I had heard there was a recap episode that aired in Japan last week, but had never heard that Crunchyroll was streaming it. When I went by the Sword Art Online area to find out what time the series is supposed to premiere on Saturdays, I discovered that this recap episode was available for streaming. I figured it’d be a good idea to watch it in order to jog my memory of what happened in the previous season, since it’s been a while since the final episode of Sword Art Online: Alicization aired.

Almost the first half focuses on Asuna recapping her side of the story. Of course, this meant that this section focused more on dialogue than on action, since her side of the story in the series was very dialogue-driven. Her side was more for exposition than anything else in that season.

When we switch to the Underworld side of the story, it’s from the point of view of Alice. This means that we don’t get to see any of Kirito and Eugeo’s early journey in the series. It jumps right to the battle with Administrator, and Alice showing us some glimpses of her meeting Kirito and learning the truth before this battle takes place. The frustrating part here, though, is that the final battle between Kirito and Administrator is shown as a series of still shots as the credits roll to the side. I understand why this was done, because they needed the last couple of minutes to recap the audience of what happened in the real world right at the end of the final episode of Sword Art Online: Alicization, especially since this final scene sets the stage for Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld.

Even with its faults, I still applaud the idea that this recap prologue episode was put together for this series, due to the gap between the end of Sword Art Online: Alicization and the beginning of Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld. When I begin watching the new season, I won’t be feeling terribly lost and trying to remember what happened previously.

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