Review of Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale

All aboard the hype train! Fans have been anxiously waiting for this since it first got announced back in March 2016, myself included. Expectations rose, excitement heightened, and the internet blew up once they caught wind that there was going to be an SAO movie. With such high expectations and hopes, did Ordinal Scale live up to the hype? Let's find out. Story - 8/10 I'm assuming that everyone that's reading this has already watched at least the first arc of season 1. If not, turn back now. The story is good, adaptively creative. Basically, what that means is that the director took an existing plot and/orinspiration, and improved upon it. Same concept, new direction. It follows what the SAO series is all about, really - gaming, scheming, mental toughness, and overcoming impossible odds with some new overpowering technique. Granted, it worked for season 1 and 2, so why fix something that's not broken? Personally, I feel that it could've been longer, maybe a two-movie series, but all in all it performed well given the time frame of 2 hours. One thing I have to add, though, is that I thought the directer only made Yuno an idol purely to please the mainstream audience. She could've been a juggler, book nerd, or unicyclist, and it wouldn't have made a difference in the plot.

Art- 10/10
I usually don't give stuff 10 for art unless it's Makoto Shinkai, but the art on Ordinal Scale is fantastic in its own way. While Shinkai will take your breath away with beautifully detailed scenery, Ordinal Scale gives the audience mesmerising fight scenes. Animation is included in art, and the animation during fight scenes was phenomenal. High swinging swords with light trails, energy bullets streaking across the stage, oppai jiggles *cough*, flashbacks; all were fantastic. Character design and costumes were amazing too, I loved the costume for Yuna-hime...I may or may not have a thing for white hair...

Sound - 9/10
I don't give 10's unless I'm humming the songs when I'm walking down the street. I have to say that although the sound effects were practically perfect, some songs weren't exactly my cup of tea. OP and ED was the same song, "Catch the Moment", by LiSA, the same person who did "Crossing Field" for SAO season 1, and other themes from Angel Beats, The Irregular at Magic High School, Nisekoi, and Qualidea Code. Great as always, no complaints about that. However, I do have a problem with 3 of the songs Yuno sang: 1) Ubiquitous dB, 4) Break Beat Bark!, and 5) Smile For You. 1 and 4 did nothing for me except having a song for the purpose of having a fight song. I just didn't like Smile For You, I thought there was something weird about it that just bugs me. Songs 2) and 3), Longing and Delete respectively, were good. I felt that they elevated the fight scene and set the appropriate moods.

Character - 10/10
They stayed true to their characters, no deviations. Yuno, I love you. Sinon, I love you. Man, I wish Sinon had more screen time. Kirito, you lucky SOB, you got to shove your face into Asuna's oppai. Don't worry, that wasn't a major part of the story...

Enjoyment - 10/10
I was lucky enough to catch this on opening night in Vancouver (second showing). As expected, sold out theatre. The movie was amazing, don't get me wrong, but the atmosphere inside the theatre was awesome. Practically everyone had watched both seasons, and were true fans. Every time something big happened on screen, there would be collective cheers or boos from everyone. For example, let's say Kirito were to have his face planted in between Asuna's oppai. Completely random example, may or may not have happened in the movie. Everyone laughed, but then this little kid in the 3rd row squealed EWWWW and everyone laughed even harder. Little things like that, along with the like-minded audience, made this movie much more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, without the audience reactions, I still would have rated the enjoyment high. It was nice talking to fellow fans after the movie, discussing what we thought should've happened, and whatnot.

Overall - 9/10
Watch Ordinal Scale if you are even remotely interested in SAO. I loved every moment of it. There were twists that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. There were moments when we wanted to cry, and moments when we wanted to shove our faces into Asuna's oppai...ok I'll stop about that. But seriously, it was a great movie.

STAY TO WATCH THE POST-CREDIT SCENE.

SEASON 3 CONFIRMED, ALICIZATION ARC(S) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!