Sword Art Online

[Ryllharu]

I'm not in agreement with Ryll here. Episode 2 showed how Kirito made a name for himself as well as the general "frontline beta" category Beater. Episode 3 showed how being Kirito/beater is perceived negatively by the lower ranking players, while episode 4 showed being in such a class reflects positively (accepting requests, helping people get important items when they need them).

Yeah, and none of that translates to knowing anything about Kirito, and in what way or even if he's changed.

Episode 4: After we found out his reason for helping her was different that what he claimed (she was just bait anyway), we honestly don't know if he was giving her saying anything true, or if it was just a complete line of crap, only saying it for the benefit of his true prey to drop their guard a bit.

Episode 3: Like you said, he clearly wasn't too traumatized by all of them getting slaughtered on his watch and the last committing suicide, since he just picked up and carried on. I suppose he was a bit more cautious this time, but on the other hand...all of the guild members had warp crystals too, they just got blocked from using them by the trap. So again, nothing really changed there after all. He's no more or less cautious with his party members than he was before. He's just an even higher level.

Episode 2: All in all, it's really not any different from episode 1. He still runs off to do his own thing. He refused the offer to play along as a team member in favor of bum rushing to the quick leveling spots in the first episode, and he did the same thing here. The only difference is he told people that is what he was going to do, instead of slinking off. You can't really call that any sort of character development.

Name anything that's changed from the first episode about Kirito. He's still selfishly running about, taking pride in the fact that he's stronger/smarter than basically anyone else, using limited-release knowledge for his own ends, and occasionally helping noobs, but refusing to put any trust in them. It's been four episodes, it's still the same information you could glean from the first episode.

[Hitokiri]

Episode 2: All in all, it's really not any different from episode 1. He still runs off to do his own thing. He refused the offer to play along as a team member in favor of bum rushing to the quick leveling spots in the first episode, and he did the same thing here. The only difference is he told people that is what he was going to do, instead of slinking off. You can't really call that any sort of character development.

Name anything that's changed from the first episode about Kirito. He's still selfishly running about, taking pride in the fact that he's stronger/smarter than basically anyone else, using limited-release knowledge for his own ends, and occasionally helping noobs, but refusing to put any trust in them. It's been four episodes, it's still the same information you could glean from the first episode.

Actually, even though he knew about the Last Attack Bonus item (Coat of Midnight), he still played along with Deibel's plan and was purely support (Squad D, E and F taking out the Sentinels). That's not selfish to me. He could have bum rushed the Boss to get the item, but he didn't. He, also tried to warn Deibel once he saw that the Boss weapon was different, but it was too late. His last request to Kirito was to: "Defeat the Boss for Everyone" while denying Kirito's health potion.

Also in the end, when that guy accused him of letting Deibel die, the situation got ugly within the party. When someone else asked if other people in the party were also beta testers and to come out and show themselves, the party would have most certainly broken up with a lot of mistrust between each other. To avoid this, he played the role of the bad guy (self proclaimed Beater) so no one else would come under fire for being a beta tester.

It is clear he was thinking about the group, especially since his last thought was a flash back of Deibel pleading with him to help the group before he died. Again, not selfish.

TLR - no he's not selfish; want proof read above or watch the damn episode again.

[Ryllharu]

Also in the end, when that guy accused him of letting Deibel die, the situation got ugly within the party. When someone else asked if other people in the party were also beta testers and to come out and show themselves, the party would have most certainly broken up with a lot of mistrust between each other. To avoid this, he played the role of the bad guy (self proclaimed Beater) so no one else would come under fire for being a beta tester.

TLR - no he's not selfish; want proof read above or watch the damn episode again.

I get what you're saying, but you're misinterpreting my post. Despite all the unselfish actions Kirito performs during episode 2, at the end, after his speech that unifies the group, he declares quite openly that he's running off to go power level again, and we know from later episodes that he actually does just that. He's the same level or higher than the front line groups, yet can still spend several days away from there and still be as good as they are. During episode 3, he is shown power leveling most nights while his guild sleeps.

So they actually negated the pathetic excuse for character development Kirito might have gained. At the end of BOTH episodes 1 and 2, Kirito helps a few noobs, but then tells them that he's going to go run off and be better than them (well, he never told Klein). Any altruistic actions he accomplished are negated by the fact that he willfully refuses to help them where it actually matters, saving everyone. He power levels on his own, and forces them to figure out everything for themselves.

I suppose the only reasoning you can put behind this is either Y's right, and he's a complete sociopath, or Yuki's right, and he's got major Asperger's combined with a Hero Complex, so he goes out to fight weak people to save, but panics every time he's thrust into a social scenario.