Review of Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld Part 2

After the cliffhanger ending of the last season, I was ready for a banger, and sadly SAO did not provide. Now to be fair, my standards were a bit high. After the last two seasons, I had hoped that it would continue this writing streak for at least the rest of the season, but SAO is SAO after all. Story 3/10 And SAO's story got terrible again. It started quite strong but went so downhill that it is easily the worst arc in the whole franchise. Basically, the Americans have recruited American VRMOOO players to join, as they are low on forces. So quite a few playerswith no motivation join, which was iffy, but I still went with it. They quickly surrounded the Good guys, and It seemed like they were going to win. The author creates this amazing situation that we, as a viewer saw no escape. No matter how much we could think, it seemed impossible. Now I don't know why I thought that the Infamous author of SAO could write himself out of this precarious situation because he did the most SAO thing possible. Maybe it was the fact that he had written a similarity tense situation in the last season, or perhaps because the stakes felt a lot higher, but I expected a banger as it was correctly set-up. However, instead of fantastic writing, he gave us the worst thing ever—the power Of Friendship. Now I don't HATE the power of Friendship. It is just a frustrating cliché that I can get over happening. Of course, that doesn't mean I like it, but there is a limit to it. For example, when the power of Friendship stops being that and becomes the heaviest plot armor, and the author giving nonsensical abilities so that the good guys could win. I can ignore it in small doses, but it can get annoying when It happens for 5 episodes straight. (episodes 13-17), Literally.

The amount of times a character would get this random power up to save her beloved Kirito, and run out of energy, only to do it the next episode even stronger, was way too forced. The also villains disappeared, becoming the American soldiers, A womanizer, and two blanks. Yes, this time with Leafa and a woman, it happened again, a frustrating theme each SAO villain has to have. But don't stop there as they seemed to throw random characters into the war for nostalgia's sake, as they needed to delay the war until their beloved Kirito saves the day. Eventually, when Kirito does appear, the wholesome scene with Asuna felt annoying. To no one's surprise, he killed EVERY ENEMY SOLDIER IN 3 SECONDS and then fought the main boss, literally turning him into a tree. The plot got steady after that, but it was downgraded entirely, as every action before ruined the overall product. Now to be fair, It redeemed itself in the last few episodes, becoming from below sword art online standards to just a tiny bit above average, and on the edge of our seats, however those were the last two episodes that set up the next arc

Art 7/10
Again, the art was excellent and was the only thing keeping me going this season. It provided some fantastic fights and some cool moments, the newer weapons-making cool new attacks. As I mentioned in a previous review, A1 pictures stepped up their game with the fights, animation, and character designs. However, with the season reverting to the American's red soldiers, the CG used to show all the different races changed to a swarm of red, moving so janky that my eyes hurt. While most of the fights devolved as they fought fodder (rather than actual characters), a couple of them were still good, but only one of them stood out. It was Emperor Vector Vs. Bercouli Synthesis One, and it was amazing, again using the hard-line contrast. It was a battle of great emotions and one of the few reasons to watch the season.

Just one quick question. Remember, when people got hit in the first and second season, they would bleed and die naturally instead of pixelating like they were in a game? Especially the whole thing in which Eugio and Kirito chopped of the guy's arm. No? Okay, I must have been imagining it.

Sound 9/10
Again the sound was phenomenal, with great sword strikes and each ability. To the heavenly choirs, to the electrical and Straight jagged sound of Sinons bow as it drew and fired. Each sound was full of life, and my ears couldn't have enough. The Opening and the Ending sadly dipped in quality, though, and I was disappointed, as it did not live up to the previous season. People watching for animation and sound will not be disappointed.

Characters 3/10
The whole time when I was watching this season, I had one thought in mind. What happened?

This part of the story focuses on Kirito's ever-expanding harem(an army at this point) and ruining all the characters. So first, the integrity knights, and boy have they changed. The previously fleshed out and interesting characters lose their character as they become weak, irrelevant, and the author forces these romances and character traits. They lose all their strength, do the dumbest actions, and quickly become on the level as the fodder CG soldiers, as they have no one important to fight. They are quickly forgotten as the focus is on each power of friendship play, to stall for Kirito to wake up. Kirito, on the other hand, has never been better, sitting there blankly while his harem, continuously growing. His previously new character is gone, now back to the same old guy, an even bigger self insert. Eventually, when he comes back, they connect the harems feeling to him, and Eugio, for like the 10th time, appears in the war, even though he died like a long time ago, and using that, he comes back to life. After fighting the bad guy who had a dumb character, he runs off to save Alice, who is quickly degrading in quality.

The Japanese and the Americans Fight for little to no reason, the real-life cuts and wounds going back to the game graphic wounds. They continue fighting despite it, stimulates pain, and asks no questions about why they are doing this. Same with the Kirito's Harem-I mean friends. Fighting for Kirito's brain's survival, they are simply the author trying to raise nostalgia within the audience. Same with the soldiers for both sides. They were simply plot devises to both make the situation seem dark and stall for Kirito. I also want to talk about the whole dark army, Like what happened to them. During the first arc, they were winning and outnumbered the good guys. Then, after losing a small fraction of their forces, they all disappeared aside from a scantily clad woman who showed her arse off half the time she was on screen, and then to make the show "Mature," she decided to tentacle r*pe Leafa, to make an Ogre jealous. Same with the two main villains. In the first season, we got hints of their characters, and they seemed to be terrifying forces that were pretty powerful and had some motivation. But sadly, it didn't deliver, and again we were forced to watch Kirito fight fights; he obviously was going to win against opponents who had no characters.

There was only one good character this season, and it was Bercouli Synthesis One, the mentor of Alice. His fight scene with Emperor Vecta was amazing, as it was full of emotions. We received the backstory of one of the first knights and his death. It was full of emotions and was the best fight in the series. But as he dies to deliver the final blow. Vecta dies but revives 3 seconds later, invalidating their whole struggle and ruining the mood. Then Sinon guiding Alice away from him, invokes Friendship's power to kill him again, ruining the previous fight's mood and emotions. The season also tries to make you feel for the characters as it goes along, but it doesn't work here. It makes these worse backstories, aside from Bercouli Synthesis One, and shoves them at you, wanting you to feel things. However, it doesn't work, making it more mundane and annoying as random people will get the power of friendship powers to accommodate their "development," which is horrible overall.

Enjoyment 1/10
I felt like watching the two previous seasons really soured it for me. They felt like they were going somewhere, and I was ready for SAO to become really good. But it didn't deliver. Watching this week to week was like torture, as I slowly saw the show I praised as amazing go downhill in every episode. It was one of the worst experiences I have had. It wasn't the worst show ever, but watching it with the previous seasons in mind made it worse. If you liked any prior season, just read a synopsis of what happens and skip it. Otherwise, SAO might be ruined for you.

Overall 2/10
I rarely cry to anime, and I have always looked for one to do it for me. A silent voice hit pretty hard, but I didn't flat out cry. But then watching WOU, I felt so many urges to cry as it hit pretty hard; it is one of the Dumbest Sequels ever. (It got 2 points because of its S tier animation and Sounds, and even those only bring it up 1 point compared to the horrible season)