Before I get started, let me just
say that I liked Sword Art Online. Like many people, I think that the hype
surrounding it is about as legitimate as a clown's smile. So I'll say this
twice; at the beginning and end of this review. Why? Well because in the end
there is going to be a lot of negativity here and I know most of you aren't
going to be reading the whole thing. I would recommend this anime to pretty
much any anime fan. In the end any form of media is about entertainment. It's
about making whoever is watching your show forget about whatever the hell's
going on with their lives. Simply put, it's about having a good time. Sword Art
Online certainly does this and does it well. This was an entertaining watch,
and it certainly stands out among the kinds of anime that are flooding the
market today. So now, I'm going to review this anime. So it's clear, I do not
aim to trash this show, nor do I aim to praise it to hell.
Animation---Let's start with the
basics, the animation. The animation is amazing. there's no other word for it.
I mean it totally brings you into the dark world of SAO that oozes with serious
mature topics such as...
I mean A-1 pictures are like the
Crytek of the anime industry. It really doesn't matter what they're producing,
it will look like solid gold. No really they could be making a turd and it will
look like a very shiny, very metallic, gold turd. Was that supposed to be
pointed at any anime in particular? I have no idea what you're talking about.
So I don't think it needs to be said, but there are not many recycled frames
here. I mean we're not talking about Kyoto animation here, there are going to
be recycled frames, however not to the extent where it's a distraction--looking
at you Gundam Seed. The fight scenes are you typical shonnen battles of awesome
except much much better. Now once again, I'm going to cite that at this point I
was just getting back into the anime scene again. So when I saw the fight
scenes here I really was blown away. Not only were the fight scenes brilliantly
animated they were equally well paced. You know when you sit down with your tie
pulled around your forehead, with a bowl of popcorn in your hands. Before you
lies a brightly lit screen that says the words Sakura Vs that dude who has
puppets. Your brain tells you it's a waste of time, but you do it anyway. you
are one of the brave the valiant, the ones who don't have the attention span of
a butterfly. You can watch fight scenes for hours on end. Congratulations,
because this is something I can't do. Back when I was a young boy, I had a
really high tolerance for fight scenes that last an eternity and a half. I was
like the male version of a starry-eyed school girl. Well, now I'm older and I
expect my anime to not waste my time. Getting back to where I was before my
walk down memory lane, Sword Art Online's combat is exactly this. The fight
scenes keep you engaged throughout their course. they don't stretch so long as
to be noticeably bad, and they're short enough to not stretch the boundaries of
my already limited attention span. I'm American, what can I say?
Plot--Let's start with the
positives. Remember what I said about Sakurasou? Well I could leave a link, but
considering it's right below this I don't think I want to bother. Due to my
very short attention span, and anime has to make an impression on me pretty
quick for me to get truly hooked. Sakurasou did this, Susei no Gargantia did
this, and oh boy, did Sword Art Online do this. Regardless of what the rest of
the series became, these first three episodes are not only the best episodes of
the series, they're some of my favorite episodes in any anime I have ever seen.
Along with the animation and the soundtrack, they lay the foundations for
something great. An adventure of epic proportions, one fraught with danger,
intrigue and most importantly tragedy. it wasn't going to be easy making it to
the top, but there is no choice! Aaaaaand then episode 4. Dammit. We are then
introduced to exactly what the show will be from here on. Arrrggghhh. Like most
of you I was really confused as to what the hell happened. Suddenly the series
became a series of short stories interconnected by some sort of plot ( use the
term loosely). As much as i would like to gripe about Attack on Titan's hobby
of hanging of Cliffs, it did bring you back each and every time. You had to see
what was going to happen next, was Eren going to be able to defeat the titans, was
Levi going to finally propose to Eren...wait a seco--In any case Sword Art
Online suddenly became a lot less interesting to me. I mean for a while here, I
spent my time getting to know a cool character I wanted to get to know (like
Klein) for an episode, before he was carried off into the world of cameos.
After that I would spend a enormous amount of time on a character I didn't want
to know (yeah, you know who). There apparently was some reason for this in the
light novels, but I don't remember where I heard it, and that history button is
too intimidating.
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Anyhow, some of the arcs where
actually pretty good. In particular the whole Columbo in a video game arc was
really fun. As a gamer it really made me gasp as gamer terms appeared like
moths to a flame. if there is one thing that these arcs had it was atmosphere,
seeing all of the elements of a video game working in real life was a treat.
Everything for the UI that the players see, to concepts and rules, were
interesting. In fact I'm just going to say right away, that while they didn't
live up to the first three episodes, the first arc of the series was pretty
damn good. I mean if it hadn't had the second season I might've been one of the
fanboys who are reading this right now. Like you once the character section
started, my mouth also would've been foaming. And yet the second plot arc did
happen, and my god. You know that chart of the US economy we were familiar with
a few years ago? Yeah, just cross out the economy, and write Sword Art Online.
The end of the first season was surprising. I mean I saw the plot twist a mile
away, but I didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. This was a really great
narrative twist, one that really caught me off guard. The finale was epic, very
simply. I mean it never actually explains why the bastard who killed thousands
actually did what he did, he conveniently forgets at the end. At the same time
it was so much better than the finale to the second season. Every little bit of
purpose, of intrigue, hell of danger, is lost. I mean I don't even. It just
sucked. I can't really spoil anything for those of you who haven't watched it.
Maybe I'll do that later. Anyway just know this; it has no sense of purpose, it
was a Fable 2 level finale, deus ex machina plague this arc like it's freaking
Dragon Ball Z, and more creepy little sister love things, that are okay because
she's just his cousin....Wait what?
Soundtrack--All I need to do is
leave this video, believe me it speaks for itself.
Characters--Here we go. I'm
excluding Asuna from this, because an entire section is going to be dedicated
to her character. Well the cast of character ranges. Some characters are
genuinely cool, while others are like the COD kids who go Swaggity sawggy swag,
and expect to be freaking Steve Mcqueen. Some characters, like Klein or Agil
were characters I genuinely wanted to get to know. Others whom I didn't really
want to know, I was forced into getting to know. it's sort of like you extended
family party, where your aunt drags you around to meet every single last of of
your relatives, when everyone else is inside playing Brawl. For most of the
characters there isn't a lot of character development. Some characters show
signs of them, Kirito in the first three episodes, showed a great amount of character
development. Aside from him, though, not many did.
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Kirito--You know unlike a lot of
other critics who thought this anime was overrated; I didn't really have any
problem with Kirito. I mean he wasn't an awesome character, but I mean every
other shonnen has a character like him. Yes he's overpowered to the point where
by the end of the series he might as well have been a god, but that didn't
really detract from the experience, it just didn't add to it. I mean in our
hearts, we all love those crazy shonnen power-ups. That being said this guy is
the ultimate wish fulfillment character. Okay he's a guy who spends his time
doing nothing but playing video games, and yet he's got every girl in the world
chasing him around like he was a certain guy with a really high pitched voice
and a drug addiction. More than that he's overpowered as hell. If there was one
complaint I had with this character, it's the finale of the second season ended
with deus ex machina endings. Think about it this way. You know how mass effect
2's ending was amazing? Picture SAO's finale to be like that. On the other hand
ALO's finale would be the Mass effect 3 of the series. The finale sucked. But
I'll get to that later.
Asuna--Do you like this character?
If the answer is yes, skip past both this and the romance section. If you don't
know already, I hate Asuna. Asuna for me is just a stupid character. Why? Well
to start, she had such an awesome opening. I mean it was obvious that she would
be some beautiful swords-woman from the moment we heard her voice under that
hood. Then, she became a generic tsundere who couldn't do anything without
Kirito. Yes, there were some times were she helped Kirito immensely, but she
never lived up to her introduction. She was never Kirito's equal, just more of
his ally. Finally In ALO she becomes nothing more than a freaking Zelda. She
becomes nothing but a princess in a castle. Or tree... From this point on, she
is useless. More Spoilers. Remember when in the first season she sacrificed
herself to save Kirito? As much as I gripe about the romance and her character,
the scene was powerful. It was really well done. In the second season's finale
she is just a bump on a log. I know some of you like her. Good for you,
seriously, if you had more fun with this anime than me, that is a good thing. I
mean I myself have been known to like cardboard cut outs with no personality at
all too. Kidding, Kidding, Kidding!
Romance-- Okay, I have to admit,
this pairing isn't as bad as I made it out to be. It has some genuinely good
moments. I guess what really got me about it, was the same thing as the rest of
the series; it was overrated. This was the year that things like Mirai Nikki
came out, Pet Girl of Sakurasou as well! Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!
sported one of the best romances I've seen in recent memory, while having a
metric ton of character development to boot. Mirai Nikki had probably the most
unique romance I've ever seen, love it or hate it. Pet Girl of Sakurasou had an
amazing first four episodes. The main problem I had with the romance was that
it was rushed. I mean they got married and had a kid throughout the course of
something like three episodes! To me, it felt stiff; like those 'now kiss' memes.
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So is Sword Art Online something I
would recommend, Yes! Very much so! As long as you are an anime fan, you should
watch this, if only for the animation. Aside from that it does stand out among
the slice of life crowd. At the same time, aside from the action and
soundtrack, every bit of the anime has been done before, just better. if you're
looking for romance, try series that focus on it, like above listed. Are you looking
for comedy? Try My mental Choice. How about a gigantic drop in quality half way
throughout the series? Well there's always Star Wars...
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