Review of Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale

Ah this movie... took me a while to get to it since I have probably a 3 digit to-watch and on-hold list and I'm not a general SAO fan... As it is a movie entry, the animation budget really isn't bad. Most of the backgrounds are pretty detailed and well drawn. Character models also look stable in quality and the design is pretty pleasant. It's on par with the main series if not better due to the budget. Maybe one or two mobs looked a bit off...The art deserves around a 7.5 but I'll be nice and round up --- Art: 8 Next up the soundtrack, especiallyduring fight scenes is characteristic Kajiura -- This part seldom ever goes wrong. The fit is very strong with the scene and animation style. Moreover, the insert songs, weaved in as a specific character's songs, are very well composed and did not come off as standard squeaky anisong, but instead have an artistic vibe to them. The overall quality is good enough to rival a Macross entry! The score for this bit is very strong --- Sound: 10

The weakest part of this entry is, unfortunately probably the characters, but comparing a 2 hour (6 episode equivalent) to any proper length anime series is probably super unfair. Discounting the characterization done in the prequel animes, there is sadly almost no character development for the majority of the cast. The characters who receive development are primarily Eiji, and Yuna, with Kirito, Asuna and a certain professor getting a little coverage. Kirito's was kinda almost temporary so it doesn't count very strongly. Eiji's and Yuna's, for a movie length entry, are decently well done enough that you could sympathize with their situation and their motives for trying to do what they are aiming for. As such, they feel realistic and relatable. The most critical part is Asuna's as there are certain logic gaps to her mindset through the events of the movie that cannot be ignored, though they are subtle enough that the neurology-ignorant members of the populace may miss the faults. Overall, accounting for what was present in the time given, I would put a very slightly above average rating for the characters --- Characterization: 6

Finally, the story is relatively simple and whole, there aren't really any plot twists, Chekhov's guns or fancy literary techniques involved in the storytelling. While the overall plot and conflict resolution effectively follows a typical hero/save the girl format complete with this stereotype's sort of ending, it is well done for what it is and what it had time to do. The story also fills the time in pretty evenly, so I would not say there are many rushed or poorly paced bits.

There are however few gaps in logic and I will forgive the writers for not being actual scientists/neurologists/physicists and just attribute some of the bullshit they made up as "scifi", which is fine. Most people reading this review will have less proficiency in both neurology and physics than myself anyway so chances are, a typical viewer won't be bothered by their "explanations" for certain things. If you have a degree in either field however, BE WARNED! You'll just have to suspend your disbelief on this bit. If you can't... then subtract 3 points from the score I give this part. Aside from this, there aren't really many issues.

The score for the story thus scores decently --- Story: 8

Enjoyment?

I can't speak for you, dear reader! You have to decide if you will enjoy a simple story once in a while and more or less human villains. Personally though, I enjoyed this. Most aspects are well done, and I appreciate that they did not try to fit the equivalent of Code Geass into 2 hours (god that would be rushed and confusing!). My enjoyment never goes into my overall score into an anime however so I'll rate this section liberally --- Enjoyment: 10

Overall: [(6+8)/2]+1* = 8

*I bumped up for the art and sound scores.