Sword Art Online: Progressive

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Sword Art Online: Progressive is an alternative version of the main SAO story. It attempts to cover all the events that happened in SAO in the order that it happened from the 1st floor all the way up to when they finally clear the game. Luckily, the book is also written in a way that allows you to jump in at any point.

The story in SAO: Progressive is exactly the same as the original. Kirito is one of 10,000 players trapped in a game called "Sword Art Online" and in order for the players to escape, they must go to the 100th floor and beat ... the final boss. What differs from the original is that they cover most of the story events from each floor (currently up to floor 3). They show how Kirito obtains his Anneal Blade and how Kirito learns hand to hand combat skills. Each volume functions as a stand alone story as well. It is possible to start reading from book two and be able to understand most of the situation along with some character relationships.

The artwork in this novel is great. The characters are depicted in a way that makes them appear similar to the anime. The pull page art in each volume are well drawn with details in the background instead of just a character focused piece of art. It helps to bring the environment and atmosphere into focus as well as the character. The covers also show the characters that are going to be the main focus of each volume.

The best thing in Progressive is the character development. The original series was missing a lot of this because it had skipped a lot of events. We get numerous mentions of "noodle incidents" like the time that the Army was nearly wiped out by the 25th floor boss or the fact that Kirito obtained his weapon for the first boss from a quest. The problem is that we never saw this and just have to assume it happened. With Progressive though, we see every major event ever discussed from the moment Kirito entered the game to when he meets Asuna to the moment Asuna begins to fall in love with Kirito. This helps to fill a lot of unknowns about the characters. What harms the series a little is the fact that the point of view jumps between Kirito and Asuna at various points and it is not always consistent.

If you are a fan of SAO, you should definitely give Progressive a try. It greatly expands on the original and each volume showcases some issues with either the Nervgear or the new SAO world. Some of these also foreshadow problems that arise later on in the main SAO series. The problem is that you have to have read the original SAO in order to get these references. The anime largely cut these scenes out or put them out of context and it makes it difficult to understand without having read the book.

If you are a fan of SAO, you should definitely give Progressive a try. If you have not read SAO before, Progressive is also a good place to start and eliminates the problems that arise from events being out of order when you start a story near the climax. On top of that, each volume actually works fairly well as a stand alone story despite being part of a larger series. It is still easy to understand because it follows standard storytelling elements with an exposition and introduction to the current situation.

Mode Note: This review was written for the first volume, Sword Art Online: Hoshinaki Yoru no Aria.

Quite surprising no one has reviewed this novel yet.
It's surprising because the story takes place one month after the SAO incident, tells you about the premature condition of the main characters in SAO.
Well, i have to say the story has a quite surprising turn, Kawahara Reki has a very brave decision to tell us the condition one month after the SAO incident.

The surprising part is, level 1 hasn't been cleared.

Those who have read the main story must receive a quite strong shock in their brain.
The story setting gave a ... very special effect for the characters. You will see what makes Asuna become 'Asuna the Flash', Kirito to be 'Kirito the beater', and the some other characters.

Overall as a fans i did quite enjoy this novel, but that's because i have read the first two volume of the main story, and suggest you to read it as well before you read this one if you want to know what makes me write this review.

Sword Art Online Progressive Volume 8
(continuation of volume 7, Casino Floor, Published in English on June 7th. 2022.).

This is the 10th. Anniversary of the Sword Art Online franchise. It actually turns out that this year 2022, 10,000 players will get stuck into a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), called Sword Art Online, SAO, (on Nov. 4th. 2022). It is called a Death-Game by its author because the players must finish it or die trying…Without any pomp or circumstance, the author and his team (publisher, anime producer, etc.) have not really prepared anything special to celebrate the date in which the ... alternate reality world game started. They just have a second film (Scherzo of a Deep Night) launch scheduled for Japan and the U.S. For the rest of the World, the 10 year anniversary celebration will probably occur in 2023, if at all…
This Volume 8, was finished together with Volume 7 in 2020, the author and the Japanese publisher chose January 2021, for Volume 7 and March 2021 for Volume 8, Fifteen months later, the fans and readers of the SAO franchise in the rest of the World, get to read for the first time, Volume 8, which was delayed from it’s 31 of May original date, to the 7th of June, 2022.
Author is not launching or publishing any SAO volumes on the 10th. Anniversary of the Death Game. Anime producers did create a 10th. Anniversary logo (black and white) with half a face (that could be anyone and it is meant to be Kirito) and 10th. Anniversary, Animation Sword Art Online written at the bottom (from Kadokawa).
For me, Sword Art Online, was my first anime-light novel series. It had strong ethical values, a constant fight versus right and wrong, good versus evil. It was also the first time, venturing into the VRMMORPG/LitRPG genre that is so widespread today.

Changes point of view of narrator at the drop of a hat, without warning or direction.
ABEC’s illustrations of Asuna and Kirito, almost make them become other people, they look younger and different, almost as if his style of drawing changed in the middle of the Progressive series…
Volumes 7-8 were a two part volume, called Rhapsody of
Crimson Heat by the author. He uses “song” synonyms and styles in his SAO Light novel series since the beginning, he explained that he played with the idea of following a musical pace, style, etc. to tell his story. Author wrote in the “Afterword”: “to address the subtitle of the seventh-floor story, “Rhapsody” is a word that refers (among other things) to a free-flowing musical composition that is unbound by most traditional forms. My initial plan was for the seventh floor to consist of a number of independent events happening in succession, but the casino plot turned out to carry most of the weight on its own.”

Casino Floor was part of the 2 month Beta Test, according to the Progressive Series, but was not reached in the original SAO Light novel series or the anime series. (Because Beta-Testers only reached the sixth floor in the two month-time).
Author talks about the “Dark Elves - Keys Quest” will be present on Volume 9, but says that the Dark Elves arc started on Floor 3, on Volume 2 of the Progressive Series.
Volume 8, writes about foul play/ fraud, by one of the two families that are trying to gain control of the main Casino. The Progressive series deals with Asuna’s Hot-Bath fetish, and the fancy eating around the different floors that the game designers added to the SAO game. In part it was a way to change it up for the author, or to fill up the new Progressive series with bath and eating anecdotes.
Then there is a desperate quest to save a noble damsel, with vampires, poisonous snakes and even Dragons.
Knowing the author, another volume will probably be turned in, in December/January. So in English we will see it, by mid 2024. Because Volume 5-6 were a one floor, two part volume, and Volume 7-8 were also a one floor, two part volume, most probably this style of writing will continue.

If author/publisher weren't so lazy/greedy/bad to their fans/readers, this series could have been published in 4 Volumes, costing them half, and saving them 2-3 years in wait-time...I think author will abandon this series for lack of time at around volume 10-15.