Accel World - 10 & 11

I gotta say, Accel World does cliffhangers extremely well!  Or horribly, depending if you are enjoying them or not.

Accel World - 10

As the group prepares to confront Chrome Disaster, the viewers get a little bit more insight into the Brain Burst program.  One is that a person can give the program away to another person only once (the guardian-protege relationship).  We learn that Hime used her opportunity on Haru, while Taku is contemplating using his on Chiyu.  We also learn that whoever was Hime's guardian had a profound impact on her life; at one point, this person was her everything but along the way something soured between the two of them, and she now considers this person as her enemy.  At first, I thought it was the first Red King, but dismissed that possibility almost immediately (episode 11 confirms that).  Since she mentioned jealousy as a reason why she doesn't want Haru to know, I'm going to guess that whoever it is is a girl and might be someone that Hime thinks Haru might like.  Regardless, I'm very curious to know what happened between the two of them.

We are also introduced to Brain Burst's "true battleground", a setting that runs as an alternative world to the real world.  There is unlimited time in this world, which means it is possible to stay forever.  But as Hime and Taku point out, it's a bad idea.  Even though your physical body may not have aged in the real world, your soul would have aged tremendously, and life wouldn't be the same for you.  I also extremely enjoyed the bantering between Hime and Niko as they once again fight for Haru's attention (or in this case, his ability to hold one of them in his arms).  And I must say, I was quite tickled when Taku got caught in the middle of the fight (Specky!  Professor-kun!).  I thought the twist at the end was well done since I certainly wasn't expecting Yellow Radio, king of the Yellow legion, to step out and show that the entire situation was a trap for Scarlet Rain.  Well done, Accel World!

Accel World - 11

The next episode had less exposition than the first, but still had enough to shed light on the past.  Yellow Radio was able to incapacitate Black Lotus with a single strike: a recording of the time when Black Lotus betrayed the Red Rider.  As Scarlet Rain tells Silver Crow, the soul acts as a conduit of sorts for the avatar to work.  If a person is confronted with painful memories, it's possible for the person to lose all will to fight to the point of the avatar completely shutting down.


The fight itself was pretty spectacular, complete with awesome explosions.  Cyan Pile was wonderful as he sacrificed himself so that his friends could get out of the situation.  It certainly showed that he is still feeling guilty about betraying Haru as well as his loyalty to Black Lotus.  I also love how Black Lotus, once again, states her love for Haru.  When is Haru ever going to acknowledge his feelings for her as well?  Since she told him that he's her first love, this is what dismissed the possibility that Red Rain is her guardian from the last episode.  And once again, Accel World has thrown a great twist into the ending by having Chrome Disaster defeat the devious Yellow Rain.  My only question is since Yellow Rain wasn't defeated by a Level 9 player, is he going to come back later on?  Can't wait until next week!