Review of Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale
Watched this movie with my brother at the Angelika Fim Center in Washington, DC Thursday, and I have to say I was mind blown. Now as an actual reader of the light novels, and as a huge SAO fan as a whole I really liked this new arc that they created separate from the light novels connecting with the new "Alicization arc" starting around novel 9. Before you guys try to bring this movie down to pieces because of SAO being a main stream anime, I would like to point out that my older brother who HATES SAO actually was surprised (& hated to admit)that it was a splendid, enjoyable movie. He was just impressed as a whole since he was prepared to hate it when I dragged him to watch it with me.
Okay individual stuff now
Story: 9.2
As I said earlier I thought the story was creative, energizing, and enjoyable. It was definitely something new and kind of strange for SAO to actually do when you think of it, but hey it was entertaining (If you watched both seasons of SAO) you would feel a hint of nostalgia every now and then in some scenes. (The last battle especially). If you liked the 'Mothers Rosario' arc then this definitely has some vibes from that.
Art: 9.6
A-1 pictures did a beautiful job with absolutely stunning visuals (as usual). You have to watch that last battle scene it is just awe-inspiring so many things going on that it will just take your breath away (in a good way of course)
Sound: 9
Absolutely adored the songs from Yuuna that was sang, they included some remixed versions from the first season of SAO like swordland etc. The ending song was by LiSA, called 'Catch the Moment' and man that was catchy af just like how Crossing Field was back in 2012.
Character: 8.4
Okay so I really like how they brought back all the old characters like Klein, Liz, Silica, Leefa, Sinon, Agil, and heck even Pina was there. I also liked how they included some prime characters from GGO, and Alfheim at the last moment as well. (I of course loved the fluffy fluffy moments from Kirito, and Asuna). However, I wished that we could see kirito evolve as an actual person a little more than we did in the movie, I needed more!! I'm glad they didn't ruin the character develop Asuna made from the Mother's Rosario arc.
Enjoyment: 10
Seeing this in Cinema was one of the best decisions that I made in 2017 so far, so many humorous moments included, and also just some plain awkward provocative moments that you can't help but laugh at or even wish you were there. It was just nostalgic in some moments:)
Overall: 9.5 soo I'm going to round to a 10
I really really enjoyed this movie, and I plan to re-watch it again when it comes out on kiss anime or crunchy roll. Some people honestly just dislike SAO or find faults with it just because of the fact that it is main stream, but I hope with this movie some people can realize that SAO isn't actually crap. But hey this is just my opinion. I hope you take my word for it though, and go watch it. If you're like my brother who didn't really like SAO either I promise you that you will at least laugh at something in the movie:) If you love it like me then I highly recommend that you save up $15 and go watch this movie now!!
BEFORE I FORGET!
if you watch in theaters please please wait until after the ending song you will be rewarded with a little preview:)