Ni Zhuan Ci Yuan: AI Jue Qi

I know the is an adaptation from a manhua source, but I haven't read it so I won't comment on that.

This donghua has a similar premise to SAO, but it has people outside who are trying to influence the situation, unlike what happened in SAO. Characters are trapped and it is turned into a death game. The characters designs are nice, and though the animation (especially for the action scenes) are nice, they are a bit mismatched with the scale of some of the fights. I kind of understand why though, since character attack animations don't really fit all that well when compared to bosses ... that are 10x bigger than them. Other than this, there are some big problems with the plot. Everything feels to convenient and even when the MC asks poignant questions, they just get ignored. While the "villains" or "PK players" are realistic to a certain degree, the donghua rarely questions any irrational actions of characters or people given the very unexpected situation they are in. There is also the mismatched skill of the MC. He somehow grows to be able to compete with high level characters when he's been stuck in the game for only a few days? What?

Overall, an nice watch, but not very deep. It's suitable for entertainment, but leaves much to be designed in terms of story.

Reversal Dimension - Rise of AI Recap
Reversal Dimension follows the duo Shi Jiajie and Xiao Lei, runaways that live in an abandoned factory in the slums; Their livelihood is playing VR games with hacks until they get a mysterious package shipped to them with the full-dive VR headset of trending MMORPG Epoch. Unbeknownst to them, Shi Jiajie and Xiao Lei have just activated a trojan virus in the headset that infiltrates the servers and supposedly gives the AI awareness. The AI 'god' overlooking Epoch has the ability to trap humans in the game world and steal their bodies when they are killed in the game ... world. Shi Jiajie's headset is modified so it has authority to the 'key' - an administrator privilege to add and remove anything in the game world. In order to save his beloved and everyone in the game, Shi Jiajie has to make compromises with the AI characters in Epoch.

Story: 5/10
The story is actually really well executed; It follows game mechanics much better than SAO and has a logical reason to why humans are stuck in a game world. However, I feel like the decision to drag the series to get a sequel really screwed with the ending. Throughout the series Shi Jiajie is chased by Xiao Zhiyao* because of the trojan virus and it doesn't get revealed until later that AI try to save him by diverting his path. In the beginning, an AI in hellish clothing tries to recruit Shi Jiajie in the shadiest way and it isn't until Xiao Zhiyao shows up that he wants to kill Shi Jiajie - The evil-looking sect leader turns out to be an AI; It happens again when Shi Jiajie is about to enter the tournament and is instead sent to an underground prison by the AI girl that entered him into the tournament. Finally, we have the shadiest character - an AI girl with blue hair that tries to control the group situation at every corner in order to save other AI characters, it seems like the moment Shi Jiajie stepped into the game world the AI gained awareness. It could have ended in episode 12 if they skipped all the unnecessary fighting because we know that they (the main chars) will be saved by some plot armor if they lose.

Art & Sound: 7/10 & 6/10
The art and animation of this series was pretty high quality with the hair and clothing physics. Some settings have terribly low quality though, like the chase scene with Shi Jiajie and Xiao Lei where the background is just low poly blocks colored in grey to represent buildings.

The VA was above average, same with the sound effects and background music.

Character: 6/10
Character development felt rushed in the beginning with Shi Jiajie and the redhair female MC. They trust each other pretty fast despite Shi Jiajie being wanted and she monopolizes on that fact and the fact that he's weak to control him - It isn't until she realizes why he's being chased yet she still does nothing about it and instead continues with whatever he says. That lack of reasoning is why we are left with odd character development; The romance or character conflict feels superficial as a result.

Enjoyment & Overall: 6/10
I did enjoy this if I turned off my brain and let the series do its thing. Realistically, it does have a lot of plot holes and rushed char development but the story itself is well structured and deserving of a 6/10 - above average rating.