SAO

BurningSpirit said:
Funny, because I thought that at least season 2 was the better one.

Out of curiosity? Was that a result of SAO being consistently a 8 throughout? Or more like maybe a 9 for the first half and 7 the second half averaged out? The infamous ALO Asuna tentacle rape arc.

Johan said:


I appreciate your question, but you more or less got it right. I always say key moments are extremely vital into how I consider a show. The first arc (Aincrad) of SAO I was extremely found of, and of course I don't rate the second cour - ALO arc.

For Season 2, I think Mother's Rosario Arc is the best of any of SAO's arcs. And I genuinely appreciated GGO.

So its a case where maybe more objectively the show is closer to a 7/10 - but because of those key defining moments & because of my own solidity in defending it from unprecedented vitriol and hatred, I give it more of a subjective 8/10.

Johan said:
I appreciate your question, but you more or less got it right. I always say key moments are extremely vital into how I consider a show. The first arc (Aincrad) of SAO I was extremely found of, and of course I don't rate the second cour - ALO arc.

For Season 2, I think Mother's Rosario Arc is the best of any of SAO's arcs. And I genuinely appreciated GGO.

So its a case where maybe more objectively the show is closer to a 7/10 - but because of those key defining moments & because of my own solidity in defending it from unprecedented vitriol and hatred, I give it more of a subjective 8/10.

BurningSpirit said:
I honestly think the set-up till the big reveal for the Mother's Rosario arc was done well. People were telling me they were bawling their eyes out, but I wasn't anywhere close. I somewhat felt the emotions from the arc, but couldn't cry even though I felt I should be. I initially couldn't quite put my finger on why, but eventually it became clear: The arc was built upon SAO (I'll explain).

Drama has go both ways. If I'm immersed, I'm easily roped into whatever the author wants me to feel. Break my immersion, and everything will fall apart. Honestly it all stems from Aincrad, where they failed to get me invested in the characters at all. Frankly they were all bad, and the stories jumping all over the place as well as a few jesus-kun moments broke my immersion. The only character that wasn't bad was Asuna (bland but likable), but once it got to ALO it pretty much established that her personality/strength was incredibly inconsistent.

Past GGO which made no sense in its entirety (because autopsies are a thing). We came to Mother's Rosario, where I was happy Asuna (the only redeemable character when Kirito isn't around) was the main character until well.... Jesus-kun was tailing her and saves the day. However, I was half immersed kind of because I at least cared for Konno Yuuki. So during the big reveal I had this really weird feeling halfway in between, where I'm kinda sad but Kirito and Asuna being on screen together was breaking my immersion.

Lalakoboldslayer said:
Well, I plan to watch SAO eventually, I hope it's good.

Johan said:


Just stay away from the unprecedented hatred and vitriol aimed towards it and go in with an open mind.

If you do that there's a very strong chance you'll enjoy it.

yohanikinz said:
Season 2 was absolute garbage

DaddySenpai_ said:


Steam is already selling SAO:Hollow Realization and SAO vs. Accel World so that's a start.

Johan said:
Most male shounen leads tend to follow one of two models;

a) Extremely aloof, disconnected from reality, goofy; Goku, Gon, Luffy, Alibaba, Saitama

b) Extremely loud/obnoxious &/or Whiny- Midoriya, Ushio, Shirou, Rin, Naruto, Ichigo, Inuyasha, Eren, etc

Johan said:
Kirito feels the closest to a real person out of any of them. He has his feelings/attraction for Asuna, his rational calm thinking, & even moments resembling that of PTSD - having to cope with the fact he killed a man.

Johan said:
Asuna is great. Not only is she among some of my favourite female characters of all time, certainly accentuated among shounen female characters. With the exception of those like Claire (Claymore) very few have exhibited the propensity & relevance to contribute constructively to the plot, both romance and action based as Asuna. She's loyal, kind, caring, and a treat to watch everytime she's on the screen. ALO weakens her character, but only in the sense of the direction itself. Scenes where she learns to confront her mother, really help her entire character shine.

Johan said:
I have no idea what you mean in your last paragraph. Just because autopsies exist - and even in SAO they do, the whole reason they recruited Kirito into GGO was because they understood the correlation between GGO & these deaths and wanted Kirito's assistance in establishing the connection. Knowing he's an elite gamer and infamous for his role in defeating Aincrad the only solution that makes sense is to recruit Kirito. Speaking of themes & "PTSD" elements that was probably the best part of Sinon's character. Escapism. The bullying & aftermath she too had to deal with for taking the life of another & how she found her coping ability through playing MMO' video games. I really appreciate that depth to her, even if i wasn't overly found of her personality and how close (at times) she came to encroaching on my Asuna x Kirito romance.

Astar_10 said:
I thought season 2 was better than season 1.
Anyway I think the studio or author wanted to concentrate more on action on season 2. And I can't wait until season 3 get released. And It's really no use complaining on MAL, It's not like they're gonna change anything.

BurningSpirit said:

Now that you mention it... I really don't particularly like any action main character shounen, though what they do is sometimes interesting. They are fine as characters, but my interests in most these show lie away from the main characters.

Then again I haven't watched many action shounen.

Well, I didn't quite like the romantic development that led to them getting together, nor was I particularly pleased with their... dating? Doesn't feel like Asuna is particularly important to Kirito (given his lack of bluntness in rejecting other girls), unless it's a damsel in distress situation where Kirito swoops in to save the day. Happened in Alfheim, Mother's Rosario and Ordinal Scale. Only didn't happen in Aincrad where Asuna had a decent arc and GGO where she didn't do a thing.

As for "calm", well it's a fine line between calm/rational and boring/bad. That line lies in whether there is a situation where a legitimate sense of danger AND Kirito's rational thinking leads to a strategy that is conveyed to us through his inner thoughts. Never happened.

kisb said:
The Kirito and Asuna relationship is pretty evident. They tell eachother how they feel, they kiss, they live together, they fight together. So its a real relationship no matter how you look at it. You can say they love each other. Saying Asuna isnt important to Kirito just seems to be less focused on the anime in particular but just a generic statement without context. If you love someone then they are important to you and they affect your emotions and actions.

kisb said:
I do like that SAO doesnt go cliche dumb and have a narrator try to explain what is happening or an always shocked character asking "naniiii" so someone can explain. It assumes maturity and basic sense in the mind of the viewer. SAO is pretty simple to understand so there would be no need to anyways.
Shows that do do that are not necessarily bad but some go overboard and some just seem silly. In this way it gives off a mature vibe.

BurningSpirit said:
I don't recall saying that their relationship isn't evident. They certainly act like a couple when they are alone together, and it's blatantly apparent.

Yet with the entire cast there's that harem-ey vibe, Kirito acting in typical harem main character fashion doesn't help in that regard. It's this harem-ey vibe I'm pointing out when Kirito is with the entire female cast, I'm not sure how you interpreted that as me saying their relationship isn't real.

As far as I recall, there isn't any purely romance anime that does this. Just checked the anime we have in common, nothing springs to mind. Care to elaborate on a certain scene from a specific anime (preferably from one I've seen)?