After two years, i finally got around to watch the second Sword Art Online Progressive movie, „Scherzo of deep night“. The progressive series is a fantastic retelling of the aincrad arc and the first movie was a pleasant return to SAOs most popular setting. But does this movie hold up in the same way the first one does?
Story – 7/10
The story in this movie is a lot weaker than in the first one. The plot skips a few floors, which in itself is not really an issue, but the main plot-line is not really all that interesting, it is just a standard boss-fight quest. It is fairly predictable what happens in the end, but the saving grace here is the pacing. The movie never has any downtime there is always a fight or an important piece of dialogue happening to keep the viewers attention. I really like the final fight in this one. This is not your usual loud and hectic anime fight but instead a very strategic one, where finding the opponents weakness is the goal of our main characters, more so than just being stronger or better equipped. The ending really surprised, because it contained a highly intense fight-scene that absolutely came out of nowhere, definitely a hint at later seasons. I am really eager to see what the progressive series will grow into.
Art – 8/10
The animation is a direct continuation of everything the series did with the first movie. Aincrad in itself is just a fantastic setting for a show like this. The floor on which this movie takes place is another wonderful example for that. Great lighting, cool architecture and the show really gives you time to just soak up the scale of the world. The fight scenes are a standout. Great, fluid animation, fantastic effects and actually amazing usage of the ever so dreaded 3D-CGI enemies. This movie is a great benchmark for future fantasy and isekai shows. However, just like in the first film, this movie lacked that one scene that really evoke that “wow” effect in the viewer, unlike the first movie of the franchise, “Ordinal scale”. I think the source material just does not really lend itself to something like that, because the progressive series is inherently meant to be a more smaller scale, slower paced version of the original.
Sound – 9/10
The soundtrack in this one really took me by surprise. Really great stuff here! The BGM is fantastic and unique, perfectly conveying the feel of the desert biome which this movie is set in. The sound design in SAO was always top notch and this movie is no exception. Every sword-skill in this movie is absolute candy for the ears. The vocal tracks are all outstanding. Yuki Kajiura always brings her A-Game to these shows and I really appreciate that.
Characters – 7/10
One of the biggest changes between progressive and the original is the change in main character. Instead of the dark, edgy, girl-magnet Kirito, Asuna takes up the role of the main heroine, just like she did in the original during the “Mothers Rosario” arc. This is a very welcoming change and gives us a whole other perspective on the events of the story. Asuna is a great lead, and her relationship with Kirito is slowly getting built up step for step in this movie. Kirito is just… Kirito, nothing much to say here. The villains are...interesting, but there hasn´t been a lot of development to them, as this movie consists mostly of build-up to their character arcs that will certainly be explored in later movies (If we get more!). The side characters are mostly forgettable, although we do get some cameos (Because of spoiler reasons, I won´t say who it is) from the original series.
Enjoyment – 8/10
This was a very entertaining 90 minute ride, although I have to say that I prefer the first movie over this one. I think the progressive series has a lot of potential and I really want more movies, other wise I might have to check out the original novel series myself. If you liked SAO, especially the aincrad arc, this is a must watch.
- Marco_Yooo
FINAL SCORE - 8/10
