Aaron's Review: Sword Art Online pt.2

Warning: This review contains spoilers for the first half of Sword Art Online. Please read the first half: SAO Pt.1

(sigh) Time to burn down a bridge. 

Guys, Gals, & Non Binary Pals. This is Animated Aaron’s Review of Sword Art Online Pt. 2

!Background!

Two months after the SAO incident, 300 people are still in a comatose state. Asuna is one of the 300, but is being held hostage by the owner of a new VR company, Nobuyuki Sugou. She is trapped in a new game called  (ALO) and it’s up to Kirito to log in and beat the game with the help of a player named Leafa. Who is actually his cousin, Suguha.

!Story!

Okay, so…where do I begin with what’s wrong with this half of the show? Well, the sudden shift was the first thing that bothered me. The show spent so much time establishing one world with knights and guilds that it comes across as odd that we now have to learn the rules of a new magical world with fairies. There’s new characters you have to get invested in. And I’ll be blunt.

I don’t care.

I don’t care about this new environment Kirito is in. Why? Aside from the whiplash of changing genres midway through the show, there’s no tension anymore. The idea is that Kirito has to beat the game in a week to save Asuna. If he dies, then he starts back from the beginning meaning he won’t have enough time.

Okay, that’s not as good as the first half. But it could still be good. The problem? It wasn’t.

Kirito only has 1 week, meaning the tension is based on a time limit instead of various dangers. Yet, the anime doesn’t take advantage of this. In SAO, everyone is danger and they’re aware of it. The game ALO is a lot more whimsical and has a more charming atmosphere to it than SAO did. So instead of Kirito ignoring the beauty of the game in a rushed attempt to complete it, he takes time to help others who’re just playing a game and can log out anytime. There’s even more comedy here. There’s also more shots of asses and half-naked teenage girls.

I should probably burn that bridge right about now.

!Characters!

There’s only two new characters I’ll bring up. First is the villain, Nobuyuki and…God bless the voice actor for trying.

Okay, so he plans on marrying Asuna because of some business thing involving her father despite her being in a coma. He sniffs her hair and brags to Kirito about him being unable to stop him. In the game, there’s scenes where he gropes a captive Asuna telling her things like ‘you’ll give in eventually’. Okay, a sleazy businessman who wants to sexually assault underage girls. I hate that son-of-a-bitch already.

Oh by the way, he has the other 300 SAO players and wants to experiment mind control through them in an attempt to take over the minds of the ALO players. But forget that. Let’s have a few more scenes where he assaults Asuna. See the issue here? As horrible as it is and the anime does present it as a horrible thing, all we see him do is hit on Asuna. So instead of getting invested in a smooth yet creepy villain, I’m raising my hand asking, ‘are we gonna move on now?’

Next is the main character, Suguha. Yeah, kind of an odd choice that she gets just as much screen time as her brother Kirito. She’s not a bad character, but she’s not very interesting either. She reacts to the stuff put in front of her and is a kind yet stern person. She doesn’t really stand out aside from being the ‘little sister who wants to fuck her brother’ character.

…oh right. Time to burn that bridge.

!The Show!

So it’s not just that change in atmosphere and tone that makes the second half bad. There’s a few odd choices. Like, Sugu loving her brother romantically. I’m not here to say if something controversial is right or wrong, but if it’s used well in the show. To answer the question, sort of.

Most of her inner dialogue about it is telling herself that ‘he’s your brother you sicko’ and coming to terms with why she feels this way and knowing its most likely wrong. At no point does she actually pursue Kirito or try to swoon him over. She doesn’t have another friend giving her advice or anything like that. It’s a nice insight into the character and the voice actresses for both the English dub and original Japanese do an amazing job.

Too bad it’s not needed at all. The arc starts out with Kirito stressed out about life after being trapped in a game for 2 years and not knowing if he’s going to see Asuna again. Suguha gives him a shoulder to cry on and deep down has fears about losing her brother since he distanced himself from her before the SAO incident. Call me stupid but…why not just have that be their dilemma? Have Kirito want to get back into a VR game and Sugu reluctantly accompanies him because she doesn’t know how well adjusted he is mentally. It seemed like that was what they were going for at first.

But nope! Introduce an incest angle despite not needing it.

Matter of fact, why did they replace the original side characters? The main issue with them was that they didn’t get a lot of screen time so you can’t get invested with them as much as you could’ve. Well, here was your chance. And you blew it on incest, a creepy millionaire, and panty shots of Sugu.              

!Summary!

So did I hate this? Well no, I was mostly just bored. You remember in middle school when you had a report due but your computer crashed deleting half of it so you had to rush it, turning in a product that could’ve been good if you had time to proofread and edit it? That’s what it feels like. The art style is still nice, the action is well choreographed and I was invested in Asuna getting free. But that was it. The shift in tone and story means I wasn’t invested in the fights, thus Asuna’s character seemed like an afterthought.  I don’t hate Suguha. I just didn’t care about her dilemma.

!Grade!

SAO pt.2-ALO: D

SAO Overall: C

Final Word: A very bumpy road, but the trip was still nice.

What’s Your Opinion?