Sword Art Online Season 1 Episode 2 Review

It has been a month since Sword Art Online was released and 2000 people have died. There is now a meeting being held with the people being interested in defeating the first boss so they could advance to the different levels of Aincrad. The meeting, held by a player named Diabel explains that how everybody in the meeting would now be a party and how they would defeat the first boss. The people of the meeting agree that there will be six parties to fight the boss. Unfortunately, Kirito is left out except for a mysterious girl in the stands next to him. She does not have any means of helping him, but Kirito is determined to have her as part of his party.

     Soon there was an interruption when another player called Kibaou showed up. He said that he wanted to be in a party to defeat the boss, but he furiously called out to the people who were beta testers to step up. He explained that the people who have never played this game before have died because of them for taking all of the good hunting grounds and easy quests while leaving the beginners to die on their own. Kibaou blames the death of the 2000 people on the beta testers and demands them to step up to apologize to everybody and take all of their loot, items, and money. Kirito, a beta tester was too scared to step up until there was a player named Egil who stepped up. Egil told Kibaou that there was a manual that everybody could get free from the markets of the Town of Beginnings. Everybody had equal access on the guide book, therefore, none of the Beta Testers were blamed.
     Diabel soon explained that the name of the boss was Illfang, the Kobold Lord. Illfang, is a melee fighter who uses a buckler shield and a axe. He also explains that if the boss is in the red health zone, his fighting style and weapons changes. There are also Ruin Kobold Sentinels that protect the boss from the players. There are only three and you must destroy them to get to the boss or just skip them and get protected by your allies. There were 6 groups or parties that were formed during the meeting for the boss battle. Diabel commanded that group A,B, and C attack the main boss while groups D,E, and F keeps the sentinels off of the assault. Kirito and Asuna were part of group F and they were to defend against the sentinels.

     Then suddenly, the groups attacking Illfang moved back because the boss was in it's red zone. Illfang dropped his weapons and then pulled out a No-Dachi instead of a Talwar. He also changes his fighting style by dropping his defensive equipment to a fast, swift fighting one sword fighting style. Illfang surprised everybody in the parties because he killed Diabel when they were all confused. Kirito ran up to the body of Diabel while everybody else tried to protect Diabel from the monster who wounded him. At the last moments of Diabel's life, Kirito realizes that Daibel was a beta tester like him and only wanted to help the novice players to get them past the beginning stages of the game so they could go on by themselves. Diabel also wanted the rare item that the boss would drop if somebody would get the last hit off of the boss.

     Enraged by the death of their leader, Kirito and Asuna try to avenge their fallen leader. They use the same strategy they used against the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. Kirito would rush in to block any attack from the boss while Asuna would come in and have a shot off at the boss. They continued this until Kirito was hit by Illfang and was thrown back to hit Asuna. As Illfang approached them to do the finishing blow to Asuna and Kirito, suddenly Egil came and parried the blow from the boss, saving Kirito and Asuna from death. As the boss retreated, the other members of the parties defended Asuna and Kirito until they recovered, but Illfang's power was too much for the party members. Then as Illfang did the finishing blow to the party, Kirito ran up and killed the boss and received the rare item.

     As the members of the parties celebrated, suddenly, Kiabou asked about why Kirito did not save Daibel. He blamed Kirito that he did not tell the attack patterns of the Boss and resulted into the death of Diabel. Others in the party summed up that he was a beta tester because of his knowledge on the boss. Suddenly Kirito laughs out loud when he heard that he was called a beta tester. He offers them to not call him a beta testers because they were newbies. He admitted that he was a beta tester and explained to them that the 1000 beta testers that were starting, he was the farthest person to advance in the beta test. Then people called his a cheater and a beta tester. Then people next to him called him a beater because they mixed the beta tester and a cheater. Kirito accepted that name and then the episode ends here.