Sword Art Online: Alicization

Minor spoilers ahead: I loved the idea behind Sword Art Online, but was incredibly disappointed that it stopped being about Sword Art Online. We had a bunch of other games in the show where the stakes were not very high and that took the thrill away from it. That is why I like Alicization so much. Finally, Kirito is trapped in a lifelike game again where death in-game means he is likely to die in real life, and he is unable to leave. This time, he can't just run in and demolish everything with ease, it will take him a long time (from his perspective) to get out of the game and go back home. The idea of this season finally starts to feel like the original plot of Sword Art Online and I think that is what everyone wanted. The characters (even Kirito) are better than they are/were in previous seasons. We see character development as Kirito tries to figure out the new world he is in. The visuals are great, and the two openings could not be better. I would go as far to say this season is better than the first half of season 1 because this season focuses on its plot for all 24 episodes and doesn't randomly jump through time. If you like the original plot of sword art online, you will probably like this season. You only have to sit through a few episodes before things get started.

This has got to be one of the weakest seasons in SAO for me (yes even weaker than season 2). While Alicization did introduce some interesting concepts such as the creation of a bottom-up artificial soul, it ultimately felt a bit samey to the rest of the series. Kirito starting from nothing again surrounded by a new cast of (AI) characters really felt like a step back. While Kirito's tendency to be overpowered was cut back a little bit, it still felt like too little, too late, and while Yugio and Alice were interesting enough characters, their inclusion meant that the existing characters were mostly ignored. The Pontifex felt like a pretty bland character, only seeking power for power's sake, and her actions did not always feel logical within the story. The underworld and Axiom church aren't inherently bad, but they don't really add that much to the story (mostly used as a lead up to the next season). One of the things I really enjoyed about SAO was the relationship between Kirito and Asuna, but this season it really felt like the writers wanted to write her out of the season. As a result, Kirito's actions don't feel like they have any real motive to them beside a vague notion to protect Yugio. While this isn't out of character, it doesn't really provide any room for character development or for new revelations. Ultimately, this season was created almost solely to set up the next one, with little regard to how it affects the story already created. In all honesty, this season is so far removed from the previous SAO seasons, that if you watched it as a standalone series, not much would change, which is a real disappointment.

You know an anime is getting better when the production team puts a lot of effort into having great quality. And I think the Alicization arc of Sword Art Online has proven to me that loving this series since the first season made me feel happy that I did not regret watching the series. In this arc, we follow Kirito as he is transported into a world called Underworld and must embark on a journey with Eugeo to find Alice who resides in the capital and retrieve her. Meanwhile, in the real world, Asuna and the RATH Company assist him in recovering his body after being injected by Johnny Black of the Laughing Coffin. Kirito is once again amazing as from the previous seasons by being optimistic and determined as always to accomplish the goal but adds some sort of personality such as being a teacher figure towards Eugeo and a caring friend to him as well. Eugeo on the other hand is the character that I really sympathize with because I see how broken and weak he is when he faces danger and yet he tries to overcome that belief by trying to be like or probably better than Kirito which makes their chemistry amazing. Alice is also an interesting character and does resemble some characteristics of Saber from the Fate/stay night series. She has the intriguing backstory from a little girl who has broken a law and has turned into this mind controlled knight who must obey and do as she is told. The villain Quinella also very much succumbed to power which is Quinella and I thought she was a very great villain in the story. Cardinal for some reason reminded me of Beatrice from Re:Zero and she was a good assistant to Kirito and Eugeo. Even the characters that appear in only a few episodes were still effective such as the teachers of Kirito and Eugeo, their two followers, the envious students, the Integrity Knights as well as the unidentified armed forces in the real world adds some tension to the story. One of my biggest praises from this series is that they managed to make both the virtual world and the real world engaging and interesting since both worlds are at stake. In the virtual world, the capital is being governed by Quinella who uses her synthesis ritual to control the minds of the knights and weapons in her place in order to stay in power which made me feel like this series has become political which I thought was great. It also shows that not only Kirito, Eugeo and Alice must beat the antagonist but also stop a war between their world and the Dark Territory otherwise they will fail. In the real world, the government is experimenting with the Soul Translator in order to create artificial intelligence that can kill which may be utilized in defense and war forces. However, lives are also at stake in the real world as unidentified military units come to raid the RATH's facility to hack into their system and also steal Alice but for a different agenda. So basically there are wars in both virtual and reality and everything is at stake and must be stopped and it adds to the tension of the story. My most favorite episode from this series is when Eugeo saves their two followers from being raped by the students who seek vengeance and envy towards him and Kirito. I thought that part of the series hit me a lot on the personal level, especially how they define the laws built in their world to only be satisfied for those who made it and not for those who are in need. It makes me think a lot as well in the real world as to how laws are made by the government just for them to be in power which also connects to how Quinella created her own weapons and integrity knights to ensure that only she will have the power and no one else. Injustice happens amongst the public if it benefits their own agenda and belief. And if no one discovers that, we are all blinded with fake justice that exists in the country. It has come to my attention as to how beautiful the animation has gotten to the point that it has fully upgraded itself in solidifying the great visuals which combine with the action sequences very well. The sound mixing and editing has also improved along with its great music from new and returning artists of the series. The way they improved a lot on the story has gotten better with great action sequences and emotional and endearing moments of the characters. The third season of SAO is 9/10 because I have no major complaints that much since I had an amazing time with this season. It made me love the series as much as I have from the start. I felt a lot for the characters, the story was amazing, the art style and visuals are better than the previous seasons. For those who have watched SAO since 2012 and have gotten this far, congratulations because you are watching an amazing developed anime series already.

Guys,this season is literally what the first season should be...i watched it in like 2 days and damn i has never been bored. Now let me explain: Let's start with the art:that is a 10/10,aniplex and A1 pictures really did a good job on that,the animation are everytime amazin,even if they were pretty good in the other seson too,but in this one is on a complitely different quality. Sounds:10/10,the openings and the endings are absolutely gorgeus,probably better than the s1 ones,and the eugeo and alice themes are sooo good too,because they really match with the characters' personality,and Eugeo is a perfect example of that. Characters:9/10,i really loved this season's characters too...Eugeo is absolutely my favourite characters in all SAO,alice is pretty good and she will be more descoveried later,bercoulli,quinella and fanatio are good villlains,and ofc we have kirito,but it's pretty better that how he was in the other seasons. Enjoyment:10/10,personally i really loved this arc,because i already enjoyed the others,but this one is in another level,it has better character writing and development,it has less texture holes and the animations are way better Story:10/10,the story of this arc is so oroginal and it is well made,because it has less texture holes,and it has more explaination of what is happening and why,and the final fight is freaking amazing. So i would absolutely say that this season has raised the quality of the sao anime SO much,and if you liked or even not hated the first season of sword art online,it is really worth watching

SAO has been blasphemed for years by netizens. Yet my friends a pure watcher regardless of what's the SNS said, he still enjoy and recommend it to me. Their fans suggest to at least try the Alicization arc because it's a fresh start with a better writing & not much related with prev arc. I guess, I should give it a try. (this is general review of SAO Alicization & War of Underworld, because they all a one package story) So the story is about MC brain damaged by accident (how come a 1 meter umbrella lose by a 1 cm injector? & he called himself the Sword Hero?). To cure it he must dive in a VR game console that can recover his brain in-trade of carrying a mission to stimulate AI there to break a rule by their own, to make a self-aware AI not a robot. Alice the AI did it but then arrested by the God in-game. MC & friends try to save her & success even with a lot drama mid-way. In real-life side, the game facility attacked by terrorist who want to use that AI for war. Half building locked to protect MC progress but enemy can also dive in game and start a big war. Yet MC still win & send Alice to real life but leaving himself there for 200 years worth time because enemy hack the speed setting. Finally in real life Alice got physical body, MC wake up from slump & become normal again (what's the point of that 200y I mention?). The end, happy ending. Oh wait, somehow to make the story continue, they dive to that game again after few decade worth of time there. A simple general story with many small forced twist trying to make it complex but failed. By that setting, MC supposed to be a 3rd party observing AI growth but no. Writer really love him and all problems solved by MC, all characters love him. Okay, this harem bait is good for shounen viewers (my youth maybe like it too), but this leads to a problem at final part War Underworld. While the good side is at pinch in the war, all women calling the MC in coma (it's so cringy...), zannen it's not working but after just one small push by his friends Eugeo, he woke up with many OP skill out of nowhere and save the day. Again, after things going normal in real life he cried while remembering his friend Eugeo (so gay...). Eugeo supposed to have a big key at final & gave a stronger touching moments but the viewers don't care much about him because he is just additional cast a by-passer at first arc. This general plot hole can be solved if writer gave more role to Eugeo at first arc, if he really intent to make him the wake up call key to MC at final. One thing hard to be denied by haters is the visual. It's awesome at normal scene thanks to studio A1 Pict. The fighting animation is fine for me, but as time goes I'm getting annoyed by how short a battle can be. Feels like everything is one hit die, one hit win, one hit lose. Even the snippet at the opening song is more entertaining than the actual scene. Also the SFX feels similar between each clash (well at least not as bad as studio JC Staff). Summary, the story is generic but the visual still enjoyable so I recommend to skip 25eps Alicization by just watching the recap (it's good enough for a recap ep), then go straight to all War Underworld episodes with top notch visual experience you can get, the battle scene is longer & better too, it's so amusing. Well, if you like catching a harem bait then I won't stop you for going to Alicization eps.

I have very conflicted feelings about SAO Alicization. This show has some aspects about it that I believe are really impressive. It is also a refreshing departure from the previous seasons of SAO. However, this show saddens and infuriates me because of its flaws. This show perfectly demonstrates that the creators of the SAO series have learned very little from their previous failures and mistakes. They repeatedly fall into the same traps and make the same mistakes they made in the first season of SAO. It saddens me greatly because there are a lot of good ideas, concepts, and opportunities in Alicization. The Good Stuff: Alicization starts out impressively. It has an incredible setting to base its story off of. You immediately get thrown into the beautiful vistas, the new and likable characters, and the Taboo Index. (Basically the unwritten laws of this world that everyone must follow or be punished) It grabbed my attention and got me invested in the characters and setting. The music and art are both great. SAO has always had good music and this show is no different. The two new important characters, Alice and Eugeo, are both very solid. Eugeo in particular is even able to bring emotion and personality out of Kirito. He is a naïve, bright-eyed, and endearing individual who you want to see achieve his goal. Combining all of these strengths, Alicization has an excellent first four episodes that got me excited to explore the interesting world and laws that govern it. Episode 4 ends with Kirito and Eugeo leaving the town of Eugeo's origin in order to make it to the central city. I was so hyped for the journey. I couldn't wait to see the interesting locales while also seeing how this "Taboo Index" affected the citizens of this realm. However this leads to the first big mistake that Alicization made that they had already made before in Season one. Same Old Song and Dance: Episode 5 begins with a huge time skip that completely skips the journey to the Central City. It completely squanders the huge opportunity that they had to explore the world and develop the setting and characters while also destroying the pacing of the show AGAIN! Just like the time skips in the first few episodes of SAO. "This may have been a huge mistake, but that doesn't mean the episodes after this will be bad." I told my self this, but I already knew that it was pretty much all downhill from here. There were many more disappointments to come. It All Falls Apart: After episode 5, many mistakes are made that destroy the great setting and story they had built. This includes another disgusting sexual assault scene, more pointless harem pandering, and an absolutely atrocious ending. These mistakes that the first season of SAO also suffered from are the main reasons why this anime is so frustrating. They should have learned from their previous mistakes in order to create something truly amazing. Instead, they reinforce the flaws that the series of SAO has always had. The Ending: The ending of Alicization is incredibly anti-climactic, insulting, and self-destructive. I can't say much without spoiling anything, but it screws up everything it tries to do while also insultingly screwing over a bunch of characters for little to no reason. It is baffling and unsatisfying, and it perfectly represents the rest of the anime. Conclusions: Despite having an amazing opportunity to create something amazing with its interesting world and concept, Alicization repeatedly trips over itself in infuriating and familiar ways. However, despite all of the negative stuff I have said about it, their is still a lot off good that this show has to offer. If you enjoyed the previous SAO seasons you will most likely really enjoy Alicization. However if you haven't, I can't wholeheartedly recommend this to you in good conscience.

Hi! It is my first review, so please note, that I do not consider myself a seriouse critic and I just decided to write this for fun! *You might find some really minor spoilers ahead!* At the beginning I would like to clarify that this score is given in relation to other seasons of SAO. If I was comparing Alicization to any other anime I would give it 6 or 5 out of 10. It was mediocre. Story 6/10 - So... To be honest I enjoyed Alicization as much as or even more than the first Arc of SAO. The story was - as usuall - about a new world for Kirito to enjoy and explore, but this time with a little twist, connected to the technological development, that is being made in the SAO's world. This time it is about a little bit more than just a simple game, that was made for people's enjoyment and ended up with people trapped in the game/dying. Characters 8/10 - in my opinion the biggest advantage of this Arc were it's characters. Besides (as always overpowered) Kirito we got Eugeo and Alice. Eugeo is a great character and with Kirito they create a wonderful duo. They are kind of contrary to each other - Kirito, despite being young, is skillful due to his experience in other, virtual worlds, while Eugeo is only at the beginning of his journey. Firstly, he has to learn a lot from our Black Swordsman, but he quickly catches up to him. At the beginning of this Arc I was disapointed, because the series was (again) really concentraiting on Kirito and he got way more action and fights than Eugeo, but later it was more balanced. A new character introduced in this arc was also Alice - a childhood friend of Eugeo, whom he wanted to rescue from the influence of the main villainess. For me she was a nicely made character - skilled, motivated, strong but also really cute. When it comes to the characters we know from previouse Arcs - Asuna, Shino, Klein, Ayano etc. - there are practically shown only at the beginning of the Arc. To be honest I liked the new characters - Eugeo and Alice - far more than those from the previous Arcs. They are more memorable, have more interesting story and are not there solely in order to join Kirito's harem. I liked them both and consider them the main advantage of this Arc. When it comes to other characters, sadly, I do not find anything interesting in them... They are not bad, but they are just characters, who you can see in any other show - some supporting characters, whom we meet and then forget about, villains, who turn good, the main villainess, whose main point in this show is to be the source of... fanserviece? I am sorry, but she is completly naked practically all the time, even during the main battle. Art 6/10 - the art was really good, but simmilar to any other show. Some scenes were pretty, like there were many shiny, sparkly objects and it just looked nice... The fight animations were alright, characters, their clothing and weapons were detailed. I did not notice any weird background characters or objects, which is always a big plus. Overall it was a pleasure for my eyes, but I did not notice anything outstanding about the art. Sound 5/10 - I think, that openings and endings were nice, but again nothing special. If you have watched the previous Arcs, then you probably already know some of the sounds, that you will hear in Alicization. Enjoyment 7/10 - I liked the show. I like watching the continuations of the stories, that I already know and it was nice to revisit SAO. Overall 7/10 - If it was not for Eugeo, I would give Alicization a 6/10 or even lower. I really liked his character and it was great to watch him flourish. As I have already written, for me he and Alice are the best aspect of this show. What I was disappointed about: - Of course the show (at least at the beginnig) was really concentrated on Kirito, he was the brain of nearly every operation - I would like to one day see SAO giving more light and opportunities to other characters. - Is it just me, or did Kirito and Eugeo developed too fast? Or were their enemies portrayed as stronger than they really were? - I would like the memory loss plot to be made a little bit different. I saw a lot of potential in it and I think it could have been more interesting. Thank you a lot for reading this review! I hope, that it will be helpful in deciding whether to watch Alicization or not. Bye and have a good day :D!

I don't even know what to say. So many people below me alrady explained it very well. I fell in love with SAO since minute 1, the Aincrad arc is one of the best pieces of anime I have ever seen. Unfortunatelly, SAO Alicization does exactly what every SAO from the past does. The background is surprisingly great considering how used SAO is. Alicization begins with great characters, and they explode in majesty when Kirito for some reason was out. I felt there was hope for SAO then. It was great. Then last season came in and it sucks at so many levels it's not worth mentioning. SAO did it again. Sad.

If you check my profile you'll see that i gave all other SAO seasons a 2 or 3. Why? Well, SAO stops being SAO after the 15th episode of the 1st season, where the Aincrad arc ends. The series brings interesting ideas and motives with terrible execution, with a fanbase full of filmed 13y olds. So why do i give this arc a full 8? Well, even tho it fully counters what I said up until now, the least SAO part of SAO is my favourite one. It shakes off most of the bad things up until now and re-introduces the 1st season motives, but MUCH better. To start off, the harem setting is removed. With the introduction of Eugeo, who acts as a 2nd main the whole season, we get a breath of fresh air of all 5 other female characters who stick in the plot mostly doing nothing, except Asuna and Sinon taking a good amount of the story on their shoulders. 2nd of all, as I said before, it re-introduces the 1st season motives- one of them being "if it feels and looks real, is it real". I can babble all day about this anime, but keeping it short, i can say that this is the ONLY good and memorable part of the show. Oh, and enjoy it while you can, because the next part, war of the UW, is awful. A strong 7 to 8, feels like a diffrent, better anime.

When I first heard of Alicization, I thought it's going to improve the series. The production looks good, the story's interesting, and the OST sounds awesome. I thought that the writing might become better. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Alicization is another SAO story with compelling ideas but bad writing. Its attempt of integrating philosophy with science fiction is so poorly done. You can't create the human soul with computer algorithms. If that's the case, then the lifelong debate of whether we have a soul would've been resolved by now. The lore of the Underworld is intriguing, but sometimes the actions of the characters aren't aligned to the world's internal logic. For instance, there's a certain scene with female characters in an unspeakable situation and yet the Underworld's code as controlling may be is supposed to keep horrible stuff like this from happening. That's so inconsistent. Then there's the ton of exposition, which I can't help but wonder if Alicization forgot that it's using a different medium. And don't get me started with how the villain is defeated. I don't know if I should call it "Deus Ex Machina" or anticlimactic by how ridiculous it is. No new comments on the characters because they are as typical as ever. Once again Alicization is an example of how to not get your hopes up when it comes to a property that consistency stumbles on the promises it struggles to keep.

"SPOLIERS!" Personally i am not going to write a ton about this but if you are seeing this then ill say this. I really do actually dead serious like sao but omg the first arc was good and then did some stuff and then put the second part in it and the season was a mess. But this season is probaly my fav because kirito has never really had a best friend besides Asuna but thats his "wIfE" and eugo is probaly one of the best characters in this whole show/series. Honestly very sad when he "SPOLIER" died to mrs. naked lady aka admistartor aka mrs not quenn of the kingdom. honestly this what the first arc should have been but was not. and thats why it was so good. R.I.P. EUGO! think my rating is a 8 pr 9 and almost put it at a 9 but i think it is a 8 because its sao.

tl dr; Great world building, new set of characters (and new characters to hate), but ends on a cliffhanger - good thing the Part 2 is airing now. I just can't stop being impressed by how these animators are so damn good at doing their job no matter how stupid the story is (not that it's that stupid this time, but it had its ehh moments here and there a few times). If you are sensitive towards the topic of rape, this is a <<content warning>> for you because it almost reaches that point. Yes, I know it literally has a weapon in its title, but I feel like at least the second half was maybe a bit too action packed. Let me have my moment just seeing them do whatever and have fun, man. I also wish that we got more explanations towards the world's control system, because I barely understood shit. Everything other than that was fine, though, yes.

Story: Much, Much better than any other story arcs as of right now, including SAO and ALO. Finally living up to the "Action, Adventure" genre tag. Kirito and Eugeo earned my respect in this season more than any others. 10/10 Art: Unfortunately this is around the time when A-1 fucked up, simple character expressions, bad shader application, cutting edge slacking in drawing, A better story arc living up to a bad art standard, How sad. 3/10 Sound: As usual, SoundFX is good, music selection is excellent, 9/10 Character: Just like the story arc implies, every character has meaning now, they are not just data anymore. Everyone who is invested in telling the story is justified in doing so, compared to prior seasons. 9/10 Enjoyment: typical SAO, 9/10

My only problem with Alicization is that the anime is just so poorly made. I am a SAO fan since the beginning, and the Chinese community(which is my community)have a generally positive attitude towards SAO, so I never found any problems with it. I've seen the mangas, I've read the novels, and I have to admit; the Alicization novel is a masterpiece. We all know that the author of SAO wrote the first few novels to win a competition, and due to the length requirement, there was not much detail description or character developments. He wrote the Alicization novel years later with obviously better writing and anyone who've seen it will call it a masterpiece even they did not like the series. All the problems with the anime is never a problem in the novel. The pacing feels great, and the story is comparable to the good stories such as Erase(which I just watched a few days ago). The character development and etc are amazing, you just can't find much fault with it. But the anime was a mess, I did not enjoy it as much as the novel AT ALL. It has the same problems as The Rising of the Shield Hero, which I've also read the novel, the first few episodes are amazing. Especially the hour-long first episode for both. But as the story advances obvious mistakes were made. Such as characters out of shape or bad(and often) scene divisions. The Scene divisions is a total mess and the fighting quality drops, etc. The thrill the novel can give me never occurs a single bit in the anime. For people who think the anime is bad, you are correct but do not forget that the story itself has no fault with it. A-1 once again ruined a masterpiece. Congrads.

Soo... SAO: Alicization had everything to be better than the old seasons. I had no problems with Art, Sound ( it was so good) but the story and the characters. Let's go explain it. The characters appear to be just tools for Kirito to be the "overpower" and pathetically defeat the final boss. There were so pathetic sacrifices that they were cringe. As we can see, in all the old seasons there is a "formula" to be followed: relaxed and happy moments, a little more serious and defeating the boss even using non existent hacks. The only thing that changes over the seasons is the plot. Why does Kirito take power from the ass every time? This lack of logic bothers a lot and it always seems like I've seen it somewhere.

I have always felt like I was in a weird middle ground as far as my opinion on the Sword Art Online series goes. People either seem to really hate it or really like it, while I fall somewhere in the middle. I usually find its overall execution okay and mildly entertaining, but overall the quality is not as good as I'd like. I only watched most of the series because someone I am really close to really likes the series. I ended up watching lots of the show past the Aincrad arc through osmosis. When I heard that Alicization was the closest the series got to reaching the potential quality of the first season’s Aincrad arc, I was got more interested. It is by far the longest arc in the series, and it definitely feels closer to a modern isekai, where the main character gets whisked away to another world. In some ways, Alicization is a major improvement over the previous seasons, including the most popular Aincrad arc. I actually think the world being a full AI-created recreation, rather than simply another MMO, was a nice way to create a setting with actual living people and in-game personalities. It is not just a bunch of players logging into a game and fighting monsters or NPCs. As a result, it feels more like a real isekai series rather than the pseudo-isekai label some people give most of SAO. For the most part, I think the slower pacing helps the buildup of the plot work better. The season is dedicated to one world and one story, as opposed to the other SAO seasons, which generally split themselves between at least two arcs. It helps the show feel like a real survival story with higher stakes and more potentially interesting characters. Speaking of characters, I think Eugeo, while not amazing, is easily one of my personal favorite SAO characters to date. Even though he is technically an AI in-universe, he feels relatively layered and likable, and he gets decent development over the course of the season. I also liked the slow buildup toward Asuna being the one who has to save Kirito this time, rather than Kirito saving her. Sadly, that is about all I can praise in Alicization Part 1. Unfortunately, I have a lot of issues that keep me from loving, or even consistently liking this season. While the show starts off fine by showing Kirito and Eugeo’s bromance, I was not a fan of how, due to the circumstances, the two conveniently forget their original friendship for such a long period of time. Speaking of childhood friends, Alice was not as interesting as I had hoped. I liked the idea of her being brainwashed, but the eventual direction of her character was disappointing. It basically feels like there are two versions of her, yet you only really get to see one of them. However, the absolute worst part is that Reki Kawahara, for some godforsaken reason, loves using rape as drama. While this particular attempted assault is not objectively the worst example in the series, it is probably my least favorite because it has the most plot relevance. That aspect alone made it hard for me to take the rest of Alicization Part 1 seriously, even though some interesting worldbuilding happens afterward. Even if I pretended that scene did not happen, there are still many things I did not care for. The story attempts to give several named antagonist characters some kind of backstory connected to the Administrator’s control of the world, but the fights ultimately did not have much meaning for me. Similarly, I have seen people say they like the final villain, Quinella, but I am not going to lie: the gooner-bait side of her character was just really stupid to me, arguably even more so anything about Sugou in ALO. When the final fight against her happens, I simply could not take the scenes where she fights naked seriously. At that point, I was getting a headache wondering what Reki Kawahara was thinking during the second half of Alicization Part 1. For reference, I was reading the light novels around the same time that I was watching the anime. While the novels added details, the same events ultimately happened, so the anime did not create the issues I had with this part of the story, it merely made them more visually obvious. There are a bunch of other smaller issues, such as how I did not care about many of the minor characters, as well as Kirito continuing to be a kinda boring flat character (even though this season attempted to humanize his PTSD more, I just don't think it did a good job). Ultimately, though, those pale in comparison to the major problems I had. They turned Alicization from my potentially favorite SAO arc into something I have incredibly mixed feelings about overall. Sadly, the direction the second half of this 1st part of Alicization (especially its ending), made me lose almost all motivation to even start the War of Underworld part.

In my opinion this has been the best of SAO. While being the weakest world from its predecessors, Alicization improves upon almost every other factor. It had much more world building and immersion than anything before it and is only continued further in the next season. The music as well heightens to another level in this season. Eugeo as a character was a breath of fresh air, easily making him one of if not the most likeable character in the series. Motivation, growth, etc., were are fantastic. The sound design is crisp and very stand-out. The sounds of swords clashing sounds intense, satisfying, and sharp. The pacing is amazing giving time to build upon the pair's relationship. Overall Alicization hits almost all of its notes right. Unfortunately the one thing that Alicization isn't as good as its previous seasons is its world. Alicization presents us with an extremely familiar fantasy world that doesn't do all too much to make it super unique. Both SAO and GGO were great examples of worlds that felt like their own worlds. And not something I've seen countless times over. This is also the season that Sword Art Online changes from what was a power fantasy to something that truly feels reasonably realistic. Kirito is reduced to essentially just a normal dude, yes he has all his past experience but nonetheless he still struggles against his foes due to how the world's power system works as well as how strong some of his opponents are. As with every season however you have that one scene that is absolutely abhorrent, the obligatory SAO rape scene. Every time the one scene of the season comes up, its disappointing, gross, and unforgivable. While not being as bad as the first season's, it is still quite long and uncomfortable. And while this is the only time a rape scene is used to try to villainize and further the development of the story and characters in a realistic manner, the fact that it needed to be a rape scene is still bad within itself. A huge reason behind this is, SPOILERS AHEAD, the fact that we see two people break free from their restraints. Firstly is this one, which honestly was a great way to show just how difficult it is to break free, however the second one is simply remembering something and then just brute forcing it. Every single time someone breaks free in the future its from this very mentality, just simply tank it. It means that the rape scene kind of feels a bit disingenuous and not necessary. And that is the point that really matters, it isn't necessary, many other ways could have been used to get your point across that didn't involve this. Another thing that added insult to injury is the fact that the victims of the act don't grow or decay at all. It's used as a plot point but doesn't affect the victims whatsoever. With that though, that's about where most of my complaints end. And I do believe that Alicization is still a great watch with what it accomplishes with its characters and story. It's engaging, you care for the stakes and consequences, and you never feel like Kirito has an advantage whatsoever in any of the fights.

I’ll talk a bit about the story: The technological advancements in Season 3 are getting crazier, with AI being born and raised until it grows on its own like a human. It’s true that an intelligence created and trained is just a program following instructions, but it’s different when AI is born and raised to develop on its own. If before, humans had full control over AI, now AI can have its own personality and desires, wanting to take control of everything. It's completely insane. In the first cour, I saw how ridiculous Kirito has become, addicted to these increasingly unrealistic technological developments. He works so much that he’s getting skinny, and he always thinks he's carrying his black sword everywhere, maybe even believing that wherever he is, he’s the Black Swordsman. The series focuses on two childhood friends, Eugeo and Kirito (according to the Underworld). The story suddenly jumps to the academy, saying that two years have passed, which makes me feel like the Underworld setting isn’t meant to be told in detail or dragged out. They introduce the number one strong character at the academy, talking about their great family lineage and some school regulations, but they don’t explain everything in detail. Maybe that’s because it’s not the main focus. Two worthless characters, the damn noblemen who only boast about their status, really pissed me off. I often wonder why Japan always feels the need to include scenes of sexual harassment and raped on young female characters??!! Aren’t they embarrassed that it reflects poorly on their country, or is it intentional? I prefer straightforward violence, like torture—breaking fingers or slapping, anything (not that I enjoy it), over sexual harassment because, in essence, the trauma inflicted on women is harder to heal than physical wounds. Even though I’m talking about Japanese characters, in Season 1, the main heroine smiles while allowing herself to be groped by a madman without fighting back (wtf, thinking about that part still makes me sick, and I would much rather have Sinon/Asada as the main heroine). Almost the entire first cour was spent on Kirito and Eugeo just hanging around at the academy, dealing with low-level enemies who are as gross as pigs (though still better than an ugly bald bastard with a belly like a barrel). The first arc ends just like that when they’re both taken by Alice, who’s become an Integrity Knight, to the cathedral. Now onto the second arc, where the terrifying AI I mentioned earlier grows to be more evil than any demon. Many say that humans are worse than demons, so what happens when artificial technology surpasses humanity? Yeah, that’s one crazy disaster. Fighting the knights with fake memories to reach the top floor is very much like leveling up in a dungeon tower that you usually see in Korean webcomics, lol. The main character is still as naive as ever, aiming to save the world on his own, without knowing that the AIs raised in the Underworld are only being trained to become killing machines, ready to be used in real life as soldiers who will sacrifice themselves at any moment. Alice, as the main character in the Underworld, reminds me of Saber or King Arthur Pendragon, with her sword resembling Excalibur and her voice having the same commanding presence as a king. Her golden blonde hair shines brilliantly and is long, but she also shows a cute side, fitting for someone her age. Alice is the ideal heroine. The animation and character design are really good, though there are some ridiculous and inconsistent parts when shown from a distance, lol (episode 16, at 00:20:41). The sound effects, like the sound of swords clashing, are much different from what they were in Season 1. In Season 3, the sounds are more realistic, like actual metal clashing. The explosion sounds are also cool; I used headphones, and my ears were ringing, LMAO. The series ends with a cliffhanger and continues in the “War of Underworld” series. Score: 8/10.

Honestly, this initially had me interested. It started off as something new, exploring AI and this new world that Rath had created, and Kirito's involvement in it. I'm not a fan of memory manipulation as a plot device, but the premise definitely had me intrigued. Unfortunately Kirito is such an uninteresting lead character, and when we reach the tower and the abundance of fights as they work their way up it I just couldn't help but feel a little bored. Sure, the ending tried to inject some excitement and suspense back into the story, but I just didn't care by that point.

warning this review contains unspecific spoilers (i didn't include any names (besides the mc retaining a trait from previous installments) and events are as vague as possible with me still getting a semblance of a point across) while it is significantly better than the past installments (not that that's saying much) it still suffers from a lot of problems. pros: - art is significantly better - harem is toned down cons: sorry I went on a little tangent here - the main one is some character's actions making 0 sense, having no meaning other than making things able to play out in a certain way often hindering their efforts the largest example is a sacrifice that accomplished nothing, the character dies just for the characters they died to protect immediately start fighting to the death with the character that someone had sacrificed themselves to protect them from. - the other large one for me is it almost like the writer did one google search on computer science and game design, and ignoring everything just went with it, I get it the future with Fluctlights which is basically AI but that does not change the basics, the author has the very few and far between non-Fluctlight NPC's do thing that they aren't directly coded to do, I shouldn't even have to explain this is not how it works even if it has a learning algorithm, a learning algorithm can only learn to do one task, and a main theme in the show is the invention of true AI so I know for a fact while I'm sure learning algorithms are a little bit more advanced then modern one they still have yet to invent true AI with them - kirito is still pretty much a gray stu