Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-118.211.8.204-20150302141811/@comment-98.109.212.161-20150708033748

Hmm..

Here is some food for thought. (sorry I write so much. It's a bad habit of mine)

Kirito told Lisbeth that when he fights sometimes he snaps and forgets things. He has a crazy switch and goes beast mode.

When Kirito goes all out like that he becomes very focused, sharp, and unpredictable. His attacks become faster and more pointed.

Yet it requires death-like conditions for him to be like that, and it has been established that since this is a "time of peace" for him (not a wartime, I can't think of the right phrase/term) his skills have declined somewhat. He is peaceful! He isn't as immersed as Zekken is. (Death Gun was disappointed about it, but Kirito is still 'Blacky Sensei", very skilled)

Kirito's OPness can be attributed to a few things. One, living 24/7 out on the front lines, soloing it and being immersed in a death-game all the time really shapes who you are, both as an individual and as a swordsman.

They didn't call him the black swordsman for nothing, he literally became a swordsman in the game. He lived, breathed, and existed solely as a swordsman for a very long time. This is part of his immersion in SAO, his reaction speed, and his mentality and the skills he built up as a swordsman.

Now let's look at Zekken. Zekken has been full-diving 24/7 for even longer than the "sao survivors". Think about that for a moment. She is one of the only people (if not the only) who has more VR experience than the SAO survivors. That is intense!

Kirito states to Asuna that Zekken felt different.. like she was an actual part of the simulation environment (which may be due to the metacuboid, but I like to think it was due to just how immersed she was). Zekken truly lived in the VR world, even as Kirito did when he was in SAO!

My point is that by the time Kirito faces Zekken in ALO the roles have reversed, Zekken is super immersed and Kirito is not as immersed.

Kirito kind of has the air of a retired old sensei (even when they call him "blacky sensei" when he and klein help Zekken's guild fight that floor's boss, the air of some super skilled mysterious retired dude who lazes about and teaches people from time to time). It would be very hard for Kirito to be motivated enough to go all-all out against Zekken.

Also, I really felt the animators cheaped out in the Zekken vs. Kirito animation fight. They didn't animate the whole fight, and only jumped to the end and made Kirito appear to almost win.

Honestly, Zekken wouldn't hit Kirito, have him hide in the smoke, and think to herself ''I've won! Kirito's health is at zero, and there is no way he will try to hit me in the next millisecond!''

It also doesn't make sence to say "Well, Kirito would have maybe won if he had more time to hit her at the end". Zekken's relaxed state after sending Kirito flying, even though his health was not zero, was probably due to the fact that she was counting on the time to time out.

Thus time was probably an integral part of that whole strategy at the end. When time is running out you rush to deliver a final blow, and the oponent fails to deliver one back. Also, I doubt Kirito's single hit would have lowered her health enough to make him win.

And as others have pointed out, as in Zekken vs. Asuna, Zekken should not be underestimated. She could likely have blocked his attack at the last moment, or even have taken the impact in order to get close enough to him to seriously shred his health. We can never know because they neglected to animate it. Honestly, I feel like Zekken should have won, and we should have seen a long and intense fight between Kirito and Zekken that would have sent chills down our spines, and that Zekken would have won, and it would have been amazing, but I feel that whoever was in charge cheaped out and was all like "Oh let's undermine Zekken's ability by making it look like Kirito would have won, so that way we won't offend either fanbase, and Kirito doesn't have to lose."

That is what it felt like to me.