Sword Art Online Episode 02

Beater (ビーター) is the second episode of the Sword Art Online anime adaptation. It aired on July 14, 2012.

Plot
A month has passed since the tutorial of Kayaba Akihiko; 2,000 players have already died in the game and the 1st Floor is yet to be cleared.

On December 2, 2022: a self-proclaimed knight, Diabel, called for a meeting at the town center of Tolbana. He announced that the Boss room in the labyrinth had been located. When all the attending players are asked to form groups, Kirito panics as sees parties beginning to form. As the groups form, Kirito noticed a hooded girl alone and asks her to form a party with him, which she accepts. Kirito notices her name, Asuna, beside her HP gauge.

The meeting is later interrupted by Kibaou, a player who starts demanding the apologies of Beta Testers that were in the meeting due to the beta testers disregarding the beginners. Alongside the apologies, Kibaou also demands that the beta testers give up all the items and money they have. If not, they would not be trusted to protect the party members. However, Agil intervenes and defends the Beta Testers, stating that they should not be fully blamed for the tragedies of the fallen players as they had already helped by distributing their knowledge of the game through a game manual and that everyone has equal access to the information. When the commotion ended, Diabel continued his speech and read the beta tester's game manual containing information about the First Floor Boss in SAO Closed Beta, planning to battle the boss the next day.



During the night, Asuna is eating dinner when Kirito comes and joins her, prompting her to move a distance away from him. Kirito gives Asuna a jar that tastes like a cream, which she enjoys very much. Kirito tells her that the jar was a reward he got from a quest and offers to show her the trick, but she quickly rejects the offer, stating that she didn't come to the town to enjoy food, but so that she can be herself rather than sit and wait at the first town. Even if she gets killed, she doesn't want to lose to the game. Kirito tells her that he doesn't want a party member to die, and asks her to try to not die.

The next day, Kirito and Asuna are asked to target the boss's helpers the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. While walking to the boss, they plan strategies to defeat the helpers. The group enters the First floor Boss room where Illfang the Kobold Lord awaits along with his spawning minions. The group begins their assault. During the battle, Kirito notices Asuna's speed, remarking that he cannot keep up with her blade. As the Boss's fourth HP gauge reaches the red, Diabel orders everybody to stay back and tries to deliver the last blow. However, Kirito quickly notices that something is wrong when Illfang pulls out a Nodachi instead of a Talwar, which he had used in the Closed Beta, and tries to warn Diabel. But he was too late, as the boss instantly changed its battle style and attacked Diabel with a deadly combo. As Diabel's health speedily drops to 0, Kirito tries to give him a healing potion, but he rejects it. In his last moment, Kirito learns that Diabel was after the Last Attack and was also a Beta Tester, and that he knew Kirito was in the beta too. He asks Kirito to defeat the boss for everyone before he shatters into many pieces.

With Asuna’s help, Kirito attempts to defeat the boss, with the same Ruin Kobold Sentinels' strategies. The boss is fast and attacks Asuna first, but she dodges the hit resulting her cloak being destroyed, revealing her face. They continue with their tactics until Kirito makes a mistake and gets hit, slamming into Asuna. Agil saves them from receiving the final blow and tells them to recover while the rest hold the boss off. When they recover, Kirito and Asuna give one last hit and Kirito gets the last attack on the boss, defeating the boss with Kirito obtaining the last attack bonus item.

Everyone celebrates their victory until the atmosphere changes when Kibaou and his group reminded everyone that their leader Diabel died, stating that Kirito let him die by withholding information. To deal with the growing anger against the «Beta Testers», Kirito makes the bold decision to direct all the anger onto him by announcing himself as belonging to a new category known as Beater (Beta Tester + Cheater); a player who uses knowledge obtained in the beta test version to benefit himself in the new death game. Kirito claims that he far exceeded the other beta testers. After equipping the boss item «Coat of Midnight», Kirito soon leaves the group behind and proceeds to open the gate to the next floor. Asuna briefly stops him to show her gratitude and finally learns his name. Kirito advises her to join a guild that she can trust. Kirito then dissolves the party and continues on to the next floor.

New Characters

 * Diabel
 * Asuna
 * Agil
 * Kibaou

Named Monsters

 * Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Ruin Kobold Sentinels

Inventory

 * Kirito
 * Coat of Midnight - First Floor Boss Raid drop (Last Attack Rare Bonus Item)
 * Anneal Blade +6
 * Leather Coat
 * Leather Shirt
 * Leather Band
 * Leather Ankles
 * Healing Potion
 * Asuna
 * Wind Fleuret +4
 * Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * Axe
 * Buckler
 * Nodachi
 * Ruin Kobold Sentinel
 * Pole Axe

Known Sword Skills

 * «Linear» - Asuna
 * «Ukifune» (Floating Boat) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * «Rage Spike» - Kirito
 * «Tsujikaze» (Whirlwind) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * «Vertical» - Kirito
 * «Gengetsu» (Phantom Moon) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * «Hiōgi» (Scarlet Fan) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * «Whirlwind» - Agil
 * «Tsumujiguruma» (Whirling Wheel) - Illfang the Kobold Lord
 * «Sonic Leap» - Kirito
 * «Vertical Arc» - Kirito (Last Attack)

Locations

 * Aincrad Floor 1: Town of Tolbana, Forest leading to the First Floor Labyrinth, First Floor Boss Room

Adaptation Notes

 * Adapted from Progressive Volume 1 Chapter 1.


 * The First Day side story was skipped entirely.
 * Kirito originally met Asuna at the 18th of 20 levels of the 1st Floor Labyrinth.
 * Asuna’s past life before borrowing her brother’s console to play the game was omitted. As well as her 1 month character development from a kidnapped damsel in distress to a near-suicidal player who constantly grinds her levels.
 * «Argo the Rat» was not introduced; the second player of Kirito’s friend list and the publisher of the SAO guide books.
 * The meeting for the boss raid took place after Kirito has lunch with Asuna in the light novel.
 * The anime did not include Kirito's monologues about the danger of being known as a Beta Player; their life will be targeted as the one who helps release the death game. Also hurting other players is possible outside the safe boundary of the town and city.
 * Asuna actually regains her desire for life after speaking to Kirito; who frequently taught her the beauty of the virtual world.
 * No slice of life scenes of Kirito’s rented house in the anime. Asuna borrowed his bath and he was visited by Argo in the novel.
 * Although the description in the novel states that Illfang the Kobold Lord was supposed to be covered in blue fur, both the LN illustrations and the anime portray him with red fur.
 * In the novel, Diabel did not aim for the LA by himself. His whole group was greatly damaged by one of Illfang's Sword Skills, before the boss started singling Diabel out.
 * Several Sword Skills are omitted from the anime, including Kirito's Slant and Horizontal. Additionally, it wasn't shown that the boss used Hiōgi to kill Diabel, but it is shown when Illfang attempts to use the skill on Asuna and Kirito. «Tsumujiguruma» use against Diabel's party was also not shown, though the skill is shown later in battle, just before Kirito activates «Sonic Leap».
 * In the anime, Kirito is shown to deflect several of Illfang's strikes with regular sword slashes, while in the novel, he used «Vertical» and «Horizontal» Sword Skills to do so and even then he had to boost the system assist for the skills to successfully deflect the powerful blows.
 * In the novel, Kirito was sent flying through the room when he got hit with «Gengetsu» and was barely able to stand on his knees, while Asuna charged for the boss in his place. In the anime, he lands on Asuna and falls to the ground.
 * In the novel, Kirito took 5 minutes to recover, until the boss's health reached below 30% and one of the tanks tripped, to register his state as "being surrounded", causing the boss to initiate «Tsumujiguruma». In the anime, the tanks are shortly overpowered by Illfang, who then activates the skill without a tank stumbling behind him.
 * In the novel, Kibaou reacted to Diabel's fate only after the latter had died.
 * In the anime Diabel was portrayed as a selfless «Beta Tester» who looked out for everyone, while in the novel, he tried to buy off Kirito's sword, so that the latter would have a harder time in getting a Last Attack on the boss.
 * In novel, Asuna voluntarily removes her hooded cloak herself and this helps recapture everyone’s morale after their leader’s death. She also does so before charging at the boss, instead of by being hit by the boss.
 * No mention of Kirito's habit of Last Attacking the boss.
 * No mention of Diabel and Kibaou being cohorts. Kibaou tries to purchase Kirito’s «Anneal Blade +6» at an outrageous price in the novel.
 * No demonstration of Kirito’s leadership as he directs the 7 raiding parties against the boss’s actions.
 * It was originally a player of Diabel’s group who accuses Kirito of allowing Diabel's death by withholding information in the novel.
 * No display of the in-game messaging feature, which players can use to send and receive messages to their known acquaintances.
 * The opening scenery of the 2nd Floor was not shown.

Quotes

 * "We need to defeat the first boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game." - Diabel
 * "When this game started, the only thing I thought about was surviving. However Diabel, you were a beta tester. But you never abandoned the other players." - Kirito
 * "You tried to do what I could not" - Kirito
 * "A beta tester? I wish you wouldn't compare me to those newbies. Most of the thousand beta testers were beginners who didn't even know how to level up. You guys are much better than they are. But I'm not like them, I made it higher than all of them." - Kirito
 * "A beta tester and a cheater, you're a Beater!" - Members of the Clearing Group

Episodio 2 Sword Art Online odcinek 02 Sword Art Online (Серия 2)