After reading the books I actually like kirito. Not because he's "cool", but because he struggles with the fact that despite being an average guy others come to rely on him and view him as a hero. Every time he fails he basically tortures himself internally for not being good enough.
"Wow commander, I never thought there's magic in this game. But look at you, turning women into trophies, got some misogynist alchemy going on there huh?"
Keep in mind that while it may seem generic today, SAO was the first anime to experiment with the isekai (or at least proto-isekai) concept. Meaning that it seems generic because it set the foundation on what we consider generic, which in turn makes it quite original.
I hate to tell ya this, but I'm pretty sure Mushuko Tensei set the standards of isekai to begin with. Sao may have been animated before this series, but it's considered the godfather of isekai, the light novel that inspired this genre for modern time. Sao being one of them. While the concept of an mmo isekai seems original, it also played a part I feel in badly influencing the genre with tropes such as poor character writing, overpowered protagonist, harems, lack (or poorly written) side male characters with little screen time, and more so. Another thing it proves to be a bad influence on others is how characters show a lack of being human. I'm not gonna dunk on your favorite anime here, but if Mushuko Tensei was animated before SAO, maybe isekai would've turned out differently today
I'm glad they're adapting the Aincrad arc again with the movies. The movie was actually super enjoyable. I think once you get past the second half of season 1, the series as a whole isn't bad. I liked Yuuki, I thought GGO was cool especially with the spin off. And season 3 was pretty amazing for SAO standards, I haven't see season 4 yet tho.
Season 2 was a little slow paced. I liked it ok but they spent too much time recapping stuff we already knew. And that episode where they did nothing but talk in a cave was painful to watch.
I enjoyed this anime a lot despite the blind hyped hate, though when it comes to the Aincrad arc I understand the negativity because of the stupid decision to skip content, and I view Asuna as a complete nuisance back in that season.
Yeah, from what I remember, the original SAO started at the gleam eyes boss fight, with maybe only a few flashback to what would be episode 1, and everything from episode 3 to 7 were all side stories made by the author after finishing the Aincrad Arc. Episode 2 can either be considered Anime Original or an adaptation of SAO:Progressive since that was being written around the same time as the anime.
It works as a short story which it was intended to be in the first place. The light novel opens up with Kirito already being on 74th floor, beginning of the game is told in a flashback so I don't think you feel like it is a time skip. It would be too little material for 12 episodes though, so the adaptation includes stories from vol 2, 8, and Progressive series - but doesn't bother to make necessary additions to bridge these together, which makes pacing very off.
They didn’t skip content, so much as they put the stories Reki had at the time in chronological order (well, there was one they did cut - which was Kirito’s first meeting with Heathcliff/Kayaba he briefly mentioned at the end of episode 9 of that arc). Now we have the Progressive series, in which Reki Kawahara can finally showcase what went on in those two years, floor by floor!
Asuna is an absolute nuisance in the Alfheim arc too and we don't even see her much till the end tbh. Thank God they came to their senses and sidelined her in Alicization.
"Mid" The first 14 episode core if SAO was inspired, not complicated, just solid and refreshing versus most other Anime that try to suck you in for 100 episodes of exposition. Season 1 as a whole is enjoyable but everything after that is downhill. Alicization would have been best summarized into a single season, the ending is fantastic but WAAAY too much in the middle.
@@LunarEquinox So, you're telling me you aren't taking the opportunity to make a quick fate video to satisfy your fans? Guess you'll have to do the second Prisma Illya movie then...
2:42 ironically, stuff like progression actually helps explain a lot of he aincrad arc, as a sort of Reverse retcon: Due to being done in Asuna’s POV, it allows people who read and watched the original to know why, and how each of those scenes went down from another person’s perspective, and in turn, basically makes the story more alive and less plot hole-y like the original. It also reversed retconed why Kirito took up the title “Beater.” After being called out by Kibao as being a beta-tester, which was to protect asuna from the hate, and go to the 2nd floor to keep grinding, something that in progressive get build on more and asuna ends up joining him. (The reason for the weird romance plot inside the original, from the retconed perspective, was because asuna knew kirito for multiple years at that point: she was introduced to the game by a friend, and due to not being good, was a total newbie being taught by another beta tester to survive; during that grinding, they get ambushed by a large horde of monsters, and the beta tester wanting to save her own ass, and relalizing that asuna was most likely dead, disbanded the team, and left think she accidentally killed asuna, causing asuna to have to be saved by Kirito, and he leads her back to the safe zones where she would start solo grinding, have to be saved again due to fatigue, then would team up with Kirito Like in ep 2 of season 1, with just about everything happening the same way as season 1, with mito, the beta tester, being more integral to the plot, -especially inside the progressive movie. Sadly, Mito doesn’t exist inside the cannon web novels, and is more of an extra inside of the movie, and inside the games. Progressive basically makes asuna adore kirito, since he became a person to look up to, since he was good at the game, and saved her from 1. almost dying, and 2. Almost killing herself. What we see from the original was Kirito’s perspective, and how he was blind to all of that, even tho asuna saw through it all that time, explaining why the events after the ghost incident happened the way they did, and why they got so close so fast. ) SAO progressive reverse retcons the series by adding another perspective: another story to fill in the holes that the original takes, which now, is more accurate to Kirito’s pov, and helps flesh out everyone else, like asuna, and why the cringy-weird parts of SAO original went they way they did. It’s a very interesting way of fixing plot inconsistencies, ngl, and after watching progressive the movie, it gave me a better appreciation for the original, and especially asuna, since instead of Asuna being just a lovestruck girl that fell for kirito immediately, she saw him more like a beacon, someone who could beat the death game, and with that, she would need to get stronger to be able to help with that, and would keep on living in the hope of being able to live in the real world one day. Yeah, it’s very similar to the original but just that one PoV shift has shifted what both of them did in the original, and why they acted the way they did, and tbh, that’s just good ways of filling in plot inconsistencies, and I’m all for it. (As for the damsel and incest arc, it was kinda already answered ironically by both the manga, and the SWE Abdriged sao episodes: Suguha, wasn’t fully in love with kirito, more of the idea of him, and what he became after going into sao for two years, since he was no longer the quitter who gave up on kendo and secluded himself inside of his room like a neet, he became a better person, and that alien personality is what drew suguha into the feelings she had in season one part 2, as well as finding out that they aren’t related as siblings, and more cousins. As for the damsel stuff: In 2016, Reki Kawahara went on interview about that arc, saying “he didn’t know how to write female characters.” Which tbf, is understandable, but both the manga, and abdriged (my own head cannon is that since the Abdriged SWE cast actually read the source material, they actually took parts from the original, since it actually had some good shit and world building that the anime missed, but that’s just me ngl.) kinda answered that question in more of a retcon: Asuna was stuck inside the bird cage due to Sugo’s admin privileges, so no matter what she could do, it would be futile, since 1, he would just fix the shit she messed up, and 2. There was no way of getting out, which if she pissed him off, it could end up messing with kirito :/ In adbridged, she was a menace, but that didn’t do much, even when she was able to escape, and the original, if we apply Her progressive personality to part2’s asuna, it makes sense, since she was just a girl who tried to survive inside of the game, she didn’t know shit about how to operate admin consoles and shit, she was just a gamer honor girl who liked to game with her friends. It makes more sense for kirito to know this stuff, and compress Yui into a zip file (realized he basically compressed her when he had to double click to unzip the core.. XD) b/c kirito knew about it as an avid fan of Kayaba, and as a partial programmer, due to being a neet most of his life, and being so absorbed into games, till he went into SAO. (Also why he knew how to mess with the admin console when AI Kayaba, the one uploaded into the internet after commuting S*icide, gave him privileges.) As for the fucking snail scene, I have no fucking clue, and tbh, still don’t besides Sugou and his employees being actually piece of shit, which is the only thing I could think would make them molest a 17 yr old ☠️ (asuna was born on august of 2007, kirito was born in October, when kirito finally frees asuna, it’s around Christmas/during the Christmas holiday of 2024-2025, so she was around 17-18 when it happened..) So idk :/) When I started SAO back in 2012 when the anime first came out, I just enjoyed it for the stuff it showed, and the story it was telling, even if it was ass. (besides the snail scene, and molesting scenes, I always skip those when rewatching the series.) And now in 2024, two years after SAO the game came out in-series, and around the time that kirito and asuna gets out, I can’t believe this series went as far as it did, and with that, I’m surprised that it was this deep, and I now get why I like world building anime like Frieren, and FMA now, since this was my first anime, and it planted “the seed.” Into my mind about a giant cohesive world, and tbh, with adult Reki Kawahara’s writing having gotten better. (Original Aincrade was made mostly during his highschool days.) im excited to see where this story goes. If you stuck around to read all this ranting good job, you made it to the end. Ironically, I got back into SAO around a couple of weeks ago due to being reminded by a Yt short that was using Crossing fields, and it made me want to rewatch and re go back through the lore, after watching alicization around 2020, and after finding out about progressive, and the meme of, “Then Kayaba Give Kirito the seed.” (Funniest shit I’ve seen the past month.) it made me want to rego back through the whole series to see if it really was as bad as I, and a lot of people remember it, or whether it truely was just a anime of it’s time, and tbh, I don’t have the question to that: I’ve read a lot of good manga and Light novels: Frieren, FMA, chainsaw man, Mushishi, parts of pun Pun, Danmachi, afrifureta( the web novel, not the anime trash.) good bit of bleach and inuyasha, like and watch a bit of Gintama, and beserk, etc. but to say that SAO, as a franchise now is worst than All of those is hard to say. Reki Kawahara’s writing has gotten better, Mother’s Rosario is a big showing of this, with a strong female lead, and even when I did watch season 2 for the first time, Yuuki’s story did stick out, and even while I didn’t like it when I first watched it, coming back after awhile with a clear mind makes me enjoy it a lot more, since I’m no longer on the kirito Brainrot when I first watched the anime. To say current SAO, is bad is not a good description, since even in it’s original run, it had heart, and a strong world, which helped pull through the tough arcs (like all the fanservice and fucking snail scenes, I still won’t forget them no matter how much I bleach my eyeballs :/ ) The best thing I can compare SAO too is Gintama: a world that was strong, but had a rough start, but now, after enough time, and with the author’s own maturity, is now starting to pick up it’s own pace, and is now starting to get to it’s true title of king of isekai. For the original run, with season 1, I would give it a 6.5/10, wasn’t exactly good, but wasn’t bad. With what we have now, I would give it a 8.5/10, the story itself is good, and like a lot of things, you just have to put in effort to find it. GL to anyone who is going to read the Web novels, or do the games and anime, that was take like a fucking year to complete if your new, so Gl with that. (It’s probably long than, or as long as one piece in terms of word count ☠️) I hope this comment gives anyone new, a reason to read or watch SAO, and if you’ve made it to the actual end then. I hope u have a good day 👍
So the novel touched on it, but the reason Kiba says he forgot is that he's a psycho, but he respects Kirito CAUSE KIRITO IS JUST SO DAMN COOL. The reason was he wanted to see what would happen to pampered upper middle class children trapped in a literal death game. But he respects Kirito for going solo and CAUSE KIRITO IS JUST SO DAMN COOL, and doesn't want to face Kirito getting disappointed in him.
I hated the Aincrad arc mostly because it kept jumping around How are we supposed to connect with the characters or the world if the story feels like a synapses of events Though I don't actually hate the "I don't remember" concept at the end I kind of like that regardless of his original plan he realized these people have adapted and are just trying to live their lives he wanted to be apart of that world that he crafted It feels very human even if it's delivered like a foot note >.>
Well but after that kayaba stated the reason, that he once had a dream of floating castle, n got obsessed with it n wanted to free from reality... didn't he !
It honestly makes sense, imagine being someone who spends their entire life working **looking at you Japan** and suddenly making all of this. You would want it to be a world that you would've rather enjoyed to be apart of right? I mean its a video game, an escape from reality. Kayabas excuse with the i don't remember thing is likely just him saying that he probably just didn't care and let his mind run free, at least that's what i think.
Keep the great work man! And you are right, honestly I recommend the Abridged series by "Somewhat Witty Entertainment", they flesh the characters out as jokes better than the actual show! xD (But I must admit that this show was so much fun to watch the first time 10 years ago. )
Nothing will beat SAO abridged Kirito standing still. "My numbers.. are bigger than yours!" And "But there is no need to wonder where your god is! Because he's right here! ...and he's fresh out of mercy.."
You should really watch Progressive, it's "technically" a spin-off/reboot that tells the story for by floor. It's currently on floor 7 in the novels IIRC and the movie on Floor 1 just came out recently
I honestly love this this show, in its entirety, but I will say the fist season/arc is by far the best one. As a gamer I really connected with the show like no other show before or after. I though it was kind of funny how Kirito is constantly growing his harem throughout the show, I though it was quite humorous. But not just that, the premise being he is stuck in a VR game and cant leave or he will die really gripped me because it made the stakes so much higher, and then having to live with the after-effects, I thought was really good. And I would have to say, because of everything that happened to him, I would have to say Kirito would be in my top 10 favorite anime protagonists. Because he's just so cool
I really loved the aincrad arc, rest of it is decent but nothing special, with the exception of mother's Rosario, can't wait to see your review of that. Also I think you will like progressive a lot but you should at least wait for the second movie because the first one covers the start of s1 just from asunas perspective. And as many others said, definitely do give Sao abridged a go, it's really funny :)
@@Ether_Liner_Ado_Edem Excuse me, but it says Berserk in the title of the book. And also, who names their child after an area of the body? Is your name Torso? Do you know a guy named Left Foot? I don't think you do.
@@netapel2625 my guy that's literally his name. I ain't the author who decides some of this stuff😂. Just because the title is called berserk that doesn't mean it's the name of the mc
If anyones interested in getting more of the aincard arc, go read Sword art online progressives. There are no times skips in that story and shows asuna and kirito's adventure through each of the floors.
I enjoyed watching sao and I am glad I binged it and stayed away from any online discussion of the series. I never knew about the mixed opinions until season 2 came out.
I think a lot of people don’t realize that sao is science fiction not isekai. Think about it no one ever complains that it’s not realistic for the guy from overlord to be transported to another world but complain that it’s unrealistic for (checks list) let’s go with that the police would have caught the guy from the fairy dance arc quickly after all but 300 players woke up. Wouldn’t the first place the police check be with the people managing the server. There’s a lot to complain about but no more than most.
The reason it is not that good actually mainly because SAO was supposed to be a single LN at the start. They gone straight to 74th floor and didn't make good use of the setting. All the plot before 74th floor are basically side stories that written after. Also the other arc are underwhelming untill UW, so the SAO stage is basically wasted. That's why he is writing the whole damn first arc again in progressive.
Sword art online was my first anime, I watched it when I was 12 years, I have never seen a show like this and I absolutely loved videogames, the first 12 episodes are a masterpiece, or that was I thought, I literally saw them over and over again, I liked season 2, but the other half of season 1 not much, But I loved the Aincrad stories, how kirito was so badass and how he fell in love, and how some people actually enjoyed living in the Aincraft, I loved that. With the years I lost interest and I tasted tons of anime, today, I am 21 years old, I couldnt finish alicization, I heard it is not that bad but I dunno, maybe one day, the most recent anime that get me this childish sensation of wanting to live in thtat anime so bad, was solo leveling, absolutely goat
Tbh i feel like you should review the abridged version from somewittyentertainment, at least you are going to have a good time watching this dumpfire show
Why ppl get so mad on the whole "married" thing, hasn t anyone played a game with marriage in it? They did not actually get married or even believe they were, they just decided to be a couple.
Definitely the Coolest trash anime I've watched since it's coolness cannot comprehend the coolness of Kirito and his cool skill of Duel wielding coolness!
Something Witty Entertainment made this story SO much better. Not just more entertaining, like many great dubs, they improved the show so much. Which is both a compliment to SWE, and a major insult to SAO.
The premise for them being trapped was interesting but what would make it more interesting is if nobody really died. Everyone trapped in the game has no idea if they really die or not, so it's just a big troll to make people play seriously like their life depends on it. Instead no he's a literal mass murderer, so cool.
Respectfully though all the hate sword art will stay in mytop 5 . People call it whatever but the man’s a full on blueprint from all these isekai he is god kirito also hate to say but these videos fuel sum deep in me be waiting for them to drop.
I just finished watching SAO, and having also watched all of Overlord this year as well, all I can say is Overlord fans are huffing copium HARD. Sword Art Online is a standout among all Anime just for having a plot that finishes in one season, with top tier animation to match. From what I can tell SAO is still one of the best Isekai ever produced, only overshadowed by Mushoku Tensei. What led me to watching SAO right now was actually a nostalgia itch for .Hack//SIGN, which I saw the first half of on TV 20 years ago. After finishing .Hack and jumping straight into SAO you can tell the two share a lot in common.
I'm not that familiar with MMORPG but even after playing one of them for four years I didn't met more than five girls, but one of them I couldn't confirm if it was a girl until a guy in a server explained to me that she was a he and it was just a strategy to take items from simps (it work somehow). So yeah, I am impressed that Kirito managed to built a harem of gamer girls and any of them was a 30 years old bearded man living with his mom.
My problem with a lot of harem anime is how easy it is for the main character to get all these women to deeply fall head over heels in love with them, like, a majority of men can't even get one girl no matter how hard they try, let alone get that many women by just doing close to nothing
Asuna being a damsel on distress is what i didn't like about sao..it became boring They beat the first boss together, then after that. He solo's everything 😂.. He is right. This could have been so much batter and have seasons and seasons
9:52 When saying "It's all downhill from here", were you actually considering all, and not just ALO arc + that fanservice film? I think, the whole Underworld stuff and Fatal Bullet were peak.
I just went to watch the first episode since you reminded me SAO is in 2022 and the date it drops is 2022/11/06 sun as you can see in his clock in at 1:23 but that date isnt a sunday just a flaw I found
![The Genius of Sword Art Online (Abridged): Fixing What's Broken [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/46jzSn9SLlg/mqdefault.jpg)
After reading the books I actually like kirito. Not because he's "cool", but because he struggles with the fact that despite being an average guy others come to rely on him and view him as a hero. Every time he fails he basically tortures himself internally for not being good enough.
ah yes... good light novels being ruined by mediocre anime adaptations, a classic
@@jerrydsouza8062 more like "welcome to nearly every LN anime on this fucking planet"
This is a cry for help
@Diavolo Jaegar you rezero fans got lucky, I expected the anime to be yet another dumpster fire but it actually fared better than most adaptations
Anime Kirito has the exact same characterization tho
@@akiradkcn that s what happens when you actually let the author be involved.
I keep it real with ya all, i cant even remember the "normal" sao because i watched sao abridged way too often xD good video thou ^^
I have seen the abridged like 20 times I had to rewatch it again and thought the whole time is this what happens
@@LunarEquinox thats alot of rewatches
@@LunarEquinox Asuna would kill you in less than 1 second
@@LunarEquinox mood, same here. I watched it so many times, there are some scenes that I can recitate without problems
I've never even seen SAO so all of my knowledge comes from SAOA and I don't plan on changing this fact
"Because he's just so cool!"
Equinox, 2022
That "Object" above Asuna's head killed me😆
"Wow commander, I never thought there's magic in this game. But look at you, turning women into trophies, got some misogynist alchemy going on there huh?"
Keep in mind that while it may seem generic today, SAO was the first anime to experiment with the isekai (or at least proto-isekai) concept. Meaning that it seems generic because it set the foundation on what we consider generic, which in turn makes it quite original.
Maybe the first anime but definitely not close to the first fleshing out the idea.
Digimon Adventures?
@@shotgunsandstakes .hack? Spider Riders?
I hate to tell ya this, but I'm pretty sure Mushuko Tensei set the standards of isekai to begin with. Sao may have been animated before this series, but it's considered the godfather of isekai, the light novel that inspired this genre for modern time. Sao being one of them. While the concept of an mmo isekai seems original, it also played a part I feel in badly influencing the genre with tropes such as poor character writing, overpowered protagonist, harems, lack (or poorly written) side male characters with little screen time, and more so. Another thing it proves to be a bad influence on others is how characters show a lack of being human. I'm not gonna dunk on your favorite anime here, but if Mushuko Tensei was animated before SAO, maybe isekai would've turned out differently today
@@DemetriusPrime While Spider Riders came out in 2009, both SAO and .hack were released in 2002.
"After being bullied by the local Malty"
I wasn't expecting this. I very much appreciate it. It's very accurate :)
I'm glad they're adapting the Aincrad arc again with the movies. The movie was actually super enjoyable. I think once you get past the second half of season 1, the series as a whole isn't bad. I liked Yuuki, I thought GGO was cool especially with the spin off. And season 3 was pretty amazing for SAO standards, I haven't see season 4 yet tho.
Season 2 was a little slow paced. I liked it ok but they spent too much time recapping stuff we already knew. And that episode where they did nothing but talk in a cave was painful to watch.
Season 4 honestly feels more like a musou than it did an RPG (Good blend though)
Progressive is in fact, peak.
season 4 was when the main character of the series waa essentially absent for 2/3 of the season
@@Jakeywakey787 Yeah, Alice felt more like the protagonist of WoU
I enjoyed this anime a lot despite the blind hyped hate, though when it comes to the Aincrad arc I understand the negativity because of the stupid decision to skip content, and I view Asuna as a complete nuisance back in that season.
Yeah, from what I remember, the original SAO started at the gleam eyes boss fight, with maybe only a few flashback to what would be episode 1, and everything from episode 3 to 7 were all side stories made by the author after finishing the Aincrad Arc.
Episode 2 can either be considered Anime Original or an adaptation of SAO:Progressive since that was being written around the same time as the anime.
It works as a short story which it was intended to be in the first place. The light novel opens up with Kirito already being on 74th floor, beginning of the game is told in a flashback so I don't think you feel like it is a time skip. It would be too little material for 12 episodes though, so the adaptation includes stories from vol 2, 8, and Progressive series - but doesn't bother to make necessary additions to bridge these together, which makes pacing very off.
They didn’t skip content, so much as they put the stories Reki had at the time in chronological order (well, there was one they did cut - which was Kirito’s first meeting with Heathcliff/Kayaba he briefly mentioned at the end of episode 9 of that arc). Now we have the Progressive series, in which Reki Kawahara can finally showcase what went on in those two years, floor by floor!
Asuna is an absolute nuisance in the Alfheim arc too and we don't even see her much till the end tbh. Thank God they came to their senses and sidelined her in Alicization.
Make one about the SAO abridged. There's not enough internet videos about it
Honestly just looking forward to when he reviews the Mother's Rosario Arc. At least things get better from that point onwards.
"Mid"
The first 14 episode core if SAO was inspired, not complicated, just solid and refreshing versus most other Anime that try to suck you in for 100 episodes of exposition.
Season 1 as a whole is enjoyable but everything after that is downhill. Alicization would have been best summarized into a single season, the ending is fantastic but WAAAY too much in the middle.
I can’t believe that in-order to avoid reviewing fate prototype he chose to review SAO 😱…
lol how am I gonna review a 12 min anime
@@LunarEquinox it’s not about quantity it’s about quality💪
@@LunarEquinox So, you're telling me you aren't taking the opportunity to make a quick fate video to satisfy your fans?
Guess you'll have to do the second Prisma Illya movie then...
2:42 ironically, stuff like progression actually helps explain a lot of he aincrad arc, as a sort of Reverse retcon:
Due to being done in Asuna’s POV, it allows people who read and watched the original to know why, and how each of those scenes went down from another person’s perspective, and in turn, basically makes the story more alive and less plot hole-y like the original.
It also reversed retconed why Kirito took up the title “Beater.” After being called out by Kibao as being a beta-tester, which was to protect asuna from the hate, and go to the 2nd floor to keep grinding, something that in progressive get build on more and asuna ends up joining him.
(The reason for the weird romance plot inside the original, from the retconed perspective, was because asuna knew kirito for multiple years at that point: she was introduced to the game by a friend, and due to not being good, was a total newbie being taught by another beta tester to survive; during that grinding, they get ambushed by a large horde of monsters, and the beta tester wanting to save her own ass, and relalizing that asuna was most likely dead, disbanded the team, and left think she accidentally killed asuna, causing asuna to have to be saved by Kirito, and he leads her back to the safe zones where she would start solo grinding, have to be saved again due to fatigue, then would team up with Kirito Like in ep 2 of season 1, with just about everything happening the same way as season 1, with mito, the beta tester, being more integral to the plot, -especially inside the progressive movie.
Sadly, Mito doesn’t exist inside the cannon web novels, and is more of an extra inside of the movie, and inside the games.
Progressive basically makes asuna adore kirito, since he became a person to look up to, since he was good at the game, and saved her from 1. almost dying, and 2. Almost killing herself.
What we see from the original was Kirito’s perspective, and how he was blind to all of that, even tho asuna saw through it all that time, explaining why the events after the ghost incident happened the way they did, and why they got so close so fast. )
SAO progressive reverse retcons the series by adding another perspective: another story to fill in the holes that the original takes, which now, is more accurate to Kirito’s pov, and helps flesh out everyone else, like asuna, and why the cringy-weird parts of SAO original went they way they did.
It’s a very interesting way of fixing plot inconsistencies, ngl, and after watching progressive the movie, it gave me a better appreciation for the original, and especially asuna, since instead of Asuna being just a lovestruck girl that fell for kirito immediately, she saw him more like a beacon, someone who could beat the death game, and with that, she would need to get stronger to be able to help with that, and would keep on living in the hope of being able to live in the real world one day.
Yeah, it’s very similar to the original but just that one PoV shift has shifted what both of them did in the original, and why they acted the way they did, and tbh, that’s just good ways of filling in plot inconsistencies, and I’m all for it. (As for the damsel and incest arc, it was kinda already answered ironically by both the manga, and the SWE Abdriged sao episodes:
Suguha, wasn’t fully in love with kirito, more of the idea of him, and what he became after going into sao for two years, since he was no longer the quitter who gave up on kendo and secluded himself inside of his room like a neet, he became a better person, and that alien personality is what drew suguha into the feelings she had in season one part 2, as well as finding out that they aren’t related as siblings, and more cousins.
As for the damsel stuff:
In 2016, Reki Kawahara went on interview about that arc, saying “he didn’t know how to write female characters.” Which tbf, is understandable, but both the manga, and abdriged (my own head cannon is that since the Abdriged SWE cast actually read the source material, they actually took parts from the original, since it actually had some good shit and world building that the anime missed, but that’s just me ngl.) kinda answered that question in more of a retcon:
Asuna was stuck inside the bird cage due to Sugo’s admin privileges, so no matter what she could do, it would be futile, since 1, he would just fix the shit she messed up, and 2. There was no way of getting out, which if she pissed him off, it could end up messing with kirito :/
In adbridged, she was a menace, but that didn’t do much, even when she was able to escape, and the original, if we apply Her progressive personality to part2’s asuna, it makes sense, since she was just a girl who tried to survive inside of the game, she didn’t know shit about how to operate admin consoles and shit, she was just a gamer honor girl who liked to game with her friends.
It makes more sense for kirito to know this stuff, and compress Yui into a zip file (realized he basically compressed her when he had to double click to unzip the core.. XD) b/c kirito knew about it as an avid fan of Kayaba, and as a partial programmer, due to being a neet most of his life, and being so absorbed into games, till he went into SAO. (Also why he knew how to mess with the admin console when AI Kayaba, the one uploaded into the internet after commuting S*icide, gave him privileges.)
As for the fucking snail scene, I have no fucking clue, and tbh, still don’t besides Sugou and his employees being actually piece of shit, which is the only thing I could think would make them molest a 17 yr old ☠️ (asuna was born on august of 2007, kirito was born in October, when kirito finally frees asuna, it’s around Christmas/during the Christmas holiday of 2024-2025, so she was around 17-18 when it happened..)
So idk :/)
When I started SAO back in 2012 when the anime first came out, I just enjoyed it for the stuff it showed, and the story it was telling, even if it was ass. (besides the snail scene, and molesting scenes, I always skip those when rewatching the series.) And now in 2024, two years after SAO the game came out in-series, and around the time that kirito and asuna gets out, I can’t believe this series went as far as it did, and with that, I’m surprised that it was this deep, and I now get why I like world building anime like Frieren, and FMA now, since this was my first anime, and it planted “the seed.” Into my mind about a giant cohesive world, and tbh, with adult Reki Kawahara’s writing having gotten better. (Original Aincrade was made mostly during his highschool days.) im excited to see where this story goes.
If you stuck around to read all this ranting good job, you made it to the end.
Ironically, I got back into SAO around a couple of weeks ago due to being reminded by a Yt short that was using Crossing fields, and it made me want to rewatch and re go back through the lore, after watching alicization around 2020, and after finding out about progressive, and the meme of, “Then Kayaba Give Kirito the seed.” (Funniest shit I’ve seen the past month.) it made me want to rego back through the whole series to see if it really was as bad as I, and a lot of people remember it, or whether it truely was just a anime of it’s time, and tbh, I don’t have the question to that:
I’ve read a lot of good manga and Light novels: Frieren, FMA, chainsaw man, Mushishi, parts of pun Pun, Danmachi, afrifureta( the web novel, not the anime trash.) good bit of bleach and inuyasha, like and watch a bit of Gintama, and beserk, etc. but to say that SAO, as a franchise now is worst than All of those is hard to say.
Reki Kawahara’s writing has gotten better, Mother’s Rosario is a big showing of this, with a strong female lead, and even when I did watch season 2 for the first time, Yuuki’s story did stick out, and even while I didn’t like it when I first watched it, coming back after awhile with a clear mind makes me enjoy it a lot more, since I’m no longer on the kirito Brainrot when I first watched the anime.
To say current SAO, is bad is not a good description, since even in it’s original run, it had heart, and a strong world, which helped pull through the tough arcs (like all the fanservice and fucking snail scenes, I still won’t forget them no matter how much I bleach my eyeballs :/ )
The best thing I can compare SAO too is Gintama: a world that was strong, but had a rough start, but now, after enough time, and with the author’s own maturity, is now starting to pick up it’s own pace, and is now starting to get to it’s true title of king of isekai.
For the original run, with season 1, I would give it a 6.5/10, wasn’t exactly good, but wasn’t bad.
With what we have now, I would give it a 8.5/10, the story itself is good, and like a lot of things, you just have to put in effort to find it.
GL to anyone who is going to read the Web novels, or do the games and anime, that was take like a fucking year to complete if your new, so Gl with that. (It’s probably long than, or as long as one piece in terms of word count ☠️)
I hope this comment gives anyone new, a reason to read or watch SAO, and if you’ve made it to the actual end then.
I hope u have a good day 👍
Yet again Lunar blesses us with another funny review, keep it up man!
Thanks!
6:30
I feel physical pain every time someone talks about Kayaba "forgetting" when he literally explains his reasons like 2 seconds after that line.
i genuinely don’t think i’ve ever been so excited to watch a video
So the novel touched on it, but the reason Kiba says he forgot is that he's a psycho, but he respects Kirito CAUSE KIRITO IS JUST SO DAMN COOL.
The reason was he wanted to see what would happen to pampered upper middle class children trapped in a literal death game. But he respects Kirito for going solo and CAUSE KIRITO IS JUST SO DAMN COOL, and doesn't want to face Kirito getting disappointed in him.
The meatriding is crazy
I hated the Aincrad arc mostly because it kept jumping around
How are we supposed to connect with the characters or the world if the story feels like a synapses of events
Though I don't actually hate the "I don't remember" concept at the end
I kind of like that regardless of his original plan he realized these people have adapted and are just trying to live their lives he wanted to be apart of that world that he crafted
It feels very human even if it's delivered like a foot note >.>
Well but after that kayaba stated the reason, that he once had a dream of floating castle, n got obsessed with it n wanted to free from reality... didn't he !
It honestly makes sense, imagine being someone who spends their entire life working **looking at you Japan** and suddenly making all of this. You would want it to be a world that you would've rather enjoyed to be apart of right? I mean its a video game, an escape from reality. Kayabas excuse with the i don't remember thing is likely just him saying that he probably just didn't care and let his mind run free, at least that's what i think.
Best starter anime show no cap
True better than demon slayer bc characters too annoying always saying breathing tech...
I'd say death note was a perfect starter. Even uf people in my college didn't knew much about anime death note was universally praised
@@NameHolderEQ not for everyone
But still best
Set the bar so low you can make them watch anything and like it.
Cap
Rip Outro lunar he can never be replaced
Keep the great work man!
And you are right, honestly I recommend the Abridged series by "Somewhat Witty Entertainment", they flesh the characters out as jokes better than the actual show! xD
(But I must admit that this show was so much fun to watch the first time 10 years ago. )
Nothing will beat SAO abridged Kirito standing still. "My numbers.. are bigger than yours!"
And
"But there is no need to wonder where your god is! Because he's right here! ...and he's fresh out of mercy.."
I was your 1000th like , because I am just that cool
The middle school watchlist starter pack 👍👍👍
You should really watch Progressive, it's "technically" a spin-off/reboot that tells the story for by floor. It's currently on floor 7 in the novels IIRC and the movie on Floor 1 just came out recently
I plan on going through them all
@@LunarEquinox Oh nice. As someome who is also a Fate fan tho, I'm obliged to say:"That's hell you are walking into"
Nah I can't take this, you're way too underrated. Absolutely love the comedy
Fun review I like your stuff
We need to have a SAO Abridged honest review at some point
Kirito always right foundation! Better than OG "Kirito".
Yes
THE COOL COUNTER HAD ME ROLLING U WERE GENIUS FOR THAT
Using Tatsuya Shiba image from Mahouka for "(S)o Cool" tier is totally worth it)
Even Kirito can`t keep up with this guy
To be honest, I have never watched this show but I have basically seen this show already. So watching content on it is fun.
If Kirito is so cool for going solo, DOES THIS MEAN I'M COOL CAUSE I PLAY MOST GAMES SOLO ⁽ᵇᵉᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ᶦ'ᵐ ᵃ ˡᵒⁿᵉʳ⁾???
To be honest SAO is one of my favourite anime and Asuna is my waifu but I was laughing non stop while you were roasting SAO😂😂
Damn, this video was JUST SO COOL
I honestly love this this show, in its entirety, but I will say the fist season/arc is by far the best one. As a gamer I really connected with the show like no other show before or after. I though it was kind of funny how Kirito is constantly growing his harem throughout the show, I though it was quite humorous. But not just that, the premise being he is stuck in a VR game and cant leave or he will die really gripped me because it made the stakes so much higher, and then having to live with the after-effects, I thought was really good. And I would have to say, because of everything that happened to him, I would have to say Kirito would be in my top 10 favorite anime protagonists.
Because he's just so cool
This is the only sword art online that exists, the others aren't sword art online
Sword Art Online Progressive joins the chat
I love Eren having the same voice as Eren in the dub
I really loved the aincrad arc, rest of it is decent but nothing special, with the exception of mother's Rosario, can't wait to see your review of that. Also I think you will like progressive a lot but you should at least wait for the second movie because the first one covers the start of s1 just from asunas perspective. And as many others said, definitely do give Sao abridged a go, it's really funny :)
Bro kirito was born in 2007
Man, I can't WAIT for the year 2022 so that we might finally get Sword Art Online in real life!
Yeah but it is so far away
If Kirito was replaced with Mr Berserk from Berserk as the main character that will be kind of funny I think because they are both black sword-man.
His name is Guts not berserk lol😂
@@Ether_Liner_Ado_Edem no no he's right let him speak
@@Ether_Liner_Ado_Edem Excuse me, but it says Berserk in the title of the book. And also, who names their child after an area of the body?
Is your name Torso? Do you know a guy named Left Foot?
I don't think you do.
@@netapel2625 my guy that's literally his name. I ain't the author who decides some of this stuff😂. Just because the title is called berserk that doesn't mean it's the name of the mc
Zelda breath of the wild the hero Zelda save hyrule end princess Zelda then Zelda end Zelda make Zelda who will save the next Zelda
sao abridged by something witty entertainment is a 10/10
“It was innocent I must greave”
If anyones interested in getting more of the aincard arc, go read Sword art online progressives. There are no times skips in that story and shows asuna and kirito's adventure through each of the floors.
One of the top three greatest anime ever created.
Gang do u really think that?
@@Jotarosson Hell yeah! My top 3 are:
1. Jujutsu Kaisen
2. Sword Art Online
3. Dragon Ball GT
All the Medea clips in here makes me smile.
I enjoyed watching sao and I am glad I binged it and stayed away from any online discussion of the series. I never knew about the mixed opinions until season 2 came out.
they definitely should have had the aincrad arc span like 3 seasons, glad they’re doing something similar with the movies
It was so hard not to drop sao after kirito said “I’m a beater”
Lunar… love your videos bro!! Pls review Quintessential Quintuplets next!!
I think a lot of people don’t realize that sao is science fiction not isekai. Think about it no one ever complains that it’s not realistic for the guy from overlord to be transported to another world but complain that it’s unrealistic for (checks list) let’s go with that the police would have caught the guy from the fairy dance arc quickly after all but 300 players woke up. Wouldn’t the first place the police check be with the people managing the server.
There’s a lot to complain about but no more than most.
A year later and still love this
Because he is just so cool 😂
Keep the good work bro... 🥰
Can’t wait for you to do more
Just remember: If you don't want to read the SAO LN, just watch SAO Abridged.
reading is sus
Isn't that technically kirito's character in a nutshell
The same with anime adaptation. Just watch SAO Abridged. The true canon))
8:43 is the most real statement i've ever heard. they should make a new series that actualy doesnt randomly skip 40 levels
Sandwich episode? This is turning into Teen Titans GO
Him: I woke u up didn’t I
Her: naw I just sleep with my eyes open
2:37 im offended i want a apology
"Challenges Heathcliff for the ownership of Asuna"
I think I've heard that line before, But WHERE have I heard it from.
The reason it is not that good actually mainly because SAO was supposed to be a single LN at the start. They gone straight to 74th floor and didn't make good use of the setting. All the plot before 74th floor are basically side stories that written after. Also the other arc are underwhelming untill UW, so the SAO stage is basically wasted. That's why he is writing the whole damn first arc again in progressive.
Woah buddy, you are giving us 4 high quality well eddied content 4 times a week. Can you give yourself a little break between episodes please xD
I have a vacation coming up that I am looking forward to this week so yes
Dual wielding ability allowed us to use barrage in lego jojo game with sword. Trully wonderful
I mean, from later info, I think Kayaba did it to upload himself into the net and live forever. Now he's wandering around the bottom of the sea lol.
"To the riight
To the leeft
We will fiiiight
To the Deeaath"
Still remember the ending when Kirito got stream sniped by Dr Disrespect, best ending in all of anime. Dare I even say better then Morbius.
fun fact: the day this video release is september 17th which is kirito japanese VA birthday
Kirito should play DMC 5 with the Vergil DLC...✨✨✨
.
.
.
.
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Because he is so cool !
Can't wait to see Kirito become more cool.
Sword art online was my first anime, I watched it when I was 12 years, I have never seen a show like this and I absolutely loved videogames, the first 12 episodes are a masterpiece, or that was I thought, I literally saw them over and over again, I liked season 2, but the other half of season 1 not much, But I loved the Aincrad stories, how kirito was so badass and how he fell in love, and how some people actually enjoyed living in the Aincraft, I loved that. With the years I lost interest and I tasted tons of anime, today, I am 21 years old, I couldnt finish alicization, I heard it is not that bad but I dunno, maybe one day, the most recent anime that get me this childish sensation of wanting to live in thtat anime so bad, was solo leveling, absolutely goat
Love lunar's videos
Thanks!
Looks like it’s that time of the day again
I'm watching this in 2022 and we still don't have SAO in IRL.
Ohh my god i can't believe how cool kirito is
Tbh i feel like you should review the abridged version from somewittyentertainment, at least you are going to have a good time watching this dumpfire show
yooo new hair!
Head cannon kirito got revived at the end because of the boss drop he gave Clyde that revives a player for a shot time after their death
I can’t wait for season 5!
among Us joke in the first second come on lunar
I am too
I love sword art online it’s tied with some other anime as number one I know it’s not one of the best shows but it’s still one of my favorites
Why ppl get so mad on the whole "married" thing, hasn t anyone played a game with marriage in it? They did not actually get married or even believe they were, they just decided to be a couple.
Good first few episodes and then it becomes a train wreck.
Definitely the Coolest trash anime I've watched since it's coolness cannot comprehend the coolness of Kirito and his cool skill of Duel wielding coolness!
My first introduction to this anime was a braixen
Something Witty Entertainment made this story SO much better. Not just more entertaining, like many great dubs, they improved the show so much. Which is both a compliment to SWE, and a major insult to SAO.
The premise for them being trapped was interesting but what would make it more interesting is if nobody really died. Everyone trapped in the game has no idea if they really die or not, so it's just a big troll to make people play seriously like their life depends on it. Instead no he's a literal mass murderer, so cool.
Respectfully though all the hate sword art will stay in mytop 5 . People call it whatever but the man’s a full on blueprint from all these isekai he is god kirito also hate to say but these videos fuel sum deep in me be waiting for them to drop.
OH MY GOD HE’S SO GOD DAMN COOL - TFS Vegeta
I just finished watching SAO, and having also watched all of Overlord this year as well, all I can say is Overlord fans are huffing copium HARD.
Sword Art Online is a standout among all Anime just for having a plot that finishes in one season, with top tier animation to match.
From what I can tell SAO is still one of the best Isekai ever produced, only overshadowed by Mushoku Tensei.
What led me to watching SAO right now was actually a nostalgia itch for .Hack//SIGN, which I saw the first half of on TV 20 years ago.
After finishing .Hack and jumping straight into SAO you can tell the two share a lot in common.
The abridged version is the best anime of all time
nah that belongs to tfs dbz
I'm not that familiar with MMORPG but even after playing one of them for four years I didn't met more than five girls, but one of them I couldn't confirm if it was a girl until a guy in a server explained to me that she was a he and it was just a strategy to take items from simps (it work somehow). So yeah, I am impressed that Kirito managed to built a harem of gamer girls and any of them was a 30 years old bearded man living with his mom.
My problem with a lot of harem anime is how easy it is for the main character to get all these women to deeply fall head over heels in love with them, like, a majority of men can't even get one girl no matter how hard they try, let alone get that many women by just doing close to nothing
Asuna being a damsel on distress is what i didn't like about sao..it became boring
They beat the first boss together, then after that. He solo's everything 😂.. He is right. This could have been so much batter and have seasons and seasons
People hate kirito cuz his numbers are just bigger than thiers
this is actually one of my favourite anime
3:27 that sound!!!
9:52
When saying "It's all downhill from here", were you actually considering all, and not just ALO arc + that fanservice film?
I think, the whole Underworld stuff and Fatal Bullet were peak.
That Monster Reborn got me thinking - you think there will ever be a Yu-Gi-Oh! Day Month or Year?
This man makes my day when he post😂😂😂
HE IS JUST SOOO COOL
I just went to watch the first episode since you reminded me SAO is in 2022 and the date it drops is 2022/11/06 sun as you can see in his clock in at 1:23 but that date isnt a sunday just a flaw I found