Manga Information

Forums

the anime seems pretty interesting but there have been several posts about side stories being skipped so i was wondering whether i should start the Sword art online light novel.

Yes, you should read the novels. However, you would probably enjoy the anime way more if you had no prior knowledge of the events in the Light Novel, so I suggest that you wait until the anime finishes before you move on to them.

Yes you should read the novels. If there;s something that you thought were weird or you didn't understand from the anime, it is probably explained in the novels as it provides way more details than the anime. Also the anime will most likely only cover the first major arc from the novel.

Yes, many many times.

Yes, you should. If you do read it, the first half of the season should cover volume 1, 2, and parts of 8.

Next week's episode is going to be the last side story on volume two.

The anime's probably not going to cover any of the gameplay mechanics [mind you, the mechanics are relatively in-depth and developed], and there's probably going to be a slew of cut material. Most notably in the second episode, they butchered Aria's adaptation; they cut out an entire, integral [to Aria] character, and screwed up the development of not only the protagonists, but Diabel.

Sword Art Online may be a good anime, but the novel isn't a good novel; it's a great one. Whether it'll be able to adapt itself into something reminiscent of that is up in the air. SAO's characters don't really fit in the shounen genre, they're a bit more complex than that; adapting each episode with minimal interaction and maximal combat isn't the goal of SAO. It's similar to Fate/Zero; yes, the combat scenes were really great, but what distinguished it from other shows of the genre were the brilliant dialogues, character interactions, and juxtaposed philosophies.

I suggest wait until the anime finishes to read. Otherwise it will spoil the fun and make you biased.

Really, follow my advice.

Personally, I'd read the Light Novel. Heard it was better. If you enjoy anime, you might not want to read it though.

<<Ethics code off>>

It's pretty good erotica for a writer that doesn't write erotica.

After I watched ep 2 it left alot of unanswered questions for me and I ended up reading the novel side story which this episode was based on and it answered alot of my questions I haven't gone to to read starting at vol 1 through.

For me I find it enjoyable to wait patiently and watch the anime first if you feel it's rushed and left alot of unanswered questions the novel fills up those gaps.

The novel was really good and I'm glad I picked it up and started reading even through I haven't started at Vol.1 if you got a tablet or something you can dl the pdf version and read it as a e-book I read it on the train because it takes me 1 hour and a half to get to uni.

I’d personally suggest reading the light novel. I started it earlier in the week and actually just finished volume 1 after watching the second episode. While I have “spoiled” the plot, in a sense, for myself by having now read the first volume before watching the anime in its entirety, I still am looking forward to the rest of the anime as I haven’t yet read Sword Art Online: Hoshinaki Yoru no Aria, which is essentially episode 2 but obviously cut down for time constraints, but it still looked very good in my opinion.

As for when you should read the light novel, it’s probably better to read it after the anime, so you can enjoy the anime itself and read it and see how much more in depth it is, as in my experience usually the anime is less enjoyable than whatever media its adapted from, be it novel or manga. Or alternatively if you are like myself and are just too impatient for the rest of the episodes to air, and really just want to know what happens, read the novel now.

The novel is a great read. If you like reading and enjoyed the first few eps of the anime then you'll definitely love it. As many people have pointed out it might be best to wait until the anime finishes to read it because it seems they will be leaving stuff out.

It all depends on your taste I guess. My favorite form of entertainment is reading above all else so I'm biased.

I'm reading the light novels in chronological order. The translations from Baka's site are top notch.

No don't...wait for the anime to END FIRST before reading

I hate seeing another people who read LN and will whine ohh gawd what did you do anime... you cut some part thingy >.>

amazing novel truly spectacular haven't read anything so great in a long time! I've heard about SAO but the synopsis didn't do it justice it was terrible before the new synopsis is good though I wish I read it sooner ^^ then I watched anime first episode and was hooked so I read entire thing in one go

or just do both? the anime is doing a good adaptation as someone whos read entire thing i can say it's worth reading / watching the order does not matter the novels done so if you can't wait just read it... you are telling him not to read because you hate people who actually read the original work and say that it was better than anime? well most of the times that is the case if you don't like to feel left out perhaps you should pick up a book don't tell him what not to do because then you'll be "left out"

Mehh that is to REDUCE the feeling of disappointment

And durr I read the LN
But I know that LN AND ANIME ARE DIFFERENT... even it's an adaptation
And HE"S ASKING IF HE SHOULD READ the LN or not

And I basically answered READ IT LATER.... god people seriously they love trolling


[ADDED]
Ahh I forgot this is MAL.. the home of trolls

Fixed that for you ~

In regards to the question at hand I personally dont see a problem with reading the LNs and then seeing how they animate it for comparison because truth be told youre going to end up spoiling yourself through whichever one you choose first and then do a comparison through the other.

I personally decided to read up on the first chapter of Volume 1 (basically the contents of Episode 1) and then the contents of Episode 2 which was a side story and after making the read just from those two episodes to compare I found continuing to read the novel (I'm current almost through with Volume 1 ... I never read lol)

I can under your concern with people whining about how the anime may "lack" in comparison to its original source but thats no different with any anime whose original origin was a VN/LN/Manga

If the guy is curious then I say let him look it up why make him wait week after week, if he doesnt mind the wait then he can just ignore the novels for now. The choice is his.

Read the novel!
Just imagine someone like me who hates reading actually read 10 chaps straight in 2 days.

However, i do agree with reading after the anime, but for people like me who can't stand another sec without knowing what's gonna happen next after watching ep2, just read the novel before you lose interest.

But take note that considering 10 volumes are out, the anime is probably going to be at least 26eps so that's another 6 months from now, or 9months and more if they split it to 2 seasons lol..

So, I'm going to wait for the anime to end anyway, but first would like some information from who read the novels :)

From what I saw, the 2nd episode is based on 'Hoshinaki Yoru no Aria', should I read the novel according to anime's chronological order or just read the main story and the side-story when I'm done?
I saw on another post how it would be reading it following the timeline and it seems rather confuse jumping from volume 1 to volume 8 and then going back..

Thanks in advance ;)

Basically, the Aincrad arc is composed volume 1 (main arc), volume 2 (side stories and new characters (chapter 3 is very important for next arc), and volume 8 (chapter 1, side stories), and also Aria in The Starless Night. Whether you read it, chronologically or according to volume number is up to you ( I read according to volume number). But, you must read volume 2 (or at least the chapter 3), before you enter Volume 3 (Fairy Dance) or you will feel, you miss something.

Hope this helps