Here's MY redesign of Kirito in Aincrad. In order to do this I used my super Kirito fan status to work with him!
Let's start with his face and hair.
Kirito is supposed to look rather androgynous. And his hair is meant to be semi-long. While many redesigns seem to make his hair shorter, you have to remember he's an Otaku, and he doesn't get out much. So he doesn't get a lot of haircuts.
When trapped in SAO, he probably puts his long messy hair in a ponytail to look more fantasy and he thinks it looks more masculine.
Of course it is still meant to look nice since he still practices hygiene. So he does wash his hair.
He's an Otaku, not a neckbeard
His clothes were modeled after ideas from the novel.
"Comfy" was one word Kirito used to describe his coat. And I know the best form of comfy would be to break a rule in VGs and make the coat appear a few sizes too large.
I also thought Cargo jeans would be more comfortable.
Another thing is that SAO (the MMO) is not a pure medieval fantasy, but instead seems to be a science fantasy, as implied by the gun steel armor the Aincrad Liberation Army used. So the coat was meant to resemble something more from FF7 than something like LotR.
Now let's talk swords, starting with the Dark Repulsor
Not much changed on the DR, but I wanted to show its more crystaline structure. As it was forged from crystalized ore digested through a dragon. So the design was to be a carved crystal with wrap on the hilt.
The elucidator was a unique weapon. As it's an LA bonus from a boss that was a six armed statue.
The idea is that the statue uses a switchblade from his arm during his final phase. Upon defeat, the switchblade breaks off.
The broken blade would be the the LA bonus. When Kirito receives the broken switchblade, a new quest appears. The quest is to find a blacksmith who has machinery to work the metal. When the smith is found, they'll attach a handle to it and the sword -elucidator- is rewarded.
When Kirito receives the broken switchblade, a new quest appears. The quest is to find a blacksmith who has machinery to work the metal. When the smith is found, they'll attach a handle to it and the sword -elucidator- is rewarded.
When Kirito receives the broken switchblade, a new quest appears. The quest is to find a blacksmith who has machinery to work the metal. When the smith is found, they'll attach a handle to it and the sword -elucidator- is rewarded.
Why use blue as the secondary color?
It was an easy choice to compliment Asuna (Y'all want me to redesign HER?)
Asuna's primary colors are White and Red. So it would make sense for Kirito to favor black and blue.
This was actually done because of seeing Lavendertown's redesign on twitter and being SO DISAPPOINTED