#me when i'm sacrificing the first place i found safety in because they refused to protect my loved one: 😁😁😆😆

[dreamofimmortality]

[Image description: Collage of panels of Yukimi from chapter 48 of Nabari no Ou, zoomed in on him smiling and grinning while battling Raikou. End description]

some sort of compilation 😁😆

[roseylaces]

I'm sorry but why do you like sword art online so much??? And like is Asuna really strong.. because didn't she "die" (and how is she alive even -___-) and also got captured and molested and stripped yet didn't at least yell at the man or something? Like, she could've kicked - sorry in advance if her legs were chained up or something I forgot but? Idk spat at him?

okay this answer is going to be really long, so apologies in advance if that’s not your style… yet this ask ticked something in me, and i have to justify myself as to why i love sao, and why asuna is such a strong heroine, character, and person.

first of all, i definitely think this ask could’ve been worded better. wondering how asuna survived sao and forgetting what even happened during the final battle in fairy dance is a definite indicator of your lack of research.

im hoping that the answer to your first question will become evident as i answer your other queries, because im sure my passion for the series will come to light.

for your second question, yes, asuna truly is strong, in every sense of the word. she is physically strong, mentally strong, and spiritually strong. at the beginning of sword art online, asuna was a fifteen year old girl, suddenly removed from everything she knew. from the safe, incubator-style life she had lived up until that point, from her parents, life, and school, into a world where she did not know a single thing; a place where she had to fight to live without even knowing how. she had to constantly overcome her own mind, and strive to survive in a world that always tried to end her. if you were faced with the prospect of death at the slightest wrong turn, would you even try to push forward? i doubt many people would, yet asuna did. despite knowing that her efforts may amount to nothing, she refused to sit still, constantly fighting mobs in the first floor’s dungeon just to prove that she would not give in. she went to the most dangerous part of the floor at that time, and battled. from the beginning, her worth as a member of the game’s frontlines was secured, and even kirito knew this. when she first met kirito, she told him that she had to fight, and how that would be the one thing to determine her worth. if she was going to die, she was to do it on her own terms. how much strength must you possess to overcome a will to admit defeat and harness a determination to not play by the rules? not even kirito was able to think that way.

additionally, she is physically strong. after the sao incident, she pushed her weakened body to its limits, refusing to let what had happened to her determine her future. im not lying when i say she could definitely beat kirito in a real-life fight if that were to ever happen. shes very active, and even before the sao incident she was a fit person, which was one of the reasons why her agility in sao was so great. a part of the indicator for abilities in sao, although primarily determined by the system, also comes down to physical prowess, and this is something that enabled asuna to continue to be perceived as strong.

further to this, she’s spiritually strong. even after kirito found her in the first floor dungeon, she refused to become a damsel who submitted herself to her ‘more powerful’ partner, seeking to possess further strength so that she could be his equal. even when she joins the knights of the blood and she falls in love with kirito, she does not let this love stand in the way of her mission and purpose, instead utilising this to enable her to become even stronger. she now had something to fight for. she would not let the game take him from her, or take her from him. asuna is a rare heroine because romance did not become her strength, but instead allowed her strength to become purposeful. shes very inspirational in this regard, and truly is strong. she knows her weaknesses and turns them into power.

during boss battles and whilst frontlining, asuna never, ever let kirito do anything that would deny her determination and personal strength. she fought as her own person, was revered as the subleader of the biggest guild, and was able to do so because she possessed such powers. yes, she fought alongside kirito, but he never shut her out for her safety or dulled her light. she protected her own raid party, sometimes up to 47 others, kept control of the guild, and made the most out of every unfortunate situation. she entered sao not knowing a single thing about mmorpg combat, but she continued to learn, and utilise this new knowledge in order to push herself further. she saw kirito as a partner and a mentor, and soon became his equal and, i would even say, surpassed him in her understanding of technique and strategy. although she is partnered with kirito often, she is always considered her own player, her own person, dubbed ‘the flash’. only truly strong players are given nicknames, and this is an indicator of her strength.

and yes, asuna did die within sao during the 75th floor boss fight. she died because she sacrificed herself for the sake of the entire raid group; for the entire player population of sao. asuna knew that if it came down to either her or kirito, kirito would be the one that had to live in order to continue the endeavour towards beating the death game. he had the dual blade wielding ability, he was chosen by heathcliff/kayaba to be the game’s sole saviour. she jumped in front of heathcliff, a seemingly immortal object, to take the blow for kirito and give him a chance to fight and win. she did not die unnecessarily, she did not die in vain. she knew that her sacrifice would be for the sake of those 8,000 players still within sao. this act in itself is the true indicator of asuna’s strength. the ability to think of the greater good over one’s own self, and the act of sacrifice in such a dismal and dire situation, are both things that only those who are truly powerful in their mentality and sense of self would be able to do.

asuna was able to live because kayaba recognised this power. he recognised that asuna’s death was valiant and altruistic. her defeat was for the sake of those she did not even know. i know many people say that she jumped in front of heathcliff with for the sole purpose of protecting kirito, but this greatly undermines asuna. although, yes, she wanted to protect him, she was also thinking about the bigger picture - the future of sao - and knew that kirito was the necessary piece in the game to ensure survival. he would be the beacon of hope, and asuna knew that this was not the role set of her. so she did what she had to do, even if this ended her life. kayaba realised that asuna did not deserve to die, that her sacrifice was so great that to kill her would defeat the purpose of his ‘world’. so he saved her. it was her reward for possessing such inner strength.

to answer your third question, asuna was bound by her hands to the ceiling within the last battle scene with fairy king obeiron (sugou), and constrained by the manipulation of gravity as utilised by sugou by the alfheim system. she could not move at all, and these chains were deemed as immortal objects by this same system. also, asuna did yell at sugou. she demanded for him to stop. yet there was not much she could do, given the situation. if she refused too fervently, sugou could have hurt kirito more severely than what he did by turning down the pain absorption to a lower level, and if that had occured, she would never have been able to forgive herself. the lower pain absorption would have hurt her, too, and this is a key factor to keep in mind when analysing this scene. asuna had to make very quick, very calculated decision in such a short and desperate span of time. she had to decide the best way to ensure her and kirito’s safety, which would be so so difficult, seeing as the safest option would be to have sugou sexually harass her, to satisfy him and hopefully prevent him from doing anything horrific. of course, she would not want this, but thinking about the bigger scheme of things, sugou harming her would be better than fighting back, which may have resulted in having kirito or herself killed. she had to restrain her desires to give up for the sake of their best interests. that’s another exhibition of her strength, and further proves my initial proposal. further to this, she would not spit on sugou because she would in no way stoop to his level. she had to be above him, and refuse him in a way that proved his abhorrent insolence. asuna is so so strong because of this, and she is such a wonderful character.

as i said at the beginning, this became very long, but i truly am passionate about proving that asuna is a strong character, and that sword art online is so much more than what people think it to be. the characters are very complex and three dimensional, the story is engaging and very well thought out, and nothing happens without a reason. every action has a reaction, and kawahara-sensei is a master novelist for this reason. if i can convince even one more person that sao is not worth the hate it gets, or that asuna is not just a member of kirito’s (non-existent) harem, i feel like i would have done my job as an advocate for the series, and i hope people come to understand my love for the series and its characters.