Sword Art Online Review
When I first heard about
SAO,
I figured it would be too similar to .hack//. I never really wanted to
give this anime a chance. Finally I broke down and watched it out of
curiosity. Watching the first episode I really was not that interested,
but I tend to give anime a few episodes to get into them. In a few days I
watched the entire series. I literally could not stop watching
SAO at all. The anime really knows how to pull you in and keep your attention.
Halfway through
SAO
when the game becomes Alfhiem, you may start to lose interest. It feels
as though there is no plot to the second half of the series, but just a
continuation to make more money on the series. That is not the case at
all though. You really need to give
Sword Art Online a chance and watch the entire series.
The Plot of Sword Art Online
A
new virtual reality world has been created as an online gaming
experience. The game is called Sword Art Online. Unknown to the players
logging into to
SAO,
there is no log out button. The creator, Kayaba Akihiko, did this on
purpose. He has an alternate plan for the game. He created
SAO as his own playing field where if you die on the game, you die in reality. The only way to survive the game is to reach the 100
th level and kill the final boss. When this is finally accomplished, around 300 people are stuck in virtual reality ‘limbo’.
That
is until Alfhiem Online is created. Alfhiem is a much safer game and
has an emergency logout system. Nobuyuki Sugo is the mastermind behind a
project going on in Alfhiem with the 300 people from
SAO.
He is attempting to control pain and thoughts of humans. This is the
only place in which he can conduct this illegal experiment. The ending
is definitely worth the entire anime so I will not spoil it for you.
The Characters of Sword Art Online
Kirito (or Kazuto Kirigaya) is the main character of the Sword Art Online. He has a great advantage in
SAO
due to the fact he was a Beta Tester (or beater). He takes a lot of heat
for this from other characters that have lost someone. He is a mainly
quite and keeps to himself, that is until he became really good friends
with Asuna (or Asuna Yuki). You first impression of Asuna is a someone
who would not make it very long. Eventually you see how strong she
really is and proves herself as a major character. The two fall in love
in the game which eventually leads to the destruction of both games (
SAO & ALO).
Each
character you meet in episodes has their own stories, both sad and
happy. You are sucked in to each episode through these characters. You
need to know if they survive or die. It is rare to find anime’s such as
this now a days.
The Artwork and Soundtrack of Sword Art Online
The artwork in Sword Art Online is the standard tradition anime. The fact the hair color in
SAO
are believable makes it even better. It brings you even closer to the
anime when this happens. The characters are more realistic and you are
able to relate to them in a deeper way.
The soundtrack seems to be the only place lacking in
SAO.
Although the music is very beautiful and performed by Yuki Kajiura,
there is little variety to the show. There seems to be five songs and
that is all. They are extremely great, don’t get me wrong, but a little
more would’ve been nice.
Sword Art Online should definitely be on
every otaku’s shelf. This is an anime you do not want to pass up. It is
definitely in my top ten!
Overall Grade 9/10
