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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Episode 1

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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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Kanbe, Muneyuki

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Futami, Yousuke

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"Catch the Moment" by LiSA

Reviews

Feb 18, 2017

ZzLow96

Recommended

OK, this movie is stunning enough to make me write a review for the first time. I just came back from watching it. It was a full house at the cinema. It is rare to see a full house in my country when the theater is airing anime. This was a total shock!

Story: 10/10
The story is great. It is sort of like a mixture of tragedy, comedy and romance. Its sort like the mixture of SAO, ALO and GGO but mainly it revives that kind of feeling after you watch the original SAO. It makes me feel nostalgic.

Art: 9/10
For me, the art can ...

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Mar 10, 2017

peachewire

Mixed Feelings

Sword Art Online has never really been my type of anime but I can see the appeal for a lot of people. So when I was invited to see the movie, I walked in with low expectations and unfortunately lived up to them.

Story: 3
SAO never had the strongest of plots and this movie is no different. Kirito and friends are once again thrown into a new game which ends up another fight for their lives only this time, it takes place in the real world using augmented reality. Besides from being generic and predictable, most of it barely made any sense. SAO never fails ... to impress me on how far I should suspend my disbelief but this movie takes the cake on how often I questioned the choice in writing for some parts especially towards the end. It's lazy writing at its best where things just conveniently work out.

There's also a romantic side plot between Kirito and Asuna if you're into that but it barely goes anywhere. But at least it wasn't a harem.

Art: 9
It's A1 Pictures and their most popular series. Of course it's going to look good for a movie. The animation team really went all out for the fight scenes making them as flashy as possible while making it easy to follow. Definitely one of the few things that is good in SAO. This would have been a 10 if they didn't use some really cheap CGI for some of the minor monsters but the main fights are beautifully animated.

Sound: 7
SAO is also pretty decent when it comes to sound design and music. The fights sounded pretty good and voice acting suited the characters. They were able to incorporate some of the music through a new character who acts as the game's mascot/idol. It did get kinda old after the second time she appeared and sung but it's a part of the generic plot.

Characters: 2
It's the same old cast of Kirito and his friends which are all generally shallow and one-dimensional. The movie does do a good job at showing who these characters were for people who aren't too familiar with the series. Fans will appreciate these familiar faces appearing again as they tried to cram as many as they could into the movie.

The new characters are fairly generic but my biggest gripe is with the main villain. They tried to make him seem justified in his actions but he just comes off as dick for no reason. Yet at the same time, there isn't enough to hate or love the character and ends up feeling completely useless to the plot.

All of the characters had very weak to no motive in their actions. The writers were trying to go the emotional route to connect to the audience more but I'm left feeling disconnected because the characters barely act human at all.

Enjoyment: 4
I enjoyed the action scenes in the movie and how ridiculous the writing got but the fact that there are more holes than swiss cheese in the plot just made it frustrating to watch. I sat there asking myself "why?" throughout the film and got to the point where I wasn't even amazed anymore with its lackluster writing. The actions scenes have been the main selling point of SAO so at least those are good.

There is a lot of small details that fans of SAO will appreciate and enjoy but fanservice can't hide these plot holes.

Overall: 5
Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale suffers the same faults as the series with its badly written story and poorly developed characters. I do think the movie is better since it's only like two hours long and they weren't able to drag things out forever. I wasn't expecting this movie to "fix" what was wrong with the series but I can't fault what makes SAO so popular. Fans will love this movie, even though it technically isn't the best. It checks out every box on how a SAO movie was suppose to be and I'd be surprised if they broke away from this.

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Oct 8, 2017

LIQfilms

Not Recommended

Nearing the end of the Summer of 2014, SAO’s Gun Gale Online Arc finally draws to a close. Dumbfounded and genuinely surprised at the story arc’s terrible writing, characters and overall aesthetic, I sat back and assessed Sword Art Online up to that point in time, and concluded there and then, that, for me at least anyway, the Gun Gale Online arc was the absolute lowest point the series had fallen, and, surely, for how incredibly awful that arc was, there would be nothing else that could possibly be as bad, and as I witnessed the next two story arcs the series had to offer, ...

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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
feel sorry for yuna Nagiue - Dec 24, 2023	6 replies	by ItzElite »» Dec 24, 2023 3:01 PM
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Why R+ - Mild Nudity? winfoharso - Mar 4, 2020	19 replies	by Kirito_online »» Aug 10, 2022 5:06 AM
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