Review of Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld Part 2
To start talking about Sword Art Online, let me make it clear that, in my opinion, it is a completely mediocre anime, with occasional flashes of becoming a good work. Now, let's get into the details. SAO is a collection of dramatic catchphrases and "cool moments" that might impress a seven-year-old. We don't even need to dig too deep to see how the characters lack personality and are utterly incapable of standing on their own. It gets downright frustrating how shallow their interactions are. As for the story told in SAO Alicization War 2, it’s just as weak. The villains feel like something written by someone lackingcreativity, and the previously established rules are constantly broken, rendering everything illogical. For example, the villain enters the game with a super-powered account and is warned that if he dies, he will return with a standard account or his old one. He dies—but then comes back with his own account, which turns out to be absurdly stronger than the previous one, even surpassing the Pontifex, without admin privileges. You might think, "Oh, he was strong in GGO, he won the BoB tournament," but then why didn’t Sinon, who also won and entered with a super account, defeat him? How does that make any sense?
To me, SAO is an anime for those who don’t have much patience and aren’t really interested in well-developed characters or a genuine story. It's the kind of show you watch if you want to see girls fawning over a generic protagonist who wields dual swords and is the world's ultimate savior.
Personally, I felt like my time was completely wasted—I couldn’t even enjoy watching it. And that’s the sad part. I can see that it had—or could have had—potential. The world, the technology, are intriguing, but the inconsistencies pop up every five minutes, making it really hard to take the story seriously.
To wrap it up, I truly didn’t find any enjoyment in it. Nothing carries weight, nothing makes sense, and the characters are so shallow that it’s almost laughable how little significance anything has. Even Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon—who I once thought had the most potential for growth—feel like the same people from the beginning.
P.S. Kirito crying more over an AI's death than being separated from his sister, Asuna, and the rest? That’s rough... At that moment, I reflected and regretted my decision to start watching this anime.