Written by: Kevin Berge
I hope you grow to like these two because they're the only ones allowed to matter. (Image Courtesy of: roadtovr.com)
There are very few recent anime that have inspired such rabid success in recent years than Sword Art Online. The light novels which began to be published in 2009 were some of most commercially successful light novels ever written, and they became even more popular with the release of the anime in 2012.
While new anime is released every year, it is not often any anime quickly reaches so many people, causing such widespread success both in Japan and America. It has already spawned three video game adaptations (which given the nature of the anime is both ironic and perfectly expected).
I am not often immediately drawn to new anime as there are so many classics that I need to see, but something about SAO immediately hooked me in. The concept, following a group of people trapped in an MMORPG, was an idea I had seen before in anime but never quite with such ravenous approval from others.
It also helps that the story begins in a fantasy world which will always be my favored genre. I went in to the experience with high expectations for a series that wasn't quite even finished airing.
While new anime is released every year, it is not often any anime quickly reaches so many people, causing such widespread success both in Japan and America. It has already spawned three video game adaptations (which given the nature of the anime is both ironic and perfectly expected).
I am not often immediately drawn to new anime as there are so many classics that I need to see, but something about SAO immediately hooked me in. The concept, following a group of people trapped in an MMORPG, was an idea I had seen before in anime but never quite with such ravenous approval from others.
It also helps that the story begins in a fantasy world which will always be my favored genre. I went in to the experience with high expectations for a series that wasn't quite even finished airing.
Synopsis
Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya is a recent beta tester for a game that has now been released known as Sword Art Online which is a very classic fantasy MMORPG where each player levels up by grinding against enemies to become strong enough to raid the main bosses of each of the 100 levels with a group of fellow players.
What makes this game unique though is that it is a virtual reality game using a headset called the NerveGear to fully immerse in the world. That same headgear though traps Kirito as well as 299 others inside the world of SAO with the creator of the game Akihiko Kayaba forcing everyone to complete the game to escape.
With the threat that any death in the game means death in real life and bosses that become so unbelievably strong no one believes they can be beaten, Kirito must make alliances and find friends in order to not just survive the game but win.
What makes this game unique though is that it is a virtual reality game using a headset called the NerveGear to fully immerse in the world. That same headgear though traps Kirito as well as 299 others inside the world of SAO with the creator of the game Akihiko Kayaba forcing everyone to complete the game to escape.
With the threat that any death in the game means death in real life and bosses that become so unbelievably strong no one believes they can be beaten, Kirito must make alliances and find friends in order to not just survive the game but win.
If this looks like a harem anime to you, well, that's because it kind of is. (Images Courtesy of: moviepilot.com)
Story Arc Analysis
***This section of the review will contain spoilers for each section of the anime. If you have not seen the anime and do want to watch it without any information, you should skip this section of the review for now.***
Sword Art Online is an anime that is released in seasons with each season considered unique. This review will only cover the first season and not the also completely released SAO II. This means this review is purely for 25 episodes and the characters' explorations of SAO and ALO.
The Opening Level Grind (Episodes 1-8): Kirito is clearly established early on as the hero of the story, but he also made out to be a loner who is stronger than everyone else because he's found ways to cheat the system. His characters flip flops quite a bit from isolating himself to begrudgingly helping others to going out of his way to fight.
As someone who has frequently loved to play dual wielding characters in RPGs, I could see the appeal of Kirito as this darker loner character who has a kind heart and strong ability while being the only dual wielder. The action throughout with him fighting bosses is particularly engrossing.
There are also some truly affecting ideas in these early episodes. Kirito watches a guild he joins all die in front of him including a young girl he had become protective of, further making him feel isolated. There are also a number of guilds with their own political agendas even a whole group that deliberately kill players which leads to some frightening and tense scenes.
The problem is things move too quickly as the community flies up the levels, and Kirito changes his mind constantly. Kirito is also portrayed by the writers as almost the central character of a harem where all the women he speaks to immediately fall in love with him. This hurts the other central part of this story.
While the action and concept are the hooks, SAO is also written as a love story as Kirito slowly falls for a fellow warrior Asuna with their relationships forcing Kirito into the political climate of the remaining SAO characters.
Joining the Knights of the Blood Oath (Episodes 9-14): Kirito is set up to be ridiculously overpowered in the story, basically soloing the boss of the 74th floor in order to save a group of overconfident players. This leads to a bit of a disconnect with Kirito as a character that is helped by him being defeated in single combat by the leader of the Knight of the Blood Oath, a fight he agrees to with overconfidence to help Asuna.
Quickly, the tension though is broken with three episodes spent on Kirito and Asuna in-game marriage as they find a surrogate daughter and live in a quiet cabin home. This would be fine if the series wasn't moving along the story in general at lightning speed which makes this detour stand out so oddly.
Instead of ever fully investing in its danger and violence, the series ends the SAO arc in its fourteenth episode with Kirito figuring out the leader of the Knights is actually the creator Kayaba and defeating him in singles combat with another discovered cheat to the system.
The final battle is well done and includes Asuna seemingly dying to make sure that Kirito can win. Ultimately though, this feels like a clever idea, breaking all the rules and surprising the audience, executed very poorly with the series trying to move incredibly fast without each episode carrying that same speed of storytelling.
Adventure Into Alfheim Online (Episodes 15-19): Here SAO begins to reveal the idea of the series that will keep it running likely for a while. Instead of just being about one MMORPG, it is about a multitude of unique virtual reality worlds each of which Kirito must enter for some reason or another.
This time, it's Alfheim Online, a supposed offshoot of SAO with a fairy theme. There's magic and flying in this world to give it a fresh element, but this also takes away from the more dangerous violent flavor that made the original arc so effective. At least the stakes are still high as Kirito heads into the world to save Asuna whose mind is trapped in this new VR.
The biggest problem with this arc is that the series continues its need to make every woman in Kirito's vicinity fall in love with him which includes his own sister (technically his cousin, because that makes it better). For some reason, Saguha's almost entirely defined by her forbidden crush on Kazuto. Even in ALO, as Leafa, she immediately falls in love with Kirito who she doesn't know is Kazuto.
There's a quite a bit about the world of ALO that is interesting, but again there's very little time spent exploring it. Eventually, all that matters is that there's one central quest and a bunch of politics that Kirito has to navigate to defeat this quest to save Asuna.
Rescuing Asuna (Episodes 20-25): The Grand Quest is a well presented obstacle with Kirito again hitting the point where he must admit to his own limits, being killed by the endless swarm of enemies and having to be saved by Leafa with both then revealing their true identities to one another with Saguha also revealing her love for Kirito.
When this is dealt with, Kirito finally overcomes the Quest, saves Asuna, and defeats Oberon the Fairy King who had taken her captive. Ultimately, the conflict feels a bit rushed with a lot of grandiose ideas and teases of dark themes without going forward with any of them.
Every thing comes together as Kirito speaks with the memory of Kayaba who gives him the chance to upload a "world seed" that will lead to the creation of many unique VR worlds for all to explore. In spite of everything he has gone through, he ends up uploading it and creating all these unique worlds other people will eventually exploit.
Sword Art Online is an anime that is released in seasons with each season considered unique. This review will only cover the first season and not the also completely released SAO II. This means this review is purely for 25 episodes and the characters' explorations of SAO and ALO.
The Opening Level Grind (Episodes 1-8): Kirito is clearly established early on as the hero of the story, but he also made out to be a loner who is stronger than everyone else because he's found ways to cheat the system. His characters flip flops quite a bit from isolating himself to begrudgingly helping others to going out of his way to fight.
As someone who has frequently loved to play dual wielding characters in RPGs, I could see the appeal of Kirito as this darker loner character who has a kind heart and strong ability while being the only dual wielder. The action throughout with him fighting bosses is particularly engrossing.
There are also some truly affecting ideas in these early episodes. Kirito watches a guild he joins all die in front of him including a young girl he had become protective of, further making him feel isolated. There are also a number of guilds with their own political agendas even a whole group that deliberately kill players which leads to some frightening and tense scenes.
The problem is things move too quickly as the community flies up the levels, and Kirito changes his mind constantly. Kirito is also portrayed by the writers as almost the central character of a harem where all the women he speaks to immediately fall in love with him. This hurts the other central part of this story.
While the action and concept are the hooks, SAO is also written as a love story as Kirito slowly falls for a fellow warrior Asuna with their relationships forcing Kirito into the political climate of the remaining SAO characters.
Joining the Knights of the Blood Oath (Episodes 9-14): Kirito is set up to be ridiculously overpowered in the story, basically soloing the boss of the 74th floor in order to save a group of overconfident players. This leads to a bit of a disconnect with Kirito as a character that is helped by him being defeated in single combat by the leader of the Knight of the Blood Oath, a fight he agrees to with overconfidence to help Asuna.
Quickly, the tension though is broken with three episodes spent on Kirito and Asuna in-game marriage as they find a surrogate daughter and live in a quiet cabin home. This would be fine if the series wasn't moving along the story in general at lightning speed which makes this detour stand out so oddly.
Instead of ever fully investing in its danger and violence, the series ends the SAO arc in its fourteenth episode with Kirito figuring out the leader of the Knights is actually the creator Kayaba and defeating him in singles combat with another discovered cheat to the system.
The final battle is well done and includes Asuna seemingly dying to make sure that Kirito can win. Ultimately though, this feels like a clever idea, breaking all the rules and surprising the audience, executed very poorly with the series trying to move incredibly fast without each episode carrying that same speed of storytelling.
Adventure Into Alfheim Online (Episodes 15-19): Here SAO begins to reveal the idea of the series that will keep it running likely for a while. Instead of just being about one MMORPG, it is about a multitude of unique virtual reality worlds each of which Kirito must enter for some reason or another.
This time, it's Alfheim Online, a supposed offshoot of SAO with a fairy theme. There's magic and flying in this world to give it a fresh element, but this also takes away from the more dangerous violent flavor that made the original arc so effective. At least the stakes are still high as Kirito heads into the world to save Asuna whose mind is trapped in this new VR.
The biggest problem with this arc is that the series continues its need to make every woman in Kirito's vicinity fall in love with him which includes his own sister (technically his cousin, because that makes it better). For some reason, Saguha's almost entirely defined by her forbidden crush on Kazuto. Even in ALO, as Leafa, she immediately falls in love with Kirito who she doesn't know is Kazuto.
There's a quite a bit about the world of ALO that is interesting, but again there's very little time spent exploring it. Eventually, all that matters is that there's one central quest and a bunch of politics that Kirito has to navigate to defeat this quest to save Asuna.
Rescuing Asuna (Episodes 20-25): The Grand Quest is a well presented obstacle with Kirito again hitting the point where he must admit to his own limits, being killed by the endless swarm of enemies and having to be saved by Leafa with both then revealing their true identities to one another with Saguha also revealing her love for Kirito.
When this is dealt with, Kirito finally overcomes the Quest, saves Asuna, and defeats Oberon the Fairy King who had taken her captive. Ultimately, the conflict feels a bit rushed with a lot of grandiose ideas and teases of dark themes without going forward with any of them.
Every thing comes together as Kirito speaks with the memory of Kayaba who gives him the chance to upload a "world seed" that will lead to the creation of many unique VR worlds for all to explore. In spite of everything he has gone through, he ends up uploading it and creating all these unique worlds other people will eventually exploit.
Only in anime would this be considered a healthy way to portray a brother/sister relationship. To be fair, it's not quite as bad as it looks. (Image Courtesy of: swordartonline.wikia.com)
Impact and Art Style
This series has many big ideas. It also has some very unique ways it wants to present those ideas. However, it jumbles everything up with poor writing and pacing with characters that never feel fully realized and are often defined by aspects that make them hard to sympathize with.
Kirito is a cool idea of a character who is the center of some strong action, but he also waffles too often with early character traits thrown out the window and not enough moments of struggle and development. He also is too often the center of female admiration, defining every female character by their crush on him, despite his devoted romance at the center of the story.
Ultimately, this is a story about the effect of VR worlds on people, bringing them together but also scarring them. With that in mind, it is an extremely flawed yet ambitious view on the subject, written with more creative than proper craft. It is somewhat of a guilty pleasure anime than a success.
This said, I did honestly enjoy watching the show and found myself watching chunks of episodes every sitting, so it clearly works as entertainment which is more than can be said of most weakly written anime.
The anime style is fairly standard affair. The creature designs are eye catching, and the characters are proportioned inside the game to be more "perfect" than they are outside of the game even though there is some anime fan service going on with the characters regardless.
The art for the environments though is quite exceptional. With all the quick world building, the art has a lot of room to get big and varied with many huge successes. Even in the quieter moments, the art of the world shines through.
Kirito is a cool idea of a character who is the center of some strong action, but he also waffles too often with early character traits thrown out the window and not enough moments of struggle and development. He also is too often the center of female admiration, defining every female character by their crush on him, despite his devoted romance at the center of the story.
Ultimately, this is a story about the effect of VR worlds on people, bringing them together but also scarring them. With that in mind, it is an extremely flawed yet ambitious view on the subject, written with more creative than proper craft. It is somewhat of a guilty pleasure anime than a success.
This said, I did honestly enjoy watching the show and found myself watching chunks of episodes every sitting, so it clearly works as entertainment which is more than can be said of most weakly written anime.
The anime style is fairly standard affair. The creature designs are eye catching, and the characters are proportioned inside the game to be more "perfect" than they are outside of the game even though there is some anime fan service going on with the characters regardless.
The art for the environments though is quite exceptional. With all the quick world building, the art has a lot of room to get big and varied with many huge successes. Even in the quieter moments, the art of the world shines through.
Sub vs. Dub
The dub for Sword Art Online is fairly average. The voice actors are largely talented and into their roles, but there are some characters that feel miscast. Bryce Papenbrook (Attack on Titan) as Kirito is probably hurt most by the poor writing. Cherami Leigh (Fairy Tail, Sailor Moon) seems a bit poorly cast for the strong warrior side of Asuna though fits well as she loses that edge and becomes unfortunately more the princess.
Cassandra Morris (Angelo Rules) as Leafa doesn't bring much to the role, never quite making herself stand out with a story that certainly does not do her any favors. Everyone else flies in and out of the story so quickly that is hard to really judge them.
The sub is clearly stronger for this show with a more natural vibe to the way the Japanese actors speak for the variety of characters. This is probably because the writing just strictly sounds better and more fluid untranslated.
Recommendation: Sub
Cassandra Morris (Angelo Rules) as Leafa doesn't bring much to the role, never quite making herself stand out with a story that certainly does not do her any favors. Everyone else flies in and out of the story so quickly that is hard to really judge them.
The sub is clearly stronger for this show with a more natural vibe to the way the Japanese actors speak for the variety of characters. This is probably because the writing just strictly sounds better and more fluid untranslated.
Recommendation: Sub
No matter my complaints, I would absolutely play a true version of SAO if it were ever made. Well, without the real death if you die in the game and hopefully with no paywalls - as if that were true for any MMO ever. (Image Courtesy of: ginnodangan.wordpress.com)
Conclusion
I enjoyed my time watching Sword Art Online. I didn't even hesitate to check out the second season which was even more hit and miss, but I cannot in good conscience give the anime a passing grade. The writing and pacing are so incredibly wonky that it is almost unbearable at times.
Even now I find myself thinking about the great elements of the show and then am reminded how much they are misused and rushed through. This is the kind of series that would have been fantastic in the right hands but just falls apart because of those with control of the concept.
The main few characters are memorable even if they are typecast and kept unfocused, but the cast of the characters just fly by. There's no real progression beyond the central characters of each arc which continues for the series as it goes on. With the pacing so rapid, if a character is not in the main plot of the episode, they are forgotten.
I don't know how much I can recommend this anime to others with so many better anime with similar ideas and better execution already existing, but, to anyone interested, I don't think any viewer will find the show unenteraining. It is just very difficult to get attached to anything or anyone in the series.
Even now I find myself thinking about the great elements of the show and then am reminded how much they are misused and rushed through. This is the kind of series that would have been fantastic in the right hands but just falls apart because of those with control of the concept.
The main few characters are memorable even if they are typecast and kept unfocused, but the cast of the characters just fly by. There's no real progression beyond the central characters of each arc which continues for the series as it goes on. With the pacing so rapid, if a character is not in the main plot of the episode, they are forgotten.
I don't know how much I can recommend this anime to others with so many better anime with similar ideas and better execution already existing, but, to anyone interested, I don't think any viewer will find the show unenteraining. It is just very difficult to get attached to anything or anyone in the series.