We now begin a sort of special edition of my Anime/Manga Pick series of posts. It’s special to me because I’m going to be covering an anime series that’s become a pretty big favorite of mine. This series has been running on the Cartoon Network’s Toonami block for the last few months, but when I found out that the subbed version was on Youtube I just couldn’t wait to finish it. So now I think the time has come to share my thoughts on this series. Those who have been following my other posts may have probably by now figured out that I’m speaking of Sword Art Online.
Plot: The year is 2022, only about eight years from now. And everywhere the people are excited about a new MMORPG known as Sword Art Online. The game is played with state of the art virtual reality helmets that give players a totally immersive experience. But not long after the game’s launch, players soon discover that there’s no log out option available. Things take a dark turn when the game’s creator appears and tells the players that the only way out is to clear all one hundred levels of SAO. And if they lose, the virtual reality helmets they’re wearing will fry their brains.
Some of the things I’ve read about SAO have stated that the show something of a successor to the anime series, .Hack. Not being familiar with that particular series, I’ll have to take everyone’s word for it. But people getting trapped inside a computer/video game is sort of an old plot in the sci-fi genre. Heck, even the original Yu-Gi-Oh! series used that plotline a few times. Yet I don’t think any story has done this kind of plot with such a large scale of people before, and that’s one of the things that makes SAO stand out.
Pros: Stunning art and visuals aside, I think SAO’s best quality is its two lead characters, Kirito and Asuna. Both are very strong characters, and it’s the love story between these two that really helps make the series work. It’s a love story that has a few very touching, humorous, and powerful moments. And being somewhat of a romantic, I’m a sucker for that kind of thing. Another thing about SAO is that it repeatedly defied some of the negative expectations I’d start to have about it from time to time. For example in the beginning when it was established that the players would have to beat all one hundred levels of the game in order to get out I thought, “Oh great! This is going to take forever to resolve”. But the show’s use of time skips really helped to move the story along and showed a little of how the players adapted to life in their virtual prison.
Cons: One problem I had with SAO is that there were a few times when the series came dangerously close to harem series territory. This sort of has to do with the whole “knight in shining armor” quality Kirito seems to have where he saves random ladies from stuff, not unlike James Bond or Captain Kirk. Another flaw is while an excellent amount of development was given to characters such as Kirito, Asuna, and Leafa, the side characters in the series weren’t developed all that much. Though I suppose for that, the series would’ve had to be longer. For me though, the biggest flaw of SAO was that the main villain of the show’s first story arc wasn’t really fleshed out and his motivations weren’t really explained. Plus the final battle with said villain was very abrupt and made the whole “clearing a hundred levels” thing pretty much pointless.
Overall: Despite its weaknesses, SAO is an epic love story about two young people trapped in an online virtual game. I haven’t been this moved by an anime series since Kannazuki no Miko. This is one series that I’ll definitely want to watch again. So for those looking for a good sci-fi love story, I strongly recommend giving Sword Art Online a try.
Rating: 4.8 out of 5
