How Come No One Ages in Sword Art Online

Synopsis

In the twelvemonth 2022, virtual reality has progressed past leaps and bounds, and a massive online role-playing game called Sword Art Online (SAO) is launched. With the aid of "NerveGear" applied science, players can control their avatars within the game using nothing merely their own thoughts.

Kazuto Kirigaya, nicknamed "Kirito," is among the lucky few enthusiasts who get their hands on the first shipment of the game. He logs in to discover himself, with 10-yard others, in the scenic and elaborate earth of Aincrad, i full of fantastic medieval weapons and gruesome monsters. Yet, in a cruel turn of events, the players soon realize they cannot log out; the game'south creator has trapped them in his new world until they complete all i hundred levels of the game.

In order to escape Aincrad, Kirito will now have to interact and cooperate with his fellow players. Some are allies, while others are foes, like Asuna Yuuki, who commands the leading group attempting to escape from the ruthless game. To brand matters worse, Sword Art Online is non all fun and games: if they die in Aincrad, they die in real life. Kirito must adapt to his new reality, fight for his survival, and hopefully interruption gratis from his virtual hell.

[Written past MAL Rewrite]

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Reviews

Apr 6, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall	four
Story	four
Animation	viii
Audio	viii
Character	i
Enjoyment	3

--The review contains minor spoilers--

Since I've seen a plethora of scores of 10 for this testify, I thought I'd write what I feel is a more realistic review for this evidence. Sword Art Online is more than or less the equivalent of a fanfiction in it'south writing and quality. Whether people want to overlook information technology or non is up to the individual, just I believe it fails at the fundamentals for writing a good story. This review will become into details as to my opinions on why I feel this way.

1) Story - This is first major trouble is the show. Let'south start from the commencement shall we. The starting time arc consists of 14 episodes. The first 2 episodes are honestly pretty good and prepare up the plot of the testify that should follow. You lot're introduced to the principal characters and information technology shows mmo style of play. I mean with 2 episodes that are astonishing, surely what follows volition be more of the adventures of the primary characters and these mmo boss fights...right? Wrong. What follows are 5 completely irrelevant side character episodes and unnecessary terrible time skips that ruin whatever sense of a story the get-go 2 episodes prepare up. Then due to some illogical reason, we're now down to 7 episodes to tell the residuum of this story. Still doable right? RIGHT? Incorrect again. The series wastes another 2 1/2 episodes on pointless filler garbage. So there yous have it over half of beginning part of the story has cypher to do with the overall plot. Well what virtually the other episodes you enquire? The remaining "plot" episodes are filled with deus ex machina in its purest form. Even the finale of the first season makes admittedly no sense. This isn't a fantasy world, it's a freaking video game, you can't have miracles here. So that concludes my issues with flavor 1, which the majority of SAO fans consider to be the best part....Yeh you heard me, the 2d part is even worse.
Without going into spoilers, the second function of the serial takes identify in a different setting, with a mostly new cast bated from our main hero. This part of the serial probably deserves the award for virtually unnecessary story in the history of anime. This arc is pretty much a mario game. Our hero must save the princess in the castle. Not actually much to say about information technology. Oh yeh deus ex machina finale hither too...oh and there's an incest subplot...for some reason. This concludes the plot department. I think I'thou being pretty generous with a four here.

2) Art - The art is fantastic. Colorful characters, bosses (the few we see), and settings are all hither. It'southward easily worth an 8.

3) Sound - Over again fantastic. Nothing wrong with information technology at all. 8.

4)Characters - Hither we get...This is easily the worst part of the series. I'll divide the main characters and lump together the not so main characters.

Kirito/Kazuto - The main character of this show is the prototype of the current definition of a "Gary Stu". He has no personality whatsoever. He is good at everything he tries for no reason. He's an amazing thespian, an super sleuth, a ladies human being, and a main hacker. Yous name information technology, he tin can do information technology. There's no reason given for this other than he's just that good. Girls all love him, guys desire to be him, and villains are jealous of him. He also solos MMO boss fights...yeh wrap your head around that one. Side annotation - I often run into people claim they love this evidence because they're hardcore gamers. I have to say equally an gorging gamer myself I notice this show to exist insulting. Unless you've hacked or cheated , I don't understand why you're content with a character who does. Side notation over.

Asuna - The main female lead/most blatant waifu character ever. Asuna is introduced as a strong histrion who can stand on her own with Kirito, that is for the first couple episodes. One time she reappears she barely does anything other than cook for Kirito. That's right, her donkey stays in the kitchen, while Kirito does all the of import stuff. In part ii she does absolutely cypher...seriously. She again has no original personality...textbook Tsundere.

Yui - This graphic symbol is terrible in all senses of the word. She'due south walking deus ex machina, nothing more. This grapheme should be hated by whatsoever gamer, since she'south a cheat device, who adds nothing to the story.

Villains (minor spoilers) - In that location are 2 major villains in this series and they're both terrible. The first one forgets his motives for doing everything in part one and the part 2 one is and then comically evil he can't even exist taken seriously.

Other Characters/ Who the hell cares - The female characters all want to have sexual practice with Kirito and have no personality past this. The male characters don't get to do anything because Kirito hogs the show from everyone. That's really all in that location is to say about that.

Suguha - This is Kirito's sis. She honestly has layers and was a plus to the testify in my opinion. I don't know why she'due south in this evidence, she doesn't belong in it...

So yeh, Gary Stu and Waifu - these characters are pathetic (1).

5) Enjoyment - Needless to say I didn't savor it. Poor show (three)

6) Overall - This testify has so many fans, and I really don't know why. Its plot is rushed and terrible. Its characters so flat, it's nearly funny...almost. Its romance is highly misogynistic and terribly developed. I felt insulted watching this, and don't understand how any could like this show. Even Gamers.

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October 12, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall	two
Story	2
Animation	7
Sound	vii
Character	two
Enjoyment	5

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a dauntless young boy. He was the best swordsman in the land and the manliest man of all. He overcame countless trials with piffling effort and won the hearts of many fair maidens.

Yep, it's time for Sword Fine art Online, the origin of many angry rants.

The premise doesn't sound also bad. X thou players of a virtual MMO are trapped in the game and forced to complete it to escape, except that expiry in the game leads to death in existent life. But recollect about it: this could exist a tragic story of struggle where death is backside every corner. A story of sacrifice and despair. A story of alliances and betrayal. A story of the struggle to retain humanity in front end of impossible atmospheric condition.

...Just why take whatever of that when you can have romance and harem?

That's correct; the survival game is just for testify. Don't expect deep interpersonal or political conflict. Don't expect psychology or moral dilemmas. Don't await tactics or mind games. Actually, don't wait witty dialogue of any kind.

And that is the biggest problem with this bear witness. It is broke in substance. It's by and large but uninspired romance and harem, with a bit of action here and in that location. There isn't much thinking involved. A few plot holes I could forgive, only if the show isn't about anything worthwhile, there isn't much to exercise. What makes this problem all the more apparent is that the premise promises something entirely different than what it delivers. The prove has thrown its hands up in the air and said, "We don't care." So why should the viewer?

Information technology doesn't help that the show has grown infamous for glorifying its protagonist, who in the eyes of many has go the image of a Gary Stu. He tin can defeat anything, he can solve any problem, and he gets all the girls. It's almost like this evidence was meant to be a propaganda piece in his favor.

Story: three

The first ii episodes are decent, building up the premise. Nosotros are introduced to the protagonist Kirito and the concept of the death game. Soon plenty, we are told that a calendar month has passed and two thousand players have died offscreen. ...Wait, not even a short montage or anything? Apparently non. Anyway, these ii episodes are pretty much the only decent ones, so savor them while you can.

The 3rd episode begins to prove more than serious issues. Nosotros are supposed to form an emotional bond to new characters in a few minutes, and we accept to become through over-the-top malaise over irrational deportment. Merely in that location is too optimism in the air; of course nosotros tin revive someone whose brain has been fried, correct?

What follows is an abrupt leap to harem and romance antics. The next few episodes are almost diverse girls suddenly falling for Kirito, often the same day they met him. This typically involves uncontrollable blushing, fanservice, and people interim Tsundere. You lot probably get the picture. Information technology doesn't aid that many of these episodes have a very filler-esque feel to them. The primary plot ‒ if you lot can phone call it such at this point ‒ takes a backseat in favor of these random new girls.

The daughter chosen Asuna, who rapidly becomes the token love interest for Kirito, has at least met him before, but in that location is still very little buildup to their relationship. Unless it took place offscreen. You come across, another thing that becomes very noticeable is the pacing. There have been timeskips of months between episodes. This wouldn't be a problem if these snapshots contained all the events that were critical to the story, but it's obvious that the author has picked rather boring events out of all the possibilities. Why is it that thousands of people dying is covered in a few lines, while we have to sit through hours and hours of romance and harem? I hate to be chirapsia a dead horse hither, simply information technology's unavoidable because it comes up again in only about every episode.

Past now, it has likewise become obvious to the viewer that Kirito is invincible to the bespeak of tedium. He has a level college than anyone, the best equipment, and a seemingly endless pool of abilities, but most chiefly he always wins. There is sometimes false tension, sure, merely you know he will survive anyway. You can merely breadbasket then many clutch survivals before you commencement rolling your eyes.

The residual of the story arc involves Kirito and Asuna hanging out in the countryside to spend their honeymoon. They even prefer a daughter to portray a typical happy family. The problem is that their human relationship is really non that interesting. Only "dem feels"! Nah, sorry. I have a centre of rock.

This is followed by a sudden confrontation with the main villain, which Kirito wins considering the power of love conquers all. And by that I mean the ability of honey conquers the programming of the game. Well, okay, maybe there was some "ability of love" clause in the code somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me at this bespeak.

Predictably plenty, melodrama ensues. Tears, promises of love, etc. You can probably imagine. At to the lowest degree now nosotros're washed with this bear witness, right?

No, think again, that was only the practiced part. There are actually 11 more episodes left, and the journey takes united states of america further downhill. We enter another game, this time without the death aspect. Earlier nosotros get to the plot itself, even at a glance this thought brings up a few issues.

The harsh reality hits you faster than you can say "cashcow." This second arc feels completely unnecessary. It has been tied into the original story with an overly user-friendly plot device for no apparent purpose other than stretching it farther. At least know to quit while you're ahead. Just no, they only had to elevate this evidence through the mud to rip apart any shred of dignity it had left.

It doesn't help that there is no death anymore. While this makes the slice-of-life content more plumbing fixtures, information technology also removes the established selling point of the show. The change is too abrupt, and the deviation in tone is too jarring. If you want to make a piece-of-life of ordinary MMO players, do it from the start.

At present, for the plot itself, and it isn't pretty. We go straight to a Mario game, by which I mean saving a damsel in distress trapped in a cage. And that isn't a metaphor; she is quite literally trapped in a cage. Add together tentacles and incest to the plot, and yous accept a winning combination. The incest aspect is provided past Kirito's sister Suguha, who too provides additional fanservice.

At to the lowest degree now the pacing is less erratic and at that place is seemingly less development taking place offscreen. It's just too bad that at that place is too very niggling meaningful taking place onscreen. There are some new characters and even an ingame war going on, but it'due south all so irrelevant to the primary story that it'south hard to maintain interest.

Long story short, Kirito beats the second villain with the help of more deus ex machinas. At that place are likewise more tears, promises of love, etc.

So at present we're done, right? For at present, yes, only there'southward still flavour 2 to await forrard to.

Setting:

This is technically part of the story category, but I really call back it deserves its own section here. You see, the very foundations of the setting make no sense. People in Sword Fine art Online are likewise frequently acting like they are in a normal game, not in a life-and-death scenario.

For instance, why is there so much resentment towards beta testers who have greater knowledge of the game? This isn't a competition; the faster someone beats the game, the faster everyone gets out. And, similarly, why are beta testers reluctant to share data? Are they so worried about other people using their newfound abilities to kill them for no reason? Look, you tin't have both a coincidental slice-of-life of MMO players and a grim death game at the same fourth dimension. Pick i.

This coincidental attitude becomes more pronounced later on when it becomes obvious people are wasting tons of fourth dimension with unproductive quests, romance, and just hanging around. Kirito himself spends time on seemingly useless sidequests, and Asuna spends time cooking for him. Come to think of it, why has Asuna wasted points on a useless skill like cooking in the first place? Are these people even trying?

And why are so many players dying when towns are safe zones? Are they stupidly rushing into loftier-level dungeons? I suppose so. You see, for a grim death game information technology certain is difficult to die in SAO. Bosses won't respawn, so everyone can advance forward, even weak players. Going from town to town is also easy enough with teleport crystals. Well, okay, there is that problem of challenging people to a duel while asleep, but that tin't take out so many.

There is no lack of disquisitional resources because you lot tin can hang out in the condom of towns indefinitely. Sure, exp and money are limited because the regeneration of monsters is limited, which is foreign game blueprint itself, merely they aren't necessary if yous stay in town. At least, the prove never implies that they are necessary. Oh, and for the record, I'm treating the show as self-contained and ignoring the source material.

So why do they die? I'd put my money on rushing stupidly into dungeons because we get to see one notable case.

Let'due south imagine you establish yourself in the following state of affairs. Earlier you lot and your club are nigh to enter a loftier-level dungeon, you lot larn that one of them lied almost his level. Knowing this, you realize you are underleveled and likely to end up dead, while avoiding death and warning the others would be as simple as staying in town.

What would you do? Would you lot
a) Record a message in advance, knowing that you wouldn't concluding long, or
b) Stay in town so that you lot wouldn't get killed in the first place?

A tricky i, I admit.

Nosotros are also introduced to groups of player killers. Sounds proficient until y'all realize this isn't a normal game. At to the lowest degree, I idea it wasn't, but it looks like some people didn't get the memo. In a situation similar SAO, there should be no reason for these killings. This isn't Danganronpa, where the main point of the premise is that you can only escape past killing someone. This is a game where it makes the most sense to squad up and beat the game. In that location is no prisoner's dilemma; cooperation is the best programme and any sensible person would become for it.

If you lot kill someone here, you only get some coin and equipment. While information technology may assist you beat the game a niggling faster, odds are that it will but hurt your chances of survival overall. Just off the elevation of my caput, a few reasons:
1) If people start killing each other, it apparently increases the risk of dying yourself, both in retaliation and spontaneously.
ii) Killing people reduces manpower needed for beating the game, and the distrust that follows volition arrive even slower. You could only impale useless low-level players, just they probably don't have much money or good equipment to begin with.
3) There is the run a risk that you will land murder charges if you lot escape from the game and officials find out.

Actually, does the equipment even aid that much? Kirito seemingly uses the same equipment for long periods of time, yet he is practically invincible. On the other hand, he does say that equipment can be worth many levels, so did he get the best stuff for himself so fast? Is it strange game design or cheat codes? It's anyone's guess.

Of course, if y'all have trivial involvement in beating the game, killing other players makes more sense, if but a piffling. I suppose getting more money tin can aid yous obtain some luxury items, but is it worth the risk? The implied reason is that they are killing people for laughs, merely why did so many murderous psychopaths make up one's mind to log into this MMO on its opening twenty-four hours? Is this some kind of stab at gamers, saying that they are unable to distinguish between real violence and false violence? Maybe, or the author forgot that this isn't a normal MMO. Again.

So is it a legit program to stay in the virtual world for the rest of your life and surrender on getting back to the real world? If so, it would explain a lot. While the range of pastimes in there is smaller than in the real world, perchance at that place is enough for some people.

The choice betwixt staying in relative happiness in a virtual earth and risking your life returning to the existent earth could have been an interesting i. Unfortunately, their bodies are deteriorating in real life, which makes the choice very one-sided. For some reason, Asuna has to betoken this out to Kirito because manifestly the state of his real-world body had never occurred to him over the grade of two years. Yeah, good job, Kirito, you lot sure were fast on the uptake. Lying downward on the grass and having a carefree nap doesn't sound so smart anymore, eh?

Finally, why are virtual MMOs still legal subsequently the SAO incident? Sure, the new hardware is supposedly safer, just the previous death trap must have as passed through "strict" government examination, so who in their correct mind would trust them? And even if we presume it is safe, since when has people's hysteria hinged on facts? People fright new applied science even when it's harmless, let alone when a massive incident like this happens. There would be mass protests in the streets in favor of banning them.

Characters: ii

You may have noticed that I take just mentioned three characters by name so far. For another testify, this might be because the cast is so vast that there is no time to get through them all, merely here it'due south rather that there are very few characters worth mentioning. Kirito, and by extension Asuna and Suguha who are defined by Kirito's character, sus scrofa practically all of the screentime.

Everyone else gets thrown under the bus. Girls simply exist to autumn in dearest with Kirito, and males only exist to be inferior to him. The villains in item just be as forage to the guy.

Kirito:

I have barely touched on Kirito's personality. Well, blame the show, not me; it should at least be willing to meet me halfway. We know very little most him, other than existence invincible and inexplicably adept with the ladies. Essentially, he is the manliest human on the planet.

That's pretty much all he is. Even his dialogue ends up pretty bland. There are no witty insights, no clever jokes, no expert discussion games. Much of his dialogue consists of saying that the globe is a virtual one, explaining game mechanics, wishing to save anybody, or loving someone forever. The sort of stuff you'd expect from a paper-thin cutout hero in a state of affairs like this.

It can be a facepalm-worthy feel to witness daughter after daughter falling for Kirito like zero, ofttimes the same day they met him. The evidence incessantly drills into the viewer that he is the sexiest man alive... for some reason. I become that rescuing people can give you points in their eyes, merely come on now. I can but assume there is a hidden manliness stat and his black jacket comes with a +999 boost.

Every bit far as his invincibility goes, the win streak by itself isn't the biggest problem. The problem is that he e'er wins through brute strength. That is to say, his character skills and stats. There are no tactics worth mentioning, no psychology, no politics, no thinking whatever. He will just become out at that place and pull off his generic action hero stunts. Certain, developing those skills and stats may take required some tactical thinking. Maybe he has optimized his skill tree or has amazing grinding strats. In theory. Nosotros come across no hints of it. It all happened offscreen and offscreen doesn't count. I'yard sad, it only doesn't.

To add insult to injury, some of Kirito's abilities are completely forgotten after on. I'm sure that health recovery thing would accept come in handy whatsoever number of times. And when even his skills and stats aren't enough, he is saved past plot armor at the last second.

It's also a mockery of MMOs in the sense that Kirito is able to solo raid bosses. And he is able to attain a level higher than anyone despite playing solo, supposedly because he doesn't have to split the exp. His near unique ability is revealed to be... *drumroll* dual-wielding, which nobody else is allowed to do in this game. This doesn't sound like any MMO I know of, or was the idea to portray a player with god-mode cheats on?

I'm seriously thinking that the show would have been a lot more than tolerable if Kirito solitary had been replaced by ane of the side characters. It still wouldn't have been a masterpiece or anything, merely at least the Gary Stu accusations could accept been avoided.

Asuna:

She is about as bland in personality equally Kirito. She is also portrayed as fairly powerful for no substantial reason but of course nothing compared to him. As time passes, her virtually notable trait becomes being a textbook Tsundere.

...Well, that was fast. Moving on.

Suguha:

As mentioned earlier, her main role is providing fanservice and a tacked-on incest subplot. It's simply another element thrown into the plot for cheap stupor value, if anyone is still shocked by incest in anime present.

Villain #1:

The starting time villain barely appears, and his motivation for trapping the players is vague, to say the least. He basically did it out of personal interest. He wanted to create a virtual world where death has significant similar in the real one, but as for why he was interested in the idea, he forgot. Err, alright so. Moving on.

Villain #2:

The second villain is pathetic and a disgrace to antagonists everywhere, coming across equally a cartoon villain who does evil things for the sake of beingness evil. The conflict here is portrayed as completely black-and-white, but in case someone had sympathy for the guy, as unlikely as that is.

His main focus is essentially raping a asleep girl. And that is over obtaining tons of cash, presumably in the millions. If he had left the girl alone, he probably would take got away with information technology, so for all intents and purposes, he chose raping a girl over millions in cash. Talk about priorities.

Come up to think of information technology, information technology'due south already ridiculous that the family of the comatose girl is planning to have her marry the guy. I mean, she is in a blackout. As in unconscious, unable to state her own intentions, etc. Where are child protective services when you lot need them? Thankfully, the law disagrees, so they can't utilize for an official marriage. Instead, he'll be adopted by her family unit as their son in spirit... Wait, what?

Furthermore, his sheer incompetence is mindboggling. He openly explains his evil plans and his security is practically at Dr. Evil level, up to entering a hole-and-corner keycode in plain sight so that the prisoner can see. Thankfully the government and his visitor are every bit incompetent and are not monitoring his research group closely despite its reliance on infamous engineering science used in SAO. Are these the same people who deemed the new tech safety? If so, I'd like a second opinion. I wouldn't trust these people to operate Angry Birds, let alone a virtual MMO with potential health risks.

Fine art: seven

So this is where the money went. The backgrounds look squeamish but cheap fanservice scenes non so much.

Sound: vii

Not besides bad either. The soundtrack and opening and ending songs work pretty decently, and the voices are as well alright.

Enjoyment: five

Funnier than I was expecting but for the incorrect reasons. There is something hostage about how the show is trying to portray escapism and human relationships, but it falls just short enough to create a racket.

Overall: iii

Watch it to witness the writing yourself. But more importantly, by watching the prove yous can better understand the reviews or, better yet, write one yourself.

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Dec 31, 2012

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall	3
Story	3
Animation	8
Audio	6
Character	iii
Enjoyment	half dozen

Once in a while, there comes forth a championship (exist it movie, book or anime) that takes the audience by storm, sweeping numerous off their feat, leaving several with a bad aftertaste in their rima oris and making a few laissez passer the work off equally 'boilerplate' or 'mediocre'. Online communities, forums, chat rooms and every other nook and corner of the net known to man plow into arenas of debates, discussions, fanboyism/fangirlism and flaming. It's apparent that when something is popular, information technology doesn't always get to bath in praises. With the acclaim, comes a sheer corporeality of criticisms. Also, it goes without maxim that popularity doesn't necessarily equate to quality.

Sword Fine art Online, abbreviated equally SAO from this point on, is no exception.

SAO, the anime adaptation of a series of calorie-free novels of the same name past Kawahara Reki, has been the much talked about show of the Summer and Fall 2012 seasons, and taking into consideration the incredible hype surrounding it with reviews of mixed sorts, it's likely to stay that way for quite some time. Keeping in heed the vogue of MMORPGs and the demand for something 'captivating', the team behind SAO attempts to bring an enticing piece of work to the table past executing the intriguing premise of 'players trapped in a VRMMORPG where death equates to death in real life and the only way out is to articulate the game'. Unfortunately, SAO fails at many levels which is a shame because when the anime kicked off with the highly anticipated outset episode, all seemed well and it gave the vibes of something truly worth spending your time on but and then information technology does a flip and from this point, things go awry. And here nosotros accept information technology— one of the near controversial anime of the recent years.

Before proceeding with the review, let's become 1 thing direct. I have not read the original source material— the calorie-free novels, that is. Hence, I'thou not going to draw any comparing between that and the anime. With that out of the way, let's keep the ball rolling.

SAO on the surface has a fairly interesting premise, no doubt, and it'south executed well to some extent or and then did it initially seem. The very idea of a large number of people logged into a VRMMORPG with the intention of embarking on a virtual reality gamble but just to be struck with utter horror as they're faced with the shocking truth of the game has been put into upshot quite satisfactorily in the first episode. It'due south pretty much what I'd call an fantabulous start. However, SAO effortlessly manages to transport all my expectations and enthusiasm downwards the drain for it takes the show only an episode or two to reveal its truthful colours followed by the disappointment it has in shop.

And so, what goes wrong? Well, many things.

Following the Great Beginning, the starting time arc decides to take a detour and invests on a few episodes dealing with side stories in which our protagonist Kirito gets acquainted with i girl per episode and ends up rescuing her from a jam. This is precisely why I like referring to this bunch of side stories as 'episodic harem' wherein the primary heroine of the story and Kirito'southward honey involvement Asuna is assumed to be abiding and the other girls are variables. Now this isn't necessarily a bad matter. However, these side stories have very little to zilch to contribute to the series equally a whole. Absolutely, they equip the viewers with some clever, little details here and there regarding how the game world works merely they hardly have any begetting to the overall plot. The primary goal of these filler-similar 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 information technology all that takes to be the coolest dude in this globe fabricated up of zillions of pixels. To boot, the characters (read: cute chicks) that appear in these episodes have absolutely no substantial office to play in the story subsequently. 'Side' characters indeed. And SAO knows how to finer sideline them.

When the arc finally gets itself back on track, it's simply natural to hope that the evidence will at present have something worthwhile to deliver. However, that isn't the example. If annihilation, some severe cracks brainstorm to appear as very soon the focus of SAO is the romance between the two leads which is, in i word, cheesy. At this signal, opinions are divided. The romance aspect, for some, can exist appealing while for others, it tin can be a major turn off particularly if they don't like the characters involved. It all comes downwards to personal preference. However, personal preferences aren't a disarming excuse by any means to overlook the fact that the story, world building and everything else take a backseat for the sake of allowing the two leads to be lovey-dovey in the properties of gorgeous sceneries. When the arc does manage to divert its focus on to some 'serious business', things await good for a while but with a rather unimpressive catastrophe, the first arc concludes on a pretty bad note in my book.

And then begins the second arc which, to exist blunt, is a letdown once again.

The 2d arc or the ALO arc is ready within ALfheim Online, a VRMMORPG successor to SAO. Kirito logs in with a mission to rescue his wife (Asuna, duh) from the clutches of an archetypical antagonist who is a disgrace to all the villains in fiction we have come across and so far. This arc showcases some really middle processed visuals only that's pretty much its simply redeeming point. Information technology doesn't have anything much going on except for a few climactic action sequences now and then with intense battle music playing in the background that last only for a while. Non to mention, there's another girl added to Kirito'due south harem.

And so the hilarity ensues.

The mode in which ALO is brought to a shut is appalling to say the least and at the same laughable because information technology doesn't hesitate to use the much notorious plot device dues ex machina, ruining whatever hopes at that place were for the terminal confrontation with the villain. The poor conclusion could be excused if it was handled more cleverly and convincingly merely a breathy ass pull is by no means satisfactory. If anything, information technology only proves that the writer faced a dead end and was unable to think of annihilation better and creative, and expected the audition to swallow down whatever he could come up upwardly with, no matter how downright stupid it is.

Amongst all the other things, the nearly easily noticeable flaw without a doubt is the execution of the plot itself which is all over the place. Information technology doesn't take a genius to figure out after a couple of episodes that SAO suffers from poor pacing and inconsistency. It appears to be highly indecisive as to what exactly it wants to do and how to go it done. This is mostly evident in the first arc which is incredibly rushed at many parts. There're timeskips and the adjacent thing you realize is that the characters have already cleared quite a lot of floors while keeping united states, the viewers, in the dark. This makes the plot disjointed, prevents any sort of correlation to the win-or-die state of affairs that the characters have been put into and gives everything the feel of it existence zip more than than a piece of cake. The struggle for survival and a sense of urgency are hardly felt fifty-fifty though the lives of the characters have been said to be literally at pale. The episodes dealing exclusively with the atomic number 82 couple taking some time off for a 'vacation' and subsequently ending upward building a virtual family tin farther make one wonder: Why are they so carefree when they're supposed to chalk out plans to beat the game and make a quick escape? To put it in other words, the arc has a tendency to go off runway. Information technology lays downwards for itself i thing just ends upward doing something else birthday. It's uncertain as to whether to make itself run across as a story of survival set inside a VRMMORPG or as a fluffy honey story. In due course, it decides to juggle with both but doesn't get either of them rightly done. Not to mention, when the situation demands information technology and the writer goes out of any creative ideas to move the story forward, the characters' actions are fabricated to contradict the established game mechanics and the only reasoning that's provided for such miracles is 'where there's a will, in that location's a mode, and in that location're times when true love and conclusion can overcome whatever obstacle in the game'.

At present, for those who look for substance in any given story, it's almost a fact that no amount of fanservice, eye candies, self-insertion or guilty pleasure factors tin can possibly compensate for a substandard storytelling. All the same that's what SAO tries to do. It brings in all the aforementioned elements to sugarcoat its sloppy writing. On the whole, there're no sincere efforts made to incorporate details that would contribute in some mode or the other to globe building or characterization whatsoever.

While the poor quality of the writing is the central factor, the other aspect that contributes considerably to the mediocrity of the show is the characterization. Simply put, SAO's characters are bland. Essentially, the show has its focus on but 2 characters: Kirito and Asuna. The others are but there; mere devices to move the story forward. And a few accept zip to contribute to the plot at all. For instance, the ones featuring in the side stories.

Permit's talk virtually the protagonist Kirito first.

An unsocial, reserved yet headstrong histrion who knows how to become things done his way and is determined to beat out the game. That'south basically how Kirito is portrayed in the beginning. At this point, he seems like a expert riddance from the generic wimpy male leads that have become and so much of a commonplace in anime. A practiced main grapheme who knows how to deal with things is something refreshing to witness one time in a while. Unfortunately, the impressions didn't terminal for long. In drastic attempts to brand his character more 'highly-seasoned', Kirito is depicted as a 'perfect' being which leaves his grapheme with little plausibility and much insipidity.
He's a guy with a heart of gold.
He has an 'ideal' girlfriend/wife.
He's admired past those around him.
He can 'unintentionally' make every other woman admire him, romantically or otherwise.

Thus, he serves as a mere cocky-insert character for wish-fulfilment and at the finish of the day, there's naught 'individualistic' about him. Gary stu is probably what describes his graphic symbol the best, and if paired with the Mary sue of the evidence, nosotros go a pb couple that seems to have been cut out directly from a tacky romance fanfiction.

Aye, when I mentioned 'Mary sue', I was referring to Asuna.

Asuna as the female person lead is as stereotyped as they come up. Much like Kirito, her character is heavily idealized. She'south pretty, pop, kind, caring and every other man wants to have a piece of her. Oh, and did I mention her cooking skills that level up with each passing mean solar day? Later all, her foremost duty is to cook for Kirito and show how much she cares for him. While initially she's portrayed as a strong, independent female histrion with a tsundere-ish attitude, it doesn't have her long to brand a transition from that to a pitiful damsel in distress, requiring her knight in blackness robe to come to her rescue whenever she'south in a demark. Kirito fighting her guild leader to earn her some time for honeymooning is laughable to say the least. It presently becomes apparent that she doesn't have much of a part other than serving as the love interest of the protagonist and existence the object of fanservice now and so which might be successful in pleasing the male audience somehow simply that alone can't brand upwards for her badly written character. In fact, the other female person grapheme the show cares to put the spotlight on too ends upwards becoming the target of fanservice but doesn't have anything else going on for herself.

If you haven't guessed it already, I'm talking near Kirito'southward beloved imouto.

Throughout the first arc, the writer must have had been itching to include a love triangle in the story simply couldn't find a potential candidate to get the job done. Equally the showtime arc comes to a closure and the 2nd arc begins, he grabs the opportunity, puts Asuna behind the confined (then that she'south non an interference in what he's attempting to do) and introduces Suguha, Kirito'south cousin sis. The sole purpose of creating her grapheme, it appears, is to brand way for a generic love triangle and melodrama. Suguha loves her cousin but tin't do anything about it because he loves Asuna. That's the bitter truth. Hence, she looks up to a certain someone she happens to befriend within ALO and hopes that he'd be able to sooth her agonized heart. However, she gets trolled… badly. This, in turn, leads to more drama that's somehow supposed to be heart wrenching but it isn't.

The remaining cast consists of two antagonists, both declining to make whatever sort of impression though the one making his debut in the second arc can exist a good comic relief at times, and a bunch of side characters that wouldn't have had made whatever deviation fifty-fifty if they hadn't existed. The bottom line is, the characters of SAO are a half-baked lot devoid of whatsoever depth or evolution. They could've maybe turned out to be interesting if they were more fleshed out but who cares well-nigh that as long as they appeal to the intended target audition?

Onto the technical aspects at present.

In the department of visuals, A-1 Pictures does a pretty good task. Within the game, the vast tracts of greenery, the beautiful cities during the night, the castles… they're all a pleasure to behold. The animation is too well-handled for the most function. Initially I wasn't much pleased with the graphic symbol designs but they gradually grew on me, and I personally find a few characters similar Asuna, Heathcliff and Lisbeth to be very well designed.

The music is composed by ane of the most renowned composers in the anime industry, Yuki Kajiura. While the soundtracks aren't bad by any ways, none of them stand up out much except the one that plays during combat/intense scenes. In fact, that's the but track that can exist heard playing almost of the fourth dimension in the entire testify. A few other tracks, though they aptly fit the scenes they're played in, are hands forgettable. The same applies to the opening and ending themes. Nothing groundbreaking there. I'm a fan of almost all of Kajiura'due south works and if compared to her previous works, SAO's music is lacklustre to say the to the lowest degree and and so much then that it'south hard to believe Kajiura is the composer to begin with.

To wrap up the review, SAO had the potential to exist something expert but that potential goes down the drain due to poorly executed plot and bland characterization. It starts off in a satisfactory manner but goes downhill thereafter. Nevertheless, information technology tin be an entertaining ride if 1 keeps their expectations low and swallows downwards whatever it has to offer without questioning anything. One of the reasons why SAO has been a letdown is the anticipation the majority had for information technology prior to its airing merely that'south justified since the calorie-free novel series from which the anime is adapted is ane of the almost popular ones out at that place.

[Edited on March 20, 2017]

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Source: https://myanimelist.net/anime/11757/Sword_Art_Online

How Come No One Ages in Sword Art Online

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