Review of Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale

Well, Hi there! If you are reading this you found one of my spoiler free reviews! It's where I try to give you more or less an idea of what to expect, so that it would be easier for you, the watcher, to decide whether or not it's worth your while! So without any further ado, LET'S BEGIN! First, I will give some context about my position in this, before I decided to watch the movie and even doing this review. I usually try to take the neutral ground in reviews (otherwise it wouldn't be much of a review, now would it) and in this caseit was the same. After the second season I felt like I was in a meh position, because of some of the flaws it had and I actually even took a brake from SAO, because I felt like it's going to be the same deal as with the second season where half was meh and the other half was actually really good (if you want more context, you can check my review on it) and after watching it I also talked to my friend who was like "Oh, the movie was terrible, you can definitely skip it". So, I had a dilemma, "Should I continue?", "What if it turns out to be also the same story here?", "What if it gets worse?" and then the last thought after a lot of debating "But what if it actually turns out to be good?..." And with that glimmer of hope I went "FECK IT, I'LL SEE FOR MY SELF" and watched it today and got reminded to never fully listen to others.

This movie was what I wanted to see for the second season, the pacing, design, story telling, music, you name it, was done the way that it should've been for a long time. If you have read my the reviews from the first two seasons, then you already know some of the problems that they had and well in this movie I finally saw them as resolved. The flow is finally even throughout the whole story and no more weird setting or story transition in the middle of everything, none of that. The story is good and really enjoyable and it works really well with the first and second season. But there are two small things that I have to say. One, is about some of the details in the premise, the plot is good, but in practice, I think the idea about the new vr system that is mentioned in the description about the movie, is not fully thought through, it's close, but not done. Physics matter a little bit even in an anime or a manga, otherwise people's emersion gets taken away just a teeny tiny bit, because everything is happening in the real world. Second, is the part almost at the end with the MC, all I'm saying is this, there could've been just a little more, especially if you take in consideration the effort that was put in just before that, otherwise it feels a little bit lackluster.

Next I guess will be a little bit about the characters. I can't thank them enough for finally giving everyone some proper screen time and not making them just as a decoration in the background. Everyone gets a decent amount of it and all of the fans can finally jump in joy, knowing that they will see them properly this time and not just have a glimpse of them. Characters look as awesome as always and maybe even better this time, since the jump in quality can definitely be seen everywhere.

And yeah, this time the team have definitely outdone themselves. Since the environment looks phenominal and with the characters it's close to perfect, like at some point it reminded me of the ridiculous amount of detail and work that was in the Fate/Series. The fights look really good and with the amazing soundtrack, it feels just right.

In the end, I give it a solid 9,5/10, I seriously would like to put max for this, but there were those two small flaws, so if you want you can always round it to a 10. XD This is definitely something that I would recommend to someone who has watched SAO before, and especially to those who felt that the second season could've been better, since this will get them back to hyping in no time. But if you're new to the whole Sword Art Online thing, well, you might like the movie, but I would suggest that you watch the first two seasons, since you will know more about the world and characters and will be more attached to them too.

Now, I will continue my journey in SAO, so I will see you next time! PEACE, I'M OUT! ^^