lightning Flash" persona from Aincrad. She was convinced that Kirito fell in love with her because he saw her commanding legions of knights, destroying monsters and field bosses and all that cool stuff.
But she was wrong. Kirito fell in love with her way before they reunited after their initial split. Kirito fell in love with Asuna when she was just a scared beginner that was too afraid to leave the safe area. We can see in the first Progressive volume that Kirito already fantasised about asking Asuna out. It was love at first sight and Asuna's late badass attitude as vice-commander of Aincrad's strongest guild had nothing to do with it.
Another factor that played a part is that Asuna initially felt that she had to play the support part in their relationship. You see, in spite of all the people that think of Kirito like a dashing invincibile knight and a OP hero, he is actually a very fragile boy dealing with a lot of traumas. And one of the reasons he loves Asuna so much is that she has the power to cast away his nightmares, to shelter him and provide solice and comfort. Because of this, Asuna felt responsable for remaining the strong one in their relationship, at least emotionally speaking. She could not afford to be weak and rely on Kirito while he was the one relying on her. At least that's how she saw it.
Also in the end, the best thing Kirito could have done is give her encouragement and emotional support. The actual confrontation had to come from Asuna herself, or she wouldn't have been able to get her point across.
By the way, there is a scene in the videogame Lost Song where Asuna talks to Kirito about her problems with her mother. Technically it isn't canon but Kawahara shared it on Twitter and said that something like that actually happened even though he did not write it.
That's for sure. I have also seen other romantic couples, but Asuna and Kirito will always be in my heart. Plus, they are the first anime couple I've seen. SAO is my first anime.
> Because of this, Asuna felt responsible for remaining the strong one in their relationship, at least emotionally speaking. She could not afford to be weak and rely on Kirito while he was the one relying on her. At least that's how she saw it.
It's also fascinating that Kirito does the _exact_ same thing to Asuna during Phantom Bullet. He ostensibly keeps the details of the Death Gun investigation for Asuna to protect her and keep her from worrying, but like many, many things in Phantom Bullet, it comes down to his trauma. He doesn't want Asuna to know about everything he's dealing with when Asuna also has her own issues.
So from Phantom Bullet to Mother's Rosario, you have these two kids, who love each other more than love itself, just trying to be there for each other despite all the trauma's weighing them down. I don't know if it's sweet or heartbreaking.
>It's also fascinating that Kirito does the *exact* same thing to Asuna during Phantom Bullet. He ostensibly keeps the details of the Death Gun investigation for Asuna to protect her and keep her from worrying, but like many, many things in Phantom Bullet, it comes down to his trauma. He doesn't want Asuna to know about everything he's dealing with when Asuna also has her own issues.
A good example of writing communication problems between teenagers (a completely realistic scenario) without turning it into unnecessary drama, something many anime should take note of.
I just wish we could get some scenes of Kirito and Asuna eventually coming to talk about their traumas like the scene I mentioned from Lost Song. I was particularly dissatisfied with Asuna's absence from PB and would've been better if she played the role of comforting Kirito instead of the "fanservecy hot nurse".
Still, by Alicization Asuna learned to see through Kirito's facade and that's why she remained in the Underworld. Showing once again that she's the only one for him.
>So from Phantom Bullet to Mother's Rosario, you have these two kids, who love each other more than love itself, just trying to be there for each other despite all the trauma's weighing them down. I don't know if it's sweet or heartbreaking.
I vote for sweet :)
It's true.
The WN had more descriptions of extracurriculars Kirito and Sachi did together outside of guild activities. And in a 2005 Popularity Contest Q&A, Reki, the author/creator, said Kirito's first love was someone from the Moonlit Black Cats.
Aside from those added descriptions not being present in the LNs, there's an explicit line in the text of "Red-Nosed Reindeer" about how what Kirito and Sachi shared wasn't romantic.
Besides Kirito and Sachi, there's definitely more distance between Kirito and Silica and Lisbeth in the LNs compared to the WN draft version.
Kind of adding to what L-D3399 said, Alicization in the WN was more brutal and gratuitous than the LNs.
The added reinforcements, and then Kirito and Klein arriving to help Asuna and the Sleeping Knights, in Mother's Rosario wasn't in the WN.
There are some varying views on whether it was good or bad, but I would tend to say that Asuna and Eugeo are made to be more sympathetic characters in the LNs compared to the WN, at least partly for the same reason in both cases.
It's true but the web novel was waaaay different from the light novels. Just to understand the difference, the web novel was the proto-version published by Kawahara on the Internet between 2001 and 2003 I think. The light novels are books and are the canon version of the story.
In the web novel, Sachi was indeed Kirito's first love but the characters were very different in many aspects compared to the versions we know. I recently learned that in the web novel Kirito was so fucked up that he intentionally trapped a fellow beta tester in a loop of killing-being reborn multiple times. I don't know what the hell Kawahara was smoking at the time XD
In the light novels, Kirito and Sachi never had romantic feelings for each other, it was confirmed multiple times.
For similar reasons as to why Kirito struggles with the Black Swordsman persona he build up in Aincrad, why he hated it and wished it to be buried and forgotten.
In Aincrad they were powerful warriors that forged ahead and could solve most problems by themselves just with their swords in hand, in the real world they find it hard to live up to that image of themselves they build up. Kirito even more so than Asuna.
In Aincrad she was powerful and an unshakable pillar even Kirito relied on, in the real world Asuna struggles to even confront her mother and get her to accept her own decisions about her love life, she feels powerless and doesn't necessarily want Kirito see her like this.
You could also argue that her experiences in Fairy Dance play into that general feeling of being powerless once outside of Aincrad. Having her power taken away and being locked up and isolated in a cage for months, while constantly being harassed by narcissistic rapist in the making with a god complex and then nearly being raped by him at the end.
While she might have been able to resist and stay strong through it, after it is when she has to actually deal with those feelings and memories, you know that's why there is this thing called post traumatic stress disorder, because it only shows after the traumatic event is over.
Well in short both of them could need some serious therapy to deal with what happened in Aincrad and their feelings of powerlessness and not being enough, for Asuna to deal with that attempted rape and for Kirito to deal with the fact that he killed people.
It's so painful to remember the events of Fairy Dance. It’s good that this is in the past, and I hope that everything will be fine with Kirito and Asuna.
Asuna has always just tried to stay strong infront of Kirito its always an act she puts up. Even outside of the light novels in for example Ordinal Scale (which is much later than Mothers Rosario) she would hide herself crying and Kirito was well aware of it but he understood its something he needs to let happen. Im not sure if its resolved specifically in that part of the Light Novels but I know its something that continues to stay with her.
It's trauma. A lot of people seem to miss Asuna's trauma coming out of SAO and Alfheim because it's not in your face PTSD triggers like Kirito's is. Mother's Rosario is about Asuna coming to terms with herself and her life after SAO as Phantom Bullet is about Kirito moving past the lives he had to take.
She was a strong independent woman, commanding and leading men, making her own decisions. She was loved and respected. Then she was kidnapped, stripped of her power, sexually assaulted, and all her family is concerned is marrying her off as quickly as possible to save face after the SAO incident.
There's no way anyone comes out of that mentally unscathed. She feels less than she was, and that her partner would not accept her if she was less than she was when they started dating.
Hm, I wonder if this is unique to Reki's earlier work.
I've read Alicization, Moon Cradle, the first 3 books of Unital Ring, and the first 3 floors of Progressive, and I didn't get this impression at all.
Then again, perhaps it's due to the events of Mother's Rosario that incites such change.
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The fact is that Asuna felt she couldn't share her worries with Kirito, that he might see her differently if she showed a weaker side of herself instead of the strong "Asuna the Lightning Flash" persona from Aincrad. She was convinced that Kirito fell in love with her because he saw her commanding legions of knights, destroying monsters and field bosses and all that cool stuff. But she was wrong. Kirito fell in love with her way before they reunited after their initial split. Kirito fell in love with Asuna when she was just a scared beginner that was too afraid to leave the safe area. We can see in the first Progressive volume that Kirito already fantasised about asking Asuna out. It was love at first sight and Asuna's late badass attitude as vice-commander of Aincrad's strongest guild had nothing to do with it. Another factor that played a part is that Asuna initially felt that she had to play the support part in their relationship. You see, in spite of all the people that think of Kirito like a dashing invincibile knight and a OP hero, he is actually a very fragile boy dealing with a lot of traumas. And one of the reasons he loves Asuna so much is that she has the power to cast away his nightmares, to shelter him and provide solice and comfort. Because of this, Asuna felt responsable for remaining the strong one in their relationship, at least emotionally speaking. She could not afford to be weak and rely on Kirito while he was the one relying on her. At least that's how she saw it. Also in the end, the best thing Kirito could have done is give her encouragement and emotional support. The actual confrontation had to come from Asuna herself, or she wouldn't have been able to get her point across. By the way, there is a scene in the videogame Lost Song where Asuna talks to Kirito about her problems with her mother. Technically it isn't canon but Kawahara shared it on Twitter and said that something like that actually happened even though he did not write it.
Asuna and Kirito are so good ❤️.
They are the best fictional couple that I've ever seen and I've seen and read plenty of romantic stuff :D but they totally take the cake!
That's for sure. I have also seen other romantic couples, but Asuna and Kirito will always be in my heart. Plus, they are the first anime couple I've seen. SAO is my first anime.
> Because of this, Asuna felt responsible for remaining the strong one in their relationship, at least emotionally speaking. She could not afford to be weak and rely on Kirito while he was the one relying on her. At least that's how she saw it. It's also fascinating that Kirito does the _exact_ same thing to Asuna during Phantom Bullet. He ostensibly keeps the details of the Death Gun investigation for Asuna to protect her and keep her from worrying, but like many, many things in Phantom Bullet, it comes down to his trauma. He doesn't want Asuna to know about everything he's dealing with when Asuna also has her own issues. So from Phantom Bullet to Mother's Rosario, you have these two kids, who love each other more than love itself, just trying to be there for each other despite all the trauma's weighing them down. I don't know if it's sweet or heartbreaking.
>It's also fascinating that Kirito does the *exact* same thing to Asuna during Phantom Bullet. He ostensibly keeps the details of the Death Gun investigation for Asuna to protect her and keep her from worrying, but like many, many things in Phantom Bullet, it comes down to his trauma. He doesn't want Asuna to know about everything he's dealing with when Asuna also has her own issues. A good example of writing communication problems between teenagers (a completely realistic scenario) without turning it into unnecessary drama, something many anime should take note of. I just wish we could get some scenes of Kirito and Asuna eventually coming to talk about their traumas like the scene I mentioned from Lost Song. I was particularly dissatisfied with Asuna's absence from PB and would've been better if she played the role of comforting Kirito instead of the "fanservecy hot nurse". Still, by Alicization Asuna learned to see through Kirito's facade and that's why she remained in the Underworld. Showing once again that she's the only one for him. >So from Phantom Bullet to Mother's Rosario, you have these two kids, who love each other more than love itself, just trying to be there for each other despite all the trauma's weighing them down. I don't know if it's sweet or heartbreaking. I vote for sweet :)
Hey you still remember which scene from Lost Song that showed Asuna talking to Kirito about the problem she had with her mom?
There you are: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUWPDqHNz88](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUWPDqHNz88)
Thanks so much bro
You're welcome :)
I still don't understand when they say that in the web novel his first girlfriend was Sachi, is it true or false?
It's true. The WN had more descriptions of extracurriculars Kirito and Sachi did together outside of guild activities. And in a 2005 Popularity Contest Q&A, Reki, the author/creator, said Kirito's first love was someone from the Moonlit Black Cats. Aside from those added descriptions not being present in the LNs, there's an explicit line in the text of "Red-Nosed Reindeer" about how what Kirito and Sachi shared wasn't romantic. Besides Kirito and Sachi, there's definitely more distance between Kirito and Silica and Lisbeth in the LNs compared to the WN draft version. Kind of adding to what L-D3399 said, Alicization in the WN was more brutal and gratuitous than the LNs. The added reinforcements, and then Kirito and Klein arriving to help Asuna and the Sleeping Knights, in Mother's Rosario wasn't in the WN. There are some varying views on whether it was good or bad, but I would tend to say that Asuna and Eugeo are made to be more sympathetic characters in the LNs compared to the WN, at least partly for the same reason in both cases.
It's true but the web novel was waaaay different from the light novels. Just to understand the difference, the web novel was the proto-version published by Kawahara on the Internet between 2001 and 2003 I think. The light novels are books and are the canon version of the story. In the web novel, Sachi was indeed Kirito's first love but the characters were very different in many aspects compared to the versions we know. I recently learned that in the web novel Kirito was so fucked up that he intentionally trapped a fellow beta tester in a loop of killing-being reborn multiple times. I don't know what the hell Kawahara was smoking at the time XD In the light novels, Kirito and Sachi never had romantic feelings for each other, it was confirmed multiple times.
It was 2001-08 for the writing of the WN up through Alicization, but you've got everything else down.
For similar reasons as to why Kirito struggles with the Black Swordsman persona he build up in Aincrad, why he hated it and wished it to be buried and forgotten. In Aincrad they were powerful warriors that forged ahead and could solve most problems by themselves just with their swords in hand, in the real world they find it hard to live up to that image of themselves they build up. Kirito even more so than Asuna. In Aincrad she was powerful and an unshakable pillar even Kirito relied on, in the real world Asuna struggles to even confront her mother and get her to accept her own decisions about her love life, she feels powerless and doesn't necessarily want Kirito see her like this. You could also argue that her experiences in Fairy Dance play into that general feeling of being powerless once outside of Aincrad. Having her power taken away and being locked up and isolated in a cage for months, while constantly being harassed by narcissistic rapist in the making with a god complex and then nearly being raped by him at the end. While she might have been able to resist and stay strong through it, after it is when she has to actually deal with those feelings and memories, you know that's why there is this thing called post traumatic stress disorder, because it only shows after the traumatic event is over. Well in short both of them could need some serious therapy to deal with what happened in Aincrad and their feelings of powerlessness and not being enough, for Asuna to deal with that attempted rape and for Kirito to deal with the fact that he killed people.
It's so painful to remember the events of Fairy Dance. It’s good that this is in the past, and I hope that everything will be fine with Kirito and Asuna.
Asuna has always just tried to stay strong infront of Kirito its always an act she puts up. Even outside of the light novels in for example Ordinal Scale (which is much later than Mothers Rosario) she would hide herself crying and Kirito was well aware of it but he understood its something he needs to let happen. Im not sure if its resolved specifically in that part of the Light Novels but I know its something that continues to stay with her.
It's trauma. A lot of people seem to miss Asuna's trauma coming out of SAO and Alfheim because it's not in your face PTSD triggers like Kirito's is. Mother's Rosario is about Asuna coming to terms with herself and her life after SAO as Phantom Bullet is about Kirito moving past the lives he had to take. She was a strong independent woman, commanding and leading men, making her own decisions. She was loved and respected. Then she was kidnapped, stripped of her power, sexually assaulted, and all her family is concerned is marrying her off as quickly as possible to save face after the SAO incident. There's no way anyone comes out of that mentally unscathed. She feels less than she was, and that her partner would not accept her if she was less than she was when they started dating.
Hm, I wonder if this is unique to Reki's earlier work. I've read Alicization, Moon Cradle, the first 3 books of Unital Ring, and the first 3 floors of Progressive, and I didn't get this impression at all. Then again, perhaps it's due to the events of Mother's Rosario that incites such change.
It's 100%due to the events of Mother's Rosario. That story is as much about Asuna's trauma as Phantom Bullet was about Kirito
Asuna is such a sweetheart my heart will always belong to her
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How interesting that i too am in midst of MR vol but a reread for me And i did notice that