Asuna

Asuna (asuna) is the deuteragonist of the aincrad arc in the sword art online series, as well as the protagonist of the mother's rosario side story. Her real name is yuuki asuna (yūki asuna), and she is the daughter of the former ceo of rect inc. Asuna was one of the 10,000 players trapped in «sword art online» and was the sub-leader of the «knights of the blood» guild. her skills with the rapier had her earned her the nickname «the flash» (senkō). After returning to the real world, asuna transferred her sword art online avatar to alfheim online and began playing the game as an undine. Due to her tendency to charge into battle with a rapier despite being a healer, she has earned the nickname «berserk healer» (bāsaku hīrā). asuna has also created an alternative avatar, the sylph «erika» (erika), as she sometimes wanted to change her appearance.

Asuna originally did not care about dying in the game before meeting kirito. That meeting drastically changed asuna's personality and outlook on life. She soon takes most things kirito says to heart and looks to him for help, using him as somewhat of a lifeline. She acts as a tsundere towards him for most of volume 1, even when married. Asuna is a kind and helpful young woman who, similar to kirito, cannot abandon another in trouble. She takes the game very seriously and is determined to clear it before kirito tells her to enjoy sao a bit.

Asuna is also somewhat proud and despite her kind personality, she will not hesitate to get physical with those that challenge her authority or make fun of her abilities, such as cooking. She even challenged kirito to a duel after an argument over how to handle a field boss. She is not afraid to act out on her own and will take matters in her own hands from time to time. Asuna, once again similar to kirito, is someone who can be controlled and manipulated using her emotions. This is best shown in moments such as during kirito's final duel with heathcliff on the 75th floor when she resisted her paralysis, jumped in front of kirito, and took an attack that would have otherwise killed him. She also cannot handle seeing others die in front of her, such as when she recklessly attacked the gleam eyes after seeing the liberation army players getting slaughtered. In alo, after being saved by kirito, asuna's personality had not changed a bit except that she was not as proud as she was in sao. Her personality began to develop further still after meeting yuuki in the events of mother's rosario. Seeing how yuuki still moves forward, despite knowing her death is inevitable, asuna takes after her and resolves to keep moving forward, no matter what happens.

Kirito

Kirito (kirito) is the main protagonist of the sword art online light novel, anime, manga and game series. His name, kirito, was taken from his real name kirigaya kazuto (kirigaya kazuto). "Kiri--" from kirigaya and "----to" from kazuto. He was chosen as one of the 1,000 beta testers for the closed beta of «sword art online», the first ever vrmmorpg for the nervegear.

Kirito is someone who is not good with words, as said by klein, and can be quite direct. This is due to him not having many friends and closing others off because of his love for computers. As such, he can come off as a rude person to others, such as lisbeth and sinon. Sometimes, he actually seems to enjoy angering and teasing people as well. Also, from time to time, kirito can be quite overconfident thinking he can do things others can not. He is almost always a calm and collected character, rarely showing any signs of distress. When kayaba akihiko appeared in sao and announced that it had become a death game, kirito showed only a slight reaction and was able to quickly accept the new conditions of the game, while many others panicked. He has shown different moods throughout the series; at times being rather cheerful, while being gloomy at others. When in a battle, he becomes incredibly fierce and aggressive. Sometimes, his fierceness is up to the point where he loses control of himself and is even unable to recall what he had done.

However, kirito is actually a kind person who is just misunderstood. Despite the general population opinion towards beta testers in sao, he refused to abandon another player in trouble. This is only strengthened after the demise of the moonlit black cats. He also comforts others who are scared or down such as silica after she lost pina. He claims to help some female players in sao because they remind him of his sister, whom he feels to have forced into kendo and feels guilty for that. These kind of acts have earned him respect and affection from many girls. Kirito, unlike usual male heroes, is not very dense as he was able to tell that lisbeth was going to confess to him before asuna interrupted them. Kirito is also a very emotional person and lets his emotions control him from time to time. The deaths of sachi and moonlit black cats had haunted him until his marriage with asuna in sword art online. Sachi's death in particular had a huge effect on his personality and motives, making him very distant from others for a while. This worries his friends and allies as kirito is someone who would let guilt ruin his life if not comforted. Kirito temporarily loses his will to live when asuna's character was killed by heathcliff. He also tries to hide his abilities, not wanting unneeded attention. Kirito is a person with incredibly strong resolve who will do anything and everything in his power to accomplish something that is important to him without any hesitation. When asuna was being held in alfheim, kirito was bound and determined to set her free and, when yui confirmed that she detected asuna being at the top of yggdrasil, he immediately tried to fly up to the tree, which had already been found to be an impossible task, and tried to fight his way to the top by himself twice despite being annihilated the first time. After escaping sao, kirito attempts to repair his relationship with suguha, his cousin. This shows kirito is now attempting to make up for his past mistake of ignoring her, showing a sense of maturity. Kirito, later in the series, is shown to be a calm and mature player who can be teasing as well.