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Opinions on Sword Art Online?


TheHenriGame

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Okay, I know this is a pretty weird subject, but I'm just really curious! Why do you enjoy SAO? This anime has become pretty popular, but I honestly don't think it is good. However, opinions are opinions and everyone has them, so I want to at least understand the fandom before I can say anything about it.

My opinions are very simple: I really like the very beginning of the series, but then it just becomes sorta mediocre and by the second of the first season it becomes really bad. Kirito is not a well developed character and honestly feels like a weird self insert, the action choreography is really bland and characters feel like they have no weight to them, there is no tension after a while and to top it all off the pacing issues really takes me out of the experience making me unable to understand or feel for most of the main cast. Now, I do think the animation is solid even if the character designs are really generic and the first few episodes were pretty damn good!

I think that this is an anime with a lot of potential that just lost its way. The whole appeal of the digital world becoming a prison, a dream becoming a nightmare, is what really sold me on the idea. However, since it soon becomes clear that nobody will ever die again, it kind of loses its uniqueness. I think the anime would just be better off focusing on SAO for the entire first season instead of going to Fairy land later on. The journey of Kirito to go from a skilled solo player to an op badass never quite made sense to me because it's completely glanced over. We are unable to see how the people adapt to the world of SAO because the show never really shows us until Kirito meets Asuna again.

Also, if you love SAO I have nothing against you! You can disagree with me and that's fine, but what I'm saying here is only my opinions. I want to understand the fanbase really.

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SAO is a great example of how to take an interesting concept that had rarely been done, and completely ruin it. Yes, I will take whatever dislikes come from saying that but it's true. There was potential to make something great and it was ruined by short rushed arcs, the inability for it's creators to keep it in their pants long enough to tell a compelling story instead of jumping into fan service, and the idea of leaving SAO was the absolute worst thing that could have happened to the show. Any real stakes of drama were lost the first time we saw what a god character Kirito had become and how everyone outside of that first guild that he cared about had all the plot armor they needed to never really be in danger. Also the tsundere gimmick is bad enough as is, but adding to by speeding it up to the point where most would question why it's even there, just makes it worse. Also every character being defined by where they fall into or out of the pointless harem that came too late to matter, just makes everything one note and stops all character development from ever happening. SAO is one of the best example of how to waste potential.

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It really depends for me. It is not the best series out there, but if you read the books, the anime, at least the aincrad arc, seems like a godsend.

 

I took a look at the light novels and things were so bad I did not bother reading more than one volume.

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Well, i really love SAO but i can't be disagree with some of your ideas...

The truth is, SAO is a really good anime, i love watching it again and again but only the first seasons...

Aincrad, Fairy Dance and Phantom Bullet were amazing as well as the fights. BUT after that, i think they should have ended it, every good things don't last forever. The next seasons are too "kind", no deaths no real fights/aventure like the first season.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sword Art Online is trash.

 

A many who have posted before me have said, it was rushed, there was nearly to none good character development, the creators basically jumped right into the parts where usually, it takes time to get to those points and way too ******* much harem and the fact that they tried taking pieces from the great Berserk series such as "The Black Swordsman", fairy in a pocket, becoming a dragonslayer, an all out black outfit and not to mention falling in love with a vice-commander of a guild cough Casca cough

Basically a lousy lame version of Berserk in a virtual world. You guys sure that the game is called Sword Art Online? More like Berserk Online.

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  • 1 month later...

Screw the haters!

Sword art online is a great anime and if you don't think so you can go fall in a ditch! I mean seriously, you don't have to watch the show if you hate it so much, you can JUST LEAVE IT ALONE. yolo-you-only-live-online-sao.jpg

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brycec said:
It really depends for me. It is not the best series out there, but if you read the books, the anime, at least the aincrad arc, seems like a godsend.

 

I took a look at the light novels and things were so bad I did not bother reading more than one volume.

I respect your opnion, but in mine the books were much better than the anime. More well developed.

@RepentantSky

Sword art was not "Short Arcs"

It got two seasons of about 25 episodes each, taking into account these cover about 2-4 books worth of content thats about 6 episodes a book. Which the anime actually adapted alot of the side plot and threw it in with the main story.

The idea of sword art online is to examine the mental and emotional strain of a death game on teenagers, forget the harem that's there because

1 the author likes them

2 they know the market they are trying to sell to

And in the books the author actually apologises

In my opnion the story has a much more analytical theme in the books and gets into the characters emotions to a point where the harem acutally makes sense.

Thefl first season is basically a mental test to see how the characters cope. Then to have everything thrown back to "normal" and getting used to that again

Through out the second season we have a in depth analysis of guilt, abuse and post traumatic stress

I really don't see how people miss this :/

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Renee said:
I respect your opnion, but in mine the books were much better than the anime. More well developed.

@RepentantSky

Sword art was not "Short Arcs"

It got two seasons of about 25 episodes each, taking into account these cover about 2-4 books worth of content thats about 6 episodes a book. Which the anime actually adapted alot of the side plot and threw it in with the main story.

The idea of sword art online is to examine the mental and emotional strain of a death game on teenagers, forget the harem that's there because

1 the author likes them

2 they know the market they are trying to sell to

And in the books the author actually apologises

In my opnion the story has a much more analytical theme in the books and gets into the characters emotions to a point where the harem acutally makes sense.

Thefl first season is basically a mental test to see how the characters cope. Then to have everything thrown back to "normal" and getting used to that again

Through out the second season we have a in depth analysis of guilt, abuse and post traumatic stress

I really don't see how people miss this :/

When your seasons are cut up into two stories or more that are only half a season of length at best, you have short arcs. Apologizing in the books doesn't mean anything if you don't read the books, and it doesn't excuse doing things people obviously don't like regardless. No Harem makes sense when A, it takes away far too much time from making an actual story, B, it doesn't really get off the ground until the person who is the focus of the Harem is already in a relationship with someone they end up proposing to C, is used as an excuse for making so many characters one note and D, defines the place of every character whether or not they are in involved in the Harem. Asuna becomes the jealous type and does little else, characters like Lisbeth, the guild leaders in ALO and all the rest just like Kirito, mostly for no reason, and other characters like Klein and Agil, who were far too interesting to just fall to the way side, become something like the best friend who is goofy and does little to nothing, and pub/weapons owner who can move the plot along for about 5 minutes before doing nothing again. Knowing your audience is one thing, not giving anyone a bigger role if they don't move the fan service forward is another. If that's really true, and it's all about how people cope, then more of that should have been shown, not told, that's a basic bit of knowledge given out for free anywhere that will tell you how to write a story. Telling people something is just asking them to accept something off screen, which can prevent it from feeling real, showing it to them, makes it as real as it can be. As for coping, I don't see much of that. Kirito is drastically effected by death for an episode or two where he tries to do something that doesn't work, and before you know it, even though he won't join parties for a few more episodes, is doing just that with Lisbeth, the Loli character, and Asuna. When you are faced with the death of literally thousands of people whom you could end up like, it should mess with your mind from the offset and make you paranoid or afraid and prevent you from taking risks, yet Kirito keeps taking those risks throwing caution to the wind until he "reaches the point that being a solo player" no longer works for him, whatever that means. They never really have him explain that properly even though he says it more than once. He seems to recover from that experience in just a few episodes, and while they tell us it's been a while, again that just shows off the problem of telling instead of showing, because it doesn't feel like that at all. As for the second season being an analysis of guilt, I don't feel that at all. I don't remember that season all that well, which is a great indication of failure already because I remember the first season more, but basically what I think I can remember is, someone from SAO is pretending to kill people in real life with an in-game weapon, a move that's telegraphed from the start if you watch the anime because they give that away in the opening if you can even understand the basics of foreshadowing, and no the books do not count, because again, I didn't read them because I didn't hear about SAO until the anime came out and I was annoyed by the first season's anime, why would I bother. Then there's a few episodes of them doing a random side quest just for an excuse to run into Yuuki by the end of it, which is a lazy way to fill in a few pages of a book or an anime, and it all follow's Yuuki trying to make a name for herself before dying, which she does in Asuna's hands, which was a somewhat nice touch, because it gave Asuna something to for the first time since SAO but that in and of itself is a huge problem because I cannot suspend my disbelief so far as to accept that a human being was A, allowed to spend their last remaining moments playing a game when they are being highly monitored in a medical facility, and B, that said dying person would want to spend the last few minutes of their life with an online friend instead of the family who cared enough to try and do everything for them that they could. I'm sorry but no, no matter what impact someone made on you for the last few weeks or minutes of your life, that doesn't add up, which is exactly how I would describe SAO anyways, it doesn't add up.

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@RepentantSky

 

A thirteen episode series is standars now and each story arc got that many episodes, apologising in the books does make sense as he has now power over how they portray his scenes in the anime what looks like "oh kirito has another girl" makes sense in the book cause each scene has context and is told from the characters perspective, thus creating a bond between you and the character and a actual basis for thier feelings vs a third person set anime episode. And really if they adpated all the content from the books the aincrad arc could easily be 25 episodes it's self. So in that instanctle yes it could be seen as a short series.

 

As for season 2, the whole first half was about sinon, how she was afraid of guns, her breakdowns and ptsd from shooting someone when young, her guilt and fear, the whole fact that her friend was driven crazy and commited all the murders with the help of his brother to try and get to her and her having. It was very detailed.

Kirito even confides in her, showing emotion and telling her about his past and how he killed people in SAO and that events did effect him but he needed to move on.

 

And I'm pretty sure Yukki needed that machine to live right? (My memories cloudy on that arc)

 

As for asuna being a jelous type, that seems realistic, people get jelous in real life and it doesn't have to be logical, love isint logical

 

And as for kirito being instantly liked, this happens too, I had a friend in real life, and everyone loved him, it didn't matter who he met, everyone loved him, and yes, girls swarmed around him as well for no reason

 

I can understand you don't like sword art. That's fine. That's your taste and that's ok.

But your reasons not liking it I can dismiss with the facts of what happens and the extended lore of SAO.

 

The only major plot flaw I noticed in the whole anime, that's isint explained anywhere in the books.or anime, is how kirito wakes up at then end of season 1 and walks around the hospital, yet in season 2, he says that he awoke to nurses beside his bed.

 

I wasn't the largest fan of the anime, but I really enjoy the books. But I just can't watch someone attack the show for reasons that in my mind and aren't based in fact. It's just not in my personality, I have to defend.

So don't take anything personally :).

 

Also SAO is special me as it was my best friend (who sadly passed away two months ago) favorite anime. We shared many memories over this show and it was one of the first animes I watched, snuggled on my bed afternoon long watching the show with him.

 

So yeah, when I thought something in the show didn't make sense I looked into it. I researched and compared it against It's self. And most facts seem to add up.

 

Not every anime is perfect though. And I admit that.

 

Is there anything else i need to explain :) ?

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I don't like SAO for reasons brought fourth by others. Plus, there's its popularity. I'd be more forgiving if it wasn't so big. I mean, it's effectively one of the big anime series, plus has prominent game releases and a lot more speed in getting to DVD/Blu-Ray than other shows. If it were one of the many shows at it's level, with the invincible protagonist, harem, creepy fanservice, bad villains, etc, I could ignore it. But it's not. It even has other anime try to be SAO. Personally, it is not remotely that good.

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A thirteen episode series is standars now and each story arc got that many episodes, apologising in the books does make sense as he has now power over how they portray his scenes in the anime what looks like "oh kirito has another girl" makes sense in the book cause each scene has context and is told from the characters perspective, thus creating a bond between you and the character and a actual basis for thier feelings vs a third person set anime episode. And really if they adpated all the content from the books the aincrad arc could easily be 25 episodes it's self. So in that instanctle yes it could be seen as a short series.

 

For some reason, this does not make too much sense. There are writers and artists out there that do get to have a say over how their work is adapted into television series or a film, but many just let the teams do their jobs. In fact, Togashi had little to no power over what was happening when Yu Yu Hakusho got its anime adaptation.

 

As for the whole aincrad being 25 episodes, I do not really see how, since the first book just skipped right to the stage where Kirito fought Kayaba after a while and the second book had basically everything that happened before it.

 

Maybe, if the content from Progressive were added, it would come to 25, but certainly not with the original novel series that got published in print.

 

As for the machine, I am not too sure, since the first book in the regular series was so extremely terrible to the point that I did not want to bother, but the machine was basically like morphine or other drugs people near death are given, in order to lessen their suffering.

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Let me be a bit fast on my point.

The execution is a bit.. disappointing. The character creation focusing on Kirito and Asuna isn't what I'd expect, or should I call it slightly "empty"?

I know I haven't said much, but I'll say what's not or already has been said: the soundtrack is amazing.

 

If I were to give an overall rating, probably a 5/10.

 

 

 

 

Screw the haters!

Sword art online is a great anime and if you don't think so you can go fall in a ditch! I mean seriously, you don't have to watch the show if you hate it so much, you can JUST LEAVE IT ALONE.

 

But people already watch before stating an opinion. I do agree that some people are acting harshly towards it, but you don't have to blame us who don't like it. Opinions are not facts.

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I'll say what's not or already has been said: the soundtrack is amazing.

 

That is one thing that I can absolutely agree with. Of course, Yuki Kajiura’s music is liked by quite a few people.

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For some reason, this does not make too much sense. There are writers and artists out there that do get to have a say over how their work is adapted into television series or a film, but many just let the teams do their jobs. In fact, Togashi had little to no power over what was happening when Yu Yu Hakusho got its anime adaptation.

 

As for the whole aincrad being 25 episodes, I do not really see how, since the first book just skipped right to the stage where Kirito fought Kayaba after a while and the second book had basically everything that happened before it.

 

Maybe, if the content from Progressive were added, it would come to 25, but certainly not with the original novel series that got published in print.

 

As for the machine, I am not too sure, since the first book in the regular series was so extremely terrible to the point that I did not want to bother, but the machine was basically like morphine or other drugs people near death are given, in order to lessen their suffering.

 

 

Fair enough. I was just giving my opnions on why I think sword art works. Of course I could be wrong. I won't pretend to know how much involvment the author had. Maybe he wanted the anime like this?

All I can say if that is the case that he didn't make sure they accurately portrayed the events 100%.

 

Yes I was including progressive as that is still part of the storyline despite when it was published.

 

And I understand people not liking the series as I've said.

 

The other member was posting reasons they they didn't like it and i thought some of the just sounded like preferences vs anything specific to sword art so I jumped in to defend it :)

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TFW you start a discussion months ago you hardly give two fucks about now.

Jk, I think we are getting a lot of interesting responses here! I think the critiques and opinions we have offer a lot of good points and even better counter points. I'm still not sure about SAO, as I said I just don't think is a good series, but your opinions almost make wanna rewatch it with another mindset. I probably won't, but hey... what can I do, eh?

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@RepentantSky

 

A thirteen episode series is standars now and each story arc got that many episodes, apologising in the books does make sense as he has now power over how they portray his scenes in the anime what looks like "oh kirito has another girl" makes sense in the book cause each scene has context and is told from the characters perspective, thus creating a bond between you and the character and a actual basis for thier feelings vs a third person set anime episode. And really if they adpated all the content from the books the aincrad arc could easily be 25 episodes it's self. So in that instanctle yes it could be seen as a short series.

 

As for season 2, the whole first half was about sinon, how she was afraid of guns, her breakdowns and ptsd from shooting someone when young, her guilt and fear, the whole fact that her friend was driven crazy and commited all the murders with the help of his brother to try and get to her and her having. It was very detailed.

Kirito even confides in her, showing emotion and telling her about his past and how he killed people in SAO and that events did effect him but he needed to move on.

 

And I'm pretty sure Yukki needed that machine to live right? (My memories cloudy on that arc)

 

As for asuna being a jelous type, that seems realistic, people get jelous in real life and it doesn't have to be logical, love isint logical

 

And as for kirito being instantly liked, this happens too, I had a friend in real life, and everyone loved him, it didn't matter who he met, everyone loved him, and yes, girls swarmed around him as well for no reason

 

I can understand you don't like sword art. That's fine. That's your taste and that's ok.

But your reasons not liking it I can dismiss with the facts of what happens and the extended lore of SAO.

 

The only major plot flaw I noticed in the whole anime, that's isint explained anywhere in the books.or anime, is how kirito wakes up at then end of season 1 and walks around the hospital, yet in season 2, he says that he awoke to nurses beside his bed.

 

I wasn't the largest fan of the anime, but I really enjoy the books. But I just can't watch someone attack the show for reasons that in my mind and aren't based in fact. It's just not in my personality, I have to defend.

So don't take anything personally :).

 

Also SAO is special me as it was my best friend (who sadly passed away two months ago) favorite anime. We shared many memories over this show and it was one of the first animes I watched, snuggled on my bed afternoon long watching the show with him.

 

So yeah, when I thought something in the show didn't make sense I looked into it. I researched and compared it against It's self. And most facts seem to add up.

 

Not every anime is perfect though. And I admit that.

 

Is there anything else i need to explain :) ?

 

I'm not even going to acknowledge that first bit, because it's just so far off from anything that makes sense it's not even a good excuse. However the fear of guns thing never made sense in how it played out. Shion is afraid of a gun, and yet uses what should be the most powerful gun type in the game. I can understand her being afraid of the kind of gun that she used to kill to defend herself, but there's not really any indication of that outside of looking back into her past. I mean really, you see her past and her fear, but within her present self, I don't see that fear. In fact the only time I see her afraid is when she gets back to the real world before goes all god mode in real life again and saves her, after just being a god in the game.

 

Yes Yuuki needed to be on that machine, but it should have been monitoring her health so they would be very close to knowing when she was about to die. Her last minutes should have been with whatever family could be there so they could say goodbye to her before she actually died. Even if she couldn't respond to them, no family is knowingly going to let their loved one die in a video game and not get the chance to say goodbye to them before they pass.

 

Asuna being the jealous type isn't the problem. The problem is that is that's all she is until meeting Yuuki, and then after Yuuki dies, she goes right back to it. That is not character development, or at the very least, any development is lost when she doesn't do anything with it.

 

Just because it can happen, doesn't make it a good story, even more so because it's one of the worst and most annoying stereotypes anime has ever used and it's also probably older than most if not all the members on this forums. Earning that would have been fine, but when people just jump on a dude as he lands in front of them, that is lazy.

 

You cannot dismiss what I'm saying with logic because your logic is based on giving excuses to laziness, at best.

 

How about the flaw where he can suddenly hack better than real life human has ever been able to save Yui, which kills all dramatic tension for the rest of that arc. How about the giant flaw that is Ordinal Scale, where real life drones like that would never exist, or how common sense that the characters showed while in SAO just dies off so the movie lazily go forward. How about the flaw that no one would invest in a game that only sells 10,000 copies at the start. How about the flaw at the start where Kirito tells Klein it's just a game and not to be too involved only to finish that same thought with saying he only feels alive while playing SAO. How about the flaw in Ordinal Scale where he uses PvP battles to get food at the game and uses those in PvE situations, which anyone who knows anything about video games knows that doesn't work. How about the flaw that suggests that everyone in the first arc of season 2 would listen to one person and all do the same thing, which no one in any game has ever done. How about the flaw that no one else ever tried to use a sniper or sword for the extra challenge in that game despite the fact that many people would actually do that. How about the flaw when the guy who convinced everyone to allocate their stats exposes them for being weak and shows a better way to do, those players are suddenly worthless, like there's somehow a ton of other players who didn't listen to him even though the anime made it seem like everyone did. Like really, where did all of these players suddenly come from to change the entire way the game is played. How about the flaw where the main villain is exposed in the OP of that first arc. Should I keep going? SAO is just one major slip up after another, where basics of gaming are entirely dismissed and when it tries to incorporate real life into itself, it forgets about anything that laws would prevent or downgrades it's characters to make things suddenly work.

 

It's fine if you like it because of the memories and all of that, but I'm talking to you about the books, because I have not, and will not read them, because if they are anything like the anime at all, they are not worth it to me, so any argument you make with those does not apply here. I'm sorry you lost a friend, truly, but your bias for this show because of that is not an excuse to try and make a bad show good. SAO is nothing more than a showing of what not do when making an anime adaptation.

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Well, good thing this thread doesn't seem to have gone to outright flaming ... I think ... #didntactuallyreadthelongerposts ^^"

 

I agree with what a lot of people say about SAO not being well-executed, and the whole harem business bothers me as it does many others also. However, SAO was my first anime I was able to watch all the way through, as it is and was for many others. So I can't help but personally feel a little grateful to it for still being fun and watchable despite its flaws, since I spent several years trying to get into anime and not being able to because I just wasn't really watching the right shows for me. Ironically, what I perceive as one of its greatest weaknesses (the loss of believability that anyone important would actually die) was probably what helped me most in being able to watch it, since I wasn't able to handle really heavy stuff for a while.

 

tl;dr: Ain't perfect, but I'll still probably end up watching because it's pretty and fun, and I'm glad it's able to help people get into anime more like it did for me ^^"

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Shion is afraid of a gun, and yet uses what should be the most powerful gun type in the game

 

It covers that.

 

I'm not even going to acknowledge that first bit, because it's just so far off from anything that makes sense it's not even a good excuse.

 

Ok well I'm done then.

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  • 2 months later...

While some people crow about it, others hate S2 I for the most part enjoyed all of it. Except Ordinal Scale. I find that while it should unite S1, S2 with S3 there were some unnecessary components in the movie that left a sour taste in my mouth. I don't want to rant and rave because if I do I will have to start a whole brand new threat on the subject of my ranting and raving. I can only say that Ordinal Scale almost ruined SAO for me completely, and now probably won't be able to watch S3 without it hovering in the back of my mind. 

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I personally enjoyed the first arc  of season 1. In fact, i strongly believe it's the best arc in the whole series. Kazuto and Asuna developed decently well and i liked the romance too. They could have easily continued the first arc for the whole of season 1 and i think it would have been a nice cliff hanger at the end when Asuna "died". It would have allowed some of the side characters to develop as well and would have built a good foundation for the second arc to launch in season 2. The last arc of season 2 is fan service anyway so i wouldn't have cared if they didn't include that entirely. 

This series had a lot of potential. I actually watched season 1 and 2 within 48 hours so it's not exactly a terrible show. Overall, i think it's a solid 8/10. 

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