Sword Art Online: Alicization

The Soul Translator is a state-of-the-art full-dive interface which interacts with the user's Fluctlight—the technological equivalent of a human soul—and fundamentally differs from the orthodox method of sending signals to the brain. The private institute Rath aims to perfect their creation by enlisting the aid of Sword Art Online survivor Kazuto Kirigaya. He works there as a part-time employee to test the system's capabilities in the Underworld: the fantastical realm generated by the Soul Translator. As per the confidentiality contract, any memories created by the machine in the virtual world are wiped upon returning to the real world. Kazuto can only vaguely recall a single name, Alice, which provokes a sense of unease when mentioned in reality.

When Kazuto escorts Asuna Yuuki home one evening, they chance upon a familiar foe. Kazuto is mortally wounded in the ensuing fight and loses consciousness. When he comes to, he discovers that he has made a full-dive into the Underworld with seemingly no way to escape. He sets off on a quest, seeking a way back to the physical world once again.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kirigaya, Kazuto Main

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Zuberg, Alice Main

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Eugeo Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Yuuki, Asuna Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Asada, Shino Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Yui Supporting

Itou, Kanae Japanese

Kirigaya, Suguha Supporting

Taketatsu, Ayana Japanese

Tsuboi, Ryoutarou Supporting

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Ayano, Keiko Supporting

Hidaka, Rina Japanese

Shinozaki, Rika Supporting

Takagaki, Ayahi Japanese

Kaneko, Atsushi Producer

Niwa, Masami Producer

Kawakami, Ryuutarou Producer

Futami, Yousuke Producer

Reviews

Oct 19, 2025

rose_kai

Recommended

Season 3 of SAO might just be the greatest comeback of any media suicide that season 2 was. It brings back the fantasy of watching season 1 and greatly improves upon the character development that was so rushed during the Aincrad arc. It's essentially a "what-if" sword art online actually started as a true fantasy anime, with a new power system that meshes incredibly well with this new style.

Animation. Upgraded. Emotion. Upgraded. Storytelling. Upgraded. The dynamic created by Kirito and Eugeo is one thing that generic isekais always fail to execute upon when they're too focused on using the female characters at plot devices to ... upscale the main character. There is, of course, a fair share amount of that in Alicization, because well, its SAO. Duh.

If you can get through season 2 of SAO, season 3&4 are the reward for pushing through that slopfest.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Mar 19, 2024

Whe3333

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler-less, TL;DR, fast, simple, and easy-to-digest review:

Swords, Swords, MORE SWORDS!!!

6/10

Animation? Excellent (+++)
This is by far the season with the best art style and animation in the series... yet! Fight scenes are way superior to previous ones.

Characters? Ok (+)
... They learned their lesson from season two (eugh! what a trainwreck season) and somehow introduced some new decent ones. (Klein is still underloved pls more)

Story? Meh (-)
World building is better than the previous but not better than the first season. They went full (almost full) fantasy that made it distinct from others in the series, but I still prefer the first season. The payoff? IMO, watch the next season immediately. The story is not bad, but not good either.

Pacing? Meh (-)
This season has to have the slowest burn in this series, but more coherent and bearable than 2nd season (ew).

OST? Good (++)
BGMs made the fights hype AF! They really upgrade in this department and I wish they do the same in the next season.

Enjoyability? Meh (-)
While fights are good and enjoyable, the story is not. I have to +5 or 2x the show so that I can get to the fights and other major plot lines. Too much unnecessary fillers will lead to payoffs to be not worth it. If you want to enjoy this story, transform this into a linear but engaging TTRPG instead. You can add characters if you want.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 5, 2021

Rendhart

Not Recommended

Funny

"I will only view this from anime perspective"

"I Believe everyone that saw this review already saw Previous ark / season of SAO"

"If you feel the previous season of this series are average or just okay I absolutely don't recommend you to watch this, except you doesn't have anything left to watch"

first thing first I absolutely don't understand why people say that this is better than previous ark. I do see the attempt to make this ark to become a new experience. but unfortunately they kind of fail to establish the right element in the anime it self. yes, they succeed on downgrading it.

~ Story ~

so ... it's basically have the same pattern as the first season. main character get trapped, thing's get sentimental (supposed to be), and then the ark ended. but for some reason on this ark it feels incomplete, there are lot of logic that they left out, like how a victim and a scum suppose to act or how a crime suppose to happen. they skip a lot of progression of the main character just to give too many unnecessary explanation about the plot it self. it just feels like this ark was copied and rearranged by a person that have absolutely have no idea and no experience on writing a story, but somehow manage to connect it.

~Art~

well it's definitely SAO they have a lot of cool fighting scene, nothing really new. but if I should be picky I hope they make the character's expression more clear.

~Character~

I think they can't decide on which one is the main character, how to portray a main character and why main character is a main character.

~Enjoyment~

it's something that you can't watch once and you can just skip skip skip if you see thing that you don't like or boring.

well, overall you will love thing that you love, even if you don't see it. it's not bad but for me it's absolutely can't be categorized as average since I do like the previous ark better. once again I said that I absolutely won't recommend it to anybody nor say that it's better than the previous one. but feel free to watch it if you feel to like it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Sword Art Online: Alicization Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Oct 20, 2018	197 replies	by The_Black_B3ast »» Jan 21, 4:48 PM
	Poll: Sword Art Online: Alicization Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Oct 13, 2018	201 replies	by The_Black_B3ast »» Jan 21, 4:19 PM
	Poll: Sword Art Online: Alicization Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Mar 30, 2019	304 replies	by Alfearox »» Jan 4, 2:35 PM
	Poll: Sword Art Online: Alicization Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Dec 22, 2018	131 replies	by Joe_Banana »» Nov 21, 2025 7:17 AM
	Poll: Sword Art Online: Alicization Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Dec 8, 2018	457 replies	by Joe_Banana »» Nov 21, 2025 4:05 AM

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