Best Sword Art Online Episodes of the Aincrad Arc

One of the most heartwarming and fun episodes that I've honestly ever seen. I totally support the romance between Kirito and Asuna. They are so well-suited for each other, and their chemistry really works.

In all honesty, I love almost any episode featuring their romance, but this one nailed it completely with the addition of one of the best characters in the anime, Yui. Continuing the events of the previous episodes, Kirito and Asuna are still taking days off the frontline to spend time together.

While going for a walk, they find a mysterious creature spying on them. Before Kirito realizes it, the creature collapses. It turns out to be a little girl who appears to be lost, so the couple takes her home to rest. However, she has no marker, which players always have in SAO. When she wakes up, she reveals her name is Yui but has the mentality of a newborn, referring to Kirito and Asuna as daddy and mommy. From that moment, I knew I would love this episode.

We've seen Kirito and Asuna married, and now they temporarily adopt a child, which is so heartwarming. It flows well and is really interesting. Why does Yui have no marker, and who is she? Well, it's revealed in the next episode. Easily one of my favorite episodes ever.

This is one of the most climactic episodes of the arc. Even though it's situated just at the beginning of the second half of the arc, it really showed us how much our characters have evolved since the beginning of the SAO incident, and now they have arrived at the 74th floor boss.

It is revealed to be more powerful than anything they have ever met in the game. The climax and everything about this episode was just downright awesome! This is the only boss in the game you actually witness being fought in the arc, including the 1st, 75th, and final bosses, which makes you connect to how it actually is to fight a boss because Ilfang the Kobold Lord from Ep. 2 was more straightforward.

This is also one of three episodes in the arc where Klein, my favorite character, gets a lot of screen time. He's such a funny and charming guy who, while a good player, is not overpowered but realistic. Definitely worthy of being #2 on my list.

This is definitely one of the most interesting episodes of the first half of the arc. The first four episodes weren't too interesting, although I did like the first one a lot. Other than that, Beater was alright, The Red-Nosed Reindeer wasn't that interesting, and Sachi's death was too rushed. The episode with Silica was very boring and weird.

Silica appears to be young and immature, yet they constantly sexualize her character. I am confused.

Anyways, this was a really interesting murder mystery episode that really got you hooked. While I didn't like Asuna yet, I do like how she develops slowly but steadily. This is a first-part episode. The next episode, Illusionary Avenger, is a part two, but I didn't like it as much. This was much more interesting, but it has very nice cliffhangers in my opinion.

This was one of the few filler episodes in the arc, only being there to introduce and show off a new main character, in this case, Lisbeth. It really did not have much of an otherwise purpose, but it certainly was not bad by any means. Lisbeth is quite a funny and comical character, and it was nice to have an episode centered around her.

It basically starts off with Kirito wanting to buy a new sword at Lisbeth's shop. Before doing so, he tries the best sword, and it breaks. Lisbeth gets furious, so they go on an adventure to find an ingredient that can create the finest sword in Aincrad. It's honestly just a very fun episode, in my opinion, although not particularly noteworthy.

This is the first episode of the series, and it surely knows how to be interesting. It starts off with our main character, Kirigaya "Kirito" Kazuto, logging into the newly released VRMMORPG game Sword Art Online in the near future (2022, to be exact). He is one of the few people who played the beta version of the game. In the newly released game, he meets the newcomer Klein (my favorite character), and Kirito shows him how the game works since he is familiar with it from the beta days.

You'd think Kirito would be the main character and Klein the deuteragonist. While Kirito's role is correct, Klein is unfortunately reduced to a supporting character, only appearing in four of the arc's episodes, sadly. However, off-topic. This episode is excellent and surely deserves to be on the list.

The direct sequel to my favorite episode of the arc. "Yui's Heart" answers all the questions we were eager to know from "The Girl of Morning Dew." This episode is one of the most emotional ones in not just the arc but the entire season.

It gets really interesting as we get closer to knowing who Yui actually is. It's executed almost near-perfectly, and her "death" is among the saddest ones ever. Yes, sadder than Sachi's. Her death, while emotional, was way too rushed.

You'd think I'd put this episode above "The Girl of Morning Dew," but I felt the chemistry was executed better in that episode, and the plot of this one wasn't too terribly interesting. It was just Asuna, Kirito, and Yui going down to the first floor and saving a guild member of the Aincrad Liberation Army. This, combined with Yui's story, is the real reason this episode made it to #3. Anyways, excellent episode.

This was definitely one of the most interesting and scariest episodes. It's interesting because it evokes various emotions while you watch it.

In the beginning, with Kirito and Heathcliff dueling, you feel a sense of excitement as you wonder who will win. After Kirito loses, you experience a sense of disappointment but still remain interested. Then, Kirito, Kuradeel, and Godfree go on an adventure to train themselves.

This part becomes scary when Kuradeel reveals himself as a member of the player-killing guild called Laughing Coffin. He paralyzes Godfree and Kirito, nearly kills Kirito, and successfully kills Godfree until Asuna comes to the rescue. What makes this part scary? The sadistic facial expressions of Kuradeel. Although he may be a lackluster villain with no motivation, those facial expressions and sadistic thoughts make it interesting.

The ending of the episode, however, is hilarious compared to the scary middle. After Kuradeel's defeat, Kirito gives a speech about how he belongs to Asuna and wants to sleep with her. Asuna takes off her clothes because she thought Kirito literally wanted to have sex with her. But in reality, Kirito only meant he wanted to sleep in the same room and live with her. This is quite hilarious. The combination of different feelings involved in this episode makes it #4 on my list.

You know it's funny because after I finished the first arc of this anime, I totally forgot what this episode was about, even though I actually thought it was one of the best episodes. I guess it's because not much happened, and what this episode revolves around is obscure.

Kirito finds an incredibly rare animal that he successfully hunts. He craves to eat it but can't do so before cooking it, and he has no cooking experience. This is where Asuna comes in, as she has maxed out her cooking skills. This is the first episode where Kirito and Asuna get to know each other fairly well, and the romance really starts to kick off.

They had met each other before, notably in Beater and the Murder in the Safe Zone episodes, but this is where they start to become a couple for real. The chemistry is executed so well, and not having this episode on the list would be a crime. Also, the epic ending when they confront the Gleam Eyes is so epic.

The final episode of the arc is called "The End of the World." And by that, it means the end of the world in Sword Art Online, not the real world. It picks up right after the end of the last episode when our characters had reached the 75th floor boss, the hardest boss so far.

After the defeat of it, Kirito suddenly realizes that the master of his guild, Heathcliff, holds a dark secret. He attempts to hit him with his sword, but it's revealed that he is, in fact, an immortal object. He then reveals himself as Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the game, and that he was actually the final boss of the game.

However, with Kirito revealing his secret, the final boss would now be fought on floor 75 as well. It's quite an interesting and fun episode. However, there's something off about it. It felt very rushed how the game supposedly ended on the 75th floor. So it's only at #7 for me. But it's still great.