Sword Art Online (light novel)
| I've been watching SAO since the original back in 2012, being someone who defended the franchise all this time and felt that most criticism against it was bad or flat-out wrong. Alicization, though, felt like "SAO, if all the bad things people say about it were right". It's been a while since I've watched it, so I can't recall 100% of my criticisms of it, but I want to understand why the people who like it, like it. |
| Why would anyone consider one of the only good parts of SAO as the worst? |
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Reply to EpicLifeDog
thewiru said:
I've been watching SAO since the original back in 2012, being someone who defended the franchise all this time and felt that most criticism against it was bad or flat-out wrong.
Alicization, though, felt like "SAO, if all the bad things people say about it were right".
It's been a while since I've watched it, so I can't recall 100% of my criticisms of it, but I want to understand why the people who like it, like it.
I've been watching SAO since the original back in 2012, being someone who defended the franchise all this time and felt that most criticism against it was bad or flat-out wrong.
Alicization, though, felt like "SAO, if all the bad things people say about it were right".
It's been a while since I've watched it, so I can't recall 100% of my criticisms of it, but I want to understand why the people who like it, like it.
Honestly it just felt it had a much better story and even pacing with characters with more development like Eugeo who is probably the best developed character in all of SAO.
| @EpicLifeDog Well, I guess I do agree about Eugeo. He did start as "blond Kirito", but over the course of the anime he really became his own character, though that just made killing him so early a huge waste. |
| This WAS the only good part. Kirito's harem wasn't hogging half the screentime with their 'maiden in love' monologues and the antagonist was interesting and built up properly for once. Eugeo was a great addition to the show as well. WoU went back to being like the original series, which was such a shame though. This part, however, was great in every way. |
| Not too often i see an anime-specific topic interest me on the app, so ill give my 2 cents from some1 who caught up with the anime (and up to vol 23 for lns) I think Alicization felt much like a "reset" for the series. yeah, its a sequel so it ties back to recurring characters/plot points, but the setting and cast for the new world felt fresh relative to previous arcs (GGO especially). we also see a different approach to the series' "mature-ness" given the nature of the NPCs and the mystery behind Alice. instead of largely focusing on "not dying" and completing game-like objectives, we see how Kirito interacts with the world as if he was born there of course i think alongside many ppl, I also highly appreciated the presence of Eugeo throughout this arc. it was great to see a genuine, "brotherhood" relationship develop compared to all the harem/romance bait leading up to Underworld. basically, i think for some Alicization polished what was done best in the past arcs while trying out a different way to tell the story. even if WoU did end up going back to the classic formula, it gave good closure to what fans were enjoying in Alicization, on top of having some amazing animation and music production for the franchise's standards |
| @Saimatsu_Fan @certifiedbinger This thread refers to Alicization + WoU Yes, I do agree that base Alicization is miles better than WoU in almost every aspect. |
Reply to Boazanian
Not too often i see an anime-specific topic interest me on the app, so ill give my 2 cents from some1 who caught up with the anime (and up to vol 23 for lns)
I think Alicization felt much like a "reset" for the series. yeah, its a sequel so it ties back to recurring characters/plot points, but the setting and cast for the new world felt fresh relative to previous arcs (GGO especially). we also see a different approach to the series' "mature-ness" given the nature of the NPCs and the mystery behind Alice. instead of largely focusing on "not dying" and completing game-like objectives, we see how Kirito interacts with the world as if he was born there
of course i think alongside many ppl, I also highly appreciated the presence of Eugeo throughout this arc. it was great to see a genuine, "brotherhood" relationship develop compared to all the harem/romance bait leading up to Underworld.
basically, i think for some Alicization polished what was done best in the past arcs while trying out a different way to tell the story. even if WoU did end up going back to the classic formula, it gave good closure to what fans were enjoying in Alicization, on top of having some amazing animation and music production for the franchise's standards
I think Alicization felt much like a "reset" for the series. yeah, its a sequel so it ties back to recurring characters/plot points, but the setting and cast for the new world felt fresh relative to previous arcs (GGO especially). we also see a different approach to the series' "mature-ness" given the nature of the NPCs and the mystery behind Alice. instead of largely focusing on "not dying" and completing game-like objectives, we see how Kirito interacts with the world as if he was born there
of course i think alongside many ppl, I also highly appreciated the presence of Eugeo throughout this arc. it was great to see a genuine, "brotherhood" relationship develop compared to all the harem/romance bait leading up to Underworld.
basically, i think for some Alicization polished what was done best in the past arcs while trying out a different way to tell the story. even if WoU did end up going back to the classic formula, it gave good closure to what fans were enjoying in Alicization, on top of having some amazing animation and music production for the franchise's standards
| @Boazanian I was unsure where to publish this thread, so I decided to post it here, though I speak of Ali + WoU. Granted, most of my problems with Ali are "Wasted potential", while my problems with WoU (Where most problems lie) are deeper. Some that came to mind: Jumps between different power systems rather than focusing on a single one (At first I appreciated that they essentially had a "hard magic" system in the way of the "sacred words" and a "soft magic" in the way of everyone being able to "warp reality" in some way, and the fact that everyone had the latter made things balanced, though I felt that those were abandoned in favor of the "Bankai" system later on). Kirito being calm during the whole ordeal feels wrong, and the 2-year timeskip (The time he spent in Aincrad) felt disrespectful. I feel that even something as basic as having Fukuoka deliver a message to Kirito such as "Find Alice" would've solved this and given a sense of "roadmap" to it. One of the things I remember coming to mind back then, that would help tie things together would be, instead of the elevator NPC that never reappears, perhaps Kirito and Eugeo getting up by finding the frozen Renly, and that whole encounter being the thing that motivated him in WoU. IDK, while watching I had tons of ideas like that. Probably the biggest whiplash I had was liking that one episode which is in the Dark Territory and expecting a whole arc of it... but it just beign a single episode. |
Reply to klymaks_bobs_1
The part war of the underworld is also great though I don’t understand the mechanics behind Kirito’s condition at the start of the show
| @klymaks_bobs_1 Basically he suffered brain damage and is put in Alicization so the software acts as a "crutch" on his brain, so it can heal. |
| nice bate, bud. 6/10 |
thewiru said: @Saimatsu_Fan @certifiedbinger This thread refers to Alicization + WoU Yes, I do agree that base Alicization is miles better than WoU in almost every aspect. I think the thread should've been under the WoU title, then. I'm pretty sure a lot of people think the Alicization arc started off great, that is, the entirety of this part, and the went to shit in WoU, that felt like the old seasons. |
| One of the best parts, imo. Alice, bercouli, and Eugeo are well developed, and Kirito relies on them. Although Aincrad had higher stakes, which was also very enjoyable. If anything, then Alternative GGO might be the lowest of SAO for me, which is not even written by Reki. |
 • Watching this season • My Anime list • Comment |
| It's the best thing since the first season, All the alfheim stuff was not my cup of tea but this was peak Sao. |
 |
| Because it feels much more immersive, not like a game anymore. |
*kappa* |
| Because it's the best of everything SAO has to offer? |
certifiedbinger said: This WAS the only good part. Kirito's harem wasn't hogging half the screentime with their 'maiden in love' monologues and the antagonist was interesting and built up properly for once. Eugeo was a great addition to the show as well. WoU went back to being like the original series, which was such a shame though. This part, however, was great in every way. I'm not sure if naked for some reason chick is a good antagonist, but other than that I agree. Eugeo was the best thing that ever happened to SAO by how he took a little bit of screentime and distracted from the regular cast, which is arguably the worst thing about SAO overall. Sadly, that after Eugeo died and Alicization concluded, SAO once again became full trash. |
|
Piromysl said: certifiedbinger said: This WAS the only good part. Kirito's harem wasn't hogging half the screentime with their 'maiden in love' monologues and the antagonist was interesting and built up properly for once. Eugeo was a great addition to the show as well. WoU went back to being like the original series, which was such a shame though. This part, however, was great in every way. I'm not sure if naked for some reason chick is a good antagonist, but other than that I agree. Eugeo was the best thing that ever happened to SAO by how he took a little bit of screentime and distracted from the regular cast, which is arguably the worst thing about SAO overall. Sadly, that after Eugeo died and Alicization concluded, SAO once again became full trash. She was a feast for the eyes at least. Can't say the same about the same, recycled psychopaths and predators that they repeat every arc. |
| I like the Technology side of the flutterlight. The time moving slower, and its big Accel World nod. The parts at the turtle and tension were better than most of SAO. For 1/2 The autonomous sentient system moderator module trying to cheat and get out, controling the other aspects of the simulation in a way that it interferes with the simulation. It is just like adding a logger in a server that ruins the experiment a little. Making a snapshot of the system but choosing which objects to clone, and having the user select each one manually. The fact that it starts single player in a simulation. One of the other SAO npcs that is memorable ? None. And that includes some players too. Eugene is a better protagonist than Kirito, and having him around makes one character that can die anytime be there. Each Cathedral Knight fight was clever compared to Swording until they die or deflecting all the bullets. It gets a little bad towards the last fight. But there the power up and the battle outcome. It is the first one that the gameplay mechanics take a bigger backseat. Magic is just executing some arbitrary "system calls", if you program, this is also nice. For 2/2 Kirito sits back again, so it builds a nice One punch man/ Namekusei situation where Kirito will win the war, but every Kuririn/Yamcha gets a role and a situation, and uses Asuna and the other girls better. Technology of lag because of too many users, and leaking the address so the mmo addicts jack in, was used well by both sides. Showing that Kayaba and other characters remain in Kirito's flutterlight pays off SAO until here. "We carry everyone we interacted with us.". It is better than "People.online are still people, the same people" repeated messages we got before. It also signals that people who died in SAO game, and Yui can be flutterlight recovered. It only falls off in the Kirito x Asuna time skip that gets rushed and reset. |
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Reply to thewiru
@Boazanian
I was unsure where to publish this thread, so I decided to post it here, though I speak of Ali + WoU.
Granted, most of my problems with Ali are "Wasted potential", while my problems with WoU (Where most problems lie) are deeper.
Some that came to mind: Jumps between different power systems rather than focusing on a single one (At first I appreciated that they essentially had a "hard magic" system in the way of the "sacred words" and a "soft magic" in the way of everyone being able to "warp reality" in some way, and the fact that everyone had the latter made things balanced, though I felt that those were abandoned in favor of the "Bankai" system later on).
Kirito being calm during the whole ordeal feels wrong, and the 2-year timeskip (The time he spent in Aincrad) felt disrespectful. I feel that even something as basic as having Fukuoka deliver a message to Kirito such as "Find Alice" would've solved this and given a sense of "roadmap" to it.
One of the things I remember coming to mind back then, that would help tie things together would be, instead of the elevator NPC that never reappears, perhaps Kirito and Eugeo getting up by finding the frozen Renly, and that whole encounter being the thing that motivated him in WoU. IDK, while watching I had tons of ideas like that.
Probably the biggest whiplash I had was liking that one episode which is in the Dark Territory and expecting a whole arc of it... but it just beign a single episode.
I was unsure where to publish this thread, so I decided to post it here, though I speak of Ali + WoU.
Granted, most of my problems with Ali are "Wasted potential", while my problems with WoU (Where most problems lie) are deeper.
Some that came to mind: Jumps between different power systems rather than focusing on a single one (At first I appreciated that they essentially had a "hard magic" system in the way of the "sacred words" and a "soft magic" in the way of everyone being able to "warp reality" in some way, and the fact that everyone had the latter made things balanced, though I felt that those were abandoned in favor of the "Bankai" system later on).
Kirito being calm during the whole ordeal feels wrong, and the 2-year timeskip (The time he spent in Aincrad) felt disrespectful. I feel that even something as basic as having Fukuoka deliver a message to Kirito such as "Find Alice" would've solved this and given a sense of "roadmap" to it.
One of the things I remember coming to mind back then, that would help tie things together would be, instead of the elevator NPC that never reappears, perhaps Kirito and Eugeo getting up by finding the frozen Renly, and that whole encounter being the thing that motivated him in WoU. IDK, while watching I had tons of ideas like that.
Probably the biggest whiplash I had was liking that one episode which is in the Dark Territory and expecting a whole arc of it... but it just beign a single episode.
| @thewiru Yes, im also talking about both too, since i refer to Alicization in this context as the whole arc (the author calls the 1st phase of WoU in the anime "Alicization Invading" in the LNs) I think how you explain the progression of the power mechanics is unfortunately a common issue for action series with lots of power scaling, despite starting off with a very concrete system like you said. at some point the author cant just feed us the same old techniques for new battles. ill admit tho, i quite enjoyed the "bankais" that ended up happening by WoU part 2. honestly if you stick to SAO after so long, you end up accepting some of the more irrational stuff as just a SAO-thing Its been long so i cant remember specific tendencies Kirito had, but i think because he wasnt given the message beforehand it made the story less boring, or rather less straightforward. the real world and Underworld felt more distinct or separate than in comparison with previous VR worlds, since it was more about thriving inside the VR rather than escaping it and knowing about another realm (the real world)... if that makes any sense Yeah i think your other issues are fair, and iirc were at most likely better explained in the LNs. notably, volumes 19 and 20 about the Moon Cradle arc (the 200 year period that Kirito and Asuna spend in the Underworld) does give closure to some things going on in the Underworld, which the anime couldnt cover |
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