Review of Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online has got to be the most over hated anime of recent decade!! I realize it isn't a perfect anime, but I'm starting to believe that most of the hatred resulted from bandwagoning judging by some of the criticisms I've seen towards it. Does it have some flaws? Yes, no anime is without flaws, but I honestly feel quite a lot of people are overreacting as a result of expectations that were unfairly high, and they accuse it of FAR more than it actually has; even going so far as to fabricate reasons and outright lie about events that happened in each arcjust for the purpose of hating on it.
I know it's hard to trust anyone on the internet in regards to biases, but I truly did go into this series completely unbiased, completely unaware of the controversy it spawned. I will not try comparing the anime to the light novels, but, as someone that's had experience both reading and watching it, I seriously don't understand why so many people have been acting like the quality between mediums is like the difference between night and day, with the anime deserving "trainwreck", or "the physical incarnation of Satan" just because some details from the light novels weren't conveyed as well, and the adaptation has a couple of flaws. I will admit the light novels are FAR better in quality for most areas, especially in terms of inner-monologues, world-building, and more in-depth characterization, but that isn't to say that I think the anime was unbearably awful in every sense of the word, like most viewers would say.
I've heard people say, "It's nothing but poorly executed wish-fulfillment". I've come to realize this statement isn't exactly fair considering that all anime have some aspects that appeal to the viewer's unconscious desires. I realize the reception of this anime is very polarized, so I will now give my opinion on the widely popular anime of 2012. Keep in mind, I have watched the full series 3 times, with the first time during the time it was first airing on Toonami(so around the time everyone and their mom loved it and this whole malice filled hatred was almost non-existent).
I will only have one rule for this review: This is based mainly off the anime, I won't compare it to the light novels much since the light novels are more detailed. Keep in mind this is just an opinion with some examples from the actual show. Possible spoilers are ahead.
For Aincrad-
Characters: I'm honestly confused as to how people reached the conclusion that the character development was "horrific", or "non-existent". The main characters were fully developed since we got detailed explanations on their backgrounds, or at the very least enough information to know what background they're from. We got to see how they've grown after the time skips, and it just gets better in GGO.
Take into account character development consists of multiple parts such as area setting, how they react to others, their personality, being able to relate to them, and, of course, how they've grown over the course of the series.
The side characters, while being sidelined for the most part, had great personalities. Nearly all the characters presented were memorable. Almost all of the side characters have some background to them, and can be pretty diverse. The only problem here really is the lack of screen time, making most of the side characters relatively flat.
The complaints that Kazuto Kirigaya was the very definition of a Gary Stu I found were complete fabrications, and quite possibly the biggest criticism filled with the most lies. Most of these conclusions I've had the displeasure of seeing have been based solely off of how powerful he is, and using a perverted definition of what the trope truly means, as the true definition means a character that has absolutely 0 human flaws, is basically a walking Deus ex Machina, never makes any mistakes, and never suffers any consequences; essentially being a god in that universe while still in human form. Seeing as how he does suffer consequences for his actions and clearly makes mistakes, such as being an outcast by being labeled as a Beater in episode 2, being part of the reason that the Moonlit Black Cats are dead, and even nearly being killed in cold-blood by the enemies he's made on multiple occasions, I believe these are some of the biggest reasons that he doesn't fall into this arguably awful trope. He further remains out of falling into this trope due to his constant human flaws shown throughout the series, such as being sensitive enough to the point of suffering survivor's guilt from being the only surviving member of the Moonlit Black Cats shown throughout Aincrad and mentioned in Fairy Dance, how lowly he thinks of himself in season 2 after forgetting those he's killed, how anti-social he is, having absurdly low self-confidence at some moments, deteriorating overconfidence during battles that he decides to engage in on a whim, losing all rational thinking when he snaps, and having the capacity to nearly murder someone in cold-blood, as showcased by the final conflict in the last episode of season 1.
The other would be his actual internal flaws and weaknesses. Judging from what I've heard too many people say, many people tend to overlook these parts seeing as how it's something that requires absolute attention to see; it's mostly "show, don't tell" aka Screen-Writing 101. Many of his personality flaws were given throughout the series to offset his essentially Glass Cannon stats. Some include snapping during battle, abandoning all rational thinking when he snaps(acting on instinct), being rude at first meetings, others in SAO hate him due to his Beater status, his emotions are used against him, and he is hard to talk to. Plus, he gets into some bad situations with others, such as with Suguha and Kuradeel. Klein even points out some of his flaws in Episode 9.
To put it simply, just because Kazuto is a nice guy and powerful in-game, even being strong enough to be one of the top players of the game, through training does NOT make him "utterly flawless" and "walking wish-fulfillment".
I just wish Asuna's background was touched on more in the anime during the Aincrad arc because the light novel had more details on her. I guess I'll have to wait for Mother's Rosario to be animated for her in-depth character development.
9/10
Story: The story is set within the first Nerve Gear VRMMORPG: Sword Art Online. It begins with beta tester: Kirito logging into the official release of SAO for the first time, and helping out a newbie who asked him for help shortly after logging in: Klein. After teaching him the ropes, both are conversing about the game until Klein notices a key feature is gone: the log-out button. Shortly after this, the creator informs all of the players of the dark secret of Aincrad: there is no way to log out, and death in-game means death IRL. The series begins on this dark note.
Despite what the first episode says, the "death game" MMO focus is only about 1% of the anime, as it dives more into relationships and the psychological impacts, rather than the actual game itself. My advice here is to not have any specific expectations on this anime and NEVER take the synopsis at face value, as people will be disappointed that this doesn't focus on the game nearly as much as, say, Log Horizon. It pulls many twists throughout it, and ends up diving into what could happen if the line between virtual reality and reality began to blur, all while focusing on making the main characters as human as possible, and developing their relationships throughout, with the most focused one being between Kirito and Asuna.
True to what most people say, every MMO in the series, for the most part, does NOT follow traditional MMO gameplay. However, that doesn't mean it doesn't have some MMO aspects(like outside battle skills, such as blacksmithing and fishing, or raid tactics like tanking), and some of the things MMO players enjoy doing in the MMOs they play besides fighting(I know from personal experience by playing a few that it's just as fun to explore and have a "fantasy life" than just fight). Also, there are plenty of MMOs that don't follow the traditional gameplay formula of "cooldown periods" and "fixed-interval attacks"(Graal and MapleStory for instance), and focusing on this non-traditional battle system isn't an "inherent and fatal flaw". I won't make a comparison to the light novel here, but I'd suggest reading Vol. 1 if you want a grasp on how the SAO fighting system works, as that was more "shown rather than told" in the anime.
The story has plenty of exposition on rules and the more confusing plot elements through the dialogue, something that you'd typically find in most complex anime. This is usually is used for general world-building, setting up the stories, and presenting relevant information, making the series limited in significantly large plot holes. While this sounds like it would hinder the anime, it actually does it in such a natural way that it seems like normal conversations that people would have while playing a game with each other.
Perhaps its strongest point in terms of story is its ability to foreshadow most instances in the future, such as possibly hidden skills, or the identity of certain characters. In fact, a concept from one of the later arcs is foreshadowed from as early as the 1st arc. I won't spoil it, but I can guarantee it will clear up any misconceptions that the 1st arc presents if adapted properly.
The story was excellent and had the perfect mix of sweet scenes, emotionally heavy scenes, and action scenes. I never expected it to turn into a romance with a slice-of-life feel for the final episodes of Aincrad, but, holy crap, it was beautiful. The chemistry between Asuna and Kirito was great. It was an excellent romance. 10/10
Music & Animation: I'd probably consider this soundtrack to be Yuki Kajiura's best work, with stand-out tracks being Luminous Sword and Swordland, and it's become almost a given for A-1 Pictures to nail the animation. 10/10
For ALfheim-
Characters: Suguha was a great addition. She was a kind and caring character, and was downright awesome when she fought in ALfheim Online.
I quite enjoyed seeing Suguha and Kazuto's relationship as cousins reform, though it could have definitely been handled better from having a more normal situation. I thought it did a good job in portraying how complicated it was for her, considering the unwanted crush she had and the brother-sister relationship she and Kazuto had as kids. Anyone that calls this "incest" should look up the actual definition, as the actual definition is getting married or being in a sexual relationship with a closely related family member. Since there was absolutely none of this in Fairy Dance, as it was all about Suguha moving on from those feelings without doing anything even slightly immoral, I think others should take a closer look after their eyes are cleared from the fog of unconditional hate because of what I'd consider an unjust/unfounded controversy.
As for Sugou's age, I'll assume he's around Asuna's age due to his, "She's hated me ever since WE were kids", sentence in Episode 15's English Dub. Considering this sentence, I'm guessing the claims of "pedophilia" in ALO were fabricated as well.
Other than Suguha, ALfheim had some pretty good side characters with OK in-game backgrounds. Damsaled Asuna makes sense because of Sugou, but I still didn't like it. Sugou is one of the only villains in anime I truly despise because of how heartless he was for the entire arc. I still liked how Asuna was strong in will despite her position in ALO. She's powerless against Sugou due to his Admin status, so I can understand why she didn't do much.
I just have one question: Why didn't SAO's memorable side characters come back to help Kirito save Asuna?!
9/10
Story: Great drama for Suguha's love problems, more action, and a more contained story. My only gripes are Damseled Asuna and the "Hero saves the Princess" plot is kind of cliché. It's the 2nd weakest arc in my opinion, but by no means "god awful". 7/10
Music & Animation: Same as above. False King is probably the most stand-out new track that they brought to this new arc. 10/10
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Bonus Points: Answering nearly every question to make it understandable, and giving sufficient information to draw conclusions to those that weren't answered.
Though it may have looked like a Deus ex Machina for Aincrad's ending, it was mostly just a slightly botched portrayal in the anime, as Kirito's "death" was a sequence going through his mind as a parallel to the "death" from a boar attacking him from the first episode, and not a "Jesus' resurrection" moment. He was just using his last moments alive to finish Heathcliff off, so calling it a "Deus ex Machina" is stretching it immensely. On top of this, Reki Kawahara has made such a thing as the Incarnate System in his other series: Accel World. Considering Kayaba's line in Episode 24 on "human will being superior to the system" and the Incarnate System being "human will overcoming system boundaries", I'm assuming this is what was used to allow Kirito and Asuna to perform those seemingly impossible feats. I hear their survival is explained in Project Alicization, and I await the explanation of this in Season 3.
Limited in actual Plot Holes. I feel people are using this term like it's hot cake without paying attention to the answers. Plot Holes would be inconsistencies that create paradoxes, or missing, yet relevant, information. The only one I see is never mentioning explicitly that the NerveGear can last 2 hours unplugged before frying the brain, but even that was implied by Kirito and Asuna's conversation in the KoB hall.
Kirito and Asuna's reunion in the real world bringing me to tears of joy every time I see it.
Norse Words Spell Casting was a very unique game mechanic for ALfheim Online.
While awkward in terms of how many there are, the time skips kept things short and sweet, and were executed well.
Not relying too much on ecchi fan service. In total it's around 4 minutes and 3 seconds for the entirety(and this is being picky on it). It's MUCH less compared to other anime.
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Overall Score: 9.5/10 Epic and worth watching. Depending on SAO II's presentation it may get up to a 10.