Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-79.24.170.237-20160510203254/@comment-38120486-20190211183428

I don't know about sugar, but... In terms of Yuuki's death, it's the relativity that really bothers me. Kirito and Asuna's Plot Armor allows them to survive some remarkable things through technology, the arrival of help, or use of willpower. I keep coming back to Kirito's brain damage in Alicization. The brain's healing powers are limited. And at 5 minutes of anoxia, Kirito would have come close enough to outright death (we're told it was a pretty close thing) that the neural pathways wouldn't be an issue. Portions of his brain would have outright died, and those don't grow back. Or they shouldn't but apparently they must 'cuz he's okay eventually? We also end up with an extra Kirito out of Alicization, to go along with the post-mortal concsiousness of Kayaba. With a death like Sachi's, I get it; people are going to die locked into the death game. With Yuuki...she's dying from something that shouldn't have been fatal in 2003 when the story was written and shouldn't be tenfold by 2021-2026. Plus we're shown digital concsiousness, AI's, and just in general some all around amazing technology that ought to be super helpful toward preserving one sick young lady. I mean, she's strapped into something built off Kayaba's high-output-scanner, a machine that the Soul Transfer devices were derived from. One would think that a logical part of the testing to get from the Medicuboid to the Soul Transfer, an advantage of working in palliative care with the terminally ill, would be studying a way to copy the sick person and offering them that choice to try and preserve their concsiousness beyond the death of their body. And the characters in SAO make good, logical, use of their smarts, creativity, and the available technology plenty often in other arcs. In MR, they just hang out with Yuuki for months and never think about or discuss these possibilities. Sorry, got ranty again. In short, given the technology, characters, and plot of SAO, I find Yuuki's death super jarring. MR is certainly lovely in its execution, but there's just WAY too much that has been established in SAO for her demise to be at all believable to me. She also receives more development and backstory than most of the other characters in the series (arguably more of the later than even Asuna or Kirito themselves). Yuuki was a character who diversified characterization and relationships in the series (which, btw, good on Kawahara for how he continues to grow as a writer) and who could have been used to continued good effect later on. Same with Eugeo. In both cases neither is retained, and you get to return to a supporting cast that facilitates easy accusations of 'harem' and 'shallow stereotypes.' Kawahara's increased skills are readily apparent in following his writing; I'm really excited for the Unital Ring arc and hope it turns some of these slips into opportunities-for-awesome.