Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld 2nd Season

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Sword Art Online: Alicization 3rd Season, Sword Art Online III 3rd Season, SAO Alicization 3rd Season, Sword Art Online 3 3rd Season, SAO 3 3rd Season, SAO III 3rd Season, Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld - The Last Season

Japanese: ソードアート・オンラインアリシゼーション War of Underworld

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 11

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jul 12, 2020 to Sep 20, 2020

Premiered: Summer 2020

Broadcast: Sundays at 00:00 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Egg Firm, Straight Edge, Kadokawa

Licensors: Aniplex of America

Studios: A-1 Pictures

Source: Light novel

Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Theme: Video Game

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 7.47¹ (scored by 315,710 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1818²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #355

Members: 550,317

Favorites: 3,032

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

The final battle against the Dark Territory drags on, as players from all over the world flood the Underworld's servers and plunge the Human Empire into utter chaos. Asuna Yuuki and her friends defend their new allies with everything they have, but their numbers are falling. Meanwhile, Alice Zuberg heads toward the World's End Altar while Gabriel "Vecta" Miller relentlessly pursues her.

Meanwhile, members of Rath strategize a plan in an attempt to restore Kirito's damaged fluctlight. However, the intruders occupying the main control room have other plans. Surrounded by death and despair, when all hope seems to be lost, one voice reaches out to Kirito—a familiar one saying, "I will always be by your side."

Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld 2nd Season is the epic conclusion to Akihiko Kayaba's dream of creating artificial human intelligence. Now it is up to Kirito and his friends to protect this collapsing world from the people that still think it is just a game.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld is an adaptation of volumes 15 through 18 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: Alicization - War of Underworld, Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld Recap

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Kirigaya, Kazuto

Main

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu
Japanese

Yuuki, Asuna

Main

Tomatsu, Haruka
Japanese

Zuberg, Alice

Main

Kayano, Ai
Japanese

Asada, Shino

Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

Eugeo

Supporting

Shimazaki, Nobunaga
Japanese

Konno, Yuuki

Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi
Japanese

Yui

Supporting

Itou, Kanae
Japanese

Kirigaya, Suguha

Supporting

Taketatsu, Ayana
Japanese

Tsuboi, Ryoutarou

Supporting

Hirata, Hiroaki
Japanese

Ayano, Keiko

Supporting

Hidaka, Rina
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Niwa, Masami

Producer

Ono, Manabu

Director

Nakashige, Shunsuke

Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director

Obara, Masakazu

Episode Director, Storyboard

Edit

Opening Theme

"ANIMA" by ReoNa (eps 1-10)

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Ending Theme

	1: "I will..." by Eir Aoi (eps 1-10)
	2: "ANIMA" by ReoNa (eps 11)

More reviews

Reviews

Sep 19, 2020

Pipe

Recommended

SAO's franchise has always been full of disapproval babbles between the anime fans, we can look that in the continue hate and rants that we can find in every place. However, even if it is hard to accept for several fans, the light novel is considered the best of Japan's decade, where it matters. One of the arcs from that light novel is titled Alicization that concludes with these eleven episodes and that for me, it is probable the best part of SAO's plot until this date leaving aside the new arc (Unital Ring) that is being published right now.

The story follows the ... basic template of the light novel; we have a Kirito in a coma waiting for his return as the underworld struggles to survive. The fight allows a large number of characters to participate in the story. The action sequences and some of the subplots are concluded (for example, Bercouli), so the development of the main character is completed. We can see tears, blood, gore, betrayal, fear, and many other feelings during these episodes. Maybe the screen gets saturated with action to the point that we can't process what's happening, or perhaps the events are too fantastic to be accepted. Furthermore, those awkward and useless scenes will lead us to wonder why several fans hate SAO, and it's not a problem with the adaptation that is a problem with the novels and the need to promote them with fan service. Albeit this silly impression, the show is able to offer a charming conclusion to Alicization's story arc, leaving the door open for future development.

On the other hand, character development wasn't too impressive. I understand that various characters are introduced. However, I want to remind the audience that several of those characters have already had their development through other arcs of the story. Therefore, it is unnecessary to cover more details because the setting of the story will not allow it. They are just fillers that will help with the conclusion of the battle, and perhaps that is a negative aspect of this series. Asking for further character development when the climax was already set is not wise, but it could have enhanced the enjoyment. For example, giving Alice a bit more context would have been interesting. Still, this second season I feel like she is left behind as a supporting character, and all her development from the previous seasons froze.

From art and technical aspect, the color palette is traditional but exciting nonetheless, the adaptation focuses more on the action sequences than the personal details that could have been expanded. Even if the action was well directed, you would feel like something is missing if you are not an avid SAO fan. I can't complain about the technical aspect of the series, it's good and I think the director and the studio made an excellent adaptation. On the sound, it's okay and it helps with the dynamics of the action, but it's not great. The songs are interesting, especially Anima by ReoNa; for some reason, I like the rhythm and the lyrics.

Finally, the conclusion is acceptable, but sometimes the plot is useless and leads us to think that the story is garbage. However, I think the author is playing with some fictional elements that can give us great emotions and better development in future arcs. I can't recommend this series to all fans because you need to understand SAO's entire plot from the beginning to enjoy the full context, but I do enjoy it until the last episode. One last commentary, it was funny watching Alice coming out from a box lol.

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Sep 19, 2020

Stark700

Recommended

Sword Art Online’s Alicization arc has been one of the most complex and gratifying storytelling in its franchise history. From the depths of the underworld, we are thrown into a labyrinth of conspiracies. As a matter of fact, this arc has been so complex that it had to be told in multiple parts to explore its story at its full potential.

From the first episode titled “The War of Underworld”, part 2 immediately jumps into the chaos with characters we were familiar with from the previous seasons. In this case, we are reintroduced to Sinon, Leafa, Klein, Lisbeth, Silica, and among others as they make ... their journey to the Underworld. Furthermore, Kirito still remains in a comatose state with viewers wandering if he can ever recover to normalcy. With the full weight of the ongoing war, characters such as Bercouli gets their triumphant yet sorrowful moments. It’s his moments of tragedy that is depicted not by fear but with a resolve, a way for this show to exemplify his character’s personality at its apex. And as I watched more and more of this season, I realized that every character has its importance, not like random fodder thrown away.

For the sake of part 2, we are treated with 11 episodes with the ultimatum to conclude this saga. As the longest story arc to date, SAO Underworld wanted to fully capitalize its themes such as identity, loyalty, and love. When we realize what SAO Underworld has been selling to us, it makes sense to see how characters behave. It’s important to know that the war is much more about one side trying to gain dominance over the other, but rather why characters fight with their lives on the line. Bercouli, Alice, Sheyta, Iskahn, and Asuna are among a few of those who finds a reason to fight. And it is because of their reasons, they put everything on the line. For what’s worth, SAO Underworld isn’t afraid to also pull the trigger with character betrayals such as Yanai. With every action, there is a consequence as startling revelations are discovered.

Meanwhile, fans will also have a lingering question on their mind. Will Kirito ever wake up from his coma? He’s the black swordsman that stepped foot into the virtual world of the franchise from the very beginning and make no mistake, he is an integral part of the Underworld arc. The memories grows to show his despair but somewhere within him, Kirito will find a way to become what he once was before. That is, during mid-season, he reawakens to battle against Vassago (Prince of Hell) and reunites with his friends. The moment between him and Asuna is imperative to show that despite them being apart for so long, they’ve never forgot about each other or their reason to exist. It’s a characterization element of the show that makes up their character roles this season. Furthermore, Kirito’s resolve to fight the good fight again shows that is able to conquer his personal demons and that anyone can overcome any obstacle in the SAO world.

On the outside world, there’s also the threat of the government with the world at stake. This season shifts the balance between the virtual and real world to a surprisingly satisfying effect. The betrayal of Yanai is one such example to capitalize on how characters are motivated by their own morals. When you throw the government into this complex arc, the stakes are raised even higher. For what’s worth, you should expect SAO Underworld to deliver its best arc to date. It manages to woven together the multiple arcs together to meets its ends. This isn’t some half-baked game project like Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris. It may not be perfect but certainly manages to evade a disastrous launch from the beginning. With every episode that progresses, we see more and more of the story unfold and why characters fight the way they do. SAO Underworld is the best for what this franchise has to offer and this one really hit the ball out of the park.

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Sep 19, 2020

Neo_oeN

Recommended

A little story on how Sword Art Online started. Reki Kawahara written SAO in Fall 2001 to participate in the 9th Dengeki Novel Prize, but he exceeded the page limit. According to him, he had no idea or will to trim it down, so he end up forfeiting and instead published it online. This manuscript he wanted to use to take part on the competition is the very known first arc "Aincrad arc", a death game story that take place in a floating castle inside a Virtual World, because of continues support from readers he wrote the sequels arcs and spinoffs. SAO was later published ... officially into Light Novel around 2008 then adapted into anime on 2012, at the right time it exploded in popularity, with varying receptions to its fan, haters and critics. As well as at that time, the boom of isekai from light novels had begun. The author's wish to take part into a light novel competition was now unexpectedly adapted into anime continuously with new seasons and other media as well.

Minor spoilers for first episode.

Currently, here we are with the longest arc of SAO, started on Fall 2018 and span with almost 50 episodes, "Alicization arc" is animated completely. Alicization arc mostly sets in a Simulated Reality called "Underworld" created by Rath for the purpose of creating a True general-purpose Artificial Intelligence, where the characters are not NPCs but actual people copied from real world people's soul using the most advanced technology of SAO, the Soul TransLator. The first part of this arc "Human Realm sub-arc" is about Kirito and Eugeo on quest to reach the central city Centoria, with different goals, Eugeo is to save Alice, while Kirito is to find out how and why he was in sent to Underworld. Consequently, in the real world, while Asuna and Rath Staffs are waiting for Kirito's recovery and observing the state of Underworld, their facility Ocean Turtle is infiltrated by a Foreign Terrorists group. This lead to unfortunate events, with Kirito being comatose worsely, character deaths and the start of "Rath's Final Load test" or in Underworlders viewpoint, it is the start of war between Human Realm and the Dark Territory. This last season is part of the "War of Underworld sub-arc", the second part of Alicization arc, that covers the later 4 volumes, spanning with 24 Episodes. It started at were the "War of Underworld 1st Part" left off, with the Reinforcements coming from Real World, Asuna, along with the human army and a temporary truce to the Dark Territory had now a glint of hope. They can now fight back to the overwhelming number of the Red Knight Army, or so they thought, as a certain demon from the past takes the stage, and wants to settle the score with the SAO survivors, such as Kirito and Asuna. Meanwhile, Alice was captured by Vecta flying on his dragon to exit through the World End Alter, Bercouli, along with the 3 integrity knights dragon, continues to chase him. The adaptation is pretty faithful with slight alteration to join the elements from the movie Ordinal Scale. But because of most scenes lack explicit context, it will not be understood well by most viewers. Unless the viewer, perceives the scene using the past similar phenomenon or scenario that happen in previous season, as reference for its explanation or context, this is mostly the "Incarnation scenarios" in the anime. There are also overdid scene which got controversial receptions, which is to begin with, already questionable in the Light Novel, and just like on the first part of Alicization, this seasons controversial scene was adapted worse. But even though it did have those scenes, the anime did deliver heartfelt or emotional scenes, character moments, high production action battles and the storyline wrapped up well for this arc. The story elements that matter at start of this arc and from the other previous arcs were still used for this arc, such as the old characters coming back for this arc like the friends of Kirito and other players from other VR worlds; there is also old game/system mechanics at work such as the account-conversion system which made possible by The Seed program package, the common program used by all VRs in SAO.

The Alicization arc until this last seasons arc is still directed by Manobu Ono, not a well known director, but has made quite experience with the popular very detailed scifi Light Novel, The Magic of Irregular High School. Did he do a better job at adapting the whole Alicization arc up to this point, instead of Tomohiko Ito who directed season 1-2 and the movie? My answer is not really, at most it's presentable, some directions being questionable leading to varying receptions. But thankfully, he did some good scenes that got a well reception like character interactions and relationships either among the main or supporting characters; and the most notable in SAO, of course the action scenes. But that is because of his other notable well-known great talent staffs such as Yoshihiro Kanno, Kentaro Waki, and Kajiura Yuki. They had produced high production values for this arc specifically in this second part of the War of Underworld. Yoshihiro Kanno is the SAO's main animator of major action battles, he came back for this arc's second part, after not animating the major battle scenes back in Alicization Part 1 Human Realm sub-arc. He did a great job, putting rough and weight on major action scenes, such as the most notable, Bercoulli vs Vecta fight. The Director of Photography(DoP) Kentaro Waki, known for being the DoP of God Eater and Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, made the final animated product refined. Blending the background and subjects with amazing visual effects. They produced the major action scenes captivating. Major action scenes indeed is sakugafest, although most of them lack the explicit context for it to understand. Also, we continuously have the notable great talent composer Kajiura Yuki, who's well-known for Ufotable Fate anime and Kara no Kyoukai. She had produced well-arranged pieces, ranging from heart warming to intense soundtracks.

SAO is consistent and didn't shy away on presenting its themes, even though how ambitious it is. From earlier arcs back then we have Virtual Reality, VR machine for Medical Technology, now in this arc we have Artificial Intelligence, Time Accelerated and Simulated Reality, which is for myself the very reason I continue looking forward to SAO, are the themes it shows us, how our future technology might be. I wonder what more can SAO do with its themes, as the franchise is far from ending now. An announcement just made for another SAO anime.

If you have watch this SAOs longest arc up to the previous season, why not finished it now with this last part, you might still find something to like.

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Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld 2nd Season

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Kirigaya, Kazuto

Yuuki, Asuna

Zuberg, Alice

Asada, Shino

Eugeo

Konno, Yuuki

Yui

Kirigaya, Suguha

Tsuboi, Ryoutarou

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Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld 2nd Season

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Episode Videos

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