Sword Art Online'due south Kirito is capable of many things and has various abilities that other players don't. He was able to dual-wield weapons when it wasn't fifty-fifty in the coding for that particular world, go along Yui from being deleted by converting her data into ecology information, and even defy decease. One of the more prominent feats that many people seem to exist confused nigh is the power to use Incarnation, what it is, and how it affects the user.

As YouTuber Gamerturn explains in their video on the subject, Incarnation is a term for when a user is able to override the limitations that the system has in identify with nothing only sheer willpower. It's a concept seen more than in the "Alicization" arc of the series, only information technology's as well seen in the creator'due south other serialAccel Globe.

Kirito using Incarnation

The earliest example of what is later explained every bit Incarnation tin can be seen when Asuna is trying to reach Kirito earlier Kuradeel can impale him. Asuna's speed when trying to reach the valley where Kuradeel and Kirito are far exceeds what the system allows, although this isn't antiseptic in the anime and only explained more thoroughly in the light novels. Another time, she breaks the paralysis effect that Heathcliff sets on her in order to protect Kirito. But after this, Kirito also uses Incarnation to briefly defy expiry. The concept of Incarnation isn't really expanded on until the "Alicization" portion of the story, but glimpses and hints are sprinkled hither and there throughout the series.

One feature of Incarnation is that when activated by a user, their eyes volition glow gold. This is an anime-only addition, most probable as more of a visual cue than an actual outcome of using Incarnation. Without this visual cue, viewers wouldn't exist able to tell whether someone is using Incarnation or simply 1 of their regular abilities. 1 problem with this is that the animators seem to be inconsistent when characters use Incarnation. Kirito is the only one who is shown with golden eyes when doing so, even though other people have definitively also used it, and the reason behind this has yet to exist explained. Asuna has used it more than once, Shiranami has as well used it and at to the lowest degree seven other people take as well, but Kirito is the only one explicitly shown with golden eyes.

The reply could lie in the lite novels, particularlySAO Progressive 006, when Kirito maxes out the Meditation skill to 500. Past reaching this level of proficiency, it allows him admission to a modernistic chosen "Awakening" which, as long as he keeps converting the same character he's been using since the beginning to new worlds, allows him to accomplish a country similar to Incarnation. Asuna even points this out when he has gilt optics when using the mod. Incarnation allows Kirito to tap into by abilities and skills such as Awakening, and that could explain why his eyes turn golden -- past using Incarnation, he's able to apply Awakening, giving him golden eyes.

Yet, this is but a theory, given that the golden eye detail came start in the anime, meaning that this explanation could have been added by the creator retroactively. Every bit of the time of this writing, at that place has been no anime-canon explanation for the change in middle color.

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Molly Kishikawa (305 Articles Published)

Molly Kishikawa is an American artist living in Japan. Starting with the original broadcast of Sailor Moon on Toonami, she has been an avid anime fan since. Living in Japan for two years, she has seen kickoff-hand how the state views anime and manga. She too enjoys video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and J-Rock.

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