Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria

It's no surprise that SAO is one of the most significant franchises in the anime industry. No matter how each of us feels about it. We're not maniacs, are we? I don't even know what to say. Perfect balance. The pacing is great, the visuals and the story are well adapted. (even including Mito) Music from Yuki Kajiura, as usual Godtear. If you are a fan of the franchise, then this is one hundred percent win. But even for people unfamiliar with original anime it will be interesting, or even become the door to the franchise. I went to see the movie with a friend of mine who stopped watching SAO on the first season and he really liked to. The relationships of the characters who try to grasp the reality of the death-game concept are interesting. The atmosphere of pressure, which grows into a light hope crashed into harsh reality, can also lure the viewer and of course the very spirit of virtual immersion. For me personally, this movie is much better than Ordinal Scale As a fan. My scrore will be 9 but even objectively the film deserves a minimum of 8. P.s ( Unless you are a "crazy hater/troll" who wants to attract attention or something. Just putting 1 point out of 10 without objective facts. Because this is an adult act, right? ) P.S.S ( And yes, please. There is no need to fool people that you allegedly watched a movie (( if you are going )). At the time of this review, it was only viewable in Japan and I highly doubt that presumable future English speaking reviewers live in Japan. There is no need to spread misinformation or hate for the sake of hate. Have self-esteem for others and for yourself. )

This movie is completely asuna's story. Main character in this movie is asuna and it extremly suits for me. asuna's point of view is so fresh. It is good points to describe the reason why asuna who don't want to play games decide to play "sword art online". I was moved by this passage "In this world, I can't decide how to live but can decide how to die". It is so cool passage, isn't it ?? I recommend this movie to not only boys but girls too. Because we can get courage by asuna's fighting. I haven't read "progressive series" but I have excited. I want anyone who likes asuna to see this movie. I'm sure you can enjoy it !

-- Disclaimer this is my first review -- ** This review contains no spoilers ** I feel as though Sword Art Online, otherwise known as SAO, has to be one of if not the most controversial anime series ever created. With many praising the anime as incredible, many also refer to it as horrendous, making this anime a topic of many conversations and arguments. Now for the big question, where does this movie sit when belonging to the infamous Sword Art Online series? STORY 8/10: To start things off, the story is taken from the perspective of Asuna Yuuki's experience with the Aincrad Arc (1st arc) who was the main heroine of the SAO series. The story is similar (some scenes and parts are changed) to the original Aincrad Arc so old SAO fans should compare and contrast this movie to the original series. The movie also provides a backstory of her life before SAO and how she got into the game which I found was really interesting. I feel like one thing the movie did right when compared to the original series was avoiding Kirito's useless harem and going straight to developing the plot that the original series should have been. Overall, the movie is good enough to be seen as a substitution for the original Sword Art Online series and would still make sense as an introduction for people who never watched SAO. The movie has also confirmed a sequel in 2022 which would explain the ending and continue the series from there. CHARACTERS 7/10: There are only three main characters so I will describe them each. Asuna - Asuna is the star of the show so we get to see her develop from what she was before SAO and how she matured because of the situations that were presented to her throughout the movie. I believe she took the role of a heroine in this movie well and it was interesting watching her develop as a character throughout the film. Kirito - Kirito played the role of Asuna's ally in this film. There isn't much to say about him besides the fact that he appeared as a cool and mysterious character when shown from Asuna's perspective. Mito - We never get to see characters that solely connect with Asuna in the Aincrad Arc besides Kirito so it's interesting to finally have one that serves as her companion. Mito takes on a mentor/companion role for Asuna and influences her characterization which I found essential for Asuna. Basically Mito served an important role in this film and it wouldn't have been the same without her. The characters felt more realistic and were able to connect with each other and actually share ideal goals and form bonds that served its purpose in this film. SOUND 10/10: The OST for this film was TOP NOTCH. Every scene was paired with an equally fitting background music that was perfect, nothing felt out of place and fit the mood every time. The ending song by LiSA/Ayase was amazing and served as a perfect collaboration between the two of them. The VA's were also amazing with Mito's VA (Inori Minase) being my personal favorite for the film. The soundtrack for the movie is memorable and is definitely worth listening to. ANIMATION 9/10: Another strong quality the film had was the visuals presented throughout the entire movie. Every scene was consistent and there were no noticeable flaws. The fight scenes were appealing and amazing to watch, the art style is pretty good as well. Enjoyment 9/10: Watching this was very enjoyable, probably one of my favorite films I've watched this year. Highly recommended for people who enjoyed the original series or people who want a better replacement for that. Overall 9/10: I believe this is what the Aincrad Arc should have been more like, not some useless arc that revolves around a dumb harem and unimportant side characters but more of a realistic story that actually makes sense. The film is amazing and I definitely recommend it!

SAO is a franchise that tends to get a large amount of backlash and hate whenever it is brought up, and while that tends to be an excessive amount for a show that isn't necessarily the worst of all time, it certainly deserves some of the vitriol that goes its way. Having seen the entirety of S1 and half of S1 of Alicization, I was pretty much done testing the show, as I found nothing enjoyable or memorable after season one's aincrad arc, which was my favorite section of the series. So naturally, when a movie is released that promised to develop Asuna, one of the most disappointing characters post-Aincrad, I was excited to hear what they had in line. Given that most, if not all, characters in SAO were half-baked disappointments, I was interested to see what they could do. So imagine my reaction when they somehow managed to make her character worse. I am convinced that Reki Kawahara has never talked to a woman in his life. After seeing this movie, there is no doubt in my mind that the only things he knows about women are the cliches and stereotypes in media. The introduction scene is the smoking gun, where we watch Asuna have a "conversation" with girls in her school, where they grunt and say "hello" and "bye" to each other with the most shallow of exchanges that wouldn't even equate to a puddle in depth. Things take on a bit more depth when they get in-game, but even after that the story begins to seriously lose me more and more. The chemistry between Asuna and Misumi is bland. There is almost no chemistry between these two characters, which is kind of a problem when you consider that the movie is about these two. Asuna in the Aincrad arc of S1 was at least somewhat lively. Sure, her personality was very surface-level, but at the end of the day there was something there, something that had substance. In this movie, it feels as if they forgot she was a character, something which I don't blame them for considering the cardboard cutouts of characters that almost all girls are in this show. Story-wise, the main plot is meant to lead into the first boss of the game. The pacing is alright and the story remains relatively on track. However, nothing of substance can really be said of the story here. It's the same as you saw in the Aincrad arc, but with more training on Asuna's part. Nothing much can be said about the overall story, but the final act's aftermath ended up making the conclusion worse in comparison to the original story, something I didn't even consider possible until now. In short, this movie was bland and disappointing. In its attempt to flesh out the characters, it ended up making them even more boring and lifeless, but hey at least the animation and sound is ok so there's that. Someone please tell Kawahara how to write female characters, though, because somehow he managed to make the only interesting one worse.

MINOR SPOILERS Story - Just watched it earlier here in japan. Story was just not that good it's basically the same as the anime but the main character is Asuna, and there were scenes that we didn't see in the anime. The movie was about 1 hour and 50 mins, and all they could fit was when they defeated the boss located in the 1st floor of the tower. (at least they announced a new movie for next year which I hope will have better writing and more scenes which were not shown in the anime) Art - Amazing. It has a similar art style to Alicization, the fight scenes were also smooth, and the monsters were also animated well. Sound - Background music is solid. I loved the ending song sang by Lisa. Characters - Character designs were very good and some notable characters in the anime appeared in the movie. Enjoyment - Even though the story is not that good the movie is still good because the art, sound, and characters made it more enjoyable for me.

[SPOILER AHEAD] Sword Art Online: Progressive was absolutely an amazing watch. The beginning of a grand narrative wherein newcomers into the franchise could experience first-hand watching Progressive. Heavily character-focused. From the source material adaptation to Mito's inclusion into the movie, it was phenomenally fulfilling as a fan of the long-running series. This was Asuna Yuuki's movie from start to finish. (INTRO) First of all, witnessing Progressive's events live with the cast in motion was quite the experience as an LN reader of the Progressive series. The voice acting definitely contributed a major part in Aincrad's and each character's suffering tales. A faithful adaptation that it hits marks along with the newly added character Mito. To be honest, I was skeptical whether A-1 Pictures was able to pull off adapting the 1st SAO Progressive novel in a movie run-time, having a completely original character too added, in which I supposed Mito would be an ignored character. And yet, they impressed me and fully respected the source material. (CHARACTERS) Tozawa Misumi (aka Mito) - my favorite Inori Minase role by far An elite Tekken player, pro gamer moment, and the beginning factor of Asuna's immense character development. Mito's inclusion led SAO fans to wonder how will she serve and contribute in the Progressive series. But within the 1hr and 30min+ time frame, Mito was able to define herself as a key factor in the movie. Mito greatly grew on my in the little time that she had. She served as Asuna's strength and will, all throughout. Mito knowing Asuna's weaknesses, as a beta tester herself and talent in the gaming world, Mito strives to support and aid Asuna on her short-comings both in the real and game world. Their bond was too pure and wholesome, similarly as to Asuna and Yuuki's relationship. It was honestly refreshing seeing Asuna's journey as a character develop with all these people she encounters. Mito is very much respected and an important factor to the Progressive movie. Add to waifu. Love her. Kazuto Kirigaya (aka Kirito) - the Black Swordsman Beater Kirito played a relatively "side" character role, serving as Asuna's second reliable guide after her parting ways with Mito later in the movie. Kirito encounters an almost 1HP Asuna fighting a field boss. One scene from the novels that the TV series did not show, and was one of my most awaited scenes they pulled off in the movie, was Kirito and Asuna's meeting in the dungeon with a fatigued Asuna overkilling a kobold. A classic encounter LN readers are sure not to forget. Funny how almost at the end, the sudden shift of focus was at Kirito's confession as a beta-tester, knowing he played more of a mentor role in the movie. It was an event which greatly established Asuna's current determination and desire to achieve her set goal. (This is part of the "Beater" was where I hope they'd mention in the movie WHY Kirito did confess; tldr from Progressive Vol. 1, because Kirito wanted to shoulder the blame to beta testers and protect Argo, also a beta tester) Asuna Yuuki (aka Asuna) - the Lightning Flash Progressive Asuna is very very different from the Asuna we know of today. Half-hearted viewers of SAO would be confused as to why she is presented as weak and wimpy in Progressive. Note that SAOP served as Asuna's character's starting point and her introduction of the unknown world of games. Despite being uninformed, she does her very hardest, much as to meeting her family's expectations. Asuna is born into a well-off family where they, especially her mother, immediately anticipate Asuna to perform well academically, putting a big strain or collar on her, unable to grasp a sense of freedom. What even more inside a game, where she barely knows anything? Asuna popped off immensely hard in this movie. It was hers from start to finish. Sword Art Online Progressive did an amazing job adapting her real-life struggles interconnecting with her lacking game knowledge. A grand pay-off in the end, seeing her character develop through countless hardships and short-comings. (ADAPTATION) Sword Art Online Progressive finessed SAO's sceneries and framing. Visuals felt more alive and as a fan, seeing these details recreated with care mattered to me and has put a smile and nostalgia on my face. Fans of the Aincrad Arc certainly would rejoice revisiting Floor 1's beginning and end in an expansive manner; ending with Illfang's defeat and Kirito's last hit which has been such an iconic moment etched into fans. The ruthful despair of being unable to log out, a stroll in the Town of Beginnings, nostalgic and banger soundtracks, sound effects of sword skills, and the grand system of Sword Art Online. All of my favorite parts of the volume made it into the movie. Alongside the dorky and clumsy moments by the beloved cast (bread scene, bath scene, Kirito's quirks). I adored how much care A-1 Pictures had put in. And that Argo cameo . . . almost screamed my hats off in the theatre. I legit thought they wouldn't include the rat in the whole movie smh. (FINAL THOUGHTS) It is the best SAO anime adaptation. Even with added original content, it unironically felt more Progressive than ever. A big respect to the source material and cooperation between producers, directors and author Reki. If Progressive Scherzo of Deep Night and future movies of the franchise continue to receive this amount of care like Progressive Aria of a Starless Night had, we SAO fans are in for a real treat I guarantee. Love this film to utter bits

Prior to watching SAO Progressive in theatres, I rewatched all of SAO for perspective and gave the shows an average of 7/10. Going into SAO Progressive, I expected a higher production-quality rehash of the early events from season one, and was not disappointed. The art, animation, and sound design are substantially better and, though it wasn't the best I've seen by any mark, the fight choreography and implementation of CGI was much better than that of the early episodes of season one. Given the story is essentially the same as season one (and rightfully so; that is the point of the SAO Progressive series), there isn't much to be said that hasn't already been said, without spoilers... except the new plot pertaining Tozawa Misumi, AKA Mito. The introduction of Mito as a non-source character was, surprisingly, well executed. Requiring very few retcons and barely altering the flow of events. I feel that Mito supplied some (debatably needed) explanation to a few events in the beginning of, and leading up to, season one. Overall, I found 'Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria' to be much more enjoyable than the early episodes of season one, likely due to the amount of time A-1 Pictures has had to polish SAO's rough edges. I would recommend anyone who remotely likes the concept of SAO to watch this movie and see what 9 years of polish can do!

Not going to go "full dive" on this one, but I intend to go pretty deep into this, mainly with comparisons to the original show, so BEWARE OF SPOILERS! Cool. Sword Art Online: Progressive is a retelling of the first floor of Aincrad, the first two episodes of the original show, totally from Asuna's perspective. Kirito is present! Don't worry, the unbeatable man of the hour is still here, but he isn't front and center. This is totally fine given that Asuna is infinitely more interesting than her counterpart and, because of this, there are interesting explorations of Aincrad. Taking a look at the world from the point-of-view of someone without any game experience versus one who has already given the titular game a two-month shot is a lot better. We get the fear of death, both outside of our main party and within, before Sachi and company in a way that's more effective, and the feeling of abandonment. The completely new character here is Mito, Asuna's friend from the real world, who was a beta-tester and has a want to protect her. Worse comes to worse with a battle encounter gone wrong and the two split off, sending Asuna into the depressive state we see her in at the beginning of the show. Getting the two's trials and tribulations before Kirito is even seen for more than a split second allows the floor to breathe, as well as Kirito and Asuna interacting for a decent amount of time pre-meeting. Lets the world actually sink in. Although I have great nostalgia for the show of old - it was my first anime exposure outside of Ghibli - this is really brought down by source material. So many beats from the original are hit in exactly the same fashion, done in such a way that feels lazy. Kayaba's delivery is still effective, but the gag of the fat and skinny dudes is still here ("You lied about being 16?" "You're not a girl?") and Silica screaming as well. All of the beats from the boss raid episode are here with some added in moments with Kirito and Mito. Kibaou, spiky hair guy, still goes on his rant about beta-testers with Agile swooping in to correct him, Asuna and Kirito still somewhat reluctantly party up with them sharing a meal ("I wouldn't want a party member dying on me, so try not to die tomorrow" and all that is in full form), and their prowess is shown during the final fight. Diabel, blue hair guy, still dies in the same way and Kirito having his post-fight "Beater" spiel... god, I was scared they would cut out that stuff because while it's so bad writing, it's hilarious to watch. They even kept in Asuna's "how did you know my name?" with Kirito. He mentions that she's been in a party before so she should know that the health bar of every party member is present, and the movie even has focuses on Mito's health from her perspective earlier in the film... simply lazy. Given how good the concept of SAO is on paper, I was really hoping for more in this department. The movie ends with Kirito and Asuna joining together instead of him walking away and urging her to join a guild, get stronger. I'm hoping this is an Evangelion 1.0 effect where the first is mainly a retelling with further deviation past this point, but the difference is that this film tells the story better up to this point than the anime (with much more added content) and well, this is SAO so no high hopes. It's good for what it is. SAO's high-point has always been the music. LiSA's themes are always great and the original music usually fits quite well. Sound effects range from Kirito's photon sword in SAO II sounding just like a lightsaber to decent, it's fine here. Surprised at Yoshitsugu's work after seeing Quints and Demon Slayer, he's got talent! All the other voice-acting is standard as well, nostalgia gives the art a special note for me but fits in that same level of 'standard'. The battle sequences are LEAGUES better than the show, and hey, no overly weird fan service or just pure disgusting moments like the show, congrats! Watching this with three friends in an empty theater was a great time, talking and riffing at a normal volume as if we were watching at home. Kind of got that spark I initially did with this series over six years ago. It's good! Not a waste of time even if you've seen the original.

Sword Art Online: Progressive Review From a person that has not watched any SAO Series. **This is my first review on MAL** Surprisingly, good except for the storyline. A-1 Graphics and animations alleviates this movie a lot. [Story 4/10] [Character 5/10] The story is very short and doesn't have anything relevant. The whole plot is mostly the intro of the series. The story is brief to the point that I can summarize it in only 5 minutes. Most of the air times in this series are edgy scenes, specifically the MC, who I had to watch his edgy personality for about an hour. About the jokes in this series, they are directing Kirito to be a comical character, which I personally like. In this movie, Kirito isn't an OP MC and has a harem, which adds more to my liking. My most favorite moments are Kirito's interaction with Asuna, where he is always nervous and jumpy around her. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka uses his voice acting in these parts very well too. [Animation 9/10] Animation is great. Action scenes are natural and very smooth. Other than that, it just has a microscopic scene that burns the animation for like 2 second, which is not a big deal. [Sound 10/10] Music and sound effects are a masterpiece. Although the first half of the movie doesn't include many fight scenes making is very inviting to sleep, the BGM helps a lot, keeping me from sleeping. I enjoy Ayase's OST and LiSA's vocals the most. To be exact, I played the song on repeat for almost 70 times (not lying). About the voice actors, there were no problems with their acting in my opinion. Inori Minase and Haruka Tomatsu did good like their past works. [Enjoyment 7/10] [Overall 5/10] Overall, I enjoyed this series, but at the end of the day, I can give this series only a 5/10 mainly because of the story. Special thanks to my friend that translate this review to English Ver.

I am hugely invested in telling people that this movie is actually good, so I'm going to tell a story about how I discovered this movie. As part of an (ill-advised) attempt to make a comprehensive isekai tier list, I decided to sit down with some friends to watch every piece of SAO media available to me in as close to one sitting as I could get. This was the last piece of media I watched after finishing Ordinal Scale (I didn't realize it was before Alicization. Whoops) and was so checked out of the end of that movie that the bar of expectations was on the floor for this one. Cue my surprise when half an hour in, I realize I want to go get something to drink but don't feel like I can because I'm too invested in what's happening onscreen. SAO did that? Really? I have no nostalgia for this series, I got into anime early in college. So when I sat down to watch this, I took in all the ugly plot-hole ridden mess that was SAO Seasons 1 and (to a lesser extent) 2. By this point I expected little out of the series, but this movie gripped me in a way nothing that day had even come close to doing. First, the elephant in the room. The SAO Progressive Aria movie is very loosely adapted from the light novel of the same name, and this movie take many liberties in adapting that material. Though a handful of scenes and themes remain from that novel, the first entire half of this movie was fabricated for the sake of this movie. This is objectively a bad adaptation of its source material, and if you go into this looking for that, you will be disappointed. I was not, however, and having since read the novel, I've come to the conclusion that the movie tells a better overall story. What SAO always lacked, in my opinion, was the proper worldbuilding and time to flesh out its death game setting. How people act when put in a game environment under extremely high stress, and how people cope with that. This movie has that in SPADES, all through the eyes of our POV character, Asuna Yuuki. This movie is told through the eyes of Asuna as it tells an alternate point of view of getting through episodes one and two of the Aincrad arc of SAO S1. To that end, Asuna is far from the confident, melancholic badass swordswoman we see in episode two, quite the opposite really. This movie tells the story of both how she learned the necessary skills to survive in SAO's world, how she ends up in the melancholic, doom-and-gloom state she is in episode two, and how she overcomes those things to find renewed purpose. It's more character work than we've ever gotten for the main cast outside of the Mother's Rosaria arc of SAO II, and by a very very long shot. To that end, many of the characters we know and love(?) from SAO are recontextualized to make them fit better in a story about Asuna's growth, and to give them personal stakes in the story of their own. It recontextualizes beta testers, the role they played in SAO, and makes their misunderstood hero status more complicated by the end of the movie. There is a surprising amount of subtlety here if you look for it. The greatest thing this movie does, though, is make Aincrad truly scary again. Trash mobs are legitimate threats. Early in the movie we see a group of players brutally hacked to death because they opened a rigged chest. Our main characters are constantly in danger of being overrun by strong monsters, or hordes of trash mobs that matter so much more because there is no respawning. This game makes you feel the dread of looking at another player, watching them crystalize and knowing they're gone. It's absolutely the thing SAO needed most and we got SO LITTLE of it in the original series. This movie is everything I personally wanted SAO to be. It's not carrying deep messages about the human spirit, no. But it's so much more emotionally engaging than anything the main series has put out. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who was disappointed in the original SAO, if you're like me than this movie was exactly what you're looking for. 9/10

THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW. As someone who hadn't read the light novels of the original series, but had read the Progressive light novels, I was ecstatic to hear about the anime adaptation for Progressive. And after finally watching it... I emerged from the cinema with an amalgamation of mixed emotions. Let's begin with the positives: the art, battle choreography and sound. Undoubtedly stellar, and are what I can praise wholeheartedly with zero reservations. From Ordinal Scale to Alicization, the movie brought over what it had improved from there and refined it further to deliver a myriad of action-packed skirmishes accompanied with smooth, impactful SFX of weapons clinking as they collide with one another, flashy skill effects and more. One minor gripe though: Swordland is an amazing OST, and I do like how different renditions of it are played during the most intense moments of any particular season. But it does get old eventually, and it feels rehashed and overused by this point. This also extends to most of the OSTs that were used in the movie, where most of them feel reused and recycled. The movie's overarching plot generally syncs with the light novel it's adapting its material from, but understandably cuts out a sizeable amount of interaction between certain characters due to the restraint of time. In addition, keep in mind that this movie is narrated from the perspective of Asuna, not Kirito, thus there will certainly be variances in their experiences. The introduction of the anime-original character, Mito, does add a certain depth to Asuna's side of the story, but unfortunately falls short in its execution of storytelling, especially during the second half of the movie. For the sake of being spoiler-free, I will not elaborate further, but I wish more time had been spent on Mito for stronger characterization later in the movie, since a conscious decision had been made to include an anime-original character to the movie in the first place. It was difficult to develop any sort of attachment for her when there was already so much content being cut from the light novel to fit the plot of the novel in under 100 minutes. In my opinion, this was where the movie fell short--its storytelling and characterization, particularly after a certain point of the movie. This movie isn't without its glaring flaws, but I still had a relatively enjoyable experience overall. If you've never consumed any SAO material before, I guarantee you'll be satisfied with what there is to be offered. For readers of the Progressive light novels, however, I suggest entering the cinema with no expectations whatsoever, and appreciate the movie for what it is. It might not be a word-to-frame retelling of the book, but it was an entertaining time nevertheless.

A major disappointment. I loved half of SAO (hated the other), but since I am a fan of Aincrad, I figured a retelling with a better rythm would work. Well... this really doesn't work that well. STORY This first movie retells the first two episodes, but Asuna is the main character. Just to be clear, this is a REBOOT. It's not consistent with what they had shown in the series. For example, the relationship between Kirito and Asuna starts much sooner. But that's not really a problem... as long as it does tell new things. Basically, the movie has 3 major events: - the first day of Aincrad. - the Boss battle. - Mito's leaving the forest. While the latter is very interesting, the other two are literally what we'd already seen in the series, except they clumsily showhorn Mito into them. For example, she participates in the final stand against the Boss. But since that battle was written as the first combo between Kirito and Asuna, Mito feels utterly out of place! So, if it only has 3 major events, what else does this movie tell? Slice. Of. Life. You see Asuna going to school and chatting with girl friends. You see her take a bath. You see her eat. Absolutely nothing interesting in terms of plot... So we get a Slice of Life movie, where 2 of the 3 major events are things we already know, without any relevant changes. Now, there's still hope. After all, this is just the first movie, and it basically adapts only the first novel (which covers only 2 episodes). The next movies will have much more new content. But this one? It's just a boring retell of a story that DID need a longer version... And in fact, it's a bad retellinng. Many major scenes in this movie don't have the same impact they had in the series. Kayaba's chilling announcement isn't chilling anymore, the epic Boss fight isn't epic anymore... ART Progressive is beautiful. But no battle truly stands out. The fights are short, and the animated scenes in those fights are even shorter. Sometimes you get 10 seconds of wonderful skills, but then it's over and it's just... bland. SAO had a wonderful animation in its first season. Ordinal Scale and War of Underworld had incredible fights too. But sadly, in this movie, the fights just aren't really worth watching. SOUND Great seiyuus as usual. The music is very good... but there's few new tracks. I'm a bit disappointed in Kajiura, who is my favourite composer ever. CHARACTER Mito is an interesting new member of the cast. She's relevant to the story, as she's a beta-tester. But her story is basically over at the end of this movie, since the distinction between beta-testers and other players is non-existent afterwards. I fear she might become irrelevant like most SAO characters... Asuna is a bit deeper than usual. Having her as a main character is definitely cool. One thing that really annoyed me is the fact that she's shown as a gamer BEFORE getting into SAO. And the fact that she was trained by a beta-tester is a bit disturbing too. I mean, it's not inconsistent, but Asuna felt like a noob in the series, she didn't even know how to see an ally's HP. The movie did tackle this point, but again : it was clumsy. Mito and Asuna spent 3 weeks together, and yet Mito never told Asuna how to see her HP bar??? Not possible, but the movie still treats it like that. "Look, I included that fact in the story, so it's not inconsistent, ok?" Kirito doesn't appear much, but I enjoyed the portrayal of his social anxiety. He's clumsy, timid, not very charismatic, but it works for this character! Sadly, his interest towards the story is low, as the major plot points surrounding him are cut: we don't hear Diabel's words towards him, we don't see his first days... He's definitely a support character instead of a MC. ENJOYMENT I knew what to expect, but I'm still disappointed. The point of Progressive is to fill the Aincrad arc. That's what this movie does, but I don't think filling the plot with constant slice of life was that great of an idea. The author needed to expand on the important matters. Like the relationships between beta-testers and others. That's what it could have done with Mito, but it didn't really do it. Even visually, this isn't extraordinary. Really, this movie doesn't fix Aincrad ; it only made it worse. Now who knows, maybe the next movies will be more interesting.

Sword Art Online the Movie: Progressive - Aria of a Starless Night is the most mediocre movie I have ever seen. As a die-hard fan of the series and especially the Aincrad arc, I’m quick to defend SAO from any haters. When Progressive was announced, I was looking forward to SAO finally being redeemed through this readaptation of the storyline. Instead of skipping many floors and proceeding to other storylines, Progressive would return to the heart of SAO: climbing the tower of Aincrad, floor by floor. In the days leading up to the theatrical release, listening to the movie’s OP (Yuke by LISA) and reading reviews online about how “this movie does SAO justice” made me so excited and hyped. Probably too much. Someday in the future, maybe I’ll look back on the overarching Progressive series as a masterpiece. Right now, the first movie is simply a readaptation: no more, no less. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the movie. However, the movie simply didn’t replicate the magic or excitement found in the original series. If you already know the plot of the main show, then you won't get much extra value out of this movie. Animation: -The animation is definitely top tier and a large improvement from the TV series. The battle scene has some brilliant sakuga, so that’s at least something to look forward to. Character and Story: -A major selling point of Progressive was the addition of Asuna’s perspective, but I still would have liked to see more of Kirito’s thoughts and viewpoint during this movie. -I don’t really see a point in the addition of Mito besides providing more background story for Asuna. Mito is just background information, and really a disposable character for future installations. -Overall, the story follows the first two episodes of the show with extra events added in. There was nothing “new” or “revolutionary”. Music: -The biggest problem I have with the movie is the music. They completely botched the usage of the soundtrack. 70%+ of the experience comes from the music. If I heard nostalgic music, then I would feel chills run down my back. If I heard hype music, I’d get really excited. Too often, scenes were filled with silence or unmemorable tracks, resulting in an overall boring feel to the movie. In short, SAO Progressive is by no means memorable, extraordinary, or overly compelling. If you’re a new watcher, I’d suggest watching the original series first before tackling this movie. If you’re an SAO fan, give it a watch, but just don’t set your expectations too high. Would I rewatch this movie again? No. Am I going to think about this movie weeks after its release? No. Will I watch the next movie? Yes. In spite of its many problems and shortcomings, I’ll still watch all SAO has to offer. I’m mostly motivated by a strong nostalgia factor, but the hope of finally seeing an undisputable amazing SAO work keeps me searching for more.

The Movie tells the period of the first 2 episodes of the anime, but from Asunas point of view. Well it is SAO. What do you expect. It is a bit generic, but also it's a source for a lot of pop culture, references and we all probably watched SAO as one of our first 10 animes or something around that. The Animation is 100 times better than the original, but the constantly crying, bitching and drama that all could be resolved with a single sentence is a bit too obnoxious for my taste. That said I know it will get a bit better in the future, though I heard that the LNs each cover one floor, so the progression will be very slow. Generally could say it is a bit of a guilty pleasure and just enjoying SAO. Because I did enjoy it (allthough sometimes I screamed at the screen or facepalmed). It is not the best, it is not a must watch. But if you like SAO, you will probably enjoy this. Also: Strongest point: The Ending song slaps.

well... Finally, I watch it, and to be fully honest... It was good, it was really good. using the same artwork from the latest series and sound. The SAO Progressive episode did a good job implementing the sound and art style to the overall movie. It was wary interesting knowing Asuna's story from the beginning, to get the story told from Asuna's perspective. I hope this movie series will tell us more about the SAO that we do not know fully yet More (love) story from Asuna and Kirigaya (kekeke) Hmm... what more to say... let's wait for the next movie I guess. :)

Actually great. Given how Asuna's character and the entire franchise was practically butchered in Alicization, I pretty much dreaded the idea of a Progressive movie with Asuna as mc and a bunch of anime original content. I had serious doubts about this movie and high expectations and I have to say, A1 did a pretty good job. Story: 8.5/10 Out of all SAO anime media, I think Aria the Starless Night may have the best story. Unlike the TV anime or Ordinal Scale, the cast of this movie boils down to 3 people, 2 for the most part. Rather than a large messy, basically God+Harem cast, the characters in this movie are Asuna, Mito, and Kirito. For once, SAO is able to properly flesh out genuine and relateable characters. The world building is done right and the scenes do a great job adding real weight to the conflict and plot. Art: 10/10 This was probably where most of my doubts were coming in. Ali's sakuga was beyond awful for most of it's runtime and Shingo Adachi, animation director for SAO 1-Ordinal Scale, was nowhere to be found in this movie. Which was a disaster for Alicization, wowever, the scenes were consistent and the sakuga was definitely beyond what anything A1 could have done with a TV anime. While there were some noticeably dopey looking faces here and there, the action was solid and the visuals were cinema worthy. Sound: 9/10 Sound effects don't break the immersion anymore. Whatever janky surreal attempts at sfx they tried in Ali is no longer there. The themes aren't dialed to quadruple bass remix nightcore edition and Yuki Kajiura made some great tracks?/remixes of Swordland, Luminous Sword, etc, the OG themes. While I personally can't recall any new special theme for this movie except the ED from LiSA, the music and sounds were pleasant, not distracting, and greatly added to the movie. Character: 8/10 Asuna is the main character of this movie, if you haven't heard yet, and Mito, a new anime original char, plays a supporting role in the story. Contrary to expectations, Mito's portrayal felt so natural, I would even say that Asuna never would have worked as the mc of this movie without her. Kirito, despite having most of the LN development cut, has his character fleshed out subtly. The chemistry between the characters feel significantly more natural to the audience and the comedy was finally able to work thanks to this. Overall, Kirito, Asuna, and Mito were all relatable and realistic characters to them, despite how SAO has portrayed them before. Overall: 9/10 A very interesting adaptation. A1 did a great job balancing the source material, anime original content, and linking it to the 2012 TV anime. Obviously, there aren't any mind blowing developments in this movie given when it takes place chronologically, but the world building and character development that was sorely missed in the original tv anime are on point for once. The animation and music are definitely a cut above Alicization and the TV anime and Aria of a Starless Night did not disappoint. Despite having poor seating and the lights being left on for half the movie, I ended up enjoying this movie quite a bit and I'll probably watch it one more time before it's out of theaters.

This movie wasn't terrible but was not very good to say the least. First off before anything i want to mention how half of this movie is just Sword Art Online with nothing added besides some poor context. Now, the story of this is simply put a worse version of the Sword Art Online story that most know. It doesn't add anything substantial and when an event happens that makes you ever so slightly interested it makes a mess of what could have been ok. This movie from day dot was never going to be amazing, but i was hoping for at least something average. Although i don't hate SAO as much as others, i am now off put from SAO going forward simply because of this anime movie. Story isn't original (obviously) and has nothing extra of any substance. The new character added into this movie and subsequently the universe of SAO is real bad. Now it's not the worst character to be introduced in anime ever, but my god this character has to be in my top 100 most pointless character ever. I have no idea why this movie was made and the driving force behind that thought is this new character. She was so uninteresting and didn't add anything to SAO at all. I think you are meant to dislike her at a certain point but i simply didn't care as this character is awful. The animation is easily passable but nothing amazing in anime terms. If you have seen any of the Sword Art Online anime in the past (which you probably should have before watching this movie), the animation is about the same it's always been. Not at all bad but simply fine and easily passable in this type of show. The visuals of the world seemed nice and the design of certain areas are fine but nothing extraordinary. All of this is about average if not slightly above, but nothing good. Story - 1/10 Characters - 1/10 Animation - 5/10 Visuals - 5/10 Definitely do not recommend, 2/10.

*spoiler free review* 9 months after theater release, SAO progressive finally comes to blu-ray. As I was not a fan of underworld, I went into this movie with very low expectations and this movie still disappointed. Contrary to what has been said online, this movie provides NO deeper insight into the world of Aincrad than the original SAO and does NOT add any depth to Asuna's background or develop her as a character. The movie establishes her relationship with another player, who is unimportant and unexciting. I think the idea of SAO progressive expanding on aincrad and asuna backstory came from manga readers, but clearly this was not passed on to the anime. Credits were the best part. Don't waste your internet datacap streaming this.

If you a big fan of SAO aincard u should watch this....this is quite refreshing they completely fill the previous plothole. So here is my revew score Story: 8 Tbh At first I had doubts, because they chose to change the story from the original source and add original characters. but it turned out to be not bad Graphic: 7 for coloring not as detailed and as deep as ALICIZATION and in some scene the caracters looks so thin....but honestly i feel it's better than alicization where the character looks chubby and has a wide forehead. so for color& graphic: SAO ALC> SAO ORDINAL > SAO;P > SAO S1+S2 for characters art style : SAO ORDINAL >SAO;P >SAO S1+S2> SAO ALC ANIMATION: 7 The coreography and the camera angles is really good. But at some fight and some scene the animation its look really stiff Effect: 10 Epic!!!! Sound effect: 10 I really dislike SAO ALC sfx especially sword sfx. but man sfx in this movie really good OST & BGM: 8 Ost quite good. For BGM they reusing SAO s1 BGM but well....i must say sao s1 BGM is the best

This movie...didn't suck. They really managed to address most of my problems with the original Sword Art Online, and once those weren't bogging things down, you could really see the potential of this premise. For starters, this movie is actually just fun to watch. It approaches characters and situations with a self awareness not only lacking in the original show, but honestly most anime in general. For example, one of my (many) complaints from the original was the scene where a group is mad at Kirito for being a beta tester and a cheater, and they call him a "beater." That's...really stupid, but the show, both subbed and dubbed, plays it completely straight, as if it's some cool thing he's proud of. The movie goes the other direction, Kirito has this moment where he's like "beater? Is that really the best you got? Okay whatever." A very minor change took a scene that made me cringe in the original, to laugh in the movie. There's easily dozens of examples like this that killed my investment in the original, but similar small details that were added or changed brought my enjoyment up tremendously. And what I noticed once the things I couldn't stand about the original were out of the way was that there's actually a really solid foundation for this story. The movie did a great job of showing how being trapped in a death game would absolutely shatter you. Small mistakes could easily get you killed, and even if you don't literally die, the constant pressure will erode your spirit little by little until you're a shell of yourself. "Beating the game" doesn't just mean surviving, it doesn't even just mean making progress to your goals that were assigned to you, it means keeping your spirits up, finding ways to enjoy life even though it's hard sometimes, and it keeps the theme that we need to work together to make that happen. It doesn't go super deep or anything, and this is a theme that was touched on in the original, but I couldn't take it seriously because of all the little things I didn't like about it, but this movie really delivers it home and I actually felt like it earned all of its feels. Also, it had (almost) no fan service! If you're like me and think the fan service alone ruins the original, then you'll be happy. There's two unnecessary scenes where Asuna changes into her school uniform and takes a bath, but they're never more explicit than bare shoulders. I can handle that. But even if you're not like me and don't think this movie is valuable solely for fixing the issues with the original, it's still a worthwhile movie for plenty of other reasons. For example, it really fleshes out Asuna (who I consider the best part of the original) and introduces a new character that brings suspense. She and Asuna make a promise to each other that they'd clear the game together, and I remember thinking "whelp, she's going to die tragically." I won't spoil what actually happens, but Mito's character was a welcome surprise that adds a lot to the experience. The art is also a solid upgrade over the original. SAO was pretty decent for when it came out a decade ago, but 2021 feature film quality art assets really make a pretty picture. I will nitpick, I feel like the action scenes were overly concerned being pretty pictures rather than coherent fights with properly defined spacing and physics. This is unfortunately especially true of the very first scene of the movie which left a bad taste in my mouth right off the bat, but it ultimately ended up being a pretty minor problem, certainly outweighed by the fact that it did indeed succeed at making a really pretty picture. Also, not nearly enough Klein. Besides that, I honestly really liked watching this movie, and I did not expect that going in.