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]

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Background

Sword Art Online: Alicization is an adaptation of volumes 9 through 14 of Reki Kawahara's Sword Art Online light novel series.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Sword Art Online
Prequel:	Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale
Summary:	Sword Art Online: Alicization - Recollection, Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld Reflection
Sequel:	Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld
Other:	He Wei Dao x Daojian Shenyu Alicization

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

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

More staff

Staff

Kaneko, Atsushi

Producer

Yuasa, Takaaki

Producer

Futami, Yousuke

Producer

Niwa, Masami

Producer

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Opening Theme

	1: "ADAMAS" by LiSA (eps 2-13)
	2: "RESISTER" by ASCA (eps 14-22, 24)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Iris (アイリス)" by Eir Aoi (eps 2-13)
	2: "forget-me-not" by ReoNa (eps 14-18, 20-24)
	3: "Niji no Kanata ni (虹の彼方に)" by ReoNa (eps 19)

Reviews

Mar 30, 2019

Stark700

Recommended

In a world where popular light novels gets anime, manga, games, and hell, even live action movies, there’s one title I’m sure no anime fan can ignore. Sword Art Online. Becoming ever more popular and entering a mainstream line of anime adaptations, the franchise has also no doubt sparked decent deal of controversy. But hey, controversy sometimes makes cash right?

It’s not rocket science to realize SAO would eventually get a continuation. It was just a matter of when and after 5 years since the second season, the time is now. Sword Art Online Alicization covers the light novels with an extended amount of material, ... much more than the previous season. It’s so much that in fact, a full 2-cour season of 24 episodes isn’t enough. Luckily, it has been confirmed the series would run more than that and given an additional season for its adaptation. However, the big question people should ask themselves if this is another SAO show to jump into or a cash grab at making more money.

Starting with the prologue, we get a double length episode to give a general background of the new season. Make no mistake though as Alicization is not going to spoonfeed viewers with recapping. The show assumes you are familiar with the first two shows so anyone hoping to watch this needs to have completed the first two seasons. Light novel adaptations tends to suffer a lot from adaptation standards but thankfully, Alicization manages to deliver a faithful start with its character cast and storytelling. Besides Kirito, we are introduced to Eugeo, a new character who serves as his partner and best friend in this arc. Similar to Kirito, he has a kind heart although lacks experience in the beginning compared to him. He also appears somewhat cowardly in the beginning as he is unable to prevent certain events from happening, in particular for failing to help his childhood friend Alice. It’s not until he meets Kirito that he develops a resolve and finds the courage to become a stronger person. That is to say, Alicization features a lot of character bonding especially in the first half of the show. Eugeo begins to grow out of his shell after training and becoming strong enough to fight as a warrior. It really shouldn’t take long to realize that he has great potential, perhaps even someday of surpassing Kirito himself. As for Kirito, his personality remain largely the same in this season. That is, he is a selfless person who isn’t afraid to help others in need. Kirito and Eugeo develops great respect for each other and the latter even finds his resolve. The two sometimes almost feel like brothers.

Outside of the duo, you may have noticed another prominent character being featured in the trailers or key visuals. Alice would be her name and she is Eugeo’s childhood friend. The show makes it clear that she is an important character from her introduction to later on in the story. Alicization also devotes time to developing her character after meeting Kirito. Despite having a rocky start, she develops respect and a growing trust for him. Now, people may have a curiousity if Alice become another ‘harem girl’ similar to some of the previous seasons. SAO is not a harem although it gives off a stench at times. Thankfully, there’s no need to worry. The closest that Alice seems to be with Kirito is when they are at the tower during one of the episodes and nothing more comes out of it. On the other hand, Kirito’s friends from the real world are still concerned about his well-being. In particular, Asuna searches for him through unorthodox methods while discovering some revelations about the technology in the real world. Remember, the world of SAO contains complex technology that defies the law of nature. I’m not even referring the VR system or robotics but rather the capability of influencing people’s lives. This extends to the virtual world where the Administrator managed to use system commands to reverse her own age. Sounds unbelievable, right?

As with previous seasons, Alicization can’t be complete without antagonists and conflicts. One of the major antagonist in the new season is the Administrator, Quinella and her Integrity Knights. She’s an important character as not only is she a threat to the main protagonists but also a catalyst for some of the key events in this season. This includes character manipulation that extends to our new characters such as Eugeo and Alice. I’m not going to lie though, one of the events in this show is rather disturbing to watch considering the way she manipulates others. (I’m looking at you, Eugeo) On even more disturbing matters, we even have characters that commits unforgiveable sins that pushes Eugeo to the edge. It’s the type of event that brings controversy out of its fullest. I’m not going to spoil it but when you get to that particular episode, you’ll feel disgusted too. It’s so disturbing that it even changes Eugeo’s views on the laws of their world and causes him to rebel. Quinella herself also demonstrates a God-like complex with her own dark motives. If I said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. She is detestable. I doubt anyone with a sane mind would find her character likable.

I can’t be the only one to notice that the animation quality improved more than the previous seasons, right? The Ufotable-like animation is used in parallel with the Sword Art Online movie, Ordinal Scale. Not only did the animation style improve, it also managed to craft an imaginative virtual world to it its fullest. The character designs are also featured in great details compared to previous seasons. In particular, Alice is important to note for her chivalrous look and golden armor. Character expressions are meaningful with an emphasis put on human emotions. Eugeo is a prominent example especially as his personality shifts from a weak survivor to a noble swordsman. While I’m not impressed by how antagonist are portrayed this season, they were able to deliver their dialogues straight with a degree of villainous expressions. Quinella is the biggest culprit with her manipulative personality. Her malevolence simply cannot be overlooked.

The SAO franchise is one of the longer light novel running adaptations that continues to build more into its universe. Truthfully and despite some of the controversy from the past seasons, this one managed to finally jump out of its rabbit hole and deliver what I wanted to see. With another season on the way, I cross my fingers that it will ride on this momentum.

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Mar 30, 2019

wanpapi

Mixed Feelings

I scrolled through some of the reviews on this and I say 10s, plural, this show is not very good. As you can see from, my score I didn't love this season, my emotions ranged from excitement (surprisingly), to boredom, to hate. Mainly boredom though.

The show starts off ambiguously with us straight in the game world, the art and animation look great, the fantasy ambient music is playing in the back. It makes the first initial seconds feel really atmospheric. Your introduced to the first two main character as kids, within the first 3 minutes they come off as really endearing and loveable. ... I really can't give enough praise for the first episode or at least it's first half. The first episode is 40 mins long with the first part taking place in game and the second outside. If you've ever played Assassins Creed, you'll get a similar feeling when watching this. I love the in game world. I hate everything outside.

The outside world doesn't play as significant a part as the initial episodes might lead you think. The main problem with them is it's just boring there's no real progression of the story everything outside of the in game world serves as a prelude to the events in game or as exposition neither serve to further the plot. Episode 5 and 6 are especially guilty of this. What are they? Two episodes of straight exposition, it so boring, I don't know who thought it was a good idea to do this. It took me 5 sittings to watch these two episodes, two of which I fell asleep in. That tbh is the main problem with this it sort of disguises itself with the high production quality of its earlier episode but is mediocre. Nothing really happens past episode 12, Kirito and Eugeo enter a tower where they fight for 5 mins and listen to exposition for the rest.

By far what cemented this show as mediocre in my mind though was the ending,ignoring the garbage cliffhanger and setup for a a sequel, the whole situation that leads up to that makes no sense. The antagonist has no meaningful characterisation whatsoever, she's evil because she wants power or somehing like that. The whole final battle before the final battle and the final battle itself make no sense. It's really badly choreographed, it's just the same fight scene you see in every other action anime with a respectable budget. Things just sort of happen and if your looking, not watching or are maybe younger in age this might appease you but if that does not apply to you then like me you might just be like, wtf. You would be right as well because none of this is explained, it just happens.

There's so much more that's wrong, Kiritos lack of characterization, the lack of interesting characters with this but I'm tired of typing. This show went from being really exciting for what I'd hoped to be a good season of a show that I was fond of in my childhood but just turned out to be boring. Really boring.

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Mar 30, 2019

SunlitSonata

Not Recommended

I tried to like this. I really, really did. I was even sticking out for it upon its announcement because for all of the problems earlier iterations of SAO had, there was always a sense that, if the finer details were checked over and looked at in complete retrospect of what came before, it could be deservedly fun, inspiring or genuinely meaningful. A series deserving of the immeasurable hype phenomenon it generated. Escapism, blurring between actions of reality and fiction was always a thematic that separated the series from the many isekais this decade that followed in its footsteps, and something that held my interest ...

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Recent Forum Discussion

My enjoyment of Alice is kinda ruined because of Darkness from Konosuba BigBoyAdvance - Mar 24	11 replies	by Superninjaboy2 »» Mar 24, 10:33 PM
Anyone else lowkey prefer Alice to Asuna? Marinate1016 - Jun 25, 2019	47 replies	by Marinate1016 »» Mar 24, 11:38 AM
Kirito needs medical help cause this man’s been through it all Superninjaboy2 - Mar 11	32 replies	by Superninjaboy2 »» Mar 14, 9:57 AM
I just finished this and ""O MY GOD "" Yeshaiah2015yesh - Mar 2	43 replies	by Fenyy »» Mar 5, 11:12 PM
Poll: Sword Art Online: Alicization Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Nov 3, 2018	190 replies	by fssf1606 »» Feb 12, 2:59 PM

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Sword Art Online: Alicization

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Kirigaya, Kazuto

Zuberg, Alice

Eugeo

Yuuki, Asuna

Asada, Shino

Yui

Kirigaya, Suguha

Tsuboi, Ryoutarou

Ayano, Keiko

Shinozaki, Rika

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Sword Art Online: Alicization

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Information

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Available At

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Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

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Recommendations

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