Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale

In 2026, four years after the infamous Sword Art Online incident, a revolutionary new form of technology has emerged: the Augma, a device that utilizes an Augmented Reality system. Unlike the Virtual Reality of the NerveGear and the Amusphere, it is perfectly safe and allows players to use it while they are conscious, creating an instant hit on the market. The most popular application for the Augma is the game Ordinal Scale, which immerses players in a fantasy role-playing game with player rankings and rewards.

Following the new craze, Kirito's friends dive into the game, and despite his reservations about the system, Kirito eventually joins them. While at first it appears to be just fun and games, they soon find out that the game is not all that it seems...

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Adaptation:	Gekijouban Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale
Prequel:	Sword Art Online II
Other:	Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale - Sword Art Offline
Sequel:	Sword Art Online: Alicization

Takagaki, Ayahi
Japanese

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Miki, Kazuma

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Kaneko, Atsushi

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Futami, Yousuke

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Kanbe, Muneyuki

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"Catch the Moment" by LiSA

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Mar 6, 2024

Peach_Main

Recommended

Unlike Sword Art Online: Extra Edition which was made mostly just to do a recap of Season 1 before Season 2 was released, Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale has a full fledged story that brings the concept of the Augma to the Sword Art Online universe. What's also interesting is that Ordinal Scale is an original anime interquel taking place in between Mother's Rosario and Alicization. The manga adaptation of it came later.

The Augma is a special device that projects a game layer in the user's area of vision while still being in reality. In other words, it's a middle ground between the ... real world and the virtual reality. It became popular very quickly. The most popular game the Augma came with is called Ordinal Scale, a combat based game where events are held in public spaces where players gather together to fight bosses. As a matter of fact, bosses from the Aincrad Arc have been announced to appear, which really excites everyone. Though Kirito was one of the best players of Sword Art Online, he struggles to keep up with Ordinal Scale since his physical strength in the real world is puny.

In the event a boss from Sword Art Online appears, a virtual idol named Yuna also appears and sings a song during the boss fight. The players are also given aid by a guy named Eiji. At first, everybody is enjoying these boss fights. Later in the movie however, Eiji seems to be sabotaging some of the survivors of Sword Art Online causing them to lose the game. To make matters worse, it seems that those who were defeated by the bosses are suffering memory loss. On top of all of that, Asuna unfortunately ended up as one of these victims. She can't even remember the first time she met Kirito. Looks like it's up to Kirito to figure out what's going on and to restore everybody's memories.

Ordinal Scale is the first instance where the artstyle of the series has changed. This new artstyle is still the current style as it's used in the Alicization arc as well as the Progressive movies. I really don't have a preference over which one I like better. Either one's fine by me. The animation of the augmented reality was really good. It's as if Virtual Reality really has become real. Does that make any sense? Probably not. Plus, I'm not one to talk about Virtual Reality since I never used any products myself and I don't plan on trying any.

The characters of Sword Art Online still remain the characters fans of the series know and love since the beginning. Kirito and Asuna's romance is still cute. Klein is still a fun guy as ever. Leafa and Sinon are there to help Kirito in investigating the memory loss issue. They're all hardly different from how they were in the main seasons. The new characters introduced in Ordinal Scale were interesting. Early on, Eiji gave a hint that he himself is one of the people who were in Sword Art Online. There is a secret behind the virtual idol Yuna that I will not spoil for those who haven't watched this movie and are interested. Finally, there is Professor Tetsuhiro Shigemura, the man who created the Augma. If there is anybody who knows why Sword Art Online survivors are suffering memory loss, only he would know.

Admittingly, I'm not really digging Ordinal Scale's soundtrack. When it comes to Sword Art Online music, I'd say the music from the first two seasons are absolute bangers. Yuna is a good singer, but to me, she's got nothing compared to the O.G.'s.

Another thing I want to address is the part where Kirito tried to inform people on social media about Asuna and Klein losing their memories. Look, I get that anybody who wasn't trapped in Sword Art Online would not suffer this fate when they lose in Ordinal Scale, but there are six thousand survivors. There are bound to be others out there experiencing it. There really is no reason for all the rude responses Kirito received. If you really wanted to show that the people do not believe Kirito, you could've have them commented in a more civilized manner. Instead of cr@p like "LIES!" and "Loser trying to hog all the points to himself," have respectable comments such as "My friends and I haven't experience such a thing," or "Maybe your friends used the Augma a little too much. They should take a load off."

Despite not being a fan of some of its elements, Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale is a solid movie in my opinion. It is definitely better than Extra Edition. The only thing in common these two movies have with each other is to prepare viewers for the next season. Just like how Extra Edition was made in preparation for Season 2, The Ordinal Scale was made to get viewers to be hyped for the anime adaptation of the Alicization Arc, which is the fourth main arc of the series. With that said, I'll be giving Ordinal Scale 8/10. It has a very good concept and it did a decent job showing it off.

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Jan 13, 2024

elthreedotcomma

Mixed Feelings

This movie was a 2-hour long introduction to systems that would be used in future seasons of Sword Art Online. There was nothing TOO good about it, but it did what it had to as a movie. It had decent action, decent plot, decent scenarios. Everything in it was just decent. The animation was better than previous seasons, but that is to be expected from a movie.

AR was introduced, VR was overrun, new games were experienced, and Kirito was overpowered (again). What it did do was that it mixed elements well, progressed characters decently, and introduced characters that played some role in the outcome. What ...

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Aug 20, 2023

lukajk

Not Recommended

This movie had great production quality but that's about the only positive thing that can be said about it.

I disliked how the motivations of the 'bad guys' are not revealed until the final battle, it was just weird and didn't add anything. There was nowhere to direct tension of any sort because the audience was in the dark about what the whole struggle was over in the first place. The 'threat' was also pretty contrived, it doesn't make much sense that he would have to permanently steal everyone's memories; why not just copy them? It's clear that aspect was extremely artificially amped up in ...

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Poll: Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) -Stray - Feb 18, 2017	380 replies	by CcCharles »» Apr 6, 1:32 AM
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