Review of Sword Art Online

I have been waiting to review this one for a while. In all honesty, I thought Sword Art Online had a lot of potential. After all , it was an inescapable Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game with perma-death. But much like its predecessor .hack I find that SAO suffers from its share of bugs so to speak. However, I find that the flawed aspects of Sword Art Online don’t detract from the overall epic feel of the anime. Also, given the fact that the series has amassed enough popularity to warrant its upcoming second season I thought I would put SAO through my personal gauntlet. Asmany may have noticed this is part one of a two part review. It was out of necessity as the majority of the series takes place across two distinctly daffiest virtual worlds. An unfortunate second reason for this division lies in the drop in plot quality and character development during the second arc of the series. Since the fluidity of the world is part of what makes Sword Art Online such a grand experience I would be remiss to judge both as one. Thus I choose to begin in SAO’s original setting of Aincrad.

Story:

The story of Sword Art Online revolves around Kazuto Kirigaya, better known as Kirito, a young gamer who was a beta-tester for Sword Art Online prior to the start of the anime. But soon after the game’s official launch Kirito and thousands of other unsuspecting gamers come to the terrifying realization they were trapped in a death-game orchestrated by game’s megalomaniacal creator Akihiko Kayaba. A solo player initially, Kirito quickly becomes one of the strongest players in SAO befriending many of his fellow players as he worked to clear the deadly MMO. Among these is Asuna Yuki a beautiful and talented swordswoman with whom Kirito becomes romantically involved.

This is where the anime begins to frustrate me as the aforementioned romance seems forced going from loathing tolerance to a literal in-game marriage within eleven episodes. While it is entertaining to watch these love-birds save each other time and time again I have to wonder how a relationship could progress so quickly even with the two year time skip. I might have been able to overlook this gaping plot-hole were they not the only characters who developed beyond their introductions While the story explains that many players do find love during their two year confinement the intensity of the romance between Kirito and Asuna seems forced and hallow in comparison to other anime couples. It is unfortunate that this the least vexing of Sword Art Online’s deficiencies.

The most irritating aspect of Sword Art Online lies within the character of Kirito . He is protected by a Superman-esque suit of plot armor that apparently allows him to level up from level one to level seventy in only a few episodes, withstand a pummeling from many enemies, one-shot bosses, gain an exclusive skill and even stave off certain death. While I understand that main characters have to win this McGuffin makes it far too easy. In the end of the arc I wanted to see Kirito lose. I liked him well enough but I couldn’t stand how over-powered he was.

If that wasn’t bad enough we have to contend with my least favorite ending of all time. The Aincrad Arc seems to end abruptly. It was as though the writers suddenly tried to give the SAO’s sadistic creator a heart mid-episode. I saw this as a cop-out. As you might surmise. I was extremely dissatisfied with this shameful attempt at an ending.

Style:

Despite the flawed story. Sword Art Online is aesthetically beautiful. Characters are very well drawn and the world is a detailed and vibrant setting. The fight scenes are polished and are among the most intense I have ever seen. Sword Art Online is stylistically light-years ahead of anything in its category. However style alone isn’t enough to distract from the previously mentioned problems.

Sound Design:

In a show like Sword Art Online sound design can make or break the experience be it subbed or dubbed. Aniplex of America hit the nail on the head when they selected Bryce Papenbrook and Cherami Leigh as English voices of Kirito and Asuna. Their stirring performances redeemed Sword Art Online for me creating a grand fluid experience. These voices combined with a mined-blowing orchestral soundtrack made an unbelievable audio-journey.

Conclusion:

While the Aincrad arc of Sword Art Online is somewhat flawed I found it enjoyable. I admit it is nowhere near the greatest anime of all time it is at least watchable. Usually I would give a recommendation as too where to buy the series, However I believe I will withhold this until the second part of this review. Expect the second half soon

Update:
Previously, I posted a review of the Aincrad Arc of Sword Art Online. As I stated in the aforementioned review I felt it had a lot of potential but did not live up to the hype surrounding the series. However, despite its flaws, I found it a creative well-animated take on the survival game subgenre. It is rather unfortunate that such an interesting and well thought out premise has to be marred by less than affable writing. Personal hang-ups aside, at least the ending of the first arc was plausible and, despite the cliffhanger, was somewhat satisfying.
To my dismay, such an ending was not satisfactory for the production studio as it didn’t cover enough source material to fill a twenty-five episode series. Apparently, the producers over at A-1 Productions decided to incorporate what should have been a completely separate series into a thirteen episode arc. This forced combination of the two arcs resulted in the second arc feeling more like a vague and unneeded continuation of Sword Art Online Completely reliant on the Aincrad arc for key elements of its back-story Alfheim Online pales in comparison to its predecessor in every way possible. Unfortunately, given the fact that my reviews are all-inclusive I would be remiss to review one half of a series without the other: thus I solider on for my viewing audience.

Story:
The Alfhiem arc picks up where the previous arc left off where Kazuto has returned to the real world and struggles to adjust to life outside of the game. However, it is soon revealed that this apparently happy ending isn’t as flowery as it seems since Asuna remains trapped in the the game while real body lies comatose in a hospital. Initially distraught at the loss of his lover Kazuto begins to visit her regularly only to be informed that she is soon to wed to a megalomaniac named Sogou Nobuyuki who seeks to possess her for devious reasons. A colleague of Asuna’s father, he acquires the assets used to create Sword Art Online using them to foster the creation of a new VRMMO wherein he has imprisoned Asuna. Enraged by this knowledge Kazuto reassumes the mantle of Kirito and dives headlong into Alfhiem Online with the intent of saving her.
Upon entering the game, Kirrito immediately receives plot armor through a glitch that allows him to retain his stats from Sword Art Online with the excerption of the revered dual-wielding skill. Unfortunately this isn’t the only that gives the Black Swordsman a rather obvious edge since most the game’s source program is a direct rip-off of SAO which opens the game up to severe exploitation which I won’t go into since it would lead to a massive spoiler. The viewer soon learns that the key difference between Alfheim Online and its deadly counterpart is the inclusion its flight system and the ability to log out. While I appreciate these features I feel like the real-word sequences slow the show down and leave me somewhat depressed.
Irritatingly enough, the Alfhiem arc also includes a secondary love interest and mentor in the form of Laefa, While I found her light-hearted personality refreshing the incestuous desires of her real-world counterpart Suguha detracts from her character and makes her seem like a love-struck teenager While I wanted to enjoy both Leafa and Suguha immensely as characters they just didn’t have the same depth of character Asuna had in the Aincrad arc.
This brings to Asuna who has fallen as a character from being one of the best female main characters of all time to the oversimplified role of damsel in distress. To add insult to injury the poor girl is nearly raped twice in the course of the arc. Being forced to watch these instances of depravity really brought the series down for me since Asuna is hands-down my favorite character. In the end, I actually felt sorry for her as she was literally tortured by Sogou having been forced to watch the final battle before being essentially felt up by Oberon. While both Sogou and his avatar get what they deserve I find Asuna is made to suffer for the sake of plot which is why I will not rewatch the Alfhiem arc.

Style:
As horrible as the plot of Alfhiem Online is I am afraid the style has suffered even worse. This is particularly true in the area of character design. For instance, Kirito’s design seems to be patterned after a troll doll whereas Leafa’s is a blatant rip-off of Disney’s Tinkerbell. Asuna’s design , I’m sorry to say, gets the worst treatment as she is made to wear a very revealing costume that makes her character seem more like eye candy than a full-fledged character. This aside, the overall art style of Sword Art Online remains largely untouched making it a treat for the eye.

Sound Design:
Fortunately. Sword Art Online’s soundtrack saves the whole review. However, I find that the new opening that accompanied the Alfhiem arc was a bit jarring in comparison to Aincrad’s Crossing Fields and the other orchestral on the OST. The voice acting is well done with the exception Cassandra Lee Morris whose performances as Suguha and Leafa left a lot to be desired. In all honesty, Morris’s child-like performance brought down the otherwise stellar portrayal of Kirito and Asuna don by Pappenbrook and Lee. This leaves me unable to say I enjoyed it enough to compare to the previous arc.
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Conclusion:
As I said previously, Sword Art Online had a lot of potential. However, to its misfortune, Alfhiem squandered a great deal of it. With a plot so contrived that it might as well have been a poorly-written fan-fiction alongside character that seemed to be trope inspired rip-offs I feel Alfhiem pales in comparison to Aincrad in every way possible. Although it sets up for the upcoming c I question rather I will watch the second incarnation as its formula is quite stale by now. But, like all new anime you have to wait and see.

As always, don’t take my word for it. I invite you to watch Sword Art Online on legal streaming sites like Crunchyroll or Netflix and submit your own opinion. If you are so inclined you may purchase the series on DVD or lu-ray via Rightstuf.. Thank you for your patronage and I am honored to give my service to such a wonderful community. Keep your browsers pointed to this bkog for all your anime needs.

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