Accel World - Episode 6

Haru, you idiot...

Even though there were several events that happened in this episode, I found it slightly more enjoyable in terms of material covered and speed of story progression than the last; it didn't feel as rushed. I think part of the reason why this is so is due to the fact that this episode didn't focus too heavily on dialogue. Furthermore, being an episode that contained its fair share of comedic moments, a lesser amount of plot development is quite acceptable.

What I didn't like, however, was how Taku is starting to become a Haruyuki. For a lot of the episode, all that could be heard was his constant self-degradation, reasoning that his actions are because he wants to "atone for his sins". While this is a valid argument, I don't think the path of self-afflicted suffering is the right way to go. I mean, I'd probably start feeling bad if someone who wronged me starting purposely troubling themselves, using Taku's argument as a basis for their actions. Also, his "I got your back statement" towards Haruyuki, and his consequent actions afterwards, made him seem like a stalker, despite his (seemingly) good intentions.

As for the girls, I found both Kuroyukihime (whose name wasn't actually revealed!) and Chiyu to be really moe in this episode. The scene where Kuroyukihime was jealous when Haruyuki didn't comment on her hair was typical of a lot of romance anime where the male is a dense, but it still managed to put a smile on my face. For Chiyu, her conversation with Haruyuki and Taku over some ice cream really showed off her cute side, improving my impression of her greatly.

With two separate situations at hand after the conclusion of the episode, two questions now arise:
1) What is going to happen to Haruyuki (the idiot who spent 300 of his Burst Points to level up) now that he has "coincidentally" discovered the identity of The One, a.k.a. Aqua Current?
2) With Taku and Kuroyukihime now meeting face-to-face for the first time, how will Princess Snow Black react?

While the first question probably isn't of much interest to many, the second one definitely is. Kuroyukihime's sudden shouting of "Burst Link" makes me suspect that she's still angry at Taku for everything he has done. It may just be me overthinking things, but for some reason, I still feel Taku is being deceptive when it comes to Haruyuki, despite seeming like he's totally supporting his "friend" now. Since he was able to easily deceive both Chiyu and Haruyuki in the past, finding out that he's still using them wouldn't be much of a surprise. Assuming I'm right, Kuroyukihime must now be trying to stop him from gaining Haruyuki's trust any further. However, this does bring up the question of whether Aqua Current is working alongside Taku. While I wouldn't like this to be the case, I can't rule out the possibility. Hopefully, next week gives the answers, as well as Kuroyukihime's real name.