I put this on hold when it aired and just binged it all in 2 days. I remember watching it and thinking how cool the concept of Fluctlight is. Then I see the fucking apprentices being pretty girls and I just stopped caring, specially after I heard what would happen to them later, like why is SAO always like this...creepy looking evil dudes acting creepy only for Kirito to save the day, fuck off, who enjoys this honestly. I just talked about it on a different post but yeah, I'm not a fan of how they make Kirito this cool character you want to self insert into, cause quite frankly he's kind of cringe sometimes. I do enjoy his hack mode on moments though, but yeah I just don't like how he talks about swords fighting in a videogame, feels like such a weird immersive weeb taking it too seriously, but enough about that, THE STORY!
At first I didn't want to continue this as well cause all I could remember was that "Kirito is trapped in a game, classic popular story we all know in s1. Then he has to go back to save Asuna, sure. THEN, he is hired by the FBI or something to go inside a Gun Game...ok, not even gonna bother with the other shitty arcs in season 2. AND NOW, he is trapped in a new game and somehow it all depends on him again?" I just kind of thought it was stupid lol. I totally missed some details like how he was put in a coma (by that one assassin ex-machina) and now the only way for him to recover is for him to play a game...
So here's the thing, I really like the Underworld project Rath was cooking, it's really cool, they want to make a button-up AI, but for that they can't just black mirror someone's memories into a computer, they have to raise them, which makes sense. Now they go forward 300 years in the world and they have their own cult and shit...and they just WATCH, they watch Quinella (I ain't fucking calling her Administrator, I swear them using english all the time is so cringe) brainwash them in so many creative ways, and all I can think of is...WHY AREN'T THEY USING WHAT SHE DID TO MAKE SOLDIERS??
Look I'm just ranting, cause I don't think I want to watch the second season, really cool world, animation, but I just don't like Kirito and I don't feel like watching him battle some Dark Territory enemies now while Rath is having trouble with the US or some shit. Like the concept was great, but ultimately it always goes back to the novel just trying to make Kirito cool by saying the only way to save the day is for him to play videogames...sigh. Like this is the 3rd time dude's beating NOT THE BOSS, but the fucking administrator of the game, like how many asspulls does this dude need every single time to do such a thing, even now that the more LOVE you have the stronger you are, Quinella has so many fucking memories of people to emulate that love and be stronger but Kirito still wins cause of course he does.
Shangri'la or Mabel's shield anime does have a show where they just play videogames and try to defeat the boss, and that's entertaining. But you aren't making SAO entertaining by having Kirito beat a game and their admins while it also being for the sake of the universe, that doesn't raise stakes for me to care, it just makes it obnoxious and stupid! Maybe I should just turn my brain off and watch it regardless, like the animation is that good, and it is better than season 1, but I swear Kirito is so unlikeable for me after s1, cause in season 1 he was just trying to beat the game to avoid dying, now he is always battling to save girls in new games he keeps getting himself into somehow, it's so ridiculous.
Again I loved the Fluctlight concept, I think it's really cool that they took the souls of 16 babies, made a template (also said people's talents and abilities aren't genetics but just made from your memories), I thought it was wild when they say Quinella is running out of memory, made me think "how much memory would the brain store if it was in a virtual world, and specially if you life forever". I liked them having this whole society to raise the AI they wanted...and I think I didn't say it before but I'm sure it is explained in season 2 why the staff didn't intervene when it was so easy to make the soldiers they wanted but, I don't really feel like watching the sequel. I don't want to be a SAO hater, I really liked season 1, but I can't really stand Kirito now and I don't get why this just kept going after s1, money obviously but the story was done, what a way to milk it. And like people said Eugeo was the best Kirito main companion, I love that I spoiled me his dead yesterday by looking at novel covers...he is just depressed in one of them lol