Will Sword Art Online 2 Every Be in English
Synopsis
In the year 2022, virtual reality has progressed by leaps and bounds, and a massive online role-playing game chosen Sword Art Online (SAO) is launched. With the help of "NerveGear" engineering science, players can command their avatars within the game using nothing merely their own thoughts.
Kazuto Kirigaya, nicknamed "Kirito," is among the lucky few enthusiasts who become their hands on the start shipment of the game. He logs in to find himself, with 10-1000 others, in the scenic and elaborate world of Aincrad, one full of fantastic medieval weapons and gruesome monsters. All the same, in a cruel turn of events, the players soon realize they cannot log out; the game's creator has trapped them in his new earth until they complete all one hundred levels of the game.
In order to escape Aincrad, Kirito will now accept to interact and cooperate with his fellow players. Some are allies, while others are foes, like Asuna Yuuki, who commands the leading group attempting to escape from the ruthless game. To make matters worse, Sword Fine art Online is not all fun and games: if they die in Aincrad, they dice in real life. Kirito must conform to his new reality, fight for his survival, and hopefully pause free from his virtual hell.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Background
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Reviews
April 6, 2014
25 of 25 episodes seen
| Overall | 4 |
| Story | 4 |
| Animation | 8 |
| Sound | 8 |
| Character | 1 |
| Enjoyment | 3 |
--The review contains minor spoilers--
Since I've seen a plethora of scores of 10 for this show, I thought I'd write what I feel is a more than realistic review for this show. Sword Art Online is more than or less the equivalent of a fanfiction in it's writing and quality. Whether people want to overlook it or not is upwardly to the private, but I believe it fails at the fundamentals for writing a good story. This review will go into details as to my opinions on why I feel this way.
one) Story - This is offset major problem is the show. Let'southward start from the beginning shall we. The first arc consists of fourteen episodes. The commencement 2 episodes are honestly pretty skilful and set up the plot of the show that should follow. You lot're introduced to the main characters and it shows mmo style of play. I mean with two episodes that are amazing, surely what follows will be more of the adventures of the main characters and these mmo dominate fights...correct? Wrong. What follows are 5 completely irrelevant side character episodes and unnecessary terrible time skips that ruin whatsoever sense of a story the first 2 episodes set up. And then due to some casuistic reason, we're now down to 7 episodes to tell the rest of this story. However achievable right? RIGHT? Incorrect over again. The serial wastes another 2 1/2 episodes on pointless filler garbage. And then there you lot take it over half of showtime role of the story has nothing to practise with the overall plot. Well what about the other episodes you enquire? The remaining "plot" episodes are filled with deus ex machina in its purest form. Even the finale of the commencement season makes absolutely no sense. This isn't a fantasy world, information technology's a freaking video game, y'all tin't take miracles here. So that concludes my issues with flavour 1, which the majority of SAO fans consider to be the best function....Yeh you heard me, the 2nd function is fifty-fifty worse. 2) Art - The fine art is fantastic. Colorful characters, bosses (the few nosotros encounter), and settings are all here. It'due south easily worth an 8. 3) Audio - Over again fantastic. Nothing wrong with it at all. 8. 4)Characters - Hither we go...This is easily the worst function of the series. I'll split the main characters and lump together the not so main characters. Kirito/Kazuto - The main character of this show is the image of the current definition of a "Gary Stu". He has no personality whatsoever. He is good at everything he tries for no reason. He's an astonishing player, an super sleuth, a ladies man, and a master hacker. You name information technology, he can do it. There'southward no reason given for this other than he's just that expert. Girls all honey him, guys want to be him, and villains are jealous of him. He also solos MMO boss fights...yeh wrap your head around that ane. Side note - I frequently see people merits they beloved this evidence because they're hardcore gamers. I have to say as an avid gamer myself I find this show to be insulting. Unless you've hacked or cheated , I don't understand why yous're content with a character who does. Side note over. Asuna - The main female person lead/most blatant waifu graphic symbol ever. Asuna is introduced as a strong thespian who can stand on her ain with Kirito, that is for the commencement couple episodes. One time she reappears she barely does annihilation other than cook for Kirito. That's right, her donkey stays in the kitchen, while Kirito does all the important stuff. In role 2 she does absolutely nothing...seriously. She over again has no original personality...textbook Tsundere. Yui - This character is terrible in all senses of the word. She's walking deus ex machina, cipher more than. This grapheme should be hated by any gamer, since she'due south a cheat device, who adds zip to the story. Villains (small spoilers) - There are two major villains in this serial and they're both terrible. The first 1 forgets his motives for doing everything in part i and the part 2 one is so comically evil he can't even be taken seriously. Other Characters/ Who the hell cares - The female characters all want to have sexual activity with Kirito and take no personality past this. The male characters don't go to do anything because Kirito hogs the testify from everyone. That's really all there is to say nigh that. Suguha - This is Kirito'due south sister. She honestly has layers and was a plus to the show in my opinion. I don't know why she's in this show, she doesn't belong in it... So yeh, Gary Stu and Waifu - these characters are pathetic (ane). five) Enjoyment - Needless to say I didn't enjoy it. Poor bear witness (three) 6) Overall - This testify has so many fans, and I really don't know why. Its plot is rushed and terrible. Its characters and then flat, it'southward virtually funny...virtually. Its romance is highly misogynistic and terribly developed. I felt insulted watching this, and don't empathize how whatsoever could similar this show. Even Gamers.
Without going into spoilers, the 2d role of the series takes identify in a different setting, with a generally new cast bated from our primary hero. This part of the series probably deserves the award for most unnecessary story in the history of anime. This arc is pretty much a mario game. Our hero must salve the princess in the castle. Not really much to say nigh it. Oh yeh deus ex machina finale here too...oh and in that location's an incest subplot...for some reason. This concludes the plot section. I think I'm being pretty generous with a four here.
February 26, 2013
25 of 25 episodes seen
| Overall | 7 |
| Story | 6 |
| Animation | viii |
| Sound | 9 |
| Character | six |
| Enjoyment | eight |
I don't really desire to get into also much depth, but I'd like to give an overview of the serial and give my opinions it. If you haven't noticed yet there are many negative reviews out in that location for this anime, and while many of them bring upwardly some pretty fair points, I think some people are being a chip besides harsh on it. Let me explain.
Yes information technology'southward a pop anime, yes it has flaws, no it's not perfect, but at the very to the lowest degree in my opinion it is enjoyable. The pacing is off, the beginning particularly feels rushed, in that location were moments where I thought I skipped an episode because of the time skips which made it difficult to actually connect with whatever of the characters in the beginning, and there were some less than stellar instances where it felt like the anime was trying to make me care but failing difficult. Some characters felt to be completely forgotten throughout nigh of this serial too. For example in the beginning we are introduced to a character named Klein who is quickly pushed aside after the first episode and barely seen again and doesn't really make much of an impact at all on the story after on. This seems to happen a lot throughout this series where there might be some emotional moments where a character dies, or something dramatic happens but there is really no emotional affect from it, and the main grapheme seems to non really intendance that much about it or information technology doesn't really effect anything significantly. I really felt this series shined from effectually episodes 4-13 and I wish they would accept kept with that pace instead of rushing an ending midway and throwing something new at us. The second half merely felt completely unnecessary and forced. Pushing the negative aside, I establish the overall theme and atmosphere of the series to be great, and existence an avid lover the MMORPG genre obviously a lot of things in this series appealed to me. I really enjoyed the idea of beingness stuck in a game that was impossible to escape from without winning and having real consequences, information technology really made everything much more than dramatic and meaningful in the story. Sadly this speedily goes away midway through the plot. If I had to option two of the all-time things this anime did well for me it would probably be the blitheness and soundtrack. They both were really well done, and honestly without them being as good as they were this series would accept gotten a much lower score from me, and when I say I really enjoyed the soundtrack I mean that I loved it, it was superb. I remember what it really comes down was simply the fact that I enjoyed watching it. I tin can look at the flaws and pick the anime apart pretty easily, but those flaws never actually stopped me from enjoying this anime.I really do feel though that information technology had a lot of potential to be a summit tier series, it only made far too many mistakes. Looking at it considerately I simply cannot give this anime higher than a 7. It was good because I found information technology to exist enjoyable, only it wasn't nifty or amazing. At the end of the day I watch anime because I want something that will entertain me and keep me interested, and I feel that Sword Art Online did a good task at accomplishing that.
Oct 12, 2014
25 of 25 episodes seen
| Overall | 2 |
| Story | 2 |
| Blitheness | 7 |
| Sound | 7 |
| Character | 2 |
| Enjoyment | 5 |
Once upon a fourth dimension, in a state far away, there lived a brave young boy. He was the best swordsman in the land and the manliest human of all. He overcame countless trials with little endeavour and won the hearts of many fair maidens.
Yes, it's time for Sword Art Online, the origin of many angry rants.
The premise doesn't audio too bad. Ten thousand players of a virtual MMO are trapped in the game and forced to complete it to escape, except that death in the game leads to decease in existent life. Simply recall nearly it: this could be a tragic story of struggle where expiry is behind every corner. A story of sacrifice and despair. A story of alliances and betrayal. A story of the struggle to retain humanity in front of impossible conditions. ...But why have any of that when you tin have romance and harem? That's right; the survival game is just for evidence. Don't expect deep interpersonal or political conflict. Don't wait psychology or moral dilemmas. Don't expect tactics or mind games. Really, don't look witty dialogue of any kind. And that is the biggest problem with this bear witness. It is broke in substance. It's more often than not but uninspired romance and harem, with a fleck of action here and there. There isn't much thinking involved. A few plot holes I could forgive, but if the show isn't about anything worthwhile, there isn't much to practice. What makes this problem all the more credible is that the premise promises something entirely dissimilar than what it delivers. The show has thrown its hands upwardly in the air and said, "Nosotros don't intendance." So why should the viewer? Information technology doesn't help that the bear witness has grown infamous for glorifying its protagonist, who in the eyes of many has become the epitome of a Gary Stu. He can defeat annihilation, he can solve whatever problem, and he gets all the girls. It'south nearly like this prove was meant to be a propaganda slice in his favor. Story: iii The first 2 episodes are decent, building up the premise. We are introduced to the protagonist Kirito and the concept of the expiry game. Soon enough, we are told that a month has passed and two k players have died offscreen. ...Expect, non even a short montage or anything? Plain not. Anyway, these ii episodes are pretty much the but decent ones, so savor them while you can. The third episode begins to show more serious issues. We are supposed to form an emotional bond to new characters in a few minutes, and we have to go through over-the-top angst over irrational actions. But there is also optimism in the air; of course we can revive someone whose brain has been fried, right? What follows is an precipitous leap to harem and romance antics. The next few episodes are near various girls suddenly falling for Kirito, frequently the same day they met him. This typically involves uncontrollable blushing, fanservice, and people interim Tsundere. You lot probably get the motion picture. It doesn't help that many of these episodes have a very filler-esque feel to them. The chief plot ‒ if you tin can call it such at this point ‒ takes a backseat in favor of these random new girls. The girl called Asuna, who quickly becomes the token love involvement for Kirito, has at least met him earlier, just at that place is still very piffling buildup to their relationship. Unless it took place offscreen. You run across, another matter that becomes very noticeable is the pacing. In that location accept been timeskips of months between episodes. This wouldn't be a problem if these snapshots contained all the events that were critical to the story, only information technology's obvious that the author has picked rather deadening events out of all the possibilities. Why is it that thousands of people dying is covered in a few lines, while nosotros have to sit through hours and hours of romance and harem? I hate to exist beating a dead horse hither, only it'due south unavoidable because it comes up once again in but most every episode. By now, it has also become obvious to the viewer that Kirito is invincible to the point of tedium. He has a level higher than anyone, the best equipment, and a seemingly countless pool of abilities, simply most chiefly he always wins. At that place is sometimes faux tension, certain, but you know he volition survive anyway. You can only stomach so many clutch survivals before you start rolling your eyes. The residual of the story arc involves Kirito and Asuna hanging out in the countryside to spend their honeymoon. They fifty-fifty adopt a daughter to portray a typical happy family. The problem is that their human relationship is really not that interesting. But "dem feels"! Nah, lamentable. I have a heart of stone. This is followed by a sudden confrontation with the main villain, which Kirito wins considering the power of love conquers all. And by that I mean the power of love conquers the programming of the game. Well, okay, perchance there was some "power of love" clause in the lawmaking somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me at this point. Predictably enough, melodrama ensues. Tears, promises of love, etc. Yous can probably imagine. At least at present we're done with this show, right? No, remember again, that was only the good part. There are actually 11 more episodes left, and the journey takes united states of america further downhill. We enter some other game, this fourth dimension without the death attribute. Earlier we go to the plot itself, even at a glance this idea brings up a few problems. The harsh reality hits you faster than you tin say "cashcow." This second arc feels completely unnecessary. Information technology has been tied into the original story with an overly convenient plot device for no apparent purpose other than stretching it farther. At least know to quit while you lot're ahead. Only no, they just had to drag this show through the mud to rip apart whatsoever shred of dignity it had left. It doesn't help that in that location is no death anymore. While this makes the slice-of-life content more fitting, it also removes the established selling point of the show. The alter is too sharp, and the difference in tone is too jarring. If you want to brand a piece-of-life of ordinary MMO players, do it from the first. At present, for the plot itself, and it isn't pretty. Nosotros go straight to a Mario game, past which I hateful saving a damsel in distress trapped in a cage. And that isn't a metaphor; she is quite literally trapped in a cage. Add tentacles and incest to the plot, and you lot have a winning combination. The incest aspect is provided by Kirito's sister Suguha, who as well provides additional fanservice. At least now the pacing is less erratic and there is seemingly less development taking place offscreen. It's just also bad that there is also very little meaningful taking place onscreen. There are some new characters and fifty-fifty an ingame war going on, simply it'south all and so irrelevant to the main story that it's hard to maintain interest. Long story brusk, Kirito beats the second villain with the assist of more deus ex machinas. At that place are also more tears, promises of dear, etc. Then at present nosotros're done, correct? For now, yes, only there'due south withal flavour two to look frontward to. Setting: This is technically role of the story category, simply I really think information technology deserves its own section here. You lot see, the very foundations of the setting brand no sense. People in Sword Fine art Online are too often interim like they are in a normal game, not in a life-and-death scenario. For example, why is there then much resentment towards beta testers who accept greater cognition of the game? This isn't a competition; the faster someone beats the game, the faster everyone gets out. And, similarly, why are beta testers reluctant to share information? Are they so worried nearly other people using their newfound abilities to kill them for no reason? Look, you can't accept both a casual slice-of-life of MMO players and a grim death game at the same time. Pick ane. This casual attitude becomes more pronounced afterwards on when information technology becomes obvious people are wasting tons of fourth dimension with unproductive quests, romance, and just hanging around. Kirito himself spends time on seemingly useless sidequests, and Asuna spends time cooking for him. Come up to recollect of it, why has Asuna wasted points on a useless skill like cooking in the commencement place? Are these people even trying? And why are so many players dying when towns are safe zones? Are they stupidly rushing into high-level dungeons? I suppose so. Yous meet, for a grim expiry game it sure is hard to die in SAO. Bosses won't respawn, so everyone can advance forward, even weak players. Going from boondocks to boondocks is also like shooting fish in a barrel plenty with teleport crystals. Well, okay, there is that trouble of challenging people to a duel while asleep, but that can't accept out so many. There is no lack of critical resources because you lot can hang out in the safe of towns indefinitely. Sure, exp and money are limited because the regeneration of monsters is express, which is strange game design itself, but they aren't necessary if you lot stay in town. At least, the show never implies that they are necessary. Oh, and for the tape, I'm treating the evidence as self-contained and ignoring the source material. And so why do they die? I'd put my coin on rushing stupidly into dungeons because we go to see one notable example. Allow's imagine you lot plant yourself in the following state of affairs. Before you and your guild are nigh to enter a loftier-level dungeon, you acquire that one of them lied most his level. Knowing this, y'all realize y'all are underleveled and likely to end upward expressionless, while avoiding decease and alert the others would be as simple as staying in town. What would you exercise? Would you A catchy i, I admit. We are also introduced to groups of role player killers. Sounds expert until yous realize this isn't a normal game. At to the lowest degree, I idea it wasn't, but information technology looks like some people didn't get the memo. In a situation like SAO, there should exist no reason for these killings. This isn't Danganronpa, where the main bespeak of the premise is that y'all can only escape by killing someone. This is a game where it makes the most sense to team upwards and beat the game. There is no prisoner's dilemma; cooperation is the best plan and any sensible person would go for it. If you kill someone here, you lot only get some money and equipment. While it may help you beat the game a trivial faster, odds are that information technology will simply hurt your chances of survival overall. Merely off the acme of my head, a few reasons: Actually, does the equipment even aid that much? Kirito seemingly uses the same equipment for long periods of time, yet he is practically invincible. On the other hand, he does say that equipment tin can be worth many levels, so did he get the best stuff for himself so fast? Is information technology strange game design or cheat codes? Information technology'southward anyone'due south estimate. Of course, if you have piffling interest in beating the game, killing other players makes more sense, if but a piffling. I suppose getting more money can assistance you obtain some luxury items, but is information technology worth the adventure? The unsaid reason is that they are killing people for laughs, but why did so many murderous psychopaths decide to log into this MMO on its opening twenty-four hour period? Is this some kind of stab at gamers, saying that they are unable to distinguish between real violence and false violence? Maybe, or the author forgot that this isn't a normal MMO. Again. So is it a legit plan to stay in the virtual world for the rest of your life and surrender on getting back to the existent world? If so, it would explicate a lot. While the range of pastimes in there is smaller than in the real world, peradventure there is enough for some people. The choice betwixt staying in relative happiness in a virtual world and risking your life returning to the real world could have been an interesting one. Unfortunately, their bodies are deteriorating in real life, which makes the choice very one-sided. For some reason, Asuna has to point this out to Kirito because apparently the state of his real-earth trunk had never occurred to him over the course of two years. Yeah, good job, Kirito, y'all sure were fast on the uptake. Lying down on the grass and having a carefree nap doesn't sound so smart anymore, eh? Finally, why are virtual MMOs withal legal after the SAO incident? Sure, the new hardware is supposedly safer, but the previous death trap must have as passed through "strict" government examination, then who in their right mind would trust them? And even if nosotros assume it is safety, since when has people'due south hysteria hinged on facts? People fear new applied science even when information technology'southward harmless, permit alone when a massive incident like this happens. In that location would be mass protests in the streets in favor of banning them. Characters: two You may have noticed that I take only mentioned three characters by proper noun so far. For some other show, this might exist considering the cast is so vast that there is no time to go through them all, simply here it'south rather that there are very few characters worth mentioning. Kirito, and by extension Asuna and Suguha who are defined by Kirito's character, pig practically all of the screentime. Anybody else gets thrown under the omnibus. Girls only exist to fall in dear with Kirito, and males merely exist to be junior to him. The villains in particular only exist as provender to the guy. Kirito: I accept barely touched on Kirito's personality. Well, blame the testify, not me; it should at least be willing to meet me halfway. We know very little about him, other than being invincible and inexplicably good with the ladies. Essentially, he is the manliest homo on the planet. That's pretty much all he is. Even his dialogue ends up pretty banal. There are no witty insights, no clever jokes, no practiced give-and-take games. Much of his dialogue consists of saying that the world is a virtual one, explaining game mechanics, wishing to relieve everyone, or loving someone forever. The sort of stuff you'd look from a paper-thin cutout hero in a state of affairs like this. Information technology can exist a facepalm-worthy experience to witness daughter after girl falling for Kirito like naught, often the same day they met him. The testify incessantly drills into the viewer that he is the sexiest man alive... for some reason. I get that rescuing people tin can give you points in their eyes, but come on now. I can only assume there is a subconscious manliness stat and his black jacket comes with a +999 boost. As far every bit his invincibility goes, the win streak by itself isn't the biggest problem. The problem is that he always wins through creature forcefulness. That is to say, his graphic symbol skills and stats. In that location are no tactics worth mentioning, no psychology, no politics, no thinking whatsoever. He will but go out there and pull off his generic action hero stunts. Sure, developing those skills and stats may accept required some tactical thinking. Maybe he has optimized his skill tree or has astonishing grinding strats. In theory. Nosotros see no hints of it. It all happened offscreen and offscreen doesn't count. I'm sorry, it just doesn't. To add insult to injury, some of Kirito'south abilities are completely forgotten later on on. I'thou sure that health recovery thing would accept come up in handy any number of times. And when even his skills and stats aren't enough, he is saved by plot armor at the last second. It'southward likewise a mockery of MMOs in the sense that Kirito is able to solo raid bosses. And he is able to reach a level higher than anyone despite playing solo, supposedly because he doesn't have to divide the exp. His near unique power is revealed to be... *drumroll* dual-wielding, which nobody else is allowed to exercise in this game. This doesn't sound like any MMO I know of, or was the idea to portray a player with god-mode cheats on? I'm seriously thinking that the show would have been a lot more tolerable if Kirito alone had been replaced past one of the side characters. Information technology all the same wouldn't have been a masterpiece or anything, only at least the Gary Stu accusations could have been avoided. Asuna: She is nearly as bland in personality as Kirito. She is too portrayed equally fairly powerful for no substantial reason simply of form nothing compared to him. As time passes, her almost notable trait becomes being a textbook Tsundere. ...Well, that was fast. Moving on. Suguha: As mentioned earlier, her main role is providing fanservice and a tacked-on incest subplot. Information technology's simply another element thrown into the plot for cheap shock value, if anyone is nevertheless shocked by incest in anime nowadays. Villain #1: The outset villain barely appears, and his motivation for trapping the players is vague, to say the least. He basically did it out of personal involvement. He wanted to create a virtual world where death has meaning like in the real i, but every bit for why he was interested in the idea, he forgot. Err, alright then. Moving on. Villain #2: The 2nd villain is pathetic and a disgrace to antagonists everywhere, coming across as a drawing villain who does evil things for the sake of being evil. The conflict here is portrayed as completely black-and-white, just in case someone had sympathy for the guy, every bit unlikely as that is. His primary focus is essentially raping a comatose daughter. And that is over obtaining tons of cash, presumably in the millions. If he had left the daughter alone, he probably would have got abroad with information technology, so for all intents and purposes, he chose raping a girl over millions in cash. Talk almost priorities. Come to think of it, it's already ridiculous that the family of the asleep girl is planning to have her marry the guy. I hateful, she is in a blackout. As in unconscious, unable to state her own intentions, etc. Where are kid protective services when you demand them? Thankfully, the law disagrees, so they can't apply for an official marriage. Instead, he'll be adopted by her family unit as their son in spirit... Wait, what? Furthermore, his sheer incompetence is mindboggling. He openly explains his evil plans and his security is practically at Dr. Evil level, up to entering a secret keycode in plain sight and then that the prisoner tin can run across. Thankfully the government and his visitor are as incompetent and are non monitoring his enquiry group closely despite its reliance on infamous technology used in SAO. Are these the aforementioned people who deemed the new tech safe? If so, I'd like a 2nd opinion. I wouldn't trust these people to operate Angry Birds, allow alone a virtual MMO with potential health risks. Art: 7 Then this is where the money went. The backgrounds look prissy but cheap fanservice scenes non so much. Sound: vii Not too bad either. The soundtrack and opening and ending songs work pretty decently, and the voices are too alright. Enjoyment: 5 Funnier than I was expecting simply for the incorrect reasons. There is something earnest nearly how the show is trying to portray escapism and human relationships, but it falls just short enough to create a dissonance. Overall: iii Watch it to witness the writing yourself. Merely more than importantly, by watching the prove you tin better understand the reviews or, better yet, write ane yourself.
a) Record a message in advance, knowing that you wouldn't terminal long, or
b) Stay in town and so that you wouldn't go killed in the kickoff place?
one) If people offset killing each other, it plain increases the adventure of dying yourself, both in retaliation and spontaneously.
two) Killing people reduces manpower needed for beating the game, and the distrust that follows will get in even slower. Yous could only impale useless low-level players, but they probably don't have much coin or good equipment to begin with.
3) In that location is the chance that you will land murder charges if you lot escape from the game and officials observe out.
Dec 31, 2012
25 of 25 episodes seen
| Overall | 3 |
| Story | 3 |
| Animation | eight |
| Audio | 6 |
| Character | 3 |
| Enjoyment | half-dozen |
Once in a while, there comes forth a championship (be it movie, book or anime) that takes the audience by tempest, sweeping numerous off their feat, leaving several with a bad aftertaste in their mouth and making a few pass the work off as 'average' or 'mediocre'. Online communities, forums, chat rooms and every other nook and corner of the internet known to man turn into arenas of debates, discussions, fanboyism/fangirlism and flaming. It'southward apparent that when something is popular, information technology doesn't ever get to bathroom in praises. With the acclaim, comes a sheer amount of criticisms. Also, information technology goes without saying that popularity doesn't necessarily equate to quality. Sword Fine art Online, abbreviated as SAO from this betoken on, is no exception. SAO, the anime adaptation of a series of low-cal novels of the same proper noun by Kawahara Reki, has been the much talked about show of the Summer and Fall 2012 seasons, and taking into consideration the incredible hype surrounding it with reviews of mixed sorts, it's likely to stay that way for quite some time. Keeping in heed the vogue of MMORPGs and the need for something 'captivating', the squad behind SAO attempts to bring an enticing piece of work to the tabular array by executing the intriguing premise of 'players trapped in a VRMMORPG where expiry equates to expiry in real life and the only way out is to clear the game'. Unfortunately, SAO fails at many levels which is a shame considering when the anime kicked off with the highly anticipated first episode, all seemed well and it gave the vibes of something truly worth spending your fourth dimension on merely then it does a flip and from this point, things go awry. And here nosotros have it— i of the nigh controversial anime of the recent years. Before proceeding with the review, allow's get 1 thing straight. I have not read the original source fabric— the calorie-free novels, that is. Hence, I'm not going to describe any comparison between that and the anime. With that out of the way, allow's keep the ball rolling. SAO on the surface has a fairly interesting premise, no doubt, and it's executed well to some extent or and then did information technology initially seem. The very idea of a large number of people logged into a VRMMORPG with the intention of embarking on a virtual reality chance but just to be struck with utter horror as they're faced with the shocking truth of the game has been put into effect quite satisfactorily in the offset episode. It's pretty much what I'd call an splendid start. Nevertheless, SAO effortlessly manages to ship all my expectations and enthusiasm down the drain for it takes the show only an episode or two to reveal its truthful colours followed past the disappointment it has in store. So, what goes wrong? Well, many things. Following the Peachy Beginning, the first arc decides to take a detour and invests on a few episodes dealing with side stories in which our protagonist Kirito gets acquainted with one girl per episode and ends upwards rescuing her from a jam. This is precisely why I like referring to this bunch of side stories equally 'episodic harem' wherein the primary heroine of the story and Kirito's love interest Asuna is assumed to be constant and the other girls are variables. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, these side stories have very niggling to nil to contribute to the series as a whole. Absolutely, they equip the viewers with some clever, little details here and there regarding how the game globe works merely they inappreciably have any begetting to the overall plot. The master goal of these filler-like episodes appears to exist that of giving our hero clad in black an opportunity to flaunt how much of a chick magnet he is and how he has it all that takes to be the coolest dude in this globe fabricated upward of zillions of pixels. To boot, the characters (read: cute chicks) that announced in these episodes have admittedly no substantial role to play in the story later on. 'Side' characters indeed. And SAO knows how to effectively sideline them. When the arc finally gets itself back on rail, it's only natural to hope that the show will at present take something worthwhile to deliver. Nonetheless, that isn't the example. If annihilation, some astringent cracks begin to announced as very presently the focus of SAO is the romance between the two leads which is, in i word, cheesy. At this betoken, opinions are divided. The romance aspect, for some, can exist appealing while for others, it tin can be a major plough off especially if they don't similar the characters involved. Information technology all comes down to personal preference. Nevertheless, personal preferences aren't a convincing excuse past whatsoever means to overlook the fact that the story, world edifice and everything else accept a backseat for the sake of allowing the two leads to be lovey-dovey in the backdrop of gorgeous sceneries. When the arc does manage to divert its focus on to some 'serious business concern', things wait good for a while but with a rather unimpressive ending, the first arc concludes on a pretty bad note in my volume. And then begins the second arc which, to be blunt, is a letdown again. The 2d arc or the ALO arc is set inside ALfheim Online, a VRMMORPG successor to SAO. Kirito logs in with a mission to rescue his married woman (Asuna, duh) from the clutches of an archetypical antagonist who is a disgrace to all the villains in fiction nosotros have come beyond so far. This arc showcases some actually heart candy visuals only that'due south pretty much its only redeeming indicate. It doesn't have annihilation much going on except for a few climactic activeness sequences now and and then with intense battle music playing in the groundwork that terminal but for a while. Not to mention, at that place'due south another girl added to Kirito's harem. And then the hilarity ensues. The way in which ALO is brought to a close is bloodcurdling to say the least and at the aforementioned laughable because information technology doesn't hesitate to use the much notorious plot device dues ex machina, ruining any hopes there were for the final confrontation with the villain. The poor decision could be excused if it was handled more cleverly and assuredly but a blatant ass pull is past no means satisfactory. If anything, it only proves that the author faced a dead end and was unable to think of anything meliorate and creative, and expected the audience to swallow downward whatever he could come with, no thing how downright stupid it is. Amidst all the other things, the most hands noticeable flaw without a doubtfulness is the execution of the plot itself which is all over the identify. It doesn't have a genius to figure out later a couple of episodes that SAO suffers from poor pacing and inconsistency. It appears to be highly indecisive equally to what exactly it wants to practise and how to get it done. This is mostly axiomatic in the kickoff arc which is incredibly rushed at many parts. There're timeskips and the next thing you realize is that the characters accept already cleared quite a lot of floors while keeping us, the viewers, in the dark. This makes the plot disjointed, prevents any sort of correlation to the win-or-die state of affairs that the characters have been put into and gives everything the feel of it beingness nothing more than a piece of cake. The struggle for survival and a sense of urgency are hardly felt even though the lives of the characters have been said to exist literally at stake. The episodes dealing exclusively with the atomic number 82 couple taking some time off for a 'vacation' and afterwards ending up building a virtual family unit can further make one wonder: Why are they then carefree when they're supposed to chalk out plans to beat the game and brand a quick escape? To put it in other words, the arc has a tendency to go off track. It lays downwardly for itself one matter but ends upwards doing something else altogether. It'due south uncertain as to whether to make itself come beyond as a story of survival set within a VRMMORPG or as a fluffy love story. In due course, information technology decides to juggle with both but doesn't get either of them rightly done. Not to mention, when the situation demands it and the writer goes out of whatever creative ideas to move the story forward, the characters' actions are fabricated to contradict the established game mechanics and the only reasoning that'due south provided for such miracles is 'where there'southward a will, in that location's a style, and there're times when true love and determination can overcome any obstacle in the game'. Now, for those who expect for substance in any given story, it's almost a fact that no corporeality of fanservice, eye candies, self-insertion or guilty pleasure factors can possibly compensate for a substandard storytelling. Withal that'southward what SAO tries to do. It brings in all the aforementioned elements to sugarcoat its sloppy writing. On the whole, there're no sincere efforts made to incorporate details that would contribute in some way or the other to world edifice or characterization whatever. While the poor quality of the writing is the key cistron, the other aspect that contributes considerably to the mediocrity of the evidence is the label. Simply put, SAO'due south characters are banal. Essentially, the show has its focus on only ii characters: Kirito and Asuna. The others are only at that place; mere devices to motility the story frontwards. And a few have nothing to contribute to the plot at all. For case, the ones featuring in the side stories. Allow'south talk almost the protagonist Kirito first. An unsocial, reserved still headstrong player who knows how to get things done his way and is determined to beat the game. That's basically how Kirito is portrayed in the beginning. At this point, he seems like a good riddance from the generic wimpy male person leads that take become so much of a commonplace in anime. A practiced master character who knows how to deal with things is something refreshing to witness once in a while. Unfortunately, the impressions didn't last for long. In desperate attempts to make his character more than 'highly-seasoned', Kirito is depicted equally a 'perfect' being which leaves his character with little plausibility and much insipidity. Thus, he serves as a mere cocky-insert character for wish-fulfilment and at the cease of the twenty-four hour period, in that location's zippo 'individualistic' about him. Gary stu is probably what describes his character the best, and if paired with the Mary sue of the testify, we get a pb couple that seems to have been cut out directly from a tacky romance fanfiction. Yes, when I mentioned 'Mary sue', I was referring to Asuna. Asuna as the female person atomic number 82 is equally stereotyped equally they come. Much like Kirito, her character is heavily arcadian. She'due south pretty, popular, kind, caring and every other man wants to have a piece of her. Oh, and did I mention her cooking skills that level upward with each passing day? After all, her foremost duty is to cook for Kirito and show how much she cares for him. While initially she's portrayed every bit a strong, independent female person player with a tsundere-ish attitude, information technology doesn't accept her long to make a transition from that to a deplorable damsel in distress, requiring her knight in black robe to come to her rescue whenever she's in a bind. Kirito fighting her guild leader to earn her some fourth dimension for honeymooning is laughable to say the least. Information technology soon becomes apparent that she doesn't have much of a role other than serving as the love interest of the protagonist and being the object of fanservice at present and then which might exist successful in pleasing the male audition somehow but that alone can't make up for her badly written character. In fact, the other female person character the testify cares to put the spotlight on likewise ends upward condign the target of fanservice only doesn't take anything else going on for herself. If yous haven't guessed it already, I'm talking about Kirito's dear imouto. Throughout the first arc, the writer must have had been itching to include a love triangle in the story only couldn't notice a potential candidate to become the task done. As the start arc comes to a closure and the second arc begins, he grabs the opportunity, puts Asuna behind the confined (so that she'southward not an interference in what he'due south attempting to do) and introduces Suguha, Kirito'southward cousin sister. The sole purpose of creating her character, information technology appears, is to make style for a generic dear triangle and melodrama. Suguha loves her cousin but can't practise anything about it considering he loves Asuna. That's the bitter truth. Hence, she looks up to a sure someone she happens to befriend within ALO and hopes that he'd be able to sooth her aching middle. However, she gets trolled… badly. This, in turn, leads to more drama that'due south somehow supposed to be middle wrenching merely it isn't. The remaining cast consists of two antagonists, both failing to make any sort of impression though the one making his debut in the second arc can exist a good comic relief at times, and a agglomeration of side characters that wouldn't have had made whatever divergence even if they hadn't existed. The bottom line is, the characters of SAO are a half-baked lot devoid of any depth or development. They could've perhaps turned out to be interesting if they were more than fleshed out only who cares about that as long as they appeal to the intended target audition? Onto the technical aspects now. In the department of visuals, A-1 Pictures does a pretty good job. Inside the game, the vast tracts of greenery, the beautiful cities during the dark, the castles… they're all a pleasance to behold. The animation is too well-handled for the most role. Initially I wasn't much pleased with the character designs but they gradually grew on me, and I personally detect a few characters like Asuna, Heathcliff and Lisbeth to exist very well designed. The music is equanimous by one of the most renowned composers in the anime industry, Yuki Kajiura. While the soundtracks aren't bad by whatsoever means, none of them stand out much except the ane that plays during combat/intense scenes. In fact, that's the simply rail that can be heard playing most of the time in the unabridged show. A few other tracks, though they aptly fit the scenes they're played in, are easily forgettable. The same applies to the opening and catastrophe themes. Nothing groundbreaking at that place. I'm a fan of almost all of Kajiura's works and if compared to her previous works, SAO'due south music is lacklustre to say the least so much so that it'due south hard to believe Kajiura is the composer to begin with. To wrap up the review, SAO had the potential to be something adept but that potential goes downward the bleed due to poorly executed plot and bland label. It starts off in a satisfactory manner but goes downhill thereafter. Nevertheless, information technology can be an entertaining ride if one keeps their expectations low and swallows down whatever it has to offering without questioning anything. One of the reasons why SAO has been a letdown is the anticipation the majority had for it prior to its airing but that's justified since the lite novel series from which the anime is adapted is one of the virtually popular ones out there. [Edited on March twenty, 2017]
He'south a guy with a middle of gold.
He has an 'ideal' girlfriend/wife.
He's admired by those around him.
He can 'unintentionally' make every other adult female adore him, romantically or otherwise.
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Source: https://myanimelist.net/anime/11757/Sword_Art_Online
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