From the producer of Tiger & Bunny, arrives another brilliant blend of CGI armour suits. It is colourful, engaging, and entertaining. Accel World has a futuristic setting where The Sixth Sense is commonly used in society; people can dive into networks with their avatar to socialise and more. In a game called Burst Link, known only to a few, characters duel each other to earn points. These points allow the users to accelerate their thought process in real-life, obtain advantages in anything and everything.
What makes this virtual world captivating is the Lord of the Flies, no adult, no rule, canvas. 15 year-olds or below have formed policies and have taken territories in the Accel World. Split into 6 factions, each led by a level 9 King, players fight to complete the game by becoming level 10. Plan and implement strategies, set traps and backstabs make some great turn of events. Fights include 1-on-1, tag duel, faction war, and free-4-all. Each faction sought to recruit players with special or rare abilities.
Referred by his classmates as “that round thing”, our protagonist is a coward. Haru’s only escape is “Direct Link” to this virtual world. The protagonist is the biggest threat to the viewers’ enjoyment of this series. He can be as hateable as Shinji from NGE and he has the looks of Morty from Shaman King. The fear of being looked down upon by others prevents him to bring out the best of his abilities, who easily allows his spirit to perish. One exception to this is that Haru is willing to give everything to protect and fight for his King, the girl he falls in love with.
The characters might appear shallow at first, but each one would reveal more about themselves as the series progress. The characters are stereotypical, and their character development might be labelled as predictable. However, the execution was well done and although the characters can be extremely irritating at times, with the sudden turns of events both on and off the battlefield, their actions can make you change your opinion of them very quickly. New characters are introduced often to spice things up, creating problems as well solving problems.
The art is colourful and bright, animation is smooth and fluid. Sparks and other lighting particles are a bonus. The opening song is rejuvenating, and the soundtracks change to set the mood, blood-boiling techno in fight scenes which varies in relation to the stages the characters fight on; bright or dark tunes can be heard for their respective scenes. Fanservice include panty shots, shower scenes and grabbing breasts, not too excessive. A negative is that characters sound more mature than their supposed age.
The characters’ virtual Avatars are not as detailed as they could have been, considering the use of CGI. It would have been better to have the designs less rigid, less android, but more erratic and free-flowing. It would have been rewarding to rid of such restrictive metallic armouring that many Avatars have in keeping to the mecha feel, having said that, we do see some better designs that are more freestyle, which give the artists more room for creativity and fun.
The fight scenes are reasonably well done. Lots of fights are long ranged; those that are in close quarters tend to be a bit rushed or are animated in black flashes. The build-ups to battles give a sense of anticipation. When characters tell a story, it feels like I am going to learn something new and very interesting. The suit-upgrades, new power-ups, and new attack moves make me eagerly wait for the next act.
Themes include trust, betrayal, romance, and jealousy. Although, the series is set in a school environment, majority of scenes take place out of it. This makes the school affairs interesting when they do happen, and the change of surroundings makes the world more believable. Accel World has a fantastic concept. It could have made itself more unique by expanding the concept of territorial wars, in both the virtual world and real-life (which it tries). Behind the avatars and their elevated fights in this virtual game, laying all your honour to fight without regret is the essence of what Accel World conveys. If you want to see a colourful and entertaining shounen in a sci-fi setting with hints of fanservice, this is a great series to go for.
Are you “ready to lose gloriously?”
