Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld

The world of SAO's lit is already so jam-packed with Kirito and Asuna providing enjoyable moments that it's unimaginable we'd need any more of them. How many of the anime fans hate SAO and its story? The weird surprise of Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld it gives the possibility to a more creative story and to other characters to shine, leaving zombie Kirito as a secondary character. I know this already happened on the "Mother's Rosario" arc when other characters were allowed to take the lead. However, this time I think the author handled it better, and for that reason, Alice's growth ... is delightful, and the story is more enjoyable than the usual SAO's plot. Without any fear of mistake, SAO Alicization is the best arc of the series so far, and I hope to see the sequel in a few months because I am eager for more SAO.

The story is a prelude of the war that we will see in the sequel, and it has a nice pace. The plot introduce the characters and the reasons behind the fight. However, from my perspective, the villains are not appropriately developed, and some characters need a bit more details that I hope to see in the next sequel. We do not have the usual information about them, and that could be seen as a terrible outcome. Also, at the begging, following the events from Alacization, we have a Kirito that ended in a catatonic state. I thought that without him, the story would fail. Still, now I can say it is better. The other characters are now the protagonists, such as Alice. Her will to fight or all the conflicts surrounding her and the need to see all to possibilities and her reasons to wear the armor again. Furthermore, she proved that she could be the main lead of SAO's series. I liked the part when she decided to fight again in the first episodes. Also, if we notice, Kiriko is used as a motivational character, as we can see in some events. Even if he does not fight or talk, he stills as an essential character of the whole series. Additionally, the entrance of Asuna is excellent. Still, she looked vastly overpowered. The ending was interesting if you ask me.

I am not giving any further details about the plot; I want to avoid any spoiler that could destroy the readers' enjoyment. Even if you hate SAO or find it annoying, I am sure you can enjoy this arc. The bad part is that you need to know the characters or the previous arc to understand the whole plot.

The art and sound impressed me. It is excellent and gorgeous. I was not expecting that quality, and it helped the story to be entertaining. All the fights and the camera movements combined with a good score and sound mix made a great series that hope it continues with the same level in the sequel.

Finally, SAO is not a loved series. However, the LN is now the best LN of the decade in Japan; we need to give the series some credit and stop burying it because we cannot stand the plot in some parts. The fans loved it, and I love it. I know there are some silly parts that we want to avoid, but Alicization is the best arc from those novels. I am thrilled that they animated it.

At the beginning if you are the one who hate SAO for no reason , don't waste your time reading my review ..
i'm someone who watched more than 700 series for over than 15 year, so i will give my impression on this season without personal effect , Read it with a calm mind ,,

I'm reading many negative reviews about this series from many ppls here but they missed many important points the gives this show its enjoyment ..
Let's go down to the details , at first i will give my ratings:
*Summary*
Story 8/10
Art 9/10
Sound 8/10
Character 9/10
... Enjoyment 10/10
Overall 9/10
...........................................

Story 8/10 :
*Story* the story is going on in order of the timeline while focus on giving details on all the parties and sides of the story (kirito & alice - underworld in human and dark realm - real world ), in my opinion this is giving the story a very big positive factor instead of being negative to it ..distribution of the screen time and sides of story comparing to the no of episodes are fair but we need more episodes to cover more details .
and with each episode pass, the story get more integrated and more interesting while completing its all fragments .

Art 9/10
Art is amazing and the scenes are highly detailed which make this anime more realistic using simple yet wonderful drawings, scenes of fighting are interesting and beautiful but we need more battle screen time .

Sound 8/10 :
Op & ED songs are amazing ones among all the songs of this year animes , let the other soundtracks are exactly suitable for the most of the anime but some scenes needed more ost and changed one with other

Character 9/10 :
The characters are interesting while the screentime directed toward develop it could be less than what we all want but we should notice that this season has only 12 ep and much details and events are included in it , the charcters are wonderful at the most points .. u will know it when u complete watching it to the end

Enjoyment 10/10 :
It's SAO, fiction with our heroes and Sci-fi and romance comprised with dark world ..
all the moments of this anime were enjoyable to the extent that i wanted to watch it forever .
SAO Alicization' underworld war is clearly Amazing and deserve watching .. never miss it ^_*

Overall 9/10 :
with pace of the anime , it will deserve higher rating ^_^
my review here is just initial one because the anime didn't finish up-till now ..
Looking forward into the remaining episodes and the second Core ... 3>

"THIS REVIEW IS SPOILER-FREE"

Isekai has always been one of the most iconic genres in terms of popularity among anime. However, and unsurprisingly, not many of its shows are actually held at the same regard as those from other genres.

The question for this truth ahead came into existence long ago, but still, yet to be answered. Is it because Isekai shows are always labelled with concepts of “trashy, childish and impractical series”, or are they too familiar to viewers in recent years and therefore are not capable of differenciating themselves from others?

Several shows are introduced every year, each portrays an aspect of the genre in its ... own way, but still retains the similarity of someone being transferred to another imaginary world with several designated purposes. Of course, this notion is not anomalous by now, but when it comes to the year of 2012, not all of us then had already been informed of “What is anime?” to say nothing of the term “Isekai”.

However, little do we know. Since the advent of SAO in that same year, Isekai genre has started a steady development in all aspects, and then somehow soared recently with SAO itself took a partial role of setting the ball rolling for this. Despite being the most popular and beloved anime in 2012, SAO anyhow gradually received one-upping hatred from its own viewers, which has casted plenty of questions with hardly any reasonable answers related to this incredible 180-degree turn.

I have never been such a fan of SAO, but I do not hate it either. This is partly because of the whole novel notions and ideas Reki Kawahara intending to deliver throughout this franchise. An exceptional VR world of Aincrad that blew us away with its magnificent looks and feels, the creative and innovative concept of introducing future technology (which is yet to be a daydream at the present) right in year 2012 as well as the hidden message that, on behalf of game addicts, expressed their inquiry about “What does real world mean?”. Such hilarious and foolish this type of question is. Howbeit, being dedicated enough to scrutinize this from its core in order to figure out the most reasonable answer is not a simple task. Deprivation of dedication is what thwarting us.

So, what brings about this lack among Isekai genre, or to be more specific, among SAO franchise?

One of the biggest problem SAO presented from its own beginning is that, it just followed one same pattern throughout the whole series, when we see an overpowered protagonist having to save the day and defeat an antagonist, who is unsurprisingly stronger than him. Such simply predictable the plot is, from which a sense of boredom may result, and likewise turn a beloved series into a total disaster just in one episode. I’m not saying that SAO 1 didn’t acquire numerous incredible potentials which were just as promising as it should have been when its first trailer was released. Indeed, this franchise was one of the most invested ones among Isekai genre with fascinating characters, spectacular animations, breathtaking scenes and full epic soundtracks. The pacing was somewhat reasonable and matched the plot fairly precise, thereby grabbed the viewers’ attention and made them follow the path of their hyperactive hero until the very end. Having said that, the show hardly introduced any breakthrough twists and turns with lackluster details, which really blurred the presence of some utmost fight scenes that ever existed in anime. These, together with unnecessary fan-service scenes, possibly served as rationales behind the hatred given to this franchise and turned it into a whole series designated for children thereafter.

Unfortunately, SAO 2 followed that same path of failures.

Numerous arguments have been made around this downturn and the most controversial one is “The fall of Isekai genre”. This is partly due to the rapid explosion of Isekai shows, in number not quality, during the next few years, which caused viewers to suffer a blasé sense about anime as well as their desperate need for a fresh alternative mainstream. This was probably one of the darkest ages among the anime history, but it practically left a huge question mark onto Isekai producers, whether they should reform the whole appearance and comply with the changing majority, or follow the same pattern that once succeeded as to gain back their position in everyone’s eyes?

This Gordian Knot has surrounded the genre for nearly a decade and is yet to be untied, with immediate submergences of almost every Isekai shows released after the year of 2013 till this day. Having said that, several ones which did not suffer from this seemingly inevitable obstacle, “RE: Zero” for instance, have actually proposed a solution for which the whole genre has always wanted, and thereby make the grand escape all away from this contradict reality.

Few have successfully managed to handle this, however.

And it may come even more amiss to many of you that amongst these, SAO is the franchise which I believe to have completed the most compelling transformation.

Before we enter the main part of this review, I just want to make out some point. I was first intended to encapsulate this latest season of SAO in a short and concise review, but the further and deeper look I gave onto the story, the more I realised the injustice of criticising it without touching on the whole journey it took to get to this very momment. SAO: War of Underworld (WoU), without a doubt, is one of the best long-lasting Isekai series in the anime world by far and the anticipation given keeps one-upping day by day, which is unexpected for a franchise exposed to that amount of love and hatred. And, believe or not, the time has come for SAO to rise from the ashes, stronger than ever.

The storyline, perharps, is the aspect should be introductorily considered for this. It is quite straightfoward with decent amount of information and frames displayed on each episode, therefore gives viewers a sense of being captivated with the flow of the show and somehow gets them curious about what is coming next. This, however, hardly appeared in any earlier seasons of the franchise. SAO 1 and 2 did have some great storytelling at first but then declined slowly afterwards due to the appearance of some “filler” episodes and fan-service scenes, which had no point to make with the entire story.

Another point worthed noting is that, the show has incredibly expanded from the very beginning, no matter how many new ideas and concepts coming out each season, it still manages to retain its unique “VR world versus real world”. The whole franchise has heavily relied on this premise, with the introduction of future technologies, from the Nerve Gear to The Seed, to its prequel AmuSphere and lastly SoulTranslator, which was the basis for the whole Underworld to operate. The way they are presented plainly matched the storyline, and therefore did not make viewers feel overwhelmed for such a lot of novel concepts to adhere to.

The pacing of this season is what also gain it a plus mark. 12 episodes, when they end, just feel like that same amount, no more no less, but are stil able to convey the whole meaning of the story with scarcely misunderstandable details. Additionally, the season is far less dependent on random and meaningless comedic moments, none in fact, which offers a more fluent and cohesive plot ever than what used to exist in two first seasons.

Animations and visuals are still astonishing as always, breathtaking sceneries of the Underworld together with the absolute contrast of ones belong to Dark Territory somehow stuck into my mind the scenerio of our real world future if we continue to destroy our planet. Aside from these, SAO WoU undoubtedly possesses winsome original soundtracks which are highly memerable and play an immense role on inculcating the series itself into its viewers. What’s more, alluring character designs as well as highly genuine expressions on their faces absolutely got viewers interested further into their development, but we will get to that in a bit.

Let us take a deeper look into the content. The main story is still surrounding our protagoinst Kirito as he entered the Underworld created by RATH in order to seek for an AI named Alice and take her with him to the end point of Underworld then log two of them out. This has contrastly grown however, with Kirito having his Fluctlight damaged and is now incapable of moving or communicating with others. Several altercations have been made around this twist, but mostly emphasizes on the incentive this will give to other characters of the show to take the spotlight, and the studio incredibly make use of this.

We have Alice now having to make a difficult decision of proceeding to protect Underworld and its inhabitants as an Integrity Knight or to take a step down and protect Kirito as a more-than-close friend. The dilemma given to such a special AI like her initially seems to be overwhelmed, but as her own character has been strikingly well-established, she somehow manages to equally contribute to both side of the coin.

Furthermore, we get to see our supportive characters having been exposed to us for a decent amount of time throughout the season, and when it ends, they really leave an impression on us of not ceasing as “supporting” but really being an essential part of the entire story as well as making it lively and captivating. This absolutely reminded me on the second season of AoT where we got to see some important characters later on (Krista, Reiner, Bertold, Ymir) being put to more than enough amount of screen times and secure their spot throughout the story. The improvement in this aspect really shines as a spotlight itself of the whole season, which assures that the show is now independent on the only one protagonist to carry it along, because the rests all can.

Whilst the story plus the character design of this season simply outweighed its former in many facets, one of the biggest issues with it, and surprisingly has not changed since the first one, is the world building. I’m not saying this season’s world building has partly surpassed the prequels, but we need to concentrate deeper on the actual premise of it. What I mean by that is Underwold, unlike orther VR worlds introduced throughout the franchise, is created and operated on the basis of what is inside its designer’s mind. Trees, mountains, fields and rivers all exsist in the same way their creators want them to be, or in other words, they somehow mimic that exact same trees or mountains appeared in the creators’ memory. As for its inhabitants, they depict real world’s people but in another point in history, around the mid 15th, 16th century. The dwellers live the lives of humankind and are obligated to obey the rules given, and consequently pave the way for a whole society to flourish.

However, can this exact same scenerio applied to those come from the Dark Territory? This is one real big issue that SAO so far has not given any clues. The Underwold’s inhabitants must follow the given rules notwithstanding any contexts and in fact are utterly unable to break them. As a result, this raises more questions about the existence of Dark Territory. Who constructed it, why would ones do that and especially how could it be done if RATH had taken control of Underworld since its very first beginning? Another question that should be raised during the season but it has somewhat to do with our real world is that why wouldn’t an AI question the fact that they are the production of human’s hands and are roaming in an imaginary world but just simply accepted it in the same way that Bercouli did? Or, if that’s on the table, why are they being created, what purposes do their creators want them to serve? Or something else to those effects.

Furthermore, the origin of this region was succintly mentioned in the light novel, which should have also been presented in the anime from the very first. This actually cast a doubt onto the reliability of the show’s world building in the eyes of viewers, and even though A-1 Picture actually completed a great job on giving viewers insights into SoulTranslator, the basis technology behind the operation of Underworld, this is just superficial in comparison to the urgency of comprehending what is truly happening at the momment.

Taking everything into consideration, SAO WoU has fully evolved into something entirely new which we have never predicted when we first watched it, and thereby changes its name from a whole childish Isekai show to one that deserves to be celebrated by all walks of anime fans and manages to distinguish itself from other series among the genre. The show is not flawless technically, but as it dares to stand out right in front of the viewers and affirmes its position in the anime world line, we should probably give it another shot. SAO now is no more a long-lasting series that we all want it to end as soon as possible, but the one that worthed our time waiting every week with definite hype, excitement and anticipation, which may be a bit uncommon among Isekai genre. However, because it has somehow been able to not only overcome the challenges given to the entire genre but also keep itself up a notch, this may be the case.

It’s unsurprising by now that SAO is truely worth watching and deserves the wait for an epic finale.

Remember when Kirito, the main protagonist of Sword Art Online jumped into the virtual world and made a name for himself as the ‘Black Swordsman’? Since 2012, his name would become iconic in the SAO anime series' franchise. Anyone who have heard of Sword Art Online would be able to name him as a character, even those has never seen the series before. Now, we are in a timeline, an arc detailing events that doesn’t have Kirito carrying the season. Instead, meet Alice Zuberg.

Anyone already familiar with SAO should know the franchise has no shortage of powerful female main characters. From Asuna to Yuki, they ... are able to hold their own against skilled opponents and often times coming out dominant in a fight. In the case of Alice, she is also in a league of her own in particular with her swordsmanship. With unique talents such as Sacred Arts and Incarnation, Alice is more than capable of taking care of herself. The real question remains of who would take care of Kirito? This season puts him in a role that audience may not be accustomed to. Seeing Kirito in a vegetable state creates a situation where another character has to carry the season. Alice would be the main protagonist to take this task and it doesn’t come without risks. In fact, she even faces troubles of her own when trying to discover her purpose in the world.

And to take on the world is no easy task. The antagonists this season introduces a new level of challenge such as Gabriel Miller, the chief tactical officer of the Glowgen Defense Systems. SAO has been a subject of controversy with its rogue gallery. The addition of Gabriel further adds context with the character being portrayed as an intellectual psychopath. Gabriel himself is somewhat of a complex character known for crimes involving genocide, experimentation, and abuse of power. Tyrant is a suitable word to describe such a character as he is a man filled with sins. As what he stands for, Gabriel is a testament of the worst side of humanity. On a lesser scale, we are also introduced to members of the Order of the Dark Knights. Some of its more prominent members such as Vixur and Lipia displays impressive abilities but are generally lackluster characters that makes little impact in the main story. War of the Underworld seems to be driven by not just survival but conquest in a virtual world for supremacy. On the technical front, episode 6 serves as a good old fashioned battle covered with the brutality of what humans are capable of. A main problem with that episode does make less of an impact revolving around the death of certain characters. Compared to the first season, War of the Underworld feels lacks emotional connection outside of Alice and Kirito. Even for Asuna, who is in the real world, still holds the same feelings we’ve seen so many towards to the black swordsman. Keeping things back, we do get a unique episode about a young Integrity Knight named Renly in episode 7. It’s strange that sometimes in the SAO world, we get a character that isn’t prominent to a story arc but plays a role to show the themes of the franchise. In Renly, we witness a character who is able to overcome some of his fear in a moment of desperation. It’s one of the more human moments I recall this season.

In respect of Alice being the major protagonist this season, I give a lot of credit for her character presence. She helps Kirito in whatever ways she can from the start and if it wasn’t for her, his circumstances would be much different. Fate would also designate her encounter with Asuna. When you have two incredibly powerful female characters meeting together for the first time (both associated with Kirito), there’s bound to be a conflict. And their meeting is nothing less than bickering and a clash of swords. Mind you, Asuna has the advantage of being in a relationship with Kirito for much longer. On the other hand, Alice is also an important person in Kirito’s life now and shouldn’t be undervalued, even compared to Asuna herself. Luckily, the two are able to form a truce despite their differences. Comparing both characters, it’s not hard to find a common ground about them. But if you’re thinking this season will have them fight over a vegetable, then think again.

Alicization is a complex arc. There’s no doubt about that as we learn the secrets, conspiracies, and dark motives of certain individuals. Kirito isn’t the main protagonist this time and Eugeo is noticeably absent. I’m sure some people wanted to see how him back since he was a breath of fresh air. But now, we have Alice Zuberg, the chivalrous Integrity Knight who is seeking her own purpose in the SAO world while trying to protect what she treasures. This season chose to run a span of 12 episodes because the fact is, there’s much more it needs to show. And when Spring 2020 comes, it’ll have to prove itself if it can carry the torch.

All the negative reviews don't understand what makes a good Anime but only complain and rate all animes 1 star.
I will explain why this is a good anime.

Story: No sjw or "non violance". Animes used to show true Nature and feelings of the humans but modern animes go for "Non violence" or white males war only which makes the show predictable and BORING.
people aren't peaceful so showing 100 episodes of a single fight where the loser only has a sad face and the winner has a smile is called a garbage anime. In SAO True nature where violence and Horror things people in "Real Life" ... do is shown which makes the story very interesting and unpredictable because you cannot predict the characters (which i will explain more in the characthers topic) or the story, there is everything in SAO from romance to full action to adventure. "A good anime makes you want to watch the next episode right away" Sao Delivers it.

Art: i have no words to the art in this anime it's relaxing and just mesmerizing. there is a scene when a pigeon flies through the lake it's just amazing the investment of drawing and details.

Sound: Where do i even start... THAT BASS. do you remember how all the Game Trailers sound is amazing? where the skill is shown or when the gun shoots you hear a nice beautiful Bass? SAO HAS IT.
do you remember listening to chillstep and melodics when you were little?
SAO HAS IT.


Characters: Outstanding!!! You actually can feel them in the Anime (i'll explain). Some animes when you watch you think "He is strong" or "He is the coolest one" so you can start predicting what's the next move or how the episode will end, but in SAO you know it because you feel each one of them, you feel their love, their hate, their personality which reflects about their decisions that's why you can't predict because even if you will try to predict something there is a chance they will do something or worse or better or actually fail without a good outcome like other animes because they act on logic and feelings and personalities which makes the show more interesting and natural while most of modern anime only act on logic and "Outsmarting".

Enjoyment: just Watch it and if you reached episode 10 don't put 1 star because if you weren't enjoying it you wouldn't waste 4 and a half hours straight in 1 star show.

Overall: Watch it

War taking place in the underworld has begin. As we know, Kirito is currently paralyzed by an attack that occurred in the previous season. Now Kirito is cared for and lives with Alice, after they defeated the leader of the axiom church, Quinella, who we know as "administrator". Their lives initially proceeded as usual, but all that changed when residents of the "dark territories" rebelled and attacked the underworld.

At this point Kirito as the main character could not do anything, he was required to accept the bitter truth that what they had protected so far would be destroyed soon. This season ... is full of tensions and dramatic moments, wars that are inevitable, full of bloody battles, the slaughter of a human being, it all happens here and will soon reach the climax.

Witnessing this season, proving that soon Alicization will reach the top of the story. The story goes slowly but all is neatly arranged, starting with the introduction of each character. Alice is a girl who used to be Kirito's childhood friend, but she had to be separated from Kirito because she had broken a rule created by the axiom church. The entry of several characters who act as antagonists and protagonists in this season uses an instant way to get a strength to side with the course of the story that will reach the top. Unlike Kirito who had to start from scratch.

As in previous seasons, you will see many scenes of action and bloody battles this season, but what distinguishes this season from the past is their goal. If in the previous season Kirito entered the underworld with the aim of recovering himself in the real world, because in the real world Kirito is now on the verge of death due to attacks from members of "Laughin Coffin" and to defeat the main senator namely administrator. Whereas in this season, the inhabitants of the dark territory led by Gabriel (They call it the Demon King Vector), he is a US military soldier assigned to take Alice's soul to create an AI (Artificial Intelligence) that can make artificial humans as a source of war military.

Sword Art Online is a series that exists for some reason, a minority of outsiders love to hate it even though it is one of the most successful media franchises in Japan. They only focus on the domestic market even though it is different from foreign market conditions. They do not hesitate to spend a lot of budget for a successful franchise in their market.

With that much budget, it's no wonder, they can make art like that. Explosions, sword friction effects, character designs, etc. seem very realistic and very detailed for a sword fighting effect. OP / ED staying up can help promote artists and help sales of BD versions. It all became the main point of Sword Art Online to become the biggest and most popular franchise in the domestic market.

As a fan of this franchise, I say this season is a season full of action scenes. That made him realize that this season was full of dramatic and tense tragedies. The great seconds of the fight over their respective goals have now begin.

Four episodes in and the story is already not making any sense, and yes, I have watched Alicization and even that is better compared to what we've gotten in the past 4 episodes of this, this is slated to be 12 episodes? Well that's a surprise, but a good one because it's not faring well so far.

The story is summarized by bad guy tries to take Alice cause she's the building blocks of the entire VR world they are in apparently. Though it all falls apart now that we know that the bad guy is absolutely insane. Think of all previous SAO baddies up till ... now. This current one is about 5x that and it's just the same sex fiend bad guy that the previous ones where. Only he wants to kill you at the same time for his high.

So, that's the story and characters so far, as Kirito and Alice haven't had much of an roll so far, and Asuna remains on the sidelines. It amazes me to think SAO has gone on for this long with the same generic bad guy at the end of each season. And when so many plot holes and deus ex moments fill it.

Art is probably the best thing about this anime, and sound a close second, it can still get me pumped at the right moments, but those moments are tiresome when the rest isn't all that good to watch which is why I'm questioning myself watching it.

Overall enjoyment is null. There is none, but it passes the time and there are still worse things to watch that wouldn't get me as frustrated as something that could be good would. I do not suggest watching this.

"SAO is finally a good show" - general audiences after this season

So far SAO is a bad series not that no one could enjoy it, its just badly written. I still somewhat enjoyed it for its silly moments and had my fair share of fun watching it. Sword Art Online Alicization - War of Underworld tho is by many people regarded as the Season were SAO finally gets good. Well i disagree a whole lot with that statement and here is why.

Its time to beat a dead horse i guess.

I will maybe write some things some say are spoilers so here is ... a warning.

This Season trys some new things disregarding its all to familiar protagonist Kirito and choosing Alice as its new one. While i would give the author credit for at least trying he ultimately made many of the same mistakes and that is the reason why he in my eyes failed at truly changing the series for the better.

At the end of the last Season the big bad Pontifex was defeated and Kirito fell in some kind of coma. Now the "dark territory" is set to attack and the Integrity Knights are trying to build up some kind of defense against them.

Alice is our new main character and she has some real writing issues in my humble opinion.She makes some really dumb decisions to protect Kirito wich she does above all else, after seeing some dudes arguing to kill Kirito cause he killed their god she decides to leave. Instead of staying by the side of the people that 1. have influence and 2. know about Kirito and the bad things the Pontifex did she decides to go back to her home city. Why not ask some other Integrity knights to help her hide why go alone? This is just and example of how stupid and impulsive it gets.

Furthermore her biggest character trait is her love for Kirito, i know she questions some things after being treated like trash but this is never explored in any way. The reason for almost everything she does is that she wants to protect him, wich can be fine in a Adventure type setting but not if the reason she is the main character is that the series wants to distance itself from Kirito. Thus Kirito seems yet again as the main reason for almost everything a big chunk of the cast does anything.

Every other cast member is not really noteworthy tbh.

The new big bad that wants to take Alice Fluctlight comes from the outside world. He gets access to the emperor "account" of the dark territory, he does that in a spectacular easy way given that project Alicization is supposed to be the next new still steamy way of war. The amount of security is basically non existent. His and the character of his bro are both complete garbage they are the typical bad guys with no development or even exposition to why they do the things they do in the way they do it. I mean there is literally nothing. We get 2 names and a profit orientated goal....thats it. In the Underworld the worldbuilding gets expanded in a horrendous way, we get a big introduction of maybe all the races that live there. This introduction is the typical "giv em some text for the minimum of information", i mean come the fuck on thats so god damn lazy. All the races we got have the most generic underdeveloped leaders ever, we again get name and 1 over exaggerated personality trait. Ok....1 of them that gets some more spotlight in the later episodes but he never had any kind of character arc he just snapped and in the span of some minutes changes sides.

On the side of the Human empire we have some more spotlight on the characters but again everything feels lazy and rushed. Every Integrity Knight either is a tool for info dumping us, in the last episode some characters where in a pickle and one of the Integrity Knights appeared out of nowhere and gave them the solution that we as a watcher couldnt answer because we never got the amount of worldbuilding required to answer that question. As for the Integrity Knights themselves we got every typical character present the quiet but strong one, the anxious but overcoming it one, the charismatic leader one, the 2 lolis, the overly annoying apprentice one. Every character gets the development that is to be expected after seeing them for the first time most of them overcome their issues in the most predictable and anti climactic way possible.
We also got some characters from the first season that return now and that in probably the most fun but ultimately worst episode of SAO, i am of course talking about episode 5 and its only purpose to show Kiritos Harem wich he build throughout the first Season. Each and every Girl he helped in some kind of way comes to cry at his chair and thats 99% of the episode.

Almost every scene that is not in the Underworld is there to give explanation about the absurd story, its just characterless characters reading some scientific stuff that explains "everything". Present the information in a way anyone could care about and it maybe be decent. But this is for sure not the way my lovely A1 team.

One last little point about the story is that this is supposed to be a war right? I highly doubt that there is only one war front each when the only 2 known empires are at war. The tactics are also questionable if the big daddy emperor is such a great allmighty being why not directly fight then? Why not surround the enemy if you are so much stronger? Why not investigate on the Integrity Knights powers and then search for a solution against those powers?

Thats about all my really major issues, of course there are some more things on the terrible worldbuilding etc. But that would be a waste of time since it should be clear that the Underworld is not the best explored world there is.

The Sound is good but nothing groundbreaking, that is to be expected since SAO is A1s baby and they probably spent a lot of god damn money on it. The overall soundtrack is also not bad but also nothing outstanding, Lisa did the OP if ya like her voice you'll probably enjoy it. The animation/art section is the one that ones again shows how god damn lazy this show is, the overall animation feels smooth most of the time but oh my lord jesus fucking chris EVERY and i mean EVERY soldier from every army looks 100% the same, are they clones mhhhhhh i highly doubt it. The shot composition is as basic and generic as it gets, not a single shot tells us anything about the world or characters, the everything thats not animated in the foreground is done in a lazy (copy and paste soldiers) and generic way that shows that the show once again goes full "lets make our animation look good on a superficial way but with 0 depth or thought put into it".

In the end this Season changes little about the series be it for worse or for better it still is somewhat entertaining and good to laugh at.....maybe not as entertaining as the last Season since edge lord Kirito is cosplaying the sleeping beauty.If you enjoy and legitimately think its good....you do you i guess. Go hate or debate all you want and maybe just maybe we can agree to disagree.

It's getting hard to even 'hate-watch it'. Basically, the pacing is pretty bad, the show still looks not great (it's almost starting to look dated since the mediocre 2012 art style hasn't changed in 7 years), the sound is fine I guess, the characters are all predictable and BLAND ( I never liked any of the characters in this show and these new characters are somehow more 'I wanna suck Kirito's knob' than the previous ones), and the show is hard to enjoy when the pacing comes to a crawl with battles about people I don't give a flying shit about against CGI armies.

To be honest I've always been a fan of SAO. The amount of hate the series receives always annoyed me but I'm happy to see this season getting more positive reviews.

Story (9) - The story follows the progression of technology, more specifically virtual reality. One thing I enjoy about this is how in depth it goes especially in this season. It feels more like another world than a game with the main character now being Alice in a position where all she knew was a lie yet decides to fight alongside the other integrity knights from the forces of the Dark Territory to protect the ... things she still cares for as well as our main character Kirito who fought to help free the integrity knights from the pontifex who had them under control. The story follows an advanced AI nearly identical to a human thought process fighting the enemies of the dark territory from threatening what she now holds dear and demonstrates an amazing concept of how an AI that has a soul becomes more like a human beginning to think for itself.

Art (10) - Well you can tell they went all out with the art this season. The CGI is done great and while making this arc fairly dark and grim, the colors are vibrant and beautiful which gives you stunning fight scenes.

Sound (10) - The OP and the ED are simply amazing. They fit the anime perfectly to me and its LiSa, I mean she doesn't seem to make a bad song.

Character (9) - We get a pretty good backstory to most our characters this season which is nice. I find myself liking almost all the integrity knights now knowing their backstory compared to Alicization where they are trying to kill our main characters so if you can flop my opinion on them like that I believe that's a positive. With the focus of the story and this season being 12 episodes, character development is done fairly well, Alice especially for obvious reasons as she is the MC. The characters express emotion well so it makes situations feel more serious or tense. My only complaint would our main villain this season. Not enough backstory for me to really understand his actions besides the fact that he's just insane, I'd like something more creative.

Enjoyment (9) - As I said Iv'e always enjoyed SAO but this season as many have already said, is the best season of all the previous ones imo.

Overall (9) - SAO has always appealed to me in a way other animes don't. So my ratings obviously wont be accurate for those who never cared for the show in the first place. I truly believe the anime gets more hate than it deserves but I'm glad that SAO is getting more positive reviews this time around. Overall this anime isn't for those who critically analyze everything looking for something to dislike because its popular. Its simply an all around great series that can appeal to a variety of people for its interesting concept and its variety of genre exposure that it delivers very well.

As 2019 comes to an end and we prepare ourselves to welcome in a new decade, I write this review as a testament to where I feel one of my favorite anime franchises of this decade now stands.

Sword Art Online has always been a popular light novel and anime franchise that dominated the 2010's. However, despite its success and long-standing popularity, there's no denying that there's always been that certain vocal minority that always feels the need to criticize Sword Art Online on a 24/7 basis. Whether it be normal viewers who have or haven't watched the series or some anime reviewers that always feel ... the need to make their opinions feel like fact, Sword Art Online could never catch a break.

Despite all this, there's a reason Sword Art Online has never faded into obscurity and oblivion and has always managed to stand strong as one of the defining anime franchises of the 2010's. And Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld is arguably the biggest season yet, encompassing how Sword Art Online has continued to grow not only as a successful franchise, but one that still retains legions of millions of fans that are growing to this day for what it has to offer.

Story: 10/10

For some people, they either say SAO in terms of story hits it out of the ball park or misses and gets a strike. But for this season, I believe SAO hit a home run. At the very least, I can argue it's been improving its swing and shows no signs of stopping. Comparing the first half of Alicization to its second half (aka War of Underworld in this context), I would say the second half not only builds upon what the first half introduced, but also manages to conceive an engaging and consistent story that goes above all other previous seasons. If one were to say the first half of Alicization faltered in its later episodes, I could only hope they stayed around for War of Underworld to see how actually great it is. When Alicization transitioned to War of Underworld, SAO essentially went from being the standard shonen fantasy adventure that Kirito embarks on to a story of tragedy that does not pull back on the deaths and grief war brings even in a virtual world.

Basically, I would say War of Underworld's story is a vast improvement on SAO's storytelling. I would even go as far as to say it's like experiencing the story of a Fate series anime. The ufotable adaptations, mind you. Not a lot of people might say that, but I know I did.

It also helps that War of Underworld has some of the best action in SAO yet, featuring tons of battles that keep the viewer invested while also giving development to much of the Integrity Knights and even some depth to the inhabitants of the Dark Territory.

I will delve into the characters of War of Underworld later, but overall, the story of War of Underworld is perhaps the best of SAO yet.

Art: 10/10

No matter what you think about SAO, one cannot deny that SAO has always performed well visually. While the first half of Alicization was good in animation too, I have to admit the Blu-ray/DVD version of the first half of Alicization has better animation quality compared to the TV version. But come War of Underworld, I believe the animators won't have to do much editing for the Blu-ray/DVD version of War of Underworld. Because War of Underworld's art and animation is already great to begin with. And we're talking about the TV version!

I always felt SAO had revolutionized its art and animation ever since Ordinal Scale, and War of Underworld manages to present nigh-flawless art and animation that leaves little to no room for error. From eye-astonishing fight scenes to the always gorgeous backgrounds, SAO always delivers on the art and animation while also improving on it as each installment releases.

On a side note, the occasional CGI rendering of background characters fighting in the war may be off-putting to those used to traditional animation, but at this point, I don't mind it, because a lot of other anime use it too and the CGI here doesn't take away from the splendid art and animation of SAO.

Sound: 10/10

Yuki Kajiura is a composer legend and no one can tell me otherwise. While there's mostly some carryover of soundtracks from previous seasons including the first half of Alicization, there is still some new soundtracks to listen to that are just splendid for the ears to experience.

But the biggest appeal in sound are the opening and ending songs. Haruka Tomatsu, the Japanese voice actress of Asuna, sings an opening song for SAO once again with Resolution, which not only is awesome to listen to on its own, but also fits the ambitious resolve the Human Empire has to protect their homeland from the Dark Territory and the latest antagonist yet.

As for the ending song, just when it seemed LiSA was done for the year with Gurenge, the opening of Demon Slayer, LiSA sings her last SAO song of the 2010's with Unlasting. While Unlasting may not be enough to make me shed a tear like Shirushi from the Mother's Rosario arc did, Unlasting is absolutely heavenly to listen to, as its melancholic and somber tone suits the grief and despair that Alice Zuberg is going through now that she's in a scenario where the Kirito she fought with is out of commission and longs for him to fight alongside her again for the world he saved alongside her and Eugeo.

Character: 10/10

And now I shall talk about the characters. First things first, it's important to repeat that Kirito is in a coma. So for those who think he's still going to be an overpowered protagonist in War of Underworld, you thought wrong. While his consciousness still desires to protect those he loves, he is absolutely unable to move or fight, at most only being able to react to those close with him. It's just heartbreaking that no matter how one viewed Kirito, he's essentially been reduced to a vegetable on a wheelchair.

That said, I've always felt the greatest aspect of Kirito's character was not what actions he took to help others, but how his actions inspired others close to him and allowed them to help back in his time of need. This is most exhibited in Alice Zuberg. With Eugeo tragically out of the picture and Kirito in a comatose status, Alice takes the spotlight as the main heroine of this season. In War of Underworld, I truly got to see the strength of Alice's resolve. How she wanted to protect the world that Kirito and Eugeo saved was presented well in the anime in my eyes.

But other than Alice, the Human Empire and even the Dark Territory got plenty of character development too. Bercouli finally takes the stand as the highest authority in the Human Empire and absolutely shows why he's a force to be reckoned with. In addition, Fanatio manages to overcome her self-consciousness over her gender and finally embraces it while also proving she's a capable solider on the battlefield, male or female. Even Deusolbert gets some time to shine as a noble warrior going all out Archer of Inferno from Fate/Grand Order (except that he's on the good side) on the Dark Territory soldiers. However, the most notable of them all would have to be Eldrie, who made a most selfless and meaningful sacrifice that would forever set the tone for what was to come in War of Underworld.

But what's even better than the Integrity Knights introduced from the first half of Alicization are the new ones introduced in War of Underworld: Renly and Scheta. When I was first introduced to Renly, I didn't really like him at first since he was a coward. Regardless, I held onto the hope that he would grow out of his cowardice and learn to overcome his fears. Not only did he manage to do so, but in just less than half of an episode, he gets a flashback that explains in full detail why he became fearful of his fighting abilities. To get that kind of treatment even though he was just introduced in this season is amazing. It's even more amazing how despite that, it still gave Renly a ton of character development that you wouldn't expect from one who was just introduced in the latest season. Scheta is no slouch in that department either, as not only does she get the flashback treatment, but her distinct stoic and aloof personality makes her stand out from all the other Integrity Knights and female characters. Not to mention her interactions with arguably one of the best Dark Territory characters: Iskahn, Champion of the Pugilists.

The Dark Territory was already a setting filled with a diverse cast of people and armies. But what really makes the Dark Territory interesting is how the people there aren't all generic evil villains. Some, if not, all of them have a human side to them, proving that they're just as human as the Human Empire. In fact, two of the leading members of the Dark Knights weren't evil at all and only wanted peace with the Human Empire.

Sure, the goblins don't have enough intelligence to have a truly human side to them, but the rest of them aren't fighting out of pure bloodlust or for the fun of it. They're doing it because they're being forced to and are helpless to defy their Emperor Vector. They wanted to invade the Human Empire, but come Emperor Vector, he twists that goal and forces them to die in vain just for his own personal gain. These events form the backbone for why one feels sorry for an anthropomorphic pig whose entire ogre army is being sacrificed for an attack that fails in vain, an anthropomorphic wolf that just wants his people to return to the abundant grasslands where they can live in peace and harmony again, and the leader of a tribe of pugilists who are being treated like puppets by the hands of Emperor Vector. Which is why Iskahn stands out so much as a Dark Territory character.

Practically SAO's answer to Fire Force (and arguably Zuko and Azula packed into one feisty redhead), Iskahn is perhaps the most human of the Dark Territory inhabitants, wanting to fight honorably with Scheta and even questioning the authority of Emperor Vector. Seriously, I want more characters like Iskahn.

As for the Glowgen Defense System, they're pretty decent. They may not be as interesting as Quinella, but they're miles better than Sugou. The banter between Critter and Vassago made for some of the most witty and amusing villain conversations I had ever seen in SAO. And me personally, while Gabriel Miller may not dethrone Quinella as my favorite SAO villain, I feel Gabriel Miller is essentially a better Sugou. Here, while he does sport the occasional creepy face, it's more tolerable in my eyes and his villain motives aren't defined by generic sexual pleasure or wanting to take over the world. To sum up, his philosophy can be defined as a consistent lust for soul-eating. One that goes all the way back to his childhood. For better or worse, it's clear Gabriel Miller is not messing around. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it.

I would go more into detail about Asuna and the other side characters, but I feel Asuna, Sinon, and Leafa will shine more in the second cour. As for the side characters, Lisbeth truly took the spotlight this cour. Klein, Agil, and Silica aside, Lisbeth made her mark in SAO history with her speech. In the midst of the War of the Underworld crisis and difficulty persuading her fellow ALO peers to come help in a time of need, Lisbeth demonstrated why she's just as important a character as the rest of the SAO cast, telling the players of ALO that the lives they live in the virtual world are just as real in the real world and that no matter what world they're in, all humans, real or digital, are undoubtedly real.

For a side character to make a speech like that is powerful. You have my respect, Lisbeth.

Enjoyment: 10/10

It doesn't matter what any anime elitist or snobby YouTube anime reviewer tells me. I've stayed an SAO fan for as long as I can remember. Even though I don't read the light novels, for me, the anime has always been enjoyable. War of Underworld did not disappoint and managed to deliver on all fronts. I won't force anyone to submit to my opinions, but at the very least, I want to express my own opinions. Of all the SAO seasons so far, War of Underworld truly set the bar for what the story of SAO holds. If I could enjoy War of Underworld on all fronts, I wholeheartedly can't wait to see what the final cour holds in store. A-1 Pictures, don't fail me now.

Overall: 10/10

Towards the end of this decade, I know most people wouldn't define SAO as their anime of the decade in the 2010's. While SAO may not enjoy the same unanimous critical acclaim as titles like Attack on Titan, One Punch Man, etc., I'm proud to stake my claim that SAO has managed to stand tall with them even among its polarized reception.

From kickstarting Yoshitsugu Matsuoka's seiyuu career since his star-making role as Kirito to heavily influencing the anime industry to release more light novel anime adaptations and isekai anime like Re: Zero, Konosuba, etc., there's no denying Sword Art Online has always managed to remain an important part of anime in the 2010's no matter what one thinks of it.

And for me personally, compared to other franchises like Tokyo Ghoul that are popular but haven't had as much fortune in succeeding this decade, I would say Sword Art Online truly made its mark on the 2010's and closed it off with a bang with arguably the best season to date.

So Sword Art Online, through all your ups and downs, thank you for all the enjoyment you have brought to me this decade in the 2010's and I look forward to what the final cour of Alicization holds and what the future of the Sword Art Online franchise will be.

Story:

I thought that the story developed quite nicely and is probably one of the better seasons/arcs of the SAO series. If people are put off by the fact that the MC is always overpowered then this will probably be the most enjoyable arc since our MC Kirito is pretty much in a vegetative state the entire time. With our MC is out of the way, we get to focus on the development and growth of Alice. What was nice was that there was no major filler content throughout the entire season and the pacing was actually quite well done and significant events are revealed at ... a pleasant pace. The show wasn’t that predictable either and I was honestly hype for the last few episodes. One thing I disliked about the ending was that it was quite ambiguous and such a cliffhanger that if I didn’t know that there was a second season coming then I would have been quite disappointed with how things ended.

Art:

As expected from the SAO series produced by A-1 Pictures, the art does not disappoint at all. The art is on par with the previous SAO seasons as well and the animation is great in the fight scenes. In particular, I really enjoy the fluidity of the animation by A-1 Pictures and SAO is the few series that I seem to actually notice the high quality of animation and actually appreciate them during the fight scenes. Character designs were good as well and you will have no problem differentiating between characters. I did notice that they used CGI here and there but they are not distracting and are only used when necessary such as when there are hundreds of soldiers on the battlefield. Overall, the art was satisfactory and the animation was great.

Sound:

Gosh, the soundtrack in this anime was so awesome and I was so hyped just from hearing the soundtracks. I have to commend the sounds in this anime, and although I didn’t vibe with the OP I freaking LOVE the ED and the soundtracks. The music sets the perfect tone and ambiance and even if the battle scene was not great, the music will give you the illusion of a great majestic battle taking place. The sound effects were great too, and I especially loved the effect when Asuna appeared like an angel. After I finished the show I found myself repeatedly listening to the soundtracks because they were that good. If anything, I would say that the music and sound effects were one of the highlights of the show.

Character:

The main focus of this season is Alice and personally I thought that they did a great job with character development and incorporating Kirito’s part even when he was in the state that he was and without him being overwhelmingly OP. We can see that Alice has clearly changed from the previous season, we see her pain from the “loss” of Kirito and as well as her resolve and determination to move on and protect her comrades. It was great to see her thinking and making decisions on her own for her own sake and also for the sake of others. Other characters were great too and there are quite a few instances where I was touched by the character’s backstory and sacrifices. There were even moments where the enemy also showed a humane side and made it quite emotional. Even though at some parts I felt that it was a bit too rushed and forced, I was still touched and emotional which makes me think that the directors did a pretty good job with the other character’s portrayal. In the end, I quite enjoyed the characters of this season.

Enjoyment:

With all technicalities aside, I have to say that I quite enjoyed this season of SAO. I didn’t really like the previous season leading up to this one but I really did enjoy this one. While watching this show I was able to feel a variety of different emotions and it was a really nice experience overall. I probably won’t be rewatching but that’s just because I typically don’t like to rewatch shows anyways, but I’m definitely hooked from this season and looking forward to next. I think anyone can find some type of enjoyment/entertainment from this season so give this show a shot!

When I watch an SAO series, I usually try not to expect much from it. When you have SAO, I usually just watch it for the world-building and the interesting concepts. Things like characters or story, I try to pass on some of the less glaring confusing plotholes.

For the good things about the show. I find it very interesting the concepts with the fluctlight and the VR dive technology. I think most of us wouldn't mind a summer vacation there, minus all the anime dangers. Alice is also a more decent character, with her origin and care for Kirito, you have to appreciate her.

However, ... I can't say much more good about it; Sword Art Online: Alicization War of Underworld is just a mess. To begin with, the viewer is confused about what in the world is happening in the outside world. The pacing is a little awkward, while most of the time we are shown the VR world, they show is rushed detail the conflict going on at the base with the VR tech is at. Which I have to add, usually most people don't care about the outside world if you have a focus story-wise on the VR one. Assassins Creed tried it, and look at how everyone reacted with Desmond. Anyway, we know there is an attack on the base by some bad guys, and we are confused about who they are affiliated with, which brings me to the next point.

One of the reasons why some thought to come back to watch the SAO series with Alicization is that those common things associated with SAO were different. Kirito is not exactly overpowered, especially currently, but that we know will change. Also, there is a philosophical debate about the AI people being actual humans or not.

Sadly it seems to again be falling into the standard "SAO tropes." SAO has always had a problem with villains, and the one introduced this season is just as creepy and has he exact face as all the other past minor or major villains of SAO. And I guess nowadays, having a basic boring villain would be actually refreshing? Well, it normally would be okay, except SAO has a tendency to well... make the villains very disturbing and show some really unnecessary graphic scenes in order to tell you the villain is "bad". It is a turn off to a lot of people, and really confusing with the more light-hearted tone of the story.

I will probably finish watching this because I hate to leave a series I've so heavily invested into unfinished. But I think after this last episode I need a short break from it this next week.

This is my first review about anime, pardon me for my bad English
I choose this one to be my first because i followed this series from the beginning

First, let's start from the story. We can see from the first episode the continue of the series. Truly when i watched it, i think that i'm going to cry because i remember Eugeo's death. I'm so touched and sad with the Kirito's condition. So, i give 8,5 to 9 for the story because it's almost completely same with the novel, but still there is a lot scene that has been skip.

Second, the art. I think that A-1 ... improved the art quality. It can be proved from the ending song's art. It's so realistic. But still the fighting scene is too short and some scene that can support the story development are cut off. So, it's 8 from 10.

Third, sound. I think this is the best part of this series. The opening and ending song completely match with the new pov of this series. We can feel the struggle, sad, and dark side from this series. Not only that, i think the backsound it's more detail than before. 9 from me.

Fourth, character. I think we can see many character development, especially Alice. If you watch SAO Alicization before, in this series we can see many of her expression. The new villain character (especially Gabriel) is less introduced in detail, like the background, his family, or maybe his current life (his job, connection). So, it's 8.

Fifth, i think that i enjoy this series. Until the fifth episode, i was like rollercoaster when i watch it. I feel sad, a little bit creepy, sometime i got the goosebumps and curious about what's next episode is. So, it's 9.

Overall, i think this anime is really good and can be better because it still has 7 episodes and one split cour. Please watch it after you watch SAO Alicization and please watch it with your heart inside it. You can feel all the emotions from this anime if you are positioned as someone who sees it directly.

That's all for me. I hope it can be helpful for you.

I was not gonna show my hate on SAO but oh well here we are cause there have been many people rating this season of SAO high in their reviews.
I happened to look at some of their profiles and found avg scores of > 8 so ya.
So again here I am, writing a review instead of writing a report that's due tomorrow.

Typical review format cause I'm lazy af .
Story- Painful to watch. Its SAO all over again. I thought this was gonna be a watchable season of SAO but Reki never fails to amaze me. The previous arc of Alicization was not ... so heart-rending to watch cause of Eugeo, someone that had a personality (that gets deleted soon enough but ya) but this season, oh boy. Now we have not one but two edgelords in the series. The antagonist is Hisoka gone wrong and the arc is like a war arc from any shounen jump but here something's different (drums rolls) ITS NOT EVEN REAL wohoo orginalll af. I can't explain more than this, cause there's nothing more than this.
Sound- It's our goddess LISA. Of course, the osts are good. And the sound direction is good as well. Would definitely recommend watching the season with your eyes closed. But if you did that you would miss out on the

Art- Because A-1 pictures are on the mark with those visuals. Along with good CGI. Man I hoped they would mess up so I had something more to rant on about.

Character- Now this is the good part. The characters are just amazing. Amazingly bland wohoo. Every female you'll see interacting with kirito is basically the repeat of the previous Kirito's D squad, Alice is Asuna, Asuna is Asuna and the male supporting cast are just there. Like literally just there to eat fodder and move the plot forward. The thing I find most offensive about this however is, the pathetic attempt at making the viewers sympathetic towards characters ( as they are about to die, and man they fail so hard). The only redeeming cast I guess are the dragons? At least they do their job right.

Enjoyment- 10. No sweat. I enjoyed this series as much as anyone could like ever. This show had me crying laughing and contemplating as I looked away from the screen and looked into the mirror as I realized I still haven't finished my report and instead I was wasting my time watching an anime that's so bad it's good.

Overall- 10. Finger licking good, cause the show has so much edge, you'll cut your fingers open and have to lick the wound as someone eventually calls an ambulance for you and rushes you to a hospital.

Ok, so that's SAO too annoying when were gonna have to wait for the next sequel:

So:

Story:

Pros: The same plot and it involve where he 1st sequel end and as sual it involves them characters going back in to the VMMOPG world only this time the guy was push into the sidelines as a cripple and it's them girls who does the ass kicking.

Cons: The same plot where only this time were the characters with god tier capabilities were starting to keep adding, also the plot of them character having sympathy for a buch of NPC that were nothing more than algorithms inside a main ... frame was just too overrated that it starts to become annoying when the real threat were them mecrs whom were out to steal a very special girl inside the STL...and yes that's the Goddess of Light who goes by the name "Alice."

Verdict: 7 over 10.


Art:

Pros: Good customs, and some eyecandies and there was that brief Asuna's panty flash .

Cons: I was just the usual illustration from all SAO franchise .

Verdict: 7 over 10.

Sound:

Pros: the same set of seiyuus from all SAO franchise.

Cons: The same set of seiyuus from all SAO franchise.

Verdict: 5 over 10.

Character:

Pros: Here we get to see Alice being the main protagonist, in fact in this sequel it was them women turn to shine , also the addition of a main antagonist who is a grown up does spice up this sequel.

Cons: The problem was we never get to see an epic fight between them girls Asuna and Alice versus the Emperor of the Dark Territory, also with the addition of Shion basically makes this sequel as to having too many god-tier characters that it was starting to become a one sided affair as they kick the asses of them US gamer hordes, so basically even with Kirito out of the way it would still be the usual since he was just merely replaced by Alice.

Verdict: 5 over 10

Enjoyment:

Pros: I still have the same enjoyment that I had when I first watched the first SAO anime.

Cons: I also have the same level of disgust when I've watched the very first SAO anime.

Verdict: 5 over 10.

Overall:

Verdict 5 over 10.

Basically what this is was just a repeat of the very first SAO anime, and quite frankly I'm wondering as to when will studio A-1 Picture and Original Creator, will pull the plug of this franchise. Cu'z quite frankly as this anime progress and keep repeating the same setting , it was getting way too overrated as to forget that they're in a virtual world and those NPC's were nothing more that algorithms, in fact those people in that Turtle Island would have been better off deleting those program in their STL that letting them mercs get that so called "Alice."

System's Call: Delete the entire program and make a new one.

SAO have the worst characters you can imagine, and this is not a breaking news to anyone, Alicization suffers from the same mistakes first two season suffered, mainly Kirito, Asuna and poor direction and character development.
this Arc is full of cliche SAO crap, "Yelling makes attack smarter", "no hero dies", "one dimentional villains and heros", "plot holes", "girls want only kirito".

Alice is literally the copy and pasted Saber from Fate Series, i mean it, but i'm gonna let this one slip.

Let's talk about the plot, so the villains are after Alice, but why? Asuna says because she broke the rules ergo she is a true ... AI, let's talk about how fucking stupid it is that japan's military is looking for an AI that can breaks the rules!

Why would they want a solider that can break the rules they fucking gave her?

It makes absolutely no sense, let's say for some reason they want that, why didn't they just stop the project the moment Alice broke the rules? isn't there an alert or something that can notify the programmers? (if they can't for some unknown reason then it just shows how retarded it is that programmers weren't prepared for this)

Also it is pointed out that time is passing faster in Alicization, why? because we said so, if time is relative then why not speed up this stupid Super Secret project that a high school girl could find out about?

The warriors from Dark territory look disgusting, their design is abhorrent, it just hurt you eyes.
The Art isn't anything noteworthy it's bad, soundtracks are garbage as well, i didn't enjoy neither the opening nor the ending song
secondary characters are as developed as middle eastern countries, not a single interesting character, a character is supposed to have a background which we can relate to, people just show up and die and get resurrected to die again to show up again in the end as plot twist! this is what SAO always does, it assumes it's audience is brain-dead which isn't completely false!


The only character i had a little respect for was Alice because she wasn't after Kirito, that was the only reason i respected her a little but don't get me wrong, she is a garbage character, she is the most generic warrior i've seen, nothing about her is memorable, i'm gonna forget about her after this review probably

It is a bad anime, wasted my goddamn time again

Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld


I knew this would happen, but I just didn't want to accept it. After the Alicization season finally delivered an acceptable level of quality, I was hoping the anime would continue to improve. But unfortunately, I wasn't aware that there would be 2 consecutive seasons that would present nothing but endless fights.

I liked the fact that the war between the two worlds was depicted quite cruelly, however, all the hype from the first season of the arc has been ruined. Wasn't it said that the Dark Continent was incredibly powerful? Why does it present itself as an ... absurd ridiculous spectacle? Half the force of the human empire is already absolute overkill. If the current main antagonists didn't interfere from the outside world, there would be no danger at all in this supposedly "Last War." Thus, Kirito's entire argument with the Knights and the Administrator is completely meaningless. If no one had come to this world, the human kingdom would have won this war WITHOUT any difficulty.

As for the visual presentation and aesthetics, I must say that this is one of the best war arcs I have ever seen in an anime. You can see the ambitions and motivations of both sides, as well as their losses. It's not a simple good and evil which I expected. At least the first part of it, the second develops into a ... theater.

I still think that this anime is well worth watching. Of course, one's expectations should not be set too high, it is very simple and does not offer any twists. Likewise, the quality of the author leaves much to be desired, especially in the War of Underworld arc, which has very little content. And despite that, they manage to create one questionable and illogical scene after another. Especially concerning Alice, is not only a living plot armor but makes the war escalate more and more.

Unfortunately, it's also the better season, Part 2 of War of Underworld being massively worse than this one.
Regarding all of this, SAO would have been significantly better off if this anime had been a true isekai. But since the humans in this world are merely AI, this whole war is shown to be all the more meaningless.

[Conclusion 4]

Thank God the majority of the season was kept afloat by very dynamic combat, animation, and music. I finished watching it very quickly as it impressed me visually. That being said, it turned out to be an underwhelming result. I'm disappointed, but you couldn't have seen it coming any other way.

SAO review 4/4

This season’s very battle heavy while still continuing the psycological aspect explored in season 3, introducing us to some of the most psychotic and sadistic villains, and showing how constant battles and death can break a you, but also how having the right people around you supporting you can put you back toghether stronger than ever, i think what i like most about SAO is how they used these virtual settings to show such real emotions and life experiances, not one moment ever felt fake or forced no matter how fantastical the world or powers got 🗡

(this review is for both part 1 ... and part 2 of SAO War Of Underworld)

Favorite OP: ANIMA
Favorite ED: Unlasting

another season (or rather the completion of the current season) of SAO .. more of the same old story .. and by that i don't even mean SAO but rather the people .. wake up .. hating on SAO for the sake of hating and feeling popular is as cliched and overused as low effort isekai are right now.just be fair for once towards it instead of going to pure clear hate (like certain people giving it 1) or blind fanboying (like giving it 10)

this being a review i think it's only fair to start with the obvious ..
this is the best season of ... SAO yet.

with the first half we hit the reset and are going almost fresh in this world .. that lead to new characters (some of the best characters of SAO strictly speaking) that lead us into a conflict .. together with what was happening in the real world lead into certain consequences .. which we start up this half of the story with.

with avoiding as much spoiler as i humainly can .. we start with kirito taking a major hit and is being taken care of by alice ..doing so out of sense of responsability and gratitude .. knight alice facing the consequences of her lost memories .. and the church knights lead by berculi are facing the consequences of quintella's mistakes along with basically their world's creators setting a trial for them.

diving a bit into it the current villain is basically a 3rd party asked to do a certain job .. the guy is a psychopath .. the bad side is Sao's previous villains were bad and often categorized as psychopaths as well which is kinda off since personally all i see in them is bad written characters forced into that path which might make the current villain feel as such which is quite sad since the good part is the current villain is acutally a decent character .. as we saw he isn't' some horny villain made just to be hated ..and it doesn't seem like he's going that route at all which i really like .. he's drive is clear and his madness is explained and is believable at the very least .. which is a step up in writting villains for this series along with quintella herself.

as for the animation and art, can't say much about it .. SAO alicization is the best that SAO has ever looked ..the fights in cgi are a bit laking with thier 3 hits pre determined pattern of movement that is too obvious to be camouflaged by setting the fights in small groups and setting them to move in different times to create the illusion of them moving independently but oter than that every thing looks stunning

OST and OP/ED: i'm not that much of a fan when it comes to haruka's op especially with the treat that is asca's op last season but the ED is not only SAO's best ED and music in general as well as the best ED of this season .. but it's the best ED of this year to me..OST is as good as exxpected of SAO .. since this was one of the things mostly praised by both extremes of SAO (fans and haters).

my biggest worry i have is how is asuna's arrival would affect the story ... i do want it to be a helping factor for kirito to return .. i don't want it to be the main/the only reason for it tho since that would ruin what was basically buillt .. i'm kinda waiting and wanting a conflict between alice and asuna and i'm expecting it but i'm afraid they follow the regular comical cliched my man cat fight followed by welcome to the not harem club of rejected waifus of kirito .. i want it to be the center of conflict .. to be taken seriously and to be the trigger to explore how ar ethese flauctlights feel about knowing thier world is made up and so are they ..and hw to deal with someone unknown coming from an unknown world that seems t be kirito's world .. i hope that doesn't ruin what alicization built so far but actually enhances it .. sicne one of the biggest flaws of this show is wanting to be serious and try to build a decent 'sometimes solid even) fundation only to laze out at the end and ruin it all so as a token of my hopefullness i'll give this season 8/10 so far in hopes of it keeping that or even going higher instead of ruining it all and going down