Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Sword Art Online Review

Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online is about a virtual massively online multiplayer role playing game (VRMMORPG) aptly named Sword Art Online. Kirito and many other players bought said game at launch and dived in through a Nerve Gear only to find out the game's creator left out the log out feature to have each player try to clear the 100 floor dungeon in order to leave the game. The only rule being if you die in the game you die in real life and thus our anime and review begin

The pacing is off at times, the beginning feels rushed since it starts with a lot of action enticing you to keep watching but after first few episodes it starts to slow down. There are a few episodes they could have done without, Being a 25 episode anime I was looking forward to a lot of what was shown in the starting episodes an action packed MMO world with dungeon crawling segments. What was shown was actually the social parts of an MMO and side quests of sorts. Out of the 100 floors they have to clear in order to beat the game only a few segments and boss fights were shown, don't get me wrong the action scenes were phenomenal and felt epic including the soundtrack that was spot on but I do feel there is more that could have been done overall for SOA since its split into two arcs. The second half/arc felt kind of weak, it introduces Kirito's sister and a new VRMMORPG sure it was more SOA but the story just fell flat for me it was just a rescue mission with a new love interest being introduced. Without spoilers I fell that the first half could have ended properly right after AKihiko leaves Kirito and Asuna alone in the clouds.

Kirito and Asuna are strong characters that literally grow in the MMO world and skill up accordingly and personally  I felt that Kirito would really be someone that plays MMO's regularly. There were a few parts where my MMO experience was geeking out to a point where I was glad they didn't implement a stamina system in the anime.
Some characters did feel forced and rushed a bit like Krein who is introduce in episode 1 and then quickly pushed aside and only shown throughout in cameos of sort he doesn't really leave a huge impact in the overall story and Kirito's friend, hell I felt more of a connection with Mills than Klein. There are many characters that are introduced for a few episodes to only have something tragic happen or be left out of the overall arc, they aren't exposed long enough for the viewer to get a lasting impression. I do wish they kept Keiko in longer to give it more of an 
MMO feel and variety since she was a Pet Tamer (Hunter in most MMO's) or have Kirito visit Lisbeth more frequently for repairs to strengthen both Keiko's and Lis's character in the anime and give a better lasting impression.
Keiko and Lisbeth
Rating 4.5/5
Overall it is a great anime even for the negative stuff I mentioned it makes up for the action scenes and character art. The story was great even though it felt weak for a few episodes but I guess you could consider those as filler. The OP and ED for both arcs were great and catchy to the point where I would buy the soundtrack if I could get my hands on it. Must watch if you like MMO's and anime like .hack or FF Unlimited.

I would love to have VRMMO's in the near future I would be so hype if something like that would happen sure it would be life threatening but where would the fun be if it wasn't?


No comments:

Post a Comment