Sword Art Online: Alicization

The anime started off pretty well. I thought it was somewhat of an interesting concept, had a little bit of mystery to it and the art was good. However, after the plot was explained, it seemed like the entire thing slowly fell apart. They act like there is some sort of 'danger' but then seconds later everything is perfectly fine for the main characters. Everything always seems to work out perfectly in the end, which, especially in this anime, is absolute nonsense. It feels like the anime makes less sense with each episode you watch. Besides that, the dialogue is HORRENDOUS. I have literally never seen such poor dialogue that made as little sense in those last few episodes... apart from in Glasslip [don't watch it]. The longer the anime goes on, the sloppier the animation gets as well. Apart from the last episode, which was better. The sound effects [which I usually don't really take into account] seem to pretty samey. All in all, I literally skipped through the last episode because I just couldn't stand to watch this any longer. It didn't make me feel anything, I felt completely detached from the entire anime at the end. Makes me feel really bad for all the hard work the animators, voice actors etc went through when the plot was just... pretty bad. Or, just badly executed. Anyway, not really worth your time.

This show was good but wished it had a bit more spunk. Was still thirsty for more but hoping the second part does it justice. Was great seeing new fresh characters from the app game im playing into here, since i had no clue who or where they were from. The story was nice, then stale, then a huge WUT??! moment, then good. And the "villians" were pretty unique, each offering a different power and way of thinking which granted them there strength. Really wished some fights were longer, they didn't do justice do those "OP" characters at all. Other than that it was a good ride. Also be prepared for a very harsh moment, depending on your standards it can be tough to watch or just another Tuesday for you.

Sword Art Online: Alicization is what happens when a show opens with all the signs of something good, then falls flat on its own face. Rather than getting up, dusting itself off, and trying again, SAO: A goes the route of Gen I Magikarp and chooses to flop around uselessly for the rest of its run, both embarrassing its viewers and the person too proud to admit despite its overall value in its evolution, it's a pretty shitty Pokemon. Well, Fisher Bob, your Magikarp sucks, and you do, too. **SPOILERS** Seriously, spoilers. If you're not gonna watch it and were curious, feel free to keep reading. If you're like me and need to remind yourself why the industry needs support, don't. Or, do, and regret having an interest. You good? Okay. The series opens up with Kirito hanging with a couple new friends, a blonde clone of himself named Eugeo; and, a blonde-haired girl named Alice (who may or may not be a copy of Asuna. Jury is still out). After an adventure to a cave to look for ice (one of many poorly-researched topics, and the least-egregious in the series), the trio get lost and witness a dragon-riding knight fighting another dragon-riding knight. The evil(?) knight is knocked from his stead, causing Alice to stumble forward a few steps towards the threshold of the cave and outside into the no-go zone. She trips and falls, her fingertips barely over the threshold. In this world, walking into the darklands(?) is forbidden. This child barely had her fingertips over the threshold, and that was by accident. All good, right? Just tell God you didn't mean to and it'll be fine, right? Nope! God decides "welp, that little girl is a heretic! Better send my inquisition to chain her up and make an example of her!" So, this guy called an "Integrity Knight" drops by the village next day, calls Alice to be arrested, and shenanigans ensue. A few moments later, LOLI'S WITH GUNS GUIZ LOL. The shows goes from interesting premise to everyone messing with a supposed PK'ing clan in GGO because Shino asked them for help. After that insanity, Kirito explains how he has no recollection of events in the Underworld (where we started from). Interesting premise. And then Fluctlights. Let me explain this in a way that Reki Kawahara fails miserably at doing. In SAO:A, the Japanese government believes "fluctlights" are basically the soul, and it's located in the brain. Their intent is to create artificial fluctlights so that war doesn't need to be waged with living people anymore. No, let's create artificial people who are unaware of the nature of their existence, so that we can wage war in video games. Hey, guys, PLANETSIDE 2 EXISTS AND HAS DONE NOTHING TO DETER TERRORISTS AND OTHER WARMONGERING GROUPS FROM STICKING TO RL WAR. Oh, but they thought ahead. Mass-produced artificial bodies for the fluctlights. That's right, son! You can build your own waifu, or put your existing waifu into an artificial body, forever robbing her of the illusion of self-determination and causing her to experience an endless existential crisis after removing her from the setting and events that ultimately shaped her being! So, anyways, Kirito and Asuna are walking, Kirito gets REKT by some nerd with a needle because he forgot he's not an irl samurai, and ends up hospitalized. EXCEPT, in the infinite wisdom of the Japanese government in the SAO-verse, they kidnap him and continue the fluctlight experiment. He appears to Eugeo, both their memories gone. He helps Eugeo cut down the giant uncuttable tree so Eugeo can change his calling, the two go to the capital to become Integrity Knights, Eugeo auditions for Thor or Big Boss, Kirito kills a man (seriously, blood and all), both are arrested, and then decide "lol screw the system". They fight some Integrity Knights who are actually the Underworld's famous historical figures with their memories altered towards Piety for the world's "God" Administrator, decide that Administrator is garbage and it's time to hack the website and dethrone the admin, get into some shenanigans, a loli hugs Kirito, Kirito and Eugeo get paralyzed and dragged around by loli's, Kirito cuts said loli's, they meet notAlice, and then Eugeo becomes an Integrity Knight but doesn't, a loli dies, Kirito saves the day, except he doesn't because brain damage. Now, the issues. Fluctlights. Fine concept, poor execution. What should have been a series about a man trapped in a game that is actually "medieval lifestyle simulator 2022" with existential ponderings about the nature of the soul and how one could go about replicating it (and really, if it ought to even be attempted), is instead just another miserable attempt to inject "depth" in an otherwise bland, uninspired isekai. This could have been the entire premise for a first cour that demanded the viewer to ask some rather meaningful questions about a concept that is probably bs, but demands the same amount of consideration as GiTS does with its esoteric content. If fluctlights can be manipulated and transferred to another body, how does that change the nature of our world? Who is artificial, and who is real? It's a great concept which, unfortunately, gets mentioned as an excuse to have a macguffin, and never brought up again. The setting is easily one of the most interesting in concept. Putting aside the generic medieval concept for a second, you have a world where magic isn't just in existence, but is several lines of code that the people are unconsciously aware of. They perform the "Arts" by accessing menus that require an input before appearing, etc. It's an interesting concept, and one that, again, is unfortunately put aside in favor of bland fights and poor exposition. And finally, the characters. Kirito is less OP, but still manages to cock-block his new harem. Eugeo is basically Kirito except more subsmissive and less powerful, which could be neat if he had any character to begin with. Alice is... eh. Her character is a plot device in the beginning, and, when the Integrity Knight version of her appears, it's an under-developed mess that goes from "DEUS VULT" to "lol screw the church". This also applies to the Integrity Knights who, to our knowledge, are supposedly the supermen and women of the world, but end up as one-off jobbers to Kirito and Eugeo. Hell, in perhaps the worst display of misogyny in the SAO-verse, one of the IK's is only a knight because she has a crush on a dude. I kid you not, her entire purpose for fighting is to get laid. Fuck. Reki. Unfortunately, the end-boss is nothing worth mentioning. Administrator is an over-the-top laughable villain whose pseudo-intellectual banter with Kirito amounts to the following: A: What is man, but a miserable pile of secrets? K: A living, breathing organism with the right to choose! If you are God, then I will hath none of ye! A: But, does God not exist to ye, as well? Then, what is your self-determination, if not the guidance of that uncaring, unloving entity? K: Aghast! I am confounded by your ability to undermine my self-determination at a basic, grade-school level, as though I've never experienced these existential concerns myself! I am at a loss for words for your wit! A: Ah-ha! I have taken it upon myself to recognize the hypocrisy of your actions, in opposing my will as "God" when my understanding is determined by the limitations of my own creators! Truly, I am superior, since I have bested ye! In conclusion, what is life? SAO:A doesn't know, and makes no attempt at even presenting a position. It wants to present neat concepts before devolving into its purposeless fight scenes and mindless drivel all to drive the plot forward. Unfortunately, it crashes right from the start and never recovers.

Not taking into account the filler of s2 it's probably SAO worst arc so far. Let's start with the positive: - the art and sound are good that said the combats are significantly worse than in the previous arc. - Alice, for once a good female character in SAO well she is good compared to SAO standard which means okay by normal standards. - So bad it's good, by the end it falls so much that as a comedy it's become okay. Now the negative (not all of them to stay spoiler free): - the character aside from Alice, they're forgettable barely developed and the one that does have some importance are either: Kirito, sub-Kirito (aka Eugeo), the Administrator and the girl connect to her. Out of those Kirito is Kirito so once again we see Jesus save the world, Eugeo could have been interesting but stay in Kirito's shadow for the most part and when he does get his moment the story makes so little sense that the scene which should be emotional are just funny. Administrator and the other girl also being wasted potential for spoiler reason. "Wasted potential" is also what describes best the worst aspect of that arc: its world-building. It looks really interesting but the "power of feeling" bs quickly appear followed by the fact that everything that happened, happened because the people who build that simulation were utter morons. (Very little spoiler: most of the plot happens because they forgot to log out). Morron also being the best way to describe the characters especially in the second half, the amount of plot stupidy, plot armor, and plot hole need for Kirito to win is impressive, to say the least. Also, one of the most interesting questions brought by the setup: how the NPC feels knowing that they are just simulation isn’t answered, to be fair that one could be answered in the s4 but still, it was a disappointment. Overall don't waste your time on that, and if the setup looks interesting to you then your probably better off waiting for Infinite dendrogram (i can't assure that the anime will turn out good but the LN are interesting)

The entire season I was on guard hoping that the rumors I heard about Alicization would truly have it be (quite literally) the redemption arc that the series needed.  The moment I let my guard down, the moment I do, that's when I'm reminded "Oh right, this is SAO" and it fucks up again.  Come on, why is this the thing you're consistent about? Story: Following the events of Mother's Rosario, Alicization takes a different turn to seasons prior where this time, Kazuto finds himself helping out with a research project involving 'Fluctlights', artificial human souls that were created via digital means.  After an extremely unfortunate incident (that really shouldn't have happened), Kazuto is put on life support and is thrown into a new VR world called the 'Underworld', where he alongside a Fluctlight in the system named Eugeo hope to rescue a girl from their past named Alice who was taken away by the powers that be that govern the Underworld. First and foremost, the story of Alicization's first half spans the entirety of the series's runtime, being given ample runtime to fill in the cracks and let the story mature and progress at its own pace.  Because of this, any previous problems with the series rushing are pretty much mute since so much of the Underworld and how this VR reality is run is explained and talked about with great detail.  In a sense, Alicization doesn't really feel like SAO because so many of its narrative elements are given time to mature, the massive power fantasy with its protagonist is muted down to be almost equal with his cohorts, asspulls are saved only for the end (I'll get to that one...), and the rules of the world are so grounded and consistent that I found myself consistently accepting what was going on and actually was very intrigued by what would happen next given the fact that the build up of the entire series was so well done and reminded me of when I was super engrossed in the series watching Season 1 for the first time. However nothing good can last forever, and the unfortunate reality that this was still part of the SAO series reared its ugly head and put all of the work and effort to make the story not terrible into the trash because fuck you.  Both the ending and final encounter with the antagonist of the series are AWFUL.  It feels like Kawahara Reki just didn't know what to fucking do to cap off this first half so they just went "GIANT SWORDS" and called it a day and capped everything off with a massive cliffhanger in order to ensure people will continue watching despite the fact that's just a nail in the coffin for me to expect the worst to come given how confusing and messy the ending is.  I am genuinely disappointed (and sad) about how this section of Alicization ended because they had something REALLY good.  For once the story didn't fuck itself so hard, characters were interesting, and the world was really cool, but NO, you can't go one fucking section of this story without throwing caution to the wind and do not just one stupid thing, but multiple in quick succession because sure, why not I guess. Characters: Kazuto (because I hate calling him Kirito) is probably the most not protagonist protagonist he's been since Mother's Rosario.  While he largely still doesn't seem to possess any noticeable character traits for himself beyond being the 'amazing protagonist' that reaches for the goal at hand while caring for his friends (you know, generic shit), it'd be wrong for me to say that he doesn't at least improve as a character.  Since the series this time doesn't put him on a massive pedestal where he's the virtual gaming god that literally hacks the system and gathers bitches from all four corners of the VR world, what we get is a more subdued and supportive version of him where he's more trying to back those around him and let their character shine through his help.  It's a nice change of pace because it gave a chance for everyone around him to shine while keeping him relevant enough for his presence to matter.  To me, this is the right balance for him. Next is Eugeo, Kazuto's partner this time around and probably the most conflicting character the series has made thus far.  A largely timid boy who looks up to Kazuto for strength and guidance, what annoys me about Eugeo is how he doesn't for the most part have agency of his actions, relying so much on Kazuto and Alice for any 'approval' of his actions.  That's not to say that he doesn't have some spectacular moments to himself.  With all of the stupid things he does in this series, he conversely has a number of really choice character moments that balance out this weird dichotomy that the series is trying to achieve with him.  I'm not particularly a fan of how they ended up doing his character, (especially given that clusterfuck of an ending), but in the long run it's at least something worth noting. Then there's Alice, the sort of 'endgoal' girl that makes up the motivation for our protagonists' actions.  If you ask me, there's nothing bad with Alice's character.  Though she has arguably the least amount of screentime of the three protagonists, she by far has the most impactful use of her appearances due to the whole 'knight rebellion' thing she has going on, especially when everything she's doing is in response to how everything in the Underworld works/is run.  It's a culmination of everything that the worldbuilding/series has done up this point with the setting, and that to me is probably the best thing this season has done in terms of good character. Real world people hardly matter beyond exposition, so bye Asuna and your dwindling relevance in this story.  To make up for that, the residents of the Underworld take on a medieval/European aesthetic with everything from farmers, to knights, to the oppressive church that governs over everything using both faith and an ironclad law to make sure the populace obeys the rules lest they get whisked away in chains.  Aside from the Pontifex who is an interesting mix of sociopathic tendencies and god complex (with really shitty plans and a disappointing end), the cast largely falls on continuously building on the world by adding characters like snobby nobles, sword senpais, the blacksmith, knights without their memory, and whatever else you can throw in to make the overall world and narrative that much more interesting since they all culminate into Alice's character and the protagonists' motivations, which work towards the series' favor. Aesthetics: Pretty sure A-1's budget for the year was spent on this show.  Alicization is undoubtedly beautiful, taking the quality and art of what the production studio achieved in Ordinal Scale and turning THAT into the anime adaptation.  Flashy effects, fluid animation, gorgeous art, beautiful scenery, and little to no consistency errors, I could go on and on about just how good the art for Alicization is.  Hell, even the CG doesn't even look that bad.  I mean it's noticeable, but the shading and modeling of the damned things look like they fit with the show. One point of questioning I have for abec and by extension the art team at A-1 is why the Pontifex is like...always naked.  Like that's a nice dress, why'd you basically dissolve it and make her fight the protags with nothing but her birthday suit?  Like I get she's mentally insane with dwindling RAM space, but my god, is fanservice really the only reason why this is a consistent thing for the last what, 6 episodes? If I had to choose a favorite, I'd say that LiSa's "ADAMAS" is my favorite of the two OPs.  ASCA's "RESISTER" is good and all, but you can't go wrong with another song made by the woman who made Crossing Field one of the most recognizable songs in the span of modern anime.  Both of these song are extremely high energy and give off that fantasy feel, but I just personally think that ADAMAS, with the drop that it has is just superior.  That being said, they're both great songs, and I'm glad that the new tra…

SAO review 3/4 (Before watching Alicization watch SAO movie Ordinal Scale, it's canon and directly ties into the next 2 seasons) After the first intriguing AF episode, the next couple of episodes where a bit of a drop for me and i thought this season’s not gonna be as good as the first 2, how bloody wrong i was, ’cause this season is freaking amazing! Once all the pieces of the puzzle are laid out, this season deep dives into human psychology, morality, and munipulation, it also takes up the gore factor by 100 which i both appreciate and am absolutely disgusted and disturbed by, and that’s a little bit of my psychology 🤪 Favorite OP: ADAMAS Favorite ED: Niji no Kanata ni

Best season of Sword Art Online to watch is the 1st one and this one "Sword Art Online Alicization."  Just like previous seasons, Kirito dived into another virtual world but this time, he didn't do it just for enjoyment! Instead, he had a mission to complete "To bring Alice back into the real world." it was more like a job given by an acquaintance Kikouka-san. He was the one, who created this underworld. (sorry I don't remember his full name 😅) Now who exactly was this Alice whom Kirito had to bring in the real world? ALICE was the sole product (sole reward) of whole research project "Alicization". This is project that Kikouka along with his allies could complete only after Alice had been brought in the real world. This product ALICE could be useful for army in the future of real world in many ways. Alice is a girl in underworld whose brain was more like a COPY OF A HUMAN Brain (known as Fluctlight), still it could be compared with normal human being's brain. (sort of a human, yet not human). This time, Kirito felt some major differences while diving into Underworld. It was more like a real body being in underworld instead of just mind being there. He didn't know until he fought the monster while saving Eugeo that he could feel the pain while getting injured. His dialogue "It hurts too much. In a virtual world, no way would I feel... Pain like this!" Previously, whenever he dived in the virtual world through Sword Art Online server or Gun gale online server, he never felt or sensed any sort of pain, mainly because his body was in the real world, even after getting hits or attacks from monsters, he couldn't sense pain, but it was different this time. It shocked him to the extent that he couldn't believe whether he was in a virtual world or real world. Another difference from other virtual worlds was the TIME DIFFERENCE. Few hours in the real world, and so many years in virtual world. Time was fast in underworld. It means he spent almost 2.5 years in that virtual world but in real life, he only spent few hours or days lying on the bed. His mind had travelled for so many years in that world. These specifications about two different worlds were discussed in the first few episodes. Still it wasn't boring, because details of both the worlds was shown sequence wise. (For me, Kirito being in the virtual world was more enjoyable to watch.) I'll explain 6 points only, to clear why this season is better than the rest of Sword Art Online seasons. 1. Inside the virtual world, Kirito met another character Eugeo, who was put into limelight, unlike any other season where only Kirito was considered a perfect Hero. Eugeo became the center of attention, in fact, became a more relatable character to audience than Kirito because of his lack of certain abilities and imperfections, unlike Kirito who was way too perfect (in previous seasons) in being stronger and confident. In the beginning Eugeo didn't have enough confidence to have absolute resolve and had regrets regarding certain decisions in his life, but after meeting Kirito, he came to realise what his abilities were and became confident enough to do what he wanted, instead of using excuses (of not being able to do the things) that he kept doing until now. Kirito being a kind hearted person, never backed off from helping him in becoming a stronger person and taught him sword skills, practiced day and night, just to see Eugeo satisfied. Eugeo respected him for his commendable leadership qualities, his experienced sword skills, his easygoing personality and his confidence. He found an ideal to follow, a trustworthy advisor, a caring friend and a partner in achieving his goal. Tons of time, he used to say to him "I want to be like you." Kirito was someone from whom he learnt a lot. His goal was "to save Alice" who was taken into custody, in Central Cathedral due to her punishment during their childhood (6 years ago) and Eugeo couldn't do anything back then, which became his extreme regret. Kirito believes in Doing something that you can do right now, instead of regretting and crying. This notion of him, motivated Eugeo to learn and improve his sword skills in order to get stronger and intend strongly, to save Alice. Kirito trusted his abilities more than anyone because of his potential and pure intentions. He thought that Eugeo wasn't given opportunities to show his real talent so he helped him in EVERY POSSIBLE Way. In fact, he thought that Eugeo would surpass him, someday in his strength and confidence. Many incidents lead to a stronger bond between them as friends. This bonding and friendship between them, is worth watching. Eugeo used to get sad thinking of the days when he won't be able to see Kirito after achieving his goals. 2. Second reason of This season to be a Perfect one is, A STRONG VILLAIN. Quinella, the administrator, and God of this underworld was scary in so many ways that one couldn't stop himself from getting fearful. She had the power to make people forget their memories, she had the power to hypnotise those who could rebel against her, her power of creating a world of her own choice was the very first thing that audience gets fearful of. She was the one who took Alice in her custody, made her forget her memories, forcibly added her as a part of her army & many other countless warriors, who were also deceived & used by her. They didn't know how evil she was, in fact they were doing every act, in the hope of making this God, Quinella happy, who had only evil intentions for them, all of which only Kirito knew. Eugeo and Kirito had to rebel against her in order to achieve their goal. Kirito had a bigger goal than Eugeo, because not only did he want to save Alice, but also the underworld and its future from Quinella's unpure intentions. In the previous season, "Death Gun" was considered a very strong villain (in the first few episodes only 🙄) but audience already had an idea that only Kirito is going to defeat that Death Gun. Similar was the case in Season 1, where Akihiko Kayaba was the villain at first, Whom only Kirito Defeated. Everybody knew already that Kirito is going to defeat every villain and solve Any mystery without any second thought, but this season was somehow different because Eugeo was also stronger and Kirito depended on him a lot more than he did on any person before, especially during fights. There were many incidents where Kirito was saved because of Eugeo. The fighting scenes were enough to drag the audience till the very end, with this thought "How will they defeat this one" because of Kirito and Eugeo's Brilliant partnership in fighting (for me these fights added more curiosity in the story). Audience who wanted to see what will be Quinella, Alice & Eugeo's end, it didn't bore them. I was sort of predicting Kirito's end to be Perfectly fine and victorious (like it happened every time) but IT CAME OUT TO BE VERY UNPREDICTABLE, which increased my admiration for the plot. Characters were so strong & influencing, that if I'd have to rate them, I'd give 10/10 3. If we focus on previous Seasons' animation, this season's animation style was very different & soothing to the eyes. Sword fighting, is always my favourite, so it made the animation even harder not to be noticed. The sceneries of Eugeo's village, Academy's Dresses (of 1st and 2nd year), nothing went unobserved. New attacks of Kirito and Eugeo with their visual formations also caught my attention, and to my surprise, Eugeo's sword and its freezing abilities were more impressive than I thought. We were so accustomed of seeing Kirito stealing the limelight every time, but it didn't happen this time. Especially Eugeo's figth With Bercouli increased this season's Level. If I'd have to rate the Art, I'd say 10/10 4. Music was another reason I fell for Sword Art Online Alicization. OSTs of opening and ending, as well as background music, they're all worth the praise. I even listen to them nowadays, since I'm a l…

Sword Art Online Alicization (also known as SAO) is different from what I thought of before. Moreover, the SAO second seasin is rather boring. While Alicization is so interesting with the appearance of many new characters and a different world. Especially the administrator(Quinella) who really caught my attention. This anime story depicts Kirito who is not as great as the previous seasons. He is here to start again from zero. Although still at the end he became strong. Half the season is rather boring. But the other half is really interesting. Especially the appearance of Quinella and the knights. And what makes my curiosity flare up is the end that is not in accordance with my expectations. And of course, I immediately looked for the next season of this anime. Overall, a good character design, a soundtrack that is not bad, and a story that is not bad either.

Sword Art Online: Alicization surpassed my expectations. I have never been a huge SAO fan and the first 2 seasons for the most part have been slight disappointments. Alicization is like a new coat of fresh paint to the bland world of Sword Art Online. Everything is better in this season. The animation levels have gone through the roof, the color world has become more brighter and Kirito doesn't feel as bland as he did in the previous seasons. This show is filled with some hype moments here and there. Such as Kirito getting his SAO jacket back and being able to dual-wield that should not be possible in that place. Story: Note, this will contain some slight spoilers. We start our first episode in a totally new fantasy setting that SAO had never seen before and there was no mention of the other SAO cast. But this world is also a simulation created by a new technology called Soul Translator, which basically enters the person in to a state of sleep and the whole thing is basically a dream. But then the segment ends and we are greeted by some GGO gameplay. After that was done Kirito, Asuna and Sinon go to Agils bar and discuss the games but after that comes a horrible incident, while Kirito and Asuna were walking home they were greeted by Johnny Black who was an ex Laughing Coughing member who manages to inject Kirito with the same poison Death Gun used in SAO II. Kirito was rushed to a hospital but that was not enough, So Kirito got taken to a facility owned by Rath who created the Soul Translator and Kirito got taken to it and put to the dream like state and entered the same world he was in the first segment. And rest of the story takes place there. The objective of the "game" is to create human like A.I. Kiritos mission there is to find a person named Alice with his new friend Eugeo. Along this trip they encounter monsters, strong knight and even a few rapists. Characters: Kirito: Well, he is still mostly the same, he still does dumb stuff from time to time and gathers new members for his harem. Kirito knows how to exploit the game mechanics and he does. But he feels more like a person than ever before. Eugeo: He is Kiritos friend whose life work is cutting down a tree. Well, in the end he manages to do it and starts to pursue the way of the sword with Kirito. He was a childhood friend of Alice. He an NPC but does stuff that no NPC should do but thanks to Kiritos existence he manages to break the NPC rules called the Taboo Index. Alice: She was the first NPC to break the rules and got punished for it. The next time we saw her after his punishment he was a being called Integrity knight which is basically a strong soldier created bv the Pontifex. She acts like a tsundere before and after getting her memories back after being turned to an Integrity Knight. Art and Animation. Well, the art looks the same as before but the new colors and stuff make it feel brand new. The animation has never looked better. It is smooth and the fight scenes are usually well coreographed. Music: Both of the openings are quite good and made by some very popular artists. Background music is usually also darn good and the fighting ost from previous seasons has made a comeback, so that is also very nice. Overall: I never really imagined that SAO could be enjoyable. There are still some problems with it such as Kirito still is quite bland and the rape. Well, this time the rape actually had something to do with character development and understanding who the rules of the world could be exploited and the problem with NPCs following the rules to a t. I was also surprised to find that this was the goriest season of SAO so far. I would recommend checking this out if you have seen the first 2 seasons.

For those who've seen Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale movie all recognize the phrase “SAO will return”, it was a good chuckle for a while, a bold statement that seemed to promise on more than we've seen from the series' potential, fast forward to 2018, the new season of SAO dropped after all the buzz it made in its trailers, “SAO is back”, but did it really? Back as in just another season, or back as in making a comeback of earning its merit back. Alicization was the game-changer. - Story (8.5/10): After seeing all of the previous installments, both season, the OS movie and all of the other shorts, I felt like I had already seen everything there is, SAO as a concept was good, while it lasted, what else could it bring to to the table, we've seen VR exploits, AR exploits, real-life convoluted drama, we've seen everything, or at least, that's what seemed to us, and then Alicization came. The very fact that the name Alicization itself explains more about the season than I could ever do is amazing. Presenting a new spin on virtual worlds, or is it really? If dreams count as virtual, maybe, that is exactly the kind of convoluted questions the series pushes you into, and also, an underrated portion of it. The plot kicks off in a very confusing setup, that slowly, but surely clears up the fog surrounding it in a very satisfying and comprehensive way, it tackles an interesting spin on memory manipulation, both clever and very uncommon in mainstream media, hitting off the same wave of high risks as the first season, with big challenges for the characters to overcome. The story progression was surprisingly very fast-paced and action-heavy, a lot of info-dump episodes in between and a whole lot of friendship bonding. More than SAO or ALO, Project Alicization, even though not intended as a game, felt closer to being a perfect RPJ than anything previously introduced, the grind is very rewarding and contributes to the story, the lore and the surrounding world was massive and very welcoming, it keeps you wonder and ask questions, but never leaving you with no answers. - Art (8.5/10): A strange and yet welcomed change on the visual level has been the talk of many fans, for the better or the worse, I would say, it definitely takes after Highschool DxD hero with its dry, flat colors that seem to have a personality of their own, very vibrant and eye-catching. The movements have definitely gotten an upgrade, SAO has never been so fluid, I don't think that even the movie OS compares to some of the stuff we get to see, truly a passion project. - Sound (9/10): There again, I was absolutely home when it came to the vocals. I would say, next to Black Clover, SAO has never disappointed in that regard. If it's the openings you ask, endings maybe, OSTs, get your ears ready for the treat, absolutely a masterful bundle of ear-tingly runs, some big names were involved in this production, and it definitely shows. The voice acting was great, probably better than anything we've seen from the series. Kayano, Ai, truly a highlight in this regard, she does Alice in such a perfect and faithful way, probably the best voice-to-character match in the series, and you gotta love Eugeo's big moments as well, as the cry baby he was for the longest time, his voice complemented that just good enough to high the spot. It was believable. Finally, this is probably the first time I praise this series about this specific, overlooked aspect, the sound effects. Last time I really fell heels over an Anime's SFX was with Fire Force, although the later is still superior in that regard, damn Alicization, you definitely came close. - Character (9/10): I never thought this series can grab my interest over the characters after seeing everything prior to Alicizeation, it looks like bringing along a full-on new cast of character was just the way to go. Kirito, yet again, proves to be as adaptive as he was ever introduced as he bent very quickly and masterfully, I would say, even better than he ever did with the new faces of this season, and honestly, he hit his peak so far, and I can only wish for similar feats from him on the future. Eugeo was just the companion to highlight Kirito's growth. 3 seasons into the franchise, it's normal to expect from the main character to have to grow some mass, on a character level of course. Thanks to Eugeo, Kirito definitely takes on more of a mentor/senpai role, he gets to share a great deal of wisdom and teach his friend(s) about all sorts of things. While accompanying Kirito, Eugeo too overcomes a lot of what held him back, going from a cry baby to an absolute beast in combat, from a naive clueless cowardly cat to a strong Aincrad-style representative. Alice as well, as suddenly introduced as Eugeo was, she definitely secured a high place in the black swords man's harem, making people even swear over her than Asuna. I can't blame them. As little of screentime she had compared to Kirito and Eugeo, she definitely had a greater attachment to the grander plot, both as a goal to the other duo protagonists and a drive of the franchise from this point onwards. And last but not least, let's not forget the real MVPs of the season, Cardinal-chan of course, but most importantly, Charlotte the spider. There was a reason after all, why the SAO wiki changed their cursor to the cute spider. - Enjoyment (10/10): Funny enough, I never heard any words of praise over the third season before, or at least, not as much as I should have seen how good this season holds up. Maybe people just didn't want to say anything positive about the series. I'm hesitating probably, but this might as well be the best experience and the most fun I've had watching SAO, that or ti's going toe to toe with the Aincrad arc from season one. The mystery and hype, the vibes, everything about what made Aincrad loved nad praised is definitely present in Alicization, I would say, ever more if we include the amazing spin on the whole Fluctlight manipulation which gives the series a great deal of lore that ups a lot of points in that regard. - Overall (9/10): After the abomination that was season two, well, I didn't use to call it that, as it was a decently compromised season, but after seeing Alicization, the poor thing got sandwiched between Aincrad and Alicization, faith was not kind at all to GGO. This is a great season, no, an amazing one, definitely lived up and even surpassed the “SAO will return” phrase that I thought for the longest time was just another marketing ploy to get people interested in the release. I would easily encourage people to start SAO just so they can see Alicization in that regard. Truly a comeback to the franchise, setting new heights that I'm optimistic it will keep on delivering on. Hopefully.

Heavy spoilers: I was truly hopeful for SAO to come back. After watching the first arc, which i actually enjoyed until they literally decided not to end it, for some reason. The second arc was just bad, with mostly uninteresting characters (which would become a staple for the stories) and a lame execution. Arc 3 had some potential, but lacked worldbuilding and was uninteresting. And arc 4 was like listening to Flora's voice from Asterix war for 24 hours, it was painful. So my problems with the 2 first seasons were, awful characters, lacking worldbuilding, giving up on Aincrad, uninteresting plots for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th arc and the 4th arc in general. Kirito was actually a character that i liked because he was the first character i saw pulling off random bs out of nowhere. So trust me i was excited when i thought S.A.O. would give up nearly everything that made it awful. And it did, in the first few episode... The first few episodes are average world introduction, and a lame excuse to send Kazuto Kirigaya on a brand new adventure (The moment where he attempted to pull out a sword IRL was very cringy). Then we get into the underworld, where AI = Human brain. So all the important characters in this season are NPCs. As i said the start was fine, it worked. the 12 episodes of worldbuilding preparing Kirito and his partner in crime/clone tbh Eugeo was pretty good, i enjoyed this itération of magic, and the sword fighting techniques are fine. I also liked when Eugeo murdered someone for a non consented sexual relationship (idk if i can say the r word). Then he and his background character friend known as Kirito, get sent to jail and manage to get set free for reasons. This is where it gets lame, The whole administrator story was fine in execution, but the tower climbing was extremely and i mean EXTREMELY underwhelming, It felt slow, because it lacked action, and the action it had was poor and uninteresting, especially after Eugeo vs Bercouli where this was the last good fight of the show and it was a very good one. After that, Eugeo has the lamest excuse for treason and administrator is a thot and chudelkin exists and Alice did something i think and Cardinal just does nothing for the series. To be serious from episode 19 onwards, it's just an empty shell of an anime. No revelation is handled well, no fight is interesting and spoilers: I really thought that Cardinal and Eugeo's deaths were the worst character deaths i had ever seen, Cardinal's was just a pathetic suicide, it didn't feel like she was saving anyone or anything she just killed herself and i actually felt happy when they killed off Eugeo because that meant his future appearances would hopefully be minor, because of course, I now award Eugeo with worst character in the SAO series of all time. The characters in this show were also awful, the exceptions were... is Bercouli, I like his design, his fighting gimmick and his personnality they are all solid. Now Eugeo starts off great, with a satisfying justice murder on the r-word noble, and a nice fight with Bercouli. Then he says he's going to pretty much render himself useless to kill Bercouli, gets brought to Administrator, becomes a pathetic simping slave, turns into a sword for some reason and dies??? This was the best chain of events that could happen to make a character awful and i hate to hate it. Most of the characters have the exact same problem, Cardinal was bad, half the antagonists and Alice were useless, and the rest of the side characters fulfil they're purpose for the most part. One last thing is the music. Which is just amazing, great OSTs, banger OPs. But the openings aren't directly related to a show's quality (Black Clover or everything about SAO for example) and the OSTs are weighed down by the hole franchise they are part of. This show started off good and just fell apart towards the end, in my opinion, if the end of the anime is awful but the start is awesome, i would tend to put it on the lower half of a rating (Kenja no mago's first episodes were amazing, but the show quickly falls apart and these first two episodes can not save it). So yeah, I kind of expected it to be honest but i'm still disappointed.

Garbage. It was painful to watch. They should of just stopped after the whole elf thing. This was just an embarrassment. Don't waste your time, the story doesn't get any better even though you may try and struggle through the first couple of episodes... trust me, it only gets worse and worse. I initially had this anime at like a 5... and the more i kept watching, it just progressively got worse and worse. It's at a 2 now. Constantly confused on what the plot of the story is, who the main character really is, lack of real concern b/c anybody can just heal back to life. Story is very unclear, characters lack depth and character. The real world story is also a complete mystery till the end and nothing is explained. Just wow at the ability to write something this awful.

Absolutely loving this anime!! It's my best SAO season yet. And the season that follows it (Underworld) is bloody awesome. For this season, the series takes a darker tone and is SOOOOOO well animated. The story builds up well and loss is actually felt. The new characters and world area good mystery that are slowly explored and experienced as the story progresses. Nothing feels rushed and each person is given their own time to grow and individually shine. Lots of gore!!! So, if you can't deal with that, avoid this season A long story cut short, it's the best SAO yet.

I feel this is one of the weakest additions to the franchise with a drawn out story and plot points that go nowhere. The new characters are reasonable good and are fun. Story – 5 It’s definitely an interesting story, something different from what I was expecting. It bring very interesting aspects to the character’s lives. With strong emphases on friendship, this story allows Kirito to grow in a new interesting way. Art – 8 The art is a strong improvement from the rest of the franchise, with incredibly strong fight scenes. A strange turn towards more mature fights was included, with blood and more mature themes it feels uncomfortable sometimes. Sound – 6 The OP is quite memorable, but sadly the ED isn’t. the background music is there but doesn’t bring anything. Character – 5 Most of the characters from Season I & II are included and bring nothing to the story. Asuna has a fine story in this series, but takes a back seat. The real story is revolved around Kirito and his growth. Eugeo is the new male character that becomes quick friends with Kirito. His interactions with Kirito aren’t as good as others, but are still strong. His growth throughout the story is kind of rushed even though the story is drawn out. Overall – 6 It’s a reasonable continuation for the franchise that brought another 3 seasons of this franchise. I would recommend it as a continuation as it’s hard to understand without previous knowledge.

I rarely review on this site, but I lack anywhere else to put this, and the score I've given this show requires explanation. It's good. For the most part, I enjoy SAO, and though this title is a bit different, there are things to like about this show. I'm enjoying the story. I like the characters. The art is beautiful. I genuinely want to know what happens next. And then characters start fighting, and the entire show goes to shit. This is weird, because previous titles were more fun during the fighting than any other part. I don't know any of the production details, but it feels like they ditched their skilled fight choreographer for someone cheaper. The fight scenes in this series (both this one, and the sequal) is unbelievably lame. They're slow. Characters spend a lot of time making proclamations, very little time swinging their swords. When they do swing their swords, they just stand there and press swords against one another, growling and yelling and stuff. Win they win, they generally do so though "willpower" rather than any kind of skill or technique. And their "sword skills" are several steps down from what we saw in any of the previous shows. Assailants spend a lot of time watching as their enemies do these stilted, cringy attempts at "emotion" moments. When infiltrating enemy fortresses filled to the brim with potential adversaries, they spend a lot of time standing around talking about their feelings and shit. Meanwhile, the ascent though said fortress is practically unopposed, as their opponents dutifully wait in line to fight one at a time. This, in a virtual world in which the NPCs are said to have "real souls". The fighting is so bad relative to the rest of the series it makes me angry. I force myself to endure these scenes because once the fighting stops, the show is really, really good. I give the series a 6. With the fight scenes stripped out, it would be a 9. If the rest of the show were mediocre, or even just kind of good, I would never have finished it, and given it one of my few scores below 5, possibly a 3, maybe even a 1. The fight scenes are *that bad*.

I honestly don't understand why SAO, and thus Alicization by extension, gets such flak. Sure, the parts in the real world are kind of boring, and the second half feels a bit rushed, but all in all, I thought it was pretty good. Especially the first cour--I really loved the introduction of Kirito to Eugeo and the Underworld. I just wished the Swordcraft Academy part was more in-depth, but oh well. Still, I think Alicization was definitely the best out of all the SAO arcs, and the graphics and art were lovely. The only thing that's not really clear is just WHAT happened to Eugeo's memories of Kirito, or even what that whole situation with them being childhood friends, then Eugeo not remembering, then Eugeo referencing it, was all about. I'm guessing it'll all be explained in the remaining two cours of Alicization, though.

Sword Art Online: Alicization is widely believed to be the best part of this famously hated and loving franchise? But is it? Let's find out. I must say while the concept of this season is not exactly as engaging and dramatic as the first season, it's still creative. I like the definition they used to describe digital soul like "fluclight". But I don't like the way they used digital code to help things happened in the plot, It robbed the feeling of a mysterious world and keep reminding us this is a virtual gaming world not a fantasy one. That's totally not necessary, they should have chosen its world function more carefull. Another highlight of the anime is that SAO introduces another male lead that can carry the show with Kirito. That's great. Now onto the story, I can not get rid of the feeling that the story for SAO: Alicization is very rushed. The story where Kirito and Eugeo journey to the capital and make friends could be very interesting to see. It also helps to flesh out the characters and show the viewers more side of Eugeo. But sadly, it didn't turn out that way. And the plot armor in this anime is too thick, while they make Kirito struggle to find a few times, we all know nothing will danger him. It also kinda apply to Eugeo. That's a bad remark of the previous seasons they still haven't learned. For the characters, I think Kirito is pretty alright. Without having to protect the girls, Kirito not showing much annoying side of him like in the previous seasons. While Eugeo is not shadowed by Kirito, actually quite stands out and develop into a character that we can care for in the end. But I wish him would be more realistic to be honest. The animation is top-notch, it's bright and pleasing to watch. Their songs like always are very good. The best part of the show for sure. Overall, the cliffhanger ending doesn't affect the enjoyment of the anime since its sequel will air very soon. I do think this is the best part of SAO franchise. Looking forward to the Underworld part.

I thought I would enjoy this more as people had been saying SAO has been getting better, but quite frankly I enjoyed S1 more than this. The animation got better sure, but the story telling has degraded. As such, my critiques will be focused on plot direction and dynamics associated with the narrative. Firstly, a summary of this season: 30% exposition, 30% moralising, 30% monologuing and 10% cliche gimmicks. I already know that exposition is something to be expected in anime, but this time A1 really went above and beyond my expectations. The amount of screentime spent explaining how some shit works was excruciating and unfortunately necessary due to a crucial mistake - creating rules to a narrative that cannot be understood without being explained. The best stories aren't told but experienced, yet the reason why A1 couldn't manage without this much exposition is due to my next point~ This season saw the introduction of a new gimmick called "I M A G I N A T I O N" to replace OP Kirito. Of course where would battle anime be without willpower cliche right? But to make willpower quantifiable was an extreme misstep in my opinion. The magic behind willpower in various other anime is due to their immeasurable nature- a factor that has no explanation and needs none. However, when this element is given quantitative means it immediately becomes glaringly ludicrous, let alone portrayed in a medium of MMORPG gameplay. Everything in MMORPG is about numerical values to determine power; as such, this 'determination' power amplifier just makes the 'gameplay' seem ridiculous. Following on from earlier, due to this new factor, A1 had to go all out on exposition to explain this stupid addition, as if the normal amount wasn't enough. My final point would be the constant monologuing and moralising. It's a goddamn game. Any real player would not give a single shit about "saving this world". Kirito has no real means to understand what this virtual world represents in real life, and yet continues to act like a saint on a mission to preserve life. There are no stakes, no fear, no doubt. Audiences are just left to witness repetitive cycles of monologuing battle scenes, followed by 'close cut' victories (thank god for plot armour) that lead to Kirito & Co obtaining the moral highground to preach. At least in S1 battles would feel satisfying, no matter how oversaturated the cliche OP hero and underdog tropes are. Now, every battle feels like a struggle instead of previously decisive victories- which would be fine if it at least felt rewarding, yet they don't (in part due to the introduction of quantifiable willpower). PS, I also wanted to mention the whole skill/magic summoning sequence. Everytime I hear them say "system call, element > skill > discharge" I was cringing. Anyone who has ever played a game knows that ain't how it works lol, nor would it ever work like that due to how illogical a system like that is.

Alicization is the biggest arc of SAO, and considered the best by the LN fanbase. I still remember, back when season 2 was airing, a lot of people was telling me I'd love Alicization. It was, according to them, "SAO with an actually great story". That really hyped me. The biggest issue in SAO, in my opinion, was the story. The rest was fine for me. I liked the characters despite the lack of development. I loved the visuals and OST. I loved the concept of a deadly VR game. Sadly, Alicization has been nothing but a bunch of disappointments. Not only is the art subpar compared to season 1 and the movie, the story is among the worst I've ever seen in an anime. So much for praising it, guys... STORY Let's start with the biggest part. This season is about Project Alicization: a company discovered a way to replicate the Human Soul, and designed a brand new type of AI, with actual consciousness : "Artificial Souls". The goal of this project is to educate these AIs, for some unknown reason. Kirito works for that company. He dives into a brand new VR World (the Underworld) and interacts with those AI to help their development. One day, Kirito gets almost killed IRL. He is sent into the Underworld: that keeps him alive while his consciousness is "repairing itself". Kirito now has to live in the Underworld, without any contact with the real world. He meets Eugeo, who explains him how to live here and tells him about Alice, a friend of his who got taken by the Axiom Church, which rules this world. Kirito decides to help Eugeo rescue Alice. For that they have to become stronger, and defeat the Church. That is the pitch for Alicization. And I have to admit it : it's awesome. The idea of Project Alicization is the BEST that ever came out of this franchise. The story unfolds with a steady pace : first they introduce the Underworld, then they explain the AIs are too naive and the Project needs them to be able to break rules, then they show the AIs are slowly learning to do so, then they explain the Axiom Church took over the Underworld, ... So, what is so wrong with the story? Well... everything else. This season is S-L-O-W. To the extreme. "But you have to take time for chara-development and story building!" Sure. Two things though: - Most dialogues are EMPTY. Most of this season is cheap chit chat without the slightest importance to the story. - The few meaningful dialogues are extremely long. The first episode is an hour long, and the entire second half hour is dedicated to Kirito explaining the Soul Translator! It's WAY TOO LONG! A dialogue NEEDS to be concise. It's great to have explanations on stuff, but you can't make a SINGLE dialogue the size of an entire episode! The pace is not the only issue. This season focuses mostly on what happens in the Underworld. What happens there... is mostly meaningless. For example, there's a whole two/three episodes about two girls that Kirito and Eugeo have to train. But these characters, as usual with SAO, have no depth: they're the usual Princess Peach the heroes have to save. Nothing more. And that story takes an entire three episodes. At least it shows the AIs slowly learned to break rules. But it is done through meaningless chracters. But the worst has to be the Demonic Tree. Kirito and Eugeo are stuck in the "village of the beginning" because they have to cut a tree. And they take 4 episodes for that. The journey, the big adventure in the Underworld... starts after 4 entire episodes. Do you see the problem? The story in the Underworld FOCUSES ON MEANINGLESS SUBPLOTS. When it does focus on the important stuff, it takes 2 entire episodes for a single dialogue. As a result, very few major events happen in those 25 episodes. Some episodes show us the real world, and those are very interesting. But none of what we see in their real life matters in the entire season, since there is no connexion between the Underworld and the real world. For example : the first episode shows that a GGO player is targeting at other players, like Shinon. He apparently means to kill them for real : he seems to have a link with Death Gun. This plot... is totally non-existent in the ENTIRE season! Twenty-five episodes later, we still don't know who that guy is and what is his motives. TL;DR : This season has many pointless dialogues, most dialogues take way too long, and the story focuses way too much on minor subplots and pointless characters. The first arc is about cutting a f*cking tree!!! ART There's a meme on the net: the first season of a new show has great looks, the second one is worse but not bad, and the third one is awful. Sadly, it fits SAO perfectly. While the first season was great (wonderful light effects, dynamic animation, beautiful drawings), the second season was already subpar with cheap animation effects (like still images with battle sounds for several seconds). The movie changed the art style and was great on this point. Alicization takes the same art style... with much less budget. Is it bad? That depends. While the first episodes aren't awful, they do lack a lot of animation because most fights end up in a single hit (or just a bit more). It's not dynamic, but it's actually clcean. But starting from episode 14, the quality clearly goes DOWNHILL. The new opening is very representative of that: it was lackluster, it was dirty, and they actually changed it after a single episode, proof that the version of episode 14 was UNFINISHED. "Unfinished", that's the perfect word to describe the second half of the season. The fights, while more dynamic, are badly drawn. Sometimes it even seems to lag. The particle effects look awful most of the time. Long story short, the first half is not bad (with wonderful environments and clean action scenes), but the second half is awful. SOUND As usual, Kajiura's work is great. The new version of the main theme is my favourite. The OST fits the scenes and have this poetic feel to it, as usual. The seiyuus are great, as usual. CHARACTERS I always liked the SAO crew. Their characters almost always lack development, but they all have colorful personalities. I love Klein the Clown. I love Aegil the Bartender. Asuna is badass when she fights. The new characters... I don't find them that cool. Eugeo is a stupid whining piece of sh*t. Alice could have been great... if she weren't a complete Saber rip-off. I mean, seriously? The extremely cold blonde girl with blue armor who ends up actually friendlier than she looked like at first glance? The main villain, Administrator, was great... up until she undresses and forgets to put new clothes. Really. How am I supposed to take her seriously in the final fight? You might say her being naked is superficial and shouldn't matter... and I actually agree. Fanservice never bothered me in anime for that very reason: it is purely superficial. But if you don't like that, obviously her being naked will break the character for you. Personally, I still remember her (almost) last words : "Next time we meet... It will be in your world" (with an evil smile). It actually gave me chills, she was really threatening. My biggest problem though, is her being taken down in the most stupid way. That is what breaks the character for me... The rest of the crew is cliché empty shells whose appearances bring nothing to the actual plot. ENJOYMENT Jeez... I hate the SAO fanbase now. They already tricked me with season 2, telling me the GGO arc would develop the Laughin' Coffin story (which didn't happen: although this arc does use the idea of the PK guild, it doesn't explain much more than what season 1 did), and they got me again with Alicization. Sure, the concept is the best that came out of SAO. The idea of "Artificial Souls" is great, and the way it is used is great. But that brillant idea is ruined by the extremely slow pace, due to the length of the dialogues and the focus on pointless subplots and minor characters. The action scenes made up for the bad sto…

Beats the GGO crap, but not quite season one. There were some profound insights. But I feel the pressure of PC culture crushing the potential. And here "Reki Kawahara to Write More Politically Correct Stories Due to Western Pressure" I already feel it seeping in in this season. But one of the best parts of the story was Eugeo and Kirito fighting Religious totalitarianism and getting justice for the assault of their students. And now he plans to "not use sexual assault as a plot device". Newsflash. Highlighting hard and painful issues in anime IS the right thing to do, and anime has been the one platform able to pursue this and talk about hard subjects freely without media suppression. But Reki is giving in to the western so called "liberal" iron hand. This will be my last SAO.