Accel World - Episode 13

That's quite a lot of green.

First off, congratulations are in order for Chiyu, the newest Burst Linker. With her healing abilities as Lime Bell, Nega Nebulous seems stacked now—they have a King, an aerial attacker, a tank, and a healer. But having one team overpower all their opponents won't make for good entertainment, right? Well, to counterbalance their strength, Kuroyukihime just so happens to have a class trip right when the new antagonist shows up. Without her leadership, which she temporarily entrusted to Haruyuki (bad decision), I have a feeling the remaining members of Nega Nebulous are going to have a tough time defending the territory without their leader. This'll most likely lead to an eventual Haruyuki self-depreciation speech, followed by some miraculous burst of courage which he'll use to defeat the enemy. With that being said, I'll actually be disappointed if I end up being spot on with my guess since a simple, predictable story is the last thing I want from an anime like this.

Since Nōmi is also a kendo "expert" (it looks like he's doing the same thing as what Taku did in the past), this arc might just focus more on Taku and his struggle with confronting a similar image of his old self. The shock on his face when he saw his opponent's unbelievable movements must have brought back memories of his own domination in kendo back when he was using Brain Burst to help him win. Although I don't know what Nōmi's intentions are, it appears he may be targeting Haruyuki; I think their meeting in the hallway and the smirk that Nōmi directed at Haruyuki after the match with Taku were foreshadowing the start of a difficult challenge for Nega Nebulous, especially since Nōmi's name doesn't appear to be on the list of Burst Linkers that can be challenged. While the antagonist is still a big question mark, this episode served well to introduce him and to raise the audience's suspicion level.

From the preview, it looks like Haruyuki's going to have some trouble with Nōmi. If he was smart, Nōmi would probably target Chiyu, and to some extent Taku, in order to blackmail Haruyuki into doing his bidding. It also appears we'll get to see a new avatar, whom I believe belongs to Nōmi, assuming he really is a Burst Linker. And judging by his colour (Niko = Red King, Taku = [Former] Blue Legion, Yellow Radio = Yellow King, Kuroyukihime = Black King), he may be a member of the Purple Legion (if it exists), and possibly, but unlikely, a King.