Sword Art Online Review (Arc 1 & 2)

Synopsis

The story happens in the 2022s. Kirito a hardcore gamer who finds himself immersed in the game Sword Art Online which is a MMORPG. After a brief initiation of a noob he will realize that he will remain stuck with 10,000 other players until one of them kills all the bosses of the game. From there he will go from adventure to adventure and will meet in his path the love (it’s too cute) embodied by the character of Asuna. Where the story is interesting is that if the players die in the game, the same thing happens in the real world. To get out of the game one of the 10,000 players will have to finish it but how much sacrifice will they have to make .

Two different arc, two different MMO

As said above, Sword art Online breaks down into two seasons. I have found interesting both parts, the first arc focus on life in the game I found myself completely in this universe and in the character of Kirito. Being a solo player on the MMORPGs myself (I have guilds but I rarely play in a group), I could have enjoyed having already encountered the same problems as the protagonist. Also we will be full of reminder (z) to the world of MMORPG with NPCs, quest systems, duels, etc ..

Often passages too fast, or even long periods can happen between two episodes. Some people will not like the hasty aspect of the scenario, but that’s what I liked! It is clear that developing this arc on 25 episodes instead of 14 would have allowed a better immersion and a more elaborate anime. But what do you want, we like to be surprised and Sword Art Online really surprised me on many points.

Relationships

Well you probably understand, there is a romance between the main character Kirito and the young Asuna. What changes a classic anime is not that they show their love at the end of the series but in the middle. We will have passages of everyday life as in a real couple. Clearly what is often missing in manga / anime is the love stories that are lived throughout the story, which is not the case in SAO because their idyll sounds like evidence and they are well aware