From invincible action heroes to divinely powered chosen ones,
from arbitrary powerup masters to "willpower over logic" crusaders,
from technobabble technicians to omniscient pseudo-strategists,
from plot-powered self-inserts to absurdly popular harem leads.
Perfect in every conceivable way... except in terms of actually being well-written or compelling. And therein lies the problem with so many of them. Being overpowered is one thing, but they suffer from something far worse: being boring. They simply come across as bland and generic.
And I am not referring to the fact that they crush their opponents with ease. What I am saying is that their personality, motivations and dialogue tend to be dull. It is not just about the characters themselves though. It is rather that the way the narratives are written, these characters are not challenged to question their values or develop their wit in any significant way. They are not allowed to truly think.
But don't just take my word for it. Let's hear it from the man himself:
"A human being's greatest power is to think. It's more powerful than any great sword or secret move."
‒ Kirigaya Kazuto
You know what? Kirito is right. This is precisely the main problem here. In Sword Art Online, the narrative too often focuses on swords and secret moves (read: plot-based powerups) over actual thought.
And he must have first-hand experience. After all, Kirito is the patron saint of overpowered characters, and you probably know why. He is the best swordsman in the land by a wide margin. He obtains arbitrary powerups whenever the plot demands it. He has saved the day from random villains. He has won the affection of many girls for poorly established reasons. He knows random technical details that nobody else seems to. He might not be the absolute worst offender on the anime scene, but he is perhaps the most notorious, due to the runaway popularity of the franchise.
But the true measure of a character is not his list of combat achievements but his personality, wit, moral struggle, perhaps even ideology.
Kirito tends to selflessly save the day and help everyone. His antagonists are either comically evil or their motives are vague, incomprehensible, or otherwise poorly established. This is done so that we never have to question Kirito's moral superiority. He is the good guy, the hero, the shining knight. To enforce this, everybody seems to like him to an implausible degree, except for the aforementioned comically evil antagonists. Consider what this does to the narrative. Because most of Kirito's friends and associates adore him, there is little meaningful conflict between them, and meaningful conflict is at the heart of good narratives.
And note that we are supposed to take all of this unironically. We are supposed to relate to a nigh-perfect protagonist who never has to struggle with any moral dilemmas of any kind because he is always placed in a position in which the antagonists are over-the-top evil or their motives are incomprehensible.
And the emphasis is on "placed." We don't usually get to see different sides of Kirito ‒ aside from his role as a heroic savior ‒ precisely because he is always placed in situations in which he is inclined to become a heroic savior. As I mentioned, he is facing sub-par villains, and he is also provided with the convenient opportunity to defeat them. This is precisely why he comes across as bland. At least, he has so far in the franchise.
So what does Alicization do to change this? Maybe a little. The premise is a little less black-and-white than some of the previous iterations and presents some moral ambiguity, but it is still fairly clear which of the characters are intended as antagonistic. The narrative also reverts to old patterns in this respect sometimes. I'll get back to this later.
There is also another notable issue. It seems as though the author sat down and figured, "Hmm, you know what this show needs? More exposition infodumps."
...which the show was never lacking in the first place and which does nothing to resolve the actual problems with the franchise.
1) First, it is time for the glorious infodumps.
To put it bluntly, this show comes with encyclopedic lists of technical details. So have fun with rants about Fluctlights, Stacia Windows, the Gigas Cedar, the High-Norkian Style, and the Light Quantum Gate Crystal. There is no shortage of these infodumps, and soon enough you notice that another episode is gone just like that.
As an example, here is a quote from Kirito himself.
"Where do you think the human soul is located? [...] The brain is more or less a clump of brain cells, right? So where among the brain cells does the soul exist? All cells, including brain cells, are supported by a structural network. Apparently, they're called microtubules. Tubes. In other words, hollow pipes. And there's something sealed inside those hollow pipes. [...] Light. Light. A fluctuating light photon. And that's what comprises the human soul, according to Rath."
...What?
Is that how it works? Given the context of the story, I am going to be generous and assume that "soul" is a metaphor for memories, personality and other mental qualities that comprise a human being. This may be giving the author too much credit. Perhaps he really is referring to souls in a literal sense. Who knows?
Kirito calls these lights Fluctlights. The thing is, they don't seem to contribute anything substantial that would not already be conveyed by memories or other mental qualities. Every reference to Fluctlights could be replaced by words like "memory" or "mind."
e.g. "Artificial Fluctlight" -> "Artificial intelligence"
It would get the relevant meaning across even without the imaginary technology. If your dialogue begins to sound like like an engineering booklet when a simple existing description would have sufficed, you are doing it wrong.
Incidentally, it seems that one of the main points the show is getting at is the fact that people are who they are because of their memories. A fair point but one that has already been overused in speculative fiction. If you want to take that route, you need to beef up your analysis and related dialogue.
Now, don't get me wrong. I can enjoy world-building, but you should not flood the viewer with arbitrary facts for the sake of itself. The details of the world should be constructed so that they support the underlying themes of the narrative. The world-building should actually pay off. For instance, do we need to spend several minutes on the origins of a legendary blade when it has nothing of substance to contribute? In comparison, when the show explains basic facts about their society, the information is actually quite a bit more helpful.
That is not the worst of it though. It is not only about the sheer quantity of the exposition but the way in which it is told. There is a right way and a wrong way to provide this information. You should do it naturally, in a manner that actual people might use.
Listen to this dialogue.
"Who would've thought that after [insert event here], we'd actually [insert event here]? Sometimes I think I'm dreaming."
"Come on now. It's already been a year since [insert event here]."
How convenient. The characters are recapping the events out loud just when the audience needs the info. They go on for a while, listing various facts about their new pastimes and acquaintances. It is all screaming "This is exposition!"
Kirito comes across as a kind of Mr. Exposition sometimes, now more than ever. He is all about providing lists of random facts. He lists descriptions of things to the viewer without thinking deeply into their implications. And, incidentally, the other characters do very much the same, often even more so. Just listing facts all day, every day.
All those lines could have been spent on other things. They could undergo some inner struggle every now and then. There might even be interesting moral conflict. Or how about examining their relationships with other people? But nope. While those other aspects receive some attention, they are usually pushed to the side in favor of further infodumps. Character interaction is really bogged down by this. If you have people acting as though they are reading straight out of an encyclopedia, they become difficult to relate to.
Character backstories are sometimes treated in the same way. On one occasion, an important character is introduced by delivering an 8-minute flashback infodump on their backstory before ever meeting them. They have never even been mentioned before. You can probably see the problem here. Can't we at least wait until the character has been introduced normally?
Also, the 8-minute flashback in question is narrated by another person throughout. Why? As I was saying, the flashback should wait, but if we must go forward with it, at least show it from the perspective of the relevant character. Show, don't tell.
2) Furthermore, too much time and effort is spent on fight scenes that ‒ while visually fine ‒ contribute little to the narrative and are resolved in a fairly arbitrary manner.
When this is taking place, the dialogue also becomes very centered on explaining the flow of the battle and little else. One episode was almost entirely about swords. Swords clashing repeatedly with simple choreography (mostly people pushing their swords against each other), with the majority of the dialogue focused on swords, swordsmanship and all things related to the weapons in question. This is related to section 1) because much of this is yet another subset of unnecessary technobabble and infodumping.
Now, if you are a diehard sword fan, this may be acceptable. (Or not if you don't like their portrayal of swordsmanship, and I can't really blame you.) But what if you are not into swords that much? I mean, the technical details. You'll have to sit through endless infodumping on the subject. Sure, the word "sword" is right there in the name of the franchise, but come on now. Twenty minutes of non-stop ranting about swords is a bit too much. You know, even fight scenes could be used for character development, moral struggle, etc., but that would take a different approach to dialogue and inner thoughts. Or at least try to be wittier about it. Don't just list the sword techniques in a bland manner.
So what determines the winner of a sword fight? Finely tuned tactics? No, of course not. In this world, the best way to power up your sword is... strength of will. Yes. You can pretty much beat anyone if you infuse your sword with your imagination, emotion and various reasons to fight. Along with it, various names of sword styles will be mentioned, but they do not seem to affect the outcome in any consistent way, nor are they used tactically in any way that would generate interest.
As a result, the battles easily devolve into showdowns of plot power. The winner is the one favored by the narrative. This is far from rare in shows that involve action scenes or various powerups, so this should not come as a surprise, but that does not mean that we should let it slide.
3) And now for another fan favorite: over-the-top evil villains.
Here's another quote from Kirito:
"That attitude your father taught you, Tiese, in Eng... no, in sacred terms, it's called 'noble obligation.' Nobles, that is, those with power must use it for the sake of the powerless. Let's see, you could also call it pride. And that pride is more important than any law or regulation. After all, there are things that you shouldn't do, even if it's not forbidden by law. And on the other hand, there might be things you should do, even if they are forbidden by law."
This is a bit better than what we would usually expect of Sword Art Online. It is also relevant to the premise and underlying themes. You see, this time the author has come up with an eerie medieval rural dystopia ruled by a dogmatic church. If this sounds familiar, you may have seen one in any number of JRPGs or fantasy in general. Which isn't necessarily a bad idea if done right.
You could use this line of thought to demonstrate why dystopian dogmatic churches are, well, dystopian and dogmatic. There is also some shady manuevering going on in the real world. Maybe it could be applied to that.
Well, at least in theory. Guess what kind of evil action Kirito is referring to? As is tradition in Sword Art Online, the evil action is... sexually harassing a girl.
Yes. You heard it right. Out of all possible evil deeds out there, the author went with sexually harassing a girl. Again. Or rather beyond mere harassment and in an absurdly over-the-top way as well. If this sounds familiar, you must have been watching Sword Art Online because this keeps happening like clockwork. When the author wants to designate a character as evil or antagonistic, this is his go-to trope. The villains tend to commit sexual harassment or attempted rape, as if they wouldn't be evil enough otherwise.
The author does this because he doesn't want the audience to have the slightest doubt over who is good and who evil here. So the villains just have to go for the same old sexual harassment or attempted rape. It would not have to be this way. There are other morally questionable things in the world, but nope. Can't write about those. Is the author legally obligated to write about sexual harassment and attempted rape, or does he not know that other topics exist?
So what is Alicization supposed to be?
A straight-up heroic fantasy?
A technobabble infodump?
"We are who we are because of our memories."
...Is that really all? This is not enough. Instead of original or inspired, Alicization comes across as bland. Yes, there is a fantasy world out there, arguably fleshed out by the infodumps, but that isn't enough. You also need to do something interesting with the world. The narrative needs more substance.
Remember when I quoted Kirito earlier on the superiority of thought over swords? He said so in the context of applying critical thought to law and morality. Fine. So give him a proper chance to think about it in detail and apply it in an interesting way. Instead, he (and sadly us, the viewers) are subjected to endless lists of arbitrary facts that are meaningless on their own. Or we get to witness action scenes which are resolved by plot power or used as platforms for even more infodumping.
For all the talk about human souls, it is precisely what the narrative is lacking. Where is the humanity?
