*Warning*
THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS AND MY BIASED OPINIONS WHICH IS FOR THE PURPOSES OF PROMOTING DEBATE AND DISCUSSION.
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So for my First review on WlfOtaku Blogs I will be looking at the Anime Sword Art Online. A show that debuted in the summer season of 2012 and has gained massive popularity within the anime fandom and in the process sparked a flurry of debates arguments and counter arguments on online communities,forums,chat rooms and every other nook and corner of the internet known to the man turn into arenas of debates, discussions, fanboyism/fangirlism and flaming..for instance receiving a flurry of praise and undying love from fans being referred to as a "modern day classic" *yes I'm looking at you Sage Watari lol* and its story as one that induces a "sweeping of your feet" feeling that we encounter when we watch that EPIC show or read that EPIC manga that makes you puke rainbows at the awesomeness you've just witnessed even going as far as saying that it presents "deep insight on the psychological aspects of virtual reality!" while on the other end of the spectrum sparking a variety of video rants,bashings on characterization and in depth reviews on why SAO sucks Huge balls as well as the many many songs of overatedness..controversy seems to follow it but oh well when you rank in the top 50 most popular shows on myanimelist.net which is made up of literally thousands of members all anime loving I'm sure its worth a look into.
In the year 2022, the (VRMMORPG) Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online
Role-Playing Game Sword Art Online ,adapted from a series of Light Novels by author Kawahara Reki, is released With which people from all over the world can login and play as their own online avatars in Virtual reality using Nerve Gear, a virtual reality helmet that stimulates the user's five
senses via their brain (pretty badass huh! id definably buy that)on the official launch day as you can imagine the hardcore gamers are jumping for joy at their newly purchased copies and thousands of players log in for the first time,the gameplay is stunning and people are having an awesome time derping around but all this excitement soon fades away as they discover that they are unable to log out and the creator of SAO,Kayaba Akihiko, reveals that if they wish to leave the game they must reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and clear the game which I'm sure all the players responded with a resounding BBWWWAAAHHHHHTT! and multiple simultaneous are you EFFIN kidding me faces lolz! he also made all of the players avatars look like their real life Bodies..so any hopes of getting hookups just decreased significantly coz of the massive number of Female players actually turning out to be dudes lolz! ohhh I almost forgot and for the final kicker if you die in the game you DIE IN REAL LIFE....
 |
Are you bloody serious???
Ohh yes my friends..NO respawns! if you happen to die it is the end for you!!..(at least that's what I thought) Once your hits zero you are dead ..well coz the nerve gear helmet also dual functions as a toaster that microwaves your brain ending your life and will also do so upon any attempt to take it off (Scumbag technology) and so the players are force to play and survive in this game for their very lives.The
story follows an avid gamer and former beta tester for the system
Kirito (Kirigaya Kazuto) and the main female lead Asuna Yuuki and their
road to complete the game and their Romance,battles and hardships they
face.
I honestly think that this show is the most overhyped of the year but at the same time I quite enjoyed this show, I am quite picky about the things I watch and what I consider to be "Good"anime and some of those main aspects are that I always expect a show is that has a solid plot,interesting characters coupled with proper execution and as I began to watch SAO it seemed like it had all these criteria in check..the premise had me excited and imagining the outcomes of what a show like this had in store. being a bit of a gamer myself and having spent many hours playing RPG's such as The Legend Of Zelda and Fable what was there not to enjoy in having an anime representation that embodies the EPIC tales of Action adventure magic and Romance that RPG's offer ..my expectations Coupled with what I’d call pretty much an
excellent start ,one of the best pilots for an anime I've seen,..I was gonna watch it no doubt and it became a part of my mini Big three for the summer season 2012 alongside the shows Kokoro Connect and Binbougami Ga ,(reviews Upcoming), However, SAO effortlessly manages to send all my
expectations and enthusiasm down a few good notches for it takes the show only a span of 2 episodes to Swerve into the wrong lane and loose all the kinetic energy it had stored up with some moments in the show leaving me giddy with anticipation for the next episode and others leaving me Confused,unsatisfied and throwing mini rage fits.
That’s my major problem with kirito..hes just too overpowered
gone are the days where a main character in a shonen series had flaws ..and the
fact that the writers try to portray this guy as majorly badass kills his
character more and more ..plus the logic behind his actions are questionable
and inconsistent. Some could argue that he’s an antisocial guy looking for some
human contact but in ep 2 His idea of friendship is to make everybody to hate
him and later on He pretends to care for a girl but in reality he only uses her
as bait for bandits, so he can show off how cool he is. he refuses his special
abilities till the very last minute..supposedly because he doesn’t want others
to find out and pester him about it which follows the same pattern that shonen xters
use..(downplaying their powers when they are actually the most powerful and when
they are in their most dire straits Revealing it for the shock value) The
hilarious part is that eventually everybody found out about it. Guess what;
nothing of importance happened PLUS How is he the top player if he is spending
half his time in lower areas that offer less experience? On top of everything
else, he is also a great hacker who even manages to alter the game’s
programming An element they
mentioned
only for ten seconds but never cared to elaborate ever again And don’t
go
asking yourselves why wasn’t anyone from the outside world able to hack
into
the game and stop it for 2 whole years The game was simply unhackable…
until
Kirito tries and does it in three seconds. . Does this all scream
Deus Ex
Machina or is it just me?.. But don't get me wrong Kiritos fights were
actually pretty epic and made for some of the most memorable high points
in the show and I can see why he would look pretty badass but
his xter was a bit to manufactured and cliche.. at the end of the day
when everything is said
and done if you asked me if I liked kirito..I would say…Well I didn’t
like
him..but I certainly did not hate him..ask me why and I'd say its
because of the only thing he did absolutely right and that would be
ASUNA!!
PACING AND CHARACTERS
On pacing Issue,Following a Great Beginning which was about the first 2 episodes, the first arc decides to take a detour and invests on a few episodes ,more precisely eps 3-8, dealing with side stories in which our protagonist Kirito gets acquainted with one girl per episode and ends up rescuing her from a jam. To which I refer to this bunch of side stories as ‘episodic harem’ where the primary heroine of the story and Kirito’s love interest Asuna is assumed to be constant and the other girls are variables. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, these side stories have very little to nothing to contribute to the series as a whole. Admittedly, they equip the viewers with some clever, little details here and there regarding how the game world works but it definitely hurt the show for me because after all that awesomeness and the show start its just looses so much energy these details and i was desprete for things to get back on track and all this uselessness to just go away due to the fact that they hardly have any bearing to the overall plot.
The aspect of time in the show also felt detached and made me feel like i was missing some events that happened in between the episodes as well as skimming over xter development over the course of that time ...particularly ep 3.. which had me confused and backtracking as well as . I mean the first 12 eps is a total of 2 years compressed and you fill a quarter of it with fillers??? the transition was not a smooth one and I blame it on bad writing
The primary goal of these filler-like
episodes appears to be that of giving our "hero" clad in black an
opportunity to flaunt how much of a chick magnet he is and how he has it
all that takes to be the coolest dude in this world made up of zillions
of pixels which brings me to the issues of the characters.
Let’s talk about the protagonist Kirito first.
An Antisocial, reserved and one of the strongest player in the game and is determined to beat the game. That’s basically how
Kirito is portrayed in the beginning. At this point, he seems like a savior from the generic wimpy male leads that have become so much
of a commonplace in anime.
Unfortunately, the impressions didn’t last for long. In desperate
attempts to make his character more ‘appealing’, Kirito is depicted as a
‘perfect’ being which leaves his character . He’s in essence the embodiment of what most teenage
boys desire to be.
- He’s a guy with a heart of gold.
- He’s always at an advantage.
- He can accomplish whatever he wants to with little effort.
- He has an ‘ideal’ girlfriend/wife.
- He’s admired by those around him.
- He can ‘unintentionally’ make every other chick adore him, romantically or otherwise...
AWWW YEAAAAH ...hes one of those xters.....He
can use special abilities nobody else in the game can.....hes a lone wolf kinda guy....he wears all Black... Does this Remind you of anyone???
ANYONE??....Ringing any
bells??.....Someone we know??.A certain Human/shinigami/Vizard/Quincy..A
certain orange haired teenager who's not really a teenager..Hugest
sword ever... Screams bankai..really guys. .. really??..Not a
clue.?..ohhh well.. *sigh*........
That’s my major problem with kirito..hes just too overpowered
gone are the days where a main character in a shonen series had flaws ..and the
fact that the writers try to portray this guy as majorly badass kills his
character more and more ..plus the logic behind his actions are questionable
and inconsistent. Some could argue that he’s an antisocial guy looking for some
human contact but in ep 2 His idea of friendship is to make everybody to hate
him and later on He pretends to care for a girl but in reality he only uses her
as bait for bandits, so he can show off how cool he is. he refuses his special
abilities till the very last minute..supposedly because he doesn’t want others
to find out and pester him about it which follows the same pattern that shonen xters
use..(downplaying their powers when they are actually the most powerful and when
they are in their most dire straits Revealing it for the shock value) The
hilarious part is that eventually everybody found out about it. Guess what;
nothing of importance happened PLUS How is he the top player if he is spending
half his time in lower areas that offer less experience? On top of everything
else, he is also a great hacker who even manages to alter the game’s
programming An element they
mentioned
only for ten seconds but never cared to elaborate ever again And don’t
go
asking yourselves why wasn’t anyone from the outside world able to hack
into
the game and stop it for 2 whole years The game was simply unhackable…
until
Kirito tries and does it in three seconds. . Does this all scream
Deus Ex
Machina or is it just me?.. But don't get me wrong Kiritos fights were
actually pretty epic and made for some of the most memorable high points
in the show and I can see why he would look pretty badass but
his xter was a bit to manufactured and cliche.. at the end of the day
when everything is said
and done if you asked me if I liked kirito..I would say…Well I didn’t
like
him..but I certainly did not hate him..ask me why and I'd say its
because of the only thing he did absolutely right and that would be
ASUNA!! 
The Girls
But first before we reach Asuna let’s look at the unofficial harem. The Other girls in SAO were given very minor roles with each different girl occupying a single episode and each presenting their own side story..they are not important and I will not mention them coz they were all generic so I’ll just mention their stereotype and you'll get the picture there The hyper talkative one, The scared sensitive one and The Lolicon bait..if there are others I'm missing ..well ..I couldn’t care less but one thing that Intrigues me is how all these girls managed to fall for kirito.. it ranges from sleeping in the bed with him to him saving them from certain doom to them lacing fingers by the candlelight to him being sexually harassed …its ridiculous the amount of girls willing to “ride his sword” within the first 1o minutes of meeting him..but then there's Asuna.
Asuna is main female lead and the second in command to the knights of the blood Oath guild in the game When we first see her shes presented as this Strong lone wolf player sorta like kirito and I Dig that. strong female leads are somewhat rare in anime nowadays..they're either there to be kidnapped or be in immediate danger to which the male lead will be her knight in shining armor and rescue the fair damsel from all distress and Yes…I totally agree that Asuna is a Tsundere..shamelessly shamelessly tsundere for example She drops on Kirito, then slaps him and says it was his fault that SHE TRIPPED, She tells him how much she cares about him when he is sleeping and acts completely shy when he WAKES UP!.She scolds Kirito for taking a nap before an important battle and proceeds to take a much longer nap RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!, He says he doesn’t want to have sex with her and she punches him for not seeing her as a One night stand ..whats All That For?
But first before we reach Asuna let’s look at the unofficial harem. The Other girls in SAO were given very minor roles with each different girl occupying a single episode and each presenting their own side story..they are not important and I will not mention them coz they were all generic so I’ll just mention their stereotype and you'll get the picture there The hyper talkative one, The scared sensitive one and The Lolicon bait..if there are others I'm missing ..well ..I couldn’t care less but one thing that Intrigues me is how all these girls managed to fall for kirito.. it ranges from sleeping in the bed with him to him saving them from certain doom to them lacing fingers by the candlelight to him being sexually harassed …its ridiculous the amount of girls willing to “ride his sword” within the first 1o minutes of meeting him..but then there's Asuna.
Asuna is main female lead and the second in command to the knights of the blood Oath guild in the game When we first see her shes presented as this Strong lone wolf player sorta like kirito and I Dig that. strong female leads are somewhat rare in anime nowadays..they're either there to be kidnapped or be in immediate danger to which the male lead will be her knight in shining armor and rescue the fair damsel from all distress and Yes…I totally agree that Asuna is a Tsundere..shamelessly shamelessly tsundere for example She drops on Kirito, then slaps him and says it was his fault that SHE TRIPPED, She tells him how much she cares about him when he is sleeping and acts completely shy when he WAKES UP!.She scolds Kirito for taking a nap before an important battle and proceeds to take a much longer nap RIGHT NEXT TO HIM!, He says he doesn’t want to have sex with her and she punches him for not seeing her as a One night stand ..whats All That For?
Tsunderes
ANNOY me but what makes me fall in love with her is the fact That she not gonna
just sit there And wait for kirito to save her when it really counts she’d
rather be on the frontlines fighting alongside him and Protect her man and even
Save Him! At first her Tsudere side was annoying but when she lightened up I couldn’t
help but fall for her as well..plus theres a balance to her nature..shes strong
and independent but shes not aggressive and cold on the inside..shes well…fairly
girly as well she enjoys a cosy home and cooking and girly clothes..and she
also occasionally enjoys Sacrificing her life for her Boyfriend..yes!..she died
for him..(so I thought)…I mean what the hell is it with girls in love! I mean
she even said that if he died she would commit suicide coz she cant bear to
live another day without her virtual boyfriend…and that’s where she becomes the
generic weak damsel who easily became a plot device ….but you know what else
shes pretty KAWAII too! So that saves her lolz.. so yeah shes pretty much the the
Female equivalent of Kirito with a slight mulitpersonality disorder but she
pretty much contributed significantly to my enjoyment of this show Plus the
best thing Kirito has Ever done is Loving that girl But how she managed to Fall for him...I guess well never know... |
| Y'know..I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what happened lolz! |
KIRITO X ASUNA + YUI = VIRTUAL FAMILY
I like my Romance plots and although this
one seemed to spring up from the blue I Liked it…it would make even the
manliest on manly men Drinking rusian vodka and Bench pressing with one arm say
a long Awwww!..they worked together and I loved their love it was a very deep
devoted kind of romance at the same time very easy and light..and YUI came
along and my love for them just tripled to the point where I liked kirito just
for Loving those cute girls of mine..the family-esque feel made the relationship between Kirito and Asuna all the more solid.
THE END OF ARC 1 +
ARC 2.
Everything's Going
good so far ….Annnnd Its Gone…that’s exactly how SAO lost all its kinetic
energy.. High Peak to a Sharp and steady Decent.. So at this Point Krito and Asuna Have just finished epic Boss battle number #4 and kirito discovers that
the player Heathcliff is actually Kayaba Akihikos In game avatar ..as a
result kayaba uses his admin privileges
to paralyze everyone except Kirito saying that he wants to reward him and says asks for a one on
one duel I which if he is defeated he will Free everyone trapped in the game..
An sword battle with the works ensues ..master skills ,flashing lights and a
desperate suicide move and here's where the LOGIC happens. Asuna ..somehow gets
up even though shes been paralyzed and Blocks Kayabas final death blow which kills
her instead…well there's the suicide she promised…and Kirito devastated looses
the will to fight and is stabbed by Kayaba and DIES…you hear me DIES..Like DEAD…ADIOS
AMIGO Goodbye..!!BUT!! somehow his pixels reassemble and he takes shape again
and Manages to kill kayaba…after which he dies a second time and wakes up in God
knows where unharmed and reunited with ASUNA?? And kayaba is Congratulating
them on Completing the game?? Ohh and the best part is that they ask Kayaba
..WHY he did this! I mean id have Overlooked all that had just happened if he had
just given me a reason but KAYABA the Genius that he is says he FORGOT….FORGOT!!?? LOGIC!! .
Massively disregarding in game rules and defying the laws of the universe.. LOGIC!! ..But even with all the LOGIC!! Being displayed I actually enjoyed it and that’s where ALO kicks in which just recycles the same plot in the and you realize that the writers threw everything they had going for them off a cliff ..Asuna is trapped in a birdcage wearing fairy lin gerie(Damsel Syndrome),Kiritos Sister BLOODY SUGUHA..who really isn’t kiritos Sister is in LOVE and with him??..The Bro-con really turned me off.. Kirito COINCIDENTALLLY meets his sister who actually isn’t his sister IN-GAME….ARC 2 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!(Applause)
SUGUHA RANT
OH my gosh this chick pissed me off! his cousin Sugu, main
love rival and harem girl no.2, is Kirito’s cousin and adopted sister is
basically madly in love with her brother ..So she plays ALO and there's a
unexplained Glitch which lands kirito right infront of her But Ohh she didn’t recognize
him coz he looks the SAME!! Then she falls in love with him but she find out
Kirito is actually oniichan and she cries and cries ..then she comes all
feeling badass asking for a duel in which she TROLLS us and tries to kill
herself…DAFUQ…ahh BLODDY FRIKIN SUGUHA!...PLUS 10000 people got stuck in a game
for 2 yrs with 4000 ppl dying…and one of those survivors was her brother and
she along with other people are still using nerve gear..really! My RAGE Burns!!
MY CONDOLENCES TO THE FAIRY KING.
ANIMATION AND SOUND
A-1 pictures really knocked this one out of the park. Art is
stunning Environments are Stunning with
some panoramic shots being utilized to their full and to top it off the Fight
scenes are Fluid and visible..every slash cut and slice is very well executed..and
not just a flash of light like we see in some other shows thought the Xter
designs didn’t have too much of an edge to them and I do love my cool Xters but overall this is one of the most Visually Beautiful shows I've ever watched.
The soundtrack and music of the series are
alright. The OST courtesy of Yuki Kaijura who also did the music to Fate/Zero
though I wouldn’t say this is her best work she seems to be limited... maybe there
not paying her enough hehehe! Because we often hear the same tracks over and over
again especially The main SAO theme that plays during battle seems also as if
it's trademarked to Kirito, especially during his deus ex machina scenes.
However, it does conveys the feeling of boiling EPIC EndGame intensity very well.
The first OP song, "crossing field" by LiSA of the first half is good
ive seen better but I always headbang to those first 15 seconds and the second OP song, "INNOCENCE" by
Aoi Eir” is a good however the ED “Overfly” By Haruna Luna is the one that
really shines ..its more fitting for an ED song but I almost wish it was the OP
for the second half!
OVERALL
Overall I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this anime at
all. As you can tell, I didn't particularly enjoy the Second part of the series
due to the amount of stupid being radiated .. perhaps most glaring problem with
the series is that it's tried to compress too much material into 25 episodes.
In total, it's adopted 4 volumes of the light novel. What that translates into
are gaps in character development and plot explanations. While it's not all
that difficult to follow the story, pacing suffered quite noticeably in the
first arc, despite my harsh criticism, I enjoyed the series. It’s not amazing,
but its not all that horrible either. At least not as much as everyone makes it
out to be. Everyone for some reason seems to hate it with a passion or LOVE it
with all their heart, but I personally think it shouldn't be treated either
way. The main reason that everyone is let down is that they come into it with
such high hopes, backed up by the first 2 episodes, but then suddenly it seems
everything it had going for it just stops which is really sad because it
could've turned out amazing due to the amazing potential it had and thus most
people are just angry that they didn't get to see the potential put to use it
was far from the worst show. The best way to watch this show is:
1. Do not watch this show with extremely high expectations.
You will most likely be disappointed.
2. Watch this show with an Open mind. Nitpicking at every little detail is not very constructive. However neglecting and refuting all the shortcomings due to personal enjoyment is nothing more than a stubborn act.
2. Watch this show with an Open mind. Nitpicking at every little detail is not very constructive. However neglecting and refuting all the shortcomings due to personal enjoyment is nothing more than a stubborn act.
SAO is a show worth looking at and best received when One doesn't think too much.
Also try the shows Gantz,Ixion Saga, .hack\\ and Accel World that have a similar premise.
RATINGS
I Give this Anime:
STORY: 5/10
ART: 8/10
STORY: 5/10
ART: 8/10
SOUND: 7/10
CHARACTERS: 5/10
ENJOYMENT: 7.5/10
CHARACTERS: 5/10
ENJOYMENT: 7.5/10
OVERALL 7/10
BY THE WAY WHAT WAS UP WITH DIABEL..loLzzzz
SEE YOU ALL LATER WITH MY NEXT REVIEW
SINCERELY WLFOTAKU.
