Sword Art Online: Alicization

Oh boi, it's a Sword Art Online So unlike many others, I've actually generally enjoyed the Sword Art Online series. I really liked the Sword Art Online arc of the first season (like many others) and was a little less impressed with the Alfheim Online arc... but I still enjoyed the the adventure even if I had some grievances. I actually really enjoyed the Gun Gale Online arc and Mother's Rosario of the second season. Mind you I did sorely miss a fantasy setting. I thought that Alicization would be something I really like with it going back to a fantasy world. Sadly I was left with a lot of very hollow feelings. Art: The visuals of the show are pretty sub standard even for A-1 pictures. There's nothing here to write home about. The visuals are clean and neat but the characters all really kind of look the same honestly and the background are dull. It's like Kirito and Blonde Kirito are off on an adventure through halls and stairways. The background and settings do little to excite the imagination. Story & Characters: There was some potential in all of this. Actually I'd say the story is pretty decent, it just suffers because of lack of stakes or impact. Kirito is poisoned and so he gets experimental treatment in a full dive system. Asuna is worried and clearly untrusting of the company doing the treatment. The real world aspect at the beginning of the season is arguably some of the more interesting stuff. That said once it flips to Kirito's side of the story inside Underworld that's where it really kind of weakens. The world just feels flat, the characters that Kirito meets are new AI's meant to mimic humans who grow up and live lives no different then any other human to be honest. That said it is hard to get into a story with these new characters. Simply put we are told to get invested, and there's an artificial sense of bond we are supposed to feel between Kirito and these AI's but it didn't resonate at all with me. Simply put I did not care about Eugio or Alice as characters, and that made it really hard to get into the story. I didn't even sincerely believe Kirito's bond with them. It made it hard to feel anything towards them. It's sad because this isn't even a new topic for SAO. Season one had Yui, an AI that Kirito and Asuna adopt, and I honestly got more of a connection from those characters. So when the whole story is that Kirito and Eugio want to save Alice... and that's the only motivation for everything, it felt really hollow. I mean Kirito doesn't even seem to be driven to figure out a way to get out of this new VR game. Honestly the stakes on paper look high, but in reality what is really at stake? We aren't told what happens if Kirito dies in the game. Does he die in real life? It's a very convincing VR world, but he's not strapped into headset that can fry his brain. This is kind of the core problem of the story. There's this gap between the initial tension of the start of the season, and the new problems introduced within the virtual world. The two problems never even really intersect or acknowledge one another. So the conflict within the game takes precedence. It's here that you have a competent story. There's a very clear cut goal, and quest to be had with obstacles to overcome to reach that goal, and it's all handled nicely. It's just that it doesn't line up with other established things. It doesn't help that the rules of Underworld are incredibly loose and a lot is left unexplained. Also of all the VR worlds, this one feels the least like it's VR. Save for the occasional menu pop up and mention of admins and stuff, you'd think it was a generic fantasy anime. And that's the real problem with this newest season of SAO. If it wasn't for the brand name tied to this story, it would be incredibly generic and mediocre fantasy anime. It barely feels like I'm watching an SAO story unfold. It's just a generic fantasy anime with Kirito a character I became invested in over the years so now I want to see what happens next. Mind you nothing really happens that feels worth while till the final two episodes. Sound: honestly the music was largely forgettable. I don't remember much from it and nothing stood out. There wasn't anything ear grating, but nothing you will find gets stuck in your head. ___________________________________ The Bottom Line: It feels like an empty hollowed out version of SAO. Honestly people like to hate on SAO for things like an OP main character, and some harem tendencies, but those first two seasons were still entertaining and compelling adventures. People did really get on board with the story for a reason. That said Alicization is kind of a dull story feeling like a husk of what people enjoyed about the first season. I feel like even fans of the series might be left disappointed by this one. I never considered the first season a master piece but I at least had a lot of fun and enjoyed the characters and the premise even with their miss steps. If you didn't like the first two seasons, I have a hard time believing there is something here you will find enjoyment in. I don't know where the story goes next. I'll check it out because I'm invested, but honestly this season felt overly long and drawn out with little reason to keep watching.

Note: Spoilers for the anime and the LNs. There are plenty of reviews judging this anime by its own merits. This is not one of them. I have read the SAO Light Novels ever since 2012, after the anime aired and was promptly barraged by criticism. To be perfectly honest, I have not watched the anime until recently, and when I did I could see why it was so hated. Even so, I loved the LNs and I was happy with Ordinal Scale, cheesy romance movie as it was, and I hoped Alicization would finally dial down the hate for SAO. Story: 6/10 Alicization's story delves into the question of the human mind, and what it means to be human. Sure the technobabble is bullshit, but it's not like Hollywood science does it any better. That said, the anime's plot is incomprehensible at times, and I mostly blame it on the ehh adaptation. For example, for all the IMAGINATION POWERUP comments this show has, it's true that this game messes with your mind in a way The Seed games don't. It's why Kirito comments that it is indistinguishable from the real world - the STL system supplies the basic information, and your mind supplies the rest (details, graphics, sensation of pain, gravity etc.) Given the nature of this system, "believe hard enough and the system thinks it's real" doesn't seem so bullshit. It explains why after his Dive, Kirito had some difficulty readjusting to the real world, and it is probably why he reached out for his sword when he was attacked in episode 1, to cite an example. Just for viewers to understand that, Kirito would have to monologue enough to break A-1's bank on VA fees alone. Of course, a lot of it is skipped in the anime. And there are many, many more like it - not only plot elements, but also character development. For what the anime accomplished with its storytelling, which if nothing else did an adequate job of going from one plot point to another, I give it a 6. Characters: 3/10 The worst aspect of the adaptation by far. To explain, let me describe the main characters as I understood them before the anime: - Kirito: A pitiful person. He understands his parents are not his real parents, and doesn't expect them to care for him beyond the most basic necessities. He knows his parents love him, but feels guilty because he feels a disconnect with them. He secretly looks down on other boys his age because he thinks they are childish, so he has no male friends. Even so, he craves company and the feeling of being needed. Eugeo was his first male friend and first student, and once everything was over, he wanted to take Eugeo out of Underworld, make him log on to ALO and show him off to his other friends. - Eugeo: He comes from a family of farmers and it was expected that he would become one. His family was disappointed when he became a woodcutter. As farming became harder because of natural disasters, his family depended on his wages, but they did not like that they had to depend on him and did not treat him well. His only friends were Kirito and Alice, because the other boys were jealous that he caught the attention of the cutest girl in town. After Alice was gone and Kirito left, nobody wanted to come near him, and they thought he deserved what he got. He understood that, and was resigned to it for the rest of his life. - Thirty: She felt like a fake borrowing the body of Alice Zuberg, betrayed the system she believed in, and suffered pain intense enough to burn and explode her right eye for it. Not much else needed to be said. She knew that Eugeo wanted Zuberg back and accepted that she would have to die, but requested to be able to see her sister one last time, after all of this was over. Kirito understood that she was a victim and wanted to save her, even though he knew Eugeo only wanted his Alice. Because he was desperate for any love, Eugeo fell for Quinella's trap. Because Kirito wanted to save Knight Alice and Eugeo did not, they would have to fight. Because Cardinal (the sub-process) took over Quinella when she was in distress and tried to commit suicide with her body multiple times, Quinella deleted her own emotions. Because Quinella still could not go against what her parents taught her and break an oath, she would have let the trio go. To the average watcher, none of the characters made any sense. That said, bonus points for suffering Kirito. Ever since the original SAO, for all the Jesus-kun the anime made him out to be, this has been Kirito Suffers: The Series, and I'm glad people are catching on to that. Art: 8/10 The quality took a noticeable downturn in the last few episodes, but the art and action more or less look beautiful. Could afford to dial down on the filters and CGs, though they were not enough to bother me until the last episodes. Sound: 9/10 SWORDLAND HYPE. Nothing else to be said about Kajiura music. OPs and EDs were stunning, and the mad men reanimated the OP to show later fights. Voice acting work was beautiful, and if you got to watch Yoshitsugu wailing Nobunaga's name, while the latter runs around flapping his arms trying to get someone to notice him in the after-episode 24 stream, you could see why. The VA work makes the scenes at times. Enjoyment and overall: 6/10 Nice quality, hype music, action sometimes. I have an understanding of why plot moves the way it does, even if it's not explained in the show. I have seen worse anime than SAO, and I was equally happy and frustrated with it. A solid 6.

Can we get Tomohiko Ito back? Please! Manabu Ono is doing a shitty job with what could be the best saga of SAO. As someone who read all light novel (up until volume 15) the story is great, it could have a bunch load of great fights, and we ended up with this.. I would prefer wait another year or two if that meant having Tomohiko on command. Story and art (author and A-1 pictures) are great, the rest is average and fights are garbage, the exception are the first fight agains the goblins e the fight against Fanatio. Disappointed. Hopefully, the producers will make something for the second part of this saga, because up until now, the worst of all.

Sword art online was, one of the first anime I have ever watched and is what initially brought me into the anime community, I have always loved SAO despite all of is writing problems and all kinds of other issues. I did enjoy this season, the writer made a really good decision by casting out all the other side characters that are all basically cliche stereotypes. The begaining of the whole serise is really good, that is until you get to meet the main vailian, the second the characters interacte with the vilian every thing just falls straight apart, dump right into a dumpster and some idoit set fire to it and burnt all the good shit that has happened into a pile of unrecongnizable ash. It is not at all the main vilian's fault even though she can be a little bit better developed, she is still a decent villian over all. It can not be blamed on one single decision, it is consisted of many little unignoreable mistakes. The first thing is that they try to start and an whole character arc in like 1 eps, which is just dumb and stupid, and on top of that every character development just have to be done with internal monologue with friends evangilion style, they literly tells you how they changed does little to enphsize it through action. The second biggest problems are the few final boss fights, I don't really care that the vilian is buck naked half of the time, the biggest priblems are that the fight scenes are so badly planed. A character would get brutally injured a the begaining of the fight, wake up in the middle to give courage, and somehow only starts bleeding after the fight is over and the someone is trying to heal him. Also there would be times where the characters are having a emotional talk to the injured people and the villian would just stand there for like 5 minutes without doing anything even when she can clearly hear them talking and forming up some kind of plan, characters who are suppose to be dead also come back alive for no reason expext for giving a confidence boost and dies again, every thing is just messed up after the characters meet the main villian, i can not explain it with words

The anime was breathtaking. The art was great as well. The plot started out ok and has some emotional moments. The characters were still fun and the way they responded was great to. I know some think bad of it, but it is not that bad. Kirito, Eugeo, and Alice relationship was a good part of the plot. great art, fun characters and interactions The story and the premise for this season was a very interesting and helped build an verry interesting situation. This season of Sao so far is almost as good as the first half of the first season

Writing this review over a year and a half after I completed reading the Alicization Light Novels, and watching the Anime, brings a flood of nostalgia and memories. Sword Art Online Alicization was an extremely emotional arc, and it was, honestly, one of the best arcs in the series. Reki Kawahara's writing has come a long, long way since Volume 1, and although the anime does skip/hastily show some scenes, the anime has also shown some great improvements. Firstly, the first episode of the season was a real hit. It was a great way to start the season, and it leaves viewers (And readers, since the LNs also started the same way!) wanting to watch it until the end. And it wasn't just the first episode. Every single episode was done to an extremely high standard, and, in my opinion, at no point throughout the season did I think they were prolonging scenes unnecessarily. The emotional aspect of the season was a 10/10. You would feel a sense of nostalgia from the start of the very first episode to the end of the very last. Even the songs, and soundtrack were extremely emotional. ADAMAS, Resister, Forget-Me-Not, and Niji No Kanata Ni, by LiSA, ASCA, and ReoNa respectively had a deep layer of meaning to them. All the characters, including the side characters, have a huge role to play, and the anime creates a strong emotional bond every single one of them. One thing to highlight is that Asuna does not have a lot of screen time, but the next half of Alicization ( LN Volumes 15-18, and SAO: Alicization War of Underworld in the Anime), will have us see a lot more of her. Another thing you may want to know is that the show is not suitable for anyone under the age of, in my opinion, 16. You may even push the age rating up to 18, in certain situations. There are quite a few scenes of sexual nature, and towards the end of the season, in the last few episodes, the antagonist is not clothed. A real well done to Reki Kawahara, and A1-Pictures.

Story 7/10 What drives Sword Art Online Alicization is its new world and its simple goal. Save Alice, and climb the tower, where Kirito might get the chance of escaping or contacting the outside world. It's a relatively simple plot driven by the mechanics of the world, with numerous exposition dumbs. On the first watch, they are hard to get through, but they are subtle foreshadowing and necessary parts, as this time, there are consequences, and more people in the world aside from Kirito. As a whole, the world grows on you, and all the small details build a world, not just backgrounds. The author crams stuff about the world whenever he can, in conversations, images, history, and whatever he can. This does cause some questionably slow pacing at points and frustratingly long episodes consisting of only dialogue, trying to convince you that the author isn't making things up. There are a couple of episodes like this, episode 5 as a prime example. It was them talking and trying to explain how the whole impossible circumstances were theoretically possible. The show also likes to take its time with its storytelling, making the story develop as organically as possible. There is a pleasant lack of time skips, as the show skips what would only be boring training and years of them chopping wood. However, this time, the story not only occurs in the virtual world but in the real-life world, as the two storylines slowly converge. What makes the first five episodes more interesting than the following 5 was the mystery(Contrived and see-through as it was) and its simplicity. It was only in the subsequent 5-9 episodes that it fell apart, before slowly re-constructing itself back together in the last arc. If there were to be a complaint with the story itself, it would be the Sword Academy episodes. They had very little to no relevance to the central plot, and all it introduced were two typical SAO villians. I suggest you watch episode 10 despite the warnings and complaints, as it has a scene with Eugio and Alice that can't be missed and are the only redeeming part of the 5 episode arc. But beware of gore and some not Vanilla scenes. Art 8/10 Long Gone are the days of a low-budget SAO, with animation that improves itself each episode. It was a great adaptation of its Light Novel Counterpart and seemed to add more depth than A1 usually does. As it takes place in a world similar to a game but adheres more to them than real world logic, there are a few scenes with light gore. These scenes seem to raise the stakes but also add a sense of reality, that previous seasons lacked Sound 8/10 Not much to say but that Sword Art Online destroyed its sound game again. The OST nailed it and did well elevating its scenes. The sound design itself, Sword strikes, ability sounds, and the regular sounds are halfway through an evolution. It's not the generic sword clash sound or the generic rubble sounds, but more refined and fitting ones. It's near perfect. The Voice Acting was on point and conveyed plenty of emotions. Character 6.5/10 Excluding the terrible and horrible villains that were the Noble Duo, the "Antagonists" and the season's overall characters were quite good. Without the episodic formula and containing a flowing story with long passages of time, this arc's characters were great for what they were trying to do. Kirito, usually the overpowered and harem King, acts more like a boisterous and generally decent protagonist for the season. As most of his annoying traits are boiled down to him being bland, Overpowered, and having a Harem, seeing him without it does wonders for his character. He also does well in a storytelling perspective as he learns about the world, allowing us to learn it through him and being the one unique thing to the world. However, he is quite bland, and what makes his character a lot better is due to Eugio. Eugio acts as Kiritos friend and one saving grace of Alicization for him. Eugio has plenty of small pieces of development that are pretty good, but his bond with Kirito makes Kirito decent and their dynamic more bearable. Their characters are pretty simple but not generic, and there are few things to talk about them, aside from the fact that they just work. While over half of the cast were females, they had minimal feelings for Kirito, making them more bearable. No Harem gets built here, aside from a couple of Generic instances, and they evolve to be more than just living fanservice. The "Antagonists" are all quite decent as well. They are all antagonists not by choice but by the situations that Kirito and Eugio were in. Also, minor spoiler, it helps that the person they come to rescue and the main reason of the show turns out to be the secondary main antagonist from the same group that they were fighting, humanizing them subconsciously. There is a nice mix of antagonists, villains, and opposing forces. The antagonists get small pieces of development that are used in further seasons and can be understood. The Opposing forces get similar amounts of growth and fulfill their role. The villains, on the other hand, are just bad. The two antagonists of the Sword Academy arc, were the Fairy King Overon all over again, but going further and including a gory scene for no reason. They are the representation of what is wrong with Sword Art Online villains. As for the main villain, she just seemed bland. Like the author had built her up, and used her as a plot device for the story, but when it came to her character, didn't know what to add. She isn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, and she isn't a horrible person, just nothing really. Her fight and her end was definitely a bit weird, pulling the regular SAO Villian power of friendship ending/ruining of all stakes and reason. Kirito did the most Kirito thing and hacked the game(for like the 5th time), and a different character pulled a power of Friendship, but this time with more thematic relevance, and dumb as it was, wasn't too annoying. Enjoyment 7/10 After watching the next season and the last episode, it was clear that this was a setup and nothing but a prelude to the next season. It had parts that dragged and were slow. It set the purpose of introducing the characters' world and place while taking place on a loose storyline. However, it did end interestingly, including so many small details that shine hard on the rewatch. On the first watch, I gave it a 2, and now I give it a 7.Thats not to say that you will hate it on the first watch, but that there are annoying and plenty of boring parts of the show that annoyed me along the way. Just don't drop it on episode 10. It gets better after that. Overall 7/10 It did well with most things it tried. Don't listen to the people who call it the greatest arc or the best that there is. Some parts are the peak of SAO, but there are plenty that are the Biggest downfalls of SAO. I would give it higher for the tier of Waifu that it Alice, but most of her best parts come from the next two seasons. It acts as the best buildup in the series so far and has plently promising aspects.

Probably the best season of SAO so far. I mean apart from the weird sexual assault scene and the bullshitty explanation for wtf is going on it's actually decent. The idea of creating a virtual humanity is a cool moral question, although it's almost certainly immoral. I don't really understand why you'd intentionally create soldiers that have human emotions, surely a mindless killing machine would be better for war. Fuck, maybe I misunderstood that part, idk. I will say that the whole trying to create virtual humans is kinda weird when Yui already exists. I mean, she seems to have emotions, doesn't she? This is why I say she's secretly a villain spying on the main characters. I haven't read the manga so I'd love to be proven right. Yui is already a threat to national, hell, international security so if she were to go rogue she would be the greatest villain of this story. Please, Reki Kawahara, if that isn't already your plan then I beg you to consider this cool idea.

It has been two years since I watched Sao I and II. I was not expecting too much from Alicization to be honest due to the scores of it. I was thinking about binging with War of Underworld 2nd season. But, the Sao Alicization Op 1 "ADAMUS" BY Lisa was the thing that triggered me to watch Alicization. In my opinion the Alicization Series should definitely be watched in 1080p. During the first two episodes right after the opening ended a single line of tears ran down my cheek. I guess being happy to live at the moment would not be over dramatic considering my state at that moment. I love ADAMUS so much, you can say that it is my most favourite opening of all time. Obviously, I would not have loved Adamus this much if it is was a totally different entity from SAO. But now to me, ADAMUS is what it is now because of ALICIZATION and ALICIZATION is what it is now because of ADAMUS. I am also fond of sword fights. The design of the swords were very good that it stands up to it's name. The second op "Register" by Asuka was also very good. In the series of SAO, Project Alicization is definitely a gamechanger. No matter how things end up in the future, I love SAO ALICIZATION right now to my heart's content. ◦•●◉✿𝗔𝕣𝕥𝕚𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕝✿◉●•◦ .•♫•♬•𝐋𝐢𝐒𝐀•♬•♫•. ◦•●◉✿𝗟𝕒𝕓𝕚𝕝𝕖✿◉●•◦ ◦•●◉✿𝗜𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖✿◉●•◦ ◦•●◉✿𝗖𝕪𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕✿◉●•◦ ◦•●◉✿𝗘𝕩𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖✿◉●•◦ 𝚂𝚈𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙼 𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚁𝚃 : 𝙲𝙾𝙳𝙴 871 𝕾𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖄 𝕾𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝕸𝖄 𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖒𝖔𝖓𝖉

Here's a spoiler free tldr: The story is boring and full of holes, the characters are cardboard cutouts with a very clear line between who is a bad guy and who is a good guy. I didn't enjoy this very much and I doubt many people will unless either they enjoy watching generic isekai with dialogue about the power of love and friendship, or they liked the original SAO series. The only redeeming feature of this anime, in my opinion, is its good animation and decent soundtrack. SPOILERS FOLLOW Story-4 As is the tradition with the SAO franchise, the story itself is eh. Kirito is transported to another artificial world with "fluctlights" or rather the "souls" of the AI humans that inhabit this world. There really isn't a conflict, at least, not that Kirito knows of. It's a classic isekai adventure where the hero goes to defeat the villain at the top of the tower to rescue a fair maiden, although here the maiden (who actually had potential as a character) is his childhood friend, and he's accompanied by his other childhood friend Eugeo (who also actually had potential as a character). Then, there's the plot holes. Dear god the plot holes. From small ones like where Eugeo seems to suffer selective amnesia, remembering and agonizing over when Kirito and Alice (the damsel in distress) were alone in a forest together, but forgetting that they were there to make Eugeo a wooden sword for his birthday, to larger ones like where the main villain swears by her soul to do something but then doesn't do it, without any repercussions. Also, Kirito keeps defeating the villains with the power of love, friendship, and willpower, as usual, which makes for some disappointing fight endings. Overall, meh. Art-8 One thing SAO is consistently good at is its art, and that's no exception with this installation of the franchise. The fights are well-rendered and everything is pretty smooth. There's a few blips throughout, however, like where Eugeo is cut in half and we see his blood start to leak out in one scene, then sometime later he is no longer lying in a pool of blood, but then in the next scene the blood starts to leak out for the second time. Sound-7 Again, SAO's music isn't actually bad. It's not stunning, or particularly memorable, but there's a few scenes where the music does enhance the story a bit. Overall, not great, not terrible. Character-4 Most of the characters here are two-dimensional garbage, aside from Kirito the doorknob and Asuna the doormat (who thankfully didn't get much screentime throughout), we are introduced to a variety of dumbed-down characters, including almost all of the villains. The main villain is a generic cross between Pol Pot and Josef Mengele, aka a tyrannical, evil despot who wants to rule the world and doesn't give a shit about her citizens. Her only character trait is that she walks around naked and honestly looks pretty sexy. There's also two nobles, with no redeeming traits whatsoever, who delight in taunting Kirito and Eugeo, and serve the role of kickstarting Kirito and Eugeo's adventure by attempting to rape two other cardboard cutouts of characters, one of whom apparently has a side story with Eugeo that goes absolutely nowhere. The few characters who were decently entertaining to watch, like Bercouli or Deusolbert, were used in one or two episodes and immediately thrown aside. Chudelkin serves as comedic relief and is another rapey character who is revealed to have an overpowered final move that baffles the main cast for a moment, but then Kirito takes his sword and one-shots Chudelkin and that's that. A few other characters, like Eugeo and Alice, who was arguably the best heroine of the SAO series, were alright, and held decent potential to become compelling, interesting characters, but, Eugeo died (knowing SAO not sure if he'll somehow come back) and Alice didn't really even participate in any of the important battles. Enjoyment-4 There were a few episodes where I actually liked it and wanted to keep watching, and then there's other episodes where we have chad Kirito clapping villains one by one, or various characters being sexually assaulted (it wouldn't be SAO without at least one rape scene), or a long rant about the power of love. The last few episodes I really struggled through because of the obvious plot holes and crap dialogue. Overall I rate this a 5/10, which is supposed to be average. Usually I would rate this mostly taking into account my enjoyment, which is even lower than a 5, but the art and sound effects are admittedly pretty good. I can't say I recommend this anime unless you're just looking for another generic isekai or you liked the other SAO series.

Hello all, I have to say, Sao is really improving from before, and with alicization, it has evolved into a completely new season within the sao world. I have to say, well played on the creator's part, I personally want to see some more character development from the characters on the set, and interesting fighting scenes. I also personally am a fan of over 9,000 power ratings in anime, and i feel this one could use a bit more of that, like fate stay night, or something, what i really want to see sao do is give us a brake from the herem, and show us what the men can do in an all-out battle, obviously include love and romance with Kerito and Asuna, but make the boys the big picture of one season, and do something for the girls too. Auggg, so much goodness to digest from this anime. I Feel Bad for alice though, as she will just be another part of the harem... In my opinion, the story could use some improvement, and so could character development. (not spoiling anything.). Farewell for now from your's truly Hikaru.

I want to start with the good things, because they're pretty obvious and easy to cover, then move onto the bad things which are slightly more complex issues. With a franchise as successful as SAO, in spite of its reputation from critics and elites, there is certainly room in the budget to produce a quality piece of animation and that much is certainly true enough here. That background art is nothing short of stunning, consistently. The character designs are great as well and the animation and choreography as well as the number of the combat sequences doesn't disappoint. The fundamentals of the visuals and even sound are all there. It scores easily above average here. The characters are also a vast improvement on the previous titles. The harem, at least so far in this first of 2 series, pays only a minor role in the beginning episodes, leaving more room for actual story. Striking a much better balance of service vs content. Though that is likely to change in the direct continuation of the sequel. The relationships between the characters are much more defined, relatable and thus believable. Or at least that is the case with the new characters. The old established characters still suffer from the same problems they always have. Punching above their weight in areas of expertise they shouldn't do, having way more influence in major industries than is to be expected for children, even if attempts have been made to explain it away. In this respect it loses the more sophisticated audiences; whether or not that matters is a whole other can of worms, i'm just writing a commentary to help people understand what is on offer here. So the show starts off very slowly, with the same characters we know and love (or loathe). Complications are introduced reasonably enough, but the harem Scooby Doo's their way after the missing protagonist in a way that would put most government lead security/counter-intelligence agencies to shame. Cue the first in a series of cringe worthy moments in similar fashion all the way to episode 6. Episode 7 is where we start to really get established with the new plot and the show begins to pick up pace at about episode 10-12. This does lend to a heightened sense of agency/tension as the show accelerates to its conclusion, but there still felt like there was a lot of unnecessary chaff in the beginning that could have been better utilised for fleshing out side characters and improving the "world" on offer. Maybe it was just felt like that they could afford this given it was going to be a 2x24 episode series. I dropped this show twice at about episode 5-6 because i lost interest, but after i eventually missioned through the agonisingly slow setup phase I really couldn't stop watching from episode 14. Though i should say, my praise mainly goes to the artificial world element of the show. The actual underlying plot about the nature of the VR system, which fortunately takes a back seat for the second half of the show is absolute trash. It's not clever or deep, it's weak as hell writing. There are some interesting truths/facts written into the plot in regards to the science of consciousness, but that again feels misplaced as it's lost on the target audience. It seems like a failed attempt to appeal at scientifically literate people in an ultimately childish show with a childish level of sophistication in every other area. Conclusion: The show is worth a watch, you just have to tolerate the opening quarter of the show to get to the fresh content, like cutting off the stale, hard, moldy piece of cheese to get to the edible stuff. At least the beginning is easy on the eyes.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD *Score OVERVIEW Sword Art Online Alicization is the long-awaited third installed in Kirito's harem the Animation, which doesn't actually feature a harem! Yay! But it also lacks an actual story. Awh. I binged this show in one day after it aired, and it felt more like a fourth period geography lecture than an action-adventure. It was almost painful to sit through, and now my neck is sore from the various sitting positions I used throughout watching it. STORY *3 When I think of Sword Art Online, I think of the Aincrad Arc, hands down the greatest and most enjoyable arc from the franchise. This arc was simple, had understandable stakes, meh characters, decent pacing, and had many interesting subplots. It develops both Kazuto and Asuna's character for being able to retain their humanity and even being able to blossom love, while inside the death game. The Aincrad arc is like a flour-heavy cake (which happens to be what I'm eating while I write this review). While small, it packs different flavors that compliment each other to a certain degree. I would much prefer if Reki Kawahara instead wrote a full 24 episodes worth of Aincrad arc instead of the others, maybe even turning it into an SoL, not unlike Log Horizon (which I have also made a review on). In contrast with this, the Alicization arc is like a huge sponge cake. It's much larger than the other cake yet at the same time it's much emptier. Episodes 14-24 of Alicization occur in the same day, making it an incredibly draining final stretch for the show. Most episodes are composed mainly of flashbacks, dialogues, flashbacks, monologues, flashbacks, the occasional battle, and flashbacks. Aside from pacing, the story itself is not too bad, it just does not feel like Sword Art Online, take away the technical lingo they use, such as using command instead of a spell, and starting each command with the words "System call". You don't feel the intensity of the battles, since there is no doubt that Kazuto or even Eugeo will lose (cause they don't. Like seriously, I don't remember a single time where either of them lose). Every wound is healed after every battle, and they once talked about a limit to how much they can use their trump cards, which can make for an interesting battle dynamic but I swear Eugeo used his like four times after he said he had two left. The developments also lack no impact at all, since most "shocking developments" either lack any build up whatsoever or were obvious yet took incredibly long for the characters to figure out. I wouldn't mind the boring, straightforward plot if I didn't have to take it in so painfully slowly. Also, episodes 20-24 are basically an hour in-universe but are 2 hours to watch :/ ART *7 The art actually almost looks impressive, which is to be expected of the Sword Art Online series from A-1 Pictures. The color palette is usually very vibrant but knows how to turn darker at appropriate moments in the show. The character designs are all well and easy to look at. However, I did find various slip-ups in animation, where often a character's face would become skewed and off-model, which isn't very professional. The openings aren't much to note, but I did enjoy the animation showing Kazuto and Eugeo's swordsmanship at the beginning of the second opening. SOUND *4 I felt the OST was very lacking, especially when the original Sword Art Online had a very above-average soundtrack. It felt like the director had deiced to backseat the soundtrack, which wasn't even that large in the first place. The result is a soundtrack that is incredibly repetitive, too loud when it shouldn't be and too soft when it shouldn't be. It is this in combination with the way the voice actors deliver their lines and the lackluster lines themselves which take away the impact from the story CHARACTERS *6 Kazuto appears more lifelike in Alicization than he has for a long time, ever since Alfheim. However, that doesn't change the fact that he is still an incredibly boring protagonist for the audience to project themselves onto. He is a very basic main character. Slightly charismatic most of the time and even in battle, cool-headed when he needs to be, kind to others, and gets serious and thinks of his friends when pushed to his limit. Almost every fight he has to "draw power from his friends/memories", seen when lights gather into his Night-Sky Blade. There is no development to be found, which is understandable considering this is his fourth outing. Eugeo is also a pretty cookie-cutter main character, but more interesting than Kazuto at some points. While he spouts waaaaaay too much about needing to save Alice, needing to save Alice, he has a decent development. It's fun to see him evolve from this stand-up-for-the-little-guy-but-I-still-need-help-from-Kirito into actually achieving things on his own and showing a strong will. There isn't too much seen of Alice (other than the revolving flashbacks) but she seems to be decently fleshed out, if not a bit too easily-believing of Kazuto's story which essentially tells her to throw her life away. Quinella's upbringing was a very interesting story that I would've like to see more of, maybe just one or two episodes to develop the main villain (instead of spreading the finale across five whole episodes). She ends of basically being a god with a skewed image of love, which is very normal for most villains. The best part about her is that she is fully naked 70% of the time. Most other characters are pretty stereotypical and don't deserve an analysis outside of "meh". CONCLUSION While harboring a good art style and decent characters, Sword Art Online: Alicization suffers way too heavily from a weak plot and crushingly slow pacing. The plot's developments are killed but the lack of impact by the music and plot itself. I know that Ordinal Scale is quite literally just before this, but I would've preferred this much more as a two-part movie series instead of a full season of anime. The pacing issue wouldn't have existed and a larger budget could've greatly enhanced this show. My score for Sword Art Online: Alicization is 5/10 (Average) Thank you for reading my review, Cristo

Uhm... I remember, when I was watching the first seasons, SAO was getting a lot of hate back then and I couldn't understand why. I enjoyed those stories a lot and was a fan of it. But this season kinda ruined it for me. I couldn't enjoy any of the new characters, they all seemed dull and no one stood out. The story was boring and repetitive. My favorite characters from previous seasons had basically no appearances here. The only reason I completed this is because I don't like leaving things unfinished. I guess I'm giving this a 5 because I liked the soundtrack and also a bit of Alice and the Librarian. Just kill the Alicization Arc, please. Lol.

So this is gonna be My first review... I'm English person and don't grammar well. Also warning on any possible spoiling. So I enjoyed character Eugeo, and that was about it, the main problem I had was how... quick and abrupt it ends, that's why my opinion is low for this branch of SAO. Now back to another part on why i somewhat enjoyed was surprisingly the intro song, and end? (Have watched anime, but still don't know this). They just felt right to me at least, I don't really know why either. The fight scenes to me felt really 'special', except one of them, which I'm not going to name. The fights though they were quick in a sense felt fluid, and thought through. Even I may find that the overall may be good, certain part left a bad taste in my mind; Which makes my decision teeter towards less-favorable of my anime list.

The worst adaptation of sao history. Dont get me wrong i already read the novel and I am a big fan of sao sice season 1. so no matter how popular sao, if the adaptation is suck, is definetly suck. The adaptation just so bad not like previous series, and I am the one who was waiting for the adaptation, long, long ago Eps 1-10 so good adaptated, After eps 11 the story board so bad and the fighting choreography so flat, makes me think, is this sao fighting scene? Yea there is a problem about animation quality and we can see that clearly. The only good action scene only when kirito fight a bunch of goblins, and save the two girls. The rest of that was so bad. The atmosphere of alicization arc that I have read in the novel was dissapear. Fyi the staff of sao 3 is different from the previous sao I remember how good aincard arc, alfheim, GGO, and mother rosario, with a solid adaptation, not like this one. The reason is there is a problem with the staff and production. tbh over all ''alicization arc'' should scored 6 in myanimelist.

The Return of Sword Art Online I'd heard a lot about this continuation of the Sword Art Online: Alicization arc, and to be honest, my first attempt at watching it wasn't very positive. At the time, it felt like "more of the same," as if the work was just recycling ideas already explored before. I was already tired of the formula, so I ended up abandoning it. Only recently did I decide to give it another chance… and looking at it more calmly now, I admit I was partially wrong. In fact, this new arc is better crafted than I expected. The world-building is more detailed, the narrative tries to be more mature, and the conflict has more weight, even bringing interesting discussions about consciousness, reality, and artificial intelligence. A greater and better development than in Gun Gale, for example. Still, even with these improvements, an old problem continues to bother me. The biggest flaw of Sword Art Online has always been (and continues to be) repetition. When I followed the series years ago, back in the Sword Art Online Aincraid arc, the premise was extremely innovative. The idea of ​​being trapped in a virtual game with a real risk of death was captivating and impactful. Next, Sword Art Online Fairy Dance still managed to function as a reasonable continuation, almost a natural conclusion to the story. However, from then on, the feeling is that the work began to revolve around the same structure: Kirito enters a new virtual world, there is some kind of serious threat, lives are at risk, and in the end everything is resolved. Even with variations in setting and game rules, the skeleton of the narrative remains practically the same. This inevitably generates a feeling of weariness. No matter how well executed the arc is (and Alicization is, indeed, better executed), the formula no longer has the same impact as before. Still, I must acknowledge the merits of this season. Visually, it is very competent: the animation is beautiful, there is greater care with scenery and lighting, and the world presented has its own identity that deviates somewhat from the more "generic" pattern of other arcs. The soundtrack also greatly helps with immersion. On the other hand, the character design remains simple, functional, but without great prominence. For example, both Kirito and Eugeo have visuals that don't stray too far from the basics. Ultimately, my rating is 6/10. It's a good, fun, and technically competent season, but it suffers from carrying the weight of an already saturated formula. There's quality here, undoubtedly, but there's also fatigue. So I'm left with a somewhat ambiguous feeling. On the one hand, I can recognize that this phase of Sword Art Online has value and can please those who are still involved with the story. On the other hand, personally, I feel that the work fulfilled its role a long time ago and that perhaps it should have ended sooner, while it still maintained that initial freshness. It's not bad, far from it, but it's no longer essential either. For these reasons, I find it difficult to recommend this new phase of SAO. =================================================================================================================Versão em Português===================================== O retorno de Sword Art Online Eu ouvi bastante sobre essa continuação do arco Sword Art Online: Alicization, sendo sincero, minha primeira tentativa de assistir não foi nada positiva. Na época, a sensação era de “mais do mesmo”, como se a obra estivesse apenas reciclando ideias já exploradas anteriormente. Eu já estava cansado da fórmula, então acabei abandonando. Só recentemente resolvi dar uma nova chance…e olhando agora com mais calma, admito que estava parcialmente errado. De fato, esse novo arco é mais bem trabalhado do que eu esperava. A construção do mundo é mais detalhada, a narrativa tenta ser mais madura e o conflito tem um peso maior, trazendo até discussões interessantes sobre consciência, realidade e inteligência artificial. Um desenvolvimento maior e melhor que em Gun Gale por exemplo. Ainda assim, mesmo com essas melhorias, um problema antigo continua me incomodando. O maior defeito de Sword Art Online sempre foi (e continua sendo) a repetição. Quando acompanhei a obra anos atrás, lá no arco de Sword Art Online Aincraid, a proposta era extremamente inovadora. A ideia de ficar preso em um jogo virtual com risco real de morte era envolvente e impactante. Em seguida, Sword Art Online Fairy Dance ainda conseguiu funcionar como uma continuação razoável, quase como um fechamento natural da história. Porém, a partir daí, a sensação é de que a obra passou a girar em torno da mesma estrutura: Kirito entra em um novo mundo virtual, há algum tipo de ameaça grave, vidas estão em risco, e no final tudo se resolve. Mesmo com variações na ambientação e nas regras do jogo, o esqueleto da narrativa permanece praticamente o mesmo. Isso, inevitavelmente, gera uma sensação de desgaste. Não importa o quão bem executado seja o arco (e Alicization é, sim, melhor executado), a fórmula já não tem o mesmo impacto de antes. Ainda assim, preciso reconhecer os méritos dessa temporada. Visualmente, ela é muito competente: a animação é bonita, há um cuidado maior com cenários e iluminação, e o mundo apresentado tem uma identidade própria que foge um pouco do padrão mais “genérico” de outros arcos. A trilha sonora também ajuda bastante na imersão. Por outro lado, o design dos personagens continua simples, funcional, mas sem grande destaque. Como exemplo, tanto Kirito quanto Eugeo têm visuais que não fogem muito do básico. No fim das contas, minha avaliação fica em um 6/10. É uma temporada boa, divertida e tecnicamente competente, mas que sofre por carregar o peso de uma fórmula já saturada. Existe qualidade aqui, sem dúvida, porém, também existe cansaço. Fico, então, com uma sensação meio ambígua. Por um lado, consigo reconhecer que essa fase de Sword Art Online tem valor e pode agradar quem ainda está envolvido com a história. Por outro, pessoalmente, sinto que a obra já cumpriu seu papel há muito tempo e que talvez devesse ter se encerrado antes, enquanto ainda mantinha aquele frescor inicial. Não é ruim, longe disso, mas também não consegue mais ser essencial. Por esses motivos acho dificil recomendar essa nova fase de SAO.

Spoiler-less, TL;DR, fast, simple, and easy-to-digest review: Swords, Swords, MORE SWORDS!!! 6/10 Animation? Excellent (+++) This is by far the season with the best art style and animation in the series... yet! Fight scenes are way superior to previous ones. Characters? Ok (+) They learned their lesson from season two (eugh! what a trainwreck season) and somehow introduced some new decent ones. (Klein is still underloved pls more) Story? Meh (-) World building is better than the previous but not better than the first season. They went full (almost full) fantasy that made it distinct from others in the series, but I still prefer the first season. The payoff? IMO, watch the next season immediately. The story is not bad, but not good either. Pacing? Meh (-) This season has to have the slowest burn in this series, but more coherent and bearable than 2nd season (ew). OST? Good (++) BGMs made the fights hype AF! They really upgrade in this department and I wish they do the same in the next season. Enjoyability? Meh (-) While fights are good and enjoyable, the story is not. I have to +5 or 2x the show so that I can get to the fights and other major plot lines. Too much unnecessary fillers will lead to payoffs to be not worth it. If you want to enjoy this story, transform this into a linear but engaging TTRPG instead. You can add characters if you want.

SAO is back at it again with yet another ridiculous and unrealistic technology. The "Soul Translator" can supposedly read human souls which the anime claims are electrons trapped in the cytoskeleton of cells which is definitely not how a soul would work. Aside from the unrealistic technology and weird idea about souls however, this is a fun anime to watch. (You should watch the first two seasons of sword art online first but also the movie Ordinal Scale or some things may not make sense.) The story is relatively convoluted. There's a lot of explaining about technologies that do not make sense to justify actions characters take. Aside from this the story is quite interesting and engaging with a completely different environment than in the past seasons of SAO. The pacing is very good with nice switching between the viewpoints of different characters. Some plot points or things that happen don't make sense and people die too slowly but this doesn't detract too much from the story overall. The characters in this story are mainly Kirito, who has a better personality now, and new characters that haven't appeared in the anime before. Kirito's previous friends to appear in the anime but play a relatively minor role. There's lots of new characters and most of them are interesting enough and add to the story. The animation si pretty good overall with nice animations during fights and for game effects. There's a few scenes with cgi but these are very unintrusive. The sound is great and makes watching the anime a nice experience. The voice acting is okay. Overall this anime is worth watching if you like SAO. If you didn't like the previous seasons of SAO, this might still be worth a shot since most of the characters are different and the story is quite different. There's sexual themes though so may not want to watch the anime if those bother you a lot.

I originally watched this when it aired on Adult Swim, and while I was originally skeptical of it (seeing as how it is a Sword Art Online anime, which I have not enjoyed as much in the past,) I was pleasantly surprised by the character development, themes, fight choreography and story of Alicization. Eugeo is one of the more interesting deuteragonists in anime, and Kirito having a fresh start makes it less annoying, since you don't have to deal with the Harem-ing typical of other SAO parts. Despite me not really having watched/viewed other SAO media, I still felt like I could understand the story without being lost or having to go rewatch previous parts/clips. There were a few moments in the show that follow the SAO formula, which admittedly had me less interested, and the following story arc "Alicization: War of Underworld" had me much less enthralled than the Alicization Arc, but overall, it definitely wasn't a bad watch. I feel people who, like myself, are not regular fans of Sword Art Online will be pleasantly surprised if you decide to watch this.