Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-25908228-20141222101442/@comment-25908228-20141222150813

Gsimenas wrote: As we've said, both of Kirito and Asuna are on the same level and it has never been made clear which one of them is stronger.

And yes, lovey dovey time sure helps with keeping your skills high. Just because he still plays the game doesn't mean that he puts in that much effort in keeping his skills in check. XaXa on the other hand had nothing better to do.

Really, you're bringing up Nobuyuki as an example? Do we really need to explain why he's not really a good example? As for the fight with Kyouji, Kazuto was caught off guard by an aggressive psychopath and before he could react, Kyouji seemingly injected him with a drug that would have killed him. Knowing that, I'm thinking that the thought that he was going to die made him stop fighting back. So, think of it this way, if you were attacked by ferocious animal, would you be on the defensive or offensive? I personally believe that the majority would be on the defensive. And the defensive was what led to Kyouji getting the opening he needed.

And yes, if you were paying attention, she did explain that even in the anime. In episode 20 to be more specific. Hmm, so Asuna and Kirito are on the same level? I find myself doubting that for some reason. I can't seem to think up of any evidence to support this claim, so I guess it's just a delusion cause I like Kirito as a character more. Not just because he's the MC and 'teh l33t hero', or because I don't like Asuna or anything. I dunno, I find Sinon more of a badass.

I'm on episode 19. Just the part where she takes Asuna up. It made me curious so I looked for spoilers while 20 was downloading, which I'm about to watch. So yea, thanks for telling me that. Well, I know Nobuyuki wasn't exactly a shining example, as I've said earlier (pain tolerance was sent to 0 and he was cut in half, not to mention his mental condition probably wasn't up to par), however it must be taken into account that Kirito was still having muscle atrophy and such, and not up to par in terms of physical conditioning. And then he once again jumps into ALO, spending most of his time there, before he could get in shape properly.

And yes, that Kyouji thing is much more reasonable now. I was pretty stupid for not catching that.

He wasn't exactly all being 'lovey dovey'. As the extra after Season 1 shows, he still went on difficult quests and stuff. Sure, the threat of death wasn't hanging over his head, and he had no real need to level up and get stronger unlike XaXa, who, as you said, 'had nothing better to do'. I'm just saying even if he didn't become better while XaXa did, the amount of practice he was estimatedly getting shouldn't have dulled his abilities that far, as XaXa had said. Perhaps XaXa merely percieved Kirito as so much weaker because he himself had gotten so much stronger since SAO. It's just hard to believe Kirito had fallen in skill to the point his past enemies now mock his weakness. Maybe because Kirito is the MC and I'm just subconsciously raising him on an invincible pedestal.