Category: Series which were Dropped

My memory with these kinds of things is not the best, but if I’m not mistaken, then this was the first time in which Kirito actually killed a person, right? I mean, not indirectly like what happened with that one guild of his, but in which he was actually forced to strike down and kill a fellow player. This episode was stuffed with character-development, of which that was only the tip of the iceberg: Kirito was forced to join a guild and he and Asuna officially became a couple (including the two of them sleeping together, which is something you rarely see outside of the outright porn shows). But I do feel that this episode was rather forced…

Kuradeel… I get why he was used, but I didn’t really like him before, and this episode did not change that. I mean, I like that he’d try something, considering that he hates Kirito quite a bit, but I feel that he also could have done that without the overacting. In fact, I think that the points in which the characters in this show go mental are hard to buy and annoying, and it didn’t really help that this was followed by a badly covered “I nearly killed you but because I like to talk to myself your ally arrived just in time to save you”-twist. If you’re going to go with a twist like that: at least deliver it properly, because to be honest, at this point I have pretty much been programmed to exactly point out the moment in which these twists happen due to how bloody overused they are. You could have shown this from Asuna’s point of view, perhaps. that would have spiced things up a bit, and at the same time it’d also show that she actually did something… other than look at Kirito on her personal map. A few weeks ago I complained that we saw her do very little guild-duties, and that’s a problem that still hasn’t really been fixed here.

The direction on was on other points really good though. I mean, ignore the hapless overacting and I got quite a few chills from how Kirito and that one guy were killed off. I also like how the creators succeeded in making the first night between Kirito and Asuna rather awkward. One complaint to this however is that things moved incredibly fast. I mean, the end of the episode moved right from sex to marriage in an instant. Wouldn’t it have worked better if the creators put some time between that?
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

This was actually really good. Thew best episode of Sword Art Online since the first, and the creators are starting to use the build-up provided by the earlier episodes. Due to showing these episodes first, at least we did get a good feeling of who the characters are, rather than jumping right in and this episode made really good use of that. I just have to ask one thing here:

Kirito, for god’s sake stick with Asuna. Become a couple. I really liked that part in this episode, however it will become rather pointless if he’s going to be flirting with another girl next episode. I mean, he can still interact with them and all, but I’d hate to see more and more girls falling in love with him. just focus on his relationship with Asuna. The problem with these earlier episodes was that they showed Kirito developing a relationship with a girl, then moving on to the next, and then to the next… and it just wasn’t written well enough to make all of them count. With more time given to Asuna however, they did a very good job of showing the relationship between them develop.

One thing I missed here was a look into the mindset of that one commander who just showed up from out of nowhere on a place he had no business being on. Him just charging into battle seemed very out of character based on the description that was given of him just a minute earlier. He would have been completely dead by now if he always acted like in this episode.

Oh, and Yuki Kajiura came with a background tune that sounds actually different from her previous works. It’s still choirs and strings like her trademarks, but the choirs were very different from the ones she used in the past few years, and just that touch gives these songs a very different atmosphere that to be honest, fits this show much better.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

So, the main storyline has begun. But does that also mean that this show has gotten better? Well, slightly.

I had my problems with this episode, but what I liked about it was that it further developed the relationship between Kirito and Asuna. It’s actually good that they spend a bit of quality time together, and this was done better than with the other girls Kirito met so far, on top of just being good build-up.

However, the one who is responsible for translating the novel storyline into the anime storyline needs to pay more attention to detail. I feel like this episode left out some key parts in understanding the characters and a few things in this episode didn’t make any sense because some key parts have never been shown. They’re small bits of details, but take for example the point at which Kirito enters Asuna’s house and is impressed with how expensive this is.

Now, I’m actually very interested in the story behind this, because it doesn’t really make sense from the perspective of an MMORPG: Kirito solos bosses and is constantly improving himself. Any loot or money he takes is something he gets to keep for himself. And knowing MMORPGs and boss drops, he can probably get quite a bit of money by just selling all of the rare high-level stuff he finds that is inaccessible to the people of lower level. Asuna and her guild meanwhile may kill more monsters together, but I do doubt whether they kill more monsters per person than what Kirito does. So how do they make money? Escorts? Taking on paid jobs from lower level members?

I also have a few complaints about how Kirito’s relationship with Asuna was handled. The scene with that one night was just cheap. It already started off clichéd with that random boob-grab, but even then: he just randomly starts acting possessive, without giving us the chance to see why he does this, especially considering how this guy is probably amongst the oldest people in the game, they just blow it off as stress, but to me this just feels like another one of those “punk”-scenes. You know, the scene where the cute girl is attacked by punks and has to be saved by the lead character for a bit of drama? I feel that the creators are actually doing a pretty good job on the acting for Kirito and Asuna, but this guy was really badly portrayed.

On a side-note: I just realized something: next season, A-1 Pictures will be likely working on six different shows at the same time: Fairy Tail, SAO, Uchuu Kyoudai, Gyrozetter, Magi and From the new World. That’ll be interesting to see if they can handle it.
Rating: 4.5/8 (Good)

Look, I don’t mind that we’re in the middle of side stories right now. That’s fine, especially conisdering that this will be 2 cours long, and in fact, I like that this show is taking its time to show its world. But please: change things up a bit. This was yet another episode about a girl who falls in love with Kirito.

On hindsight, the previous arc was good in how it avoided this (the purple haired girl turned out to be acting). And what bothers me the most is that I don’t really buy how all these girls fall for him. This episode was probably the worst here: Kirito arrives and breaks her most prized sword, and then starts flirting with her. On one hand, this episode showed nicely how blacksmithing works, but Kirito really: couldn’t you really find a better sword? And if her swords are so weak, why did you stick with her? How does blacksmithing work anyway? Do you just need a title of “master smith”, which will allow you to create any weapon possible, or are there levels in creating weapons? This episode hinted at both: on one hand Lisbeth being able to make an item way above anything she ever made before, and on the other hand there was the amount of heart and skill put into it that Kirito commented on. Which is a bit odd, considering how easy blacksmithing is in a game.

I also wonder: how come no girl has a boyfriend until they meet Kirito? Have all of the other guys already died at this point? That’s the only explanation I can think of right now: in this setting it’s of course understandable that people fall more quickly for each other. If this indeed takes place more than half a year after everyone got trapped, it can only mean that all the guys immediately rushed off into their deahts, leaving a population with more girls than guys. There was this one picture of Lisbeth surrounded by three guys, hinting that those guys are now dead, so that seems plausible.
Rating: 3.5/8 (Enjoyable)

This episode actually addressed some of my complaints of the previous episode. I did not expect that. However, in its turn it suffered from a bunch of storytelling flaws that often tend to bother me. There were a few of those points throughout this episode.

The first was the scene with th PK guild in it. The whole point behind this scene was clear, it’s just the delivery that was superficial. Here you have a guild that specializes in killing off players, and instead of actually doing their job they just yap randomly while waiting for backup to arrive. That backup also happened to arrive at exactly the right moment (remember that Kirito had been just sitting there for 30 minutes before he figured it out, after which he went to casually have some dinner before he realized they were in danger. Also why were they having dinner if they just ate some sandwiches half an hour before? Why did Asuna on one hand prepare lunch, yet not dinner or something? What does food even do in this setting?

Also, I think that the creators could have done way in which he figured it out better, and in a more natural way. Right now he saw a sandwich vanish and somehow linked that to broken armor and teleportation. It may sound smart, but what he could have done much earlier was just look at his list of contacts. At that point he would have noticed that that girl was still amongst them. It would have been a lot more intriguing IMO, rather than outright saying “hey, everything was an illusion”.

Second of all: there was the conclusion of this episode. I’m afraid to say it but there, the creators tried to stuff way too much in way too little time and they did it in a really unimaginative way. The culprit just appears, he breaks down and tells his story, in a few sentences, gets carried off while laughing maniacally and that’s the end of the story. I mean, relationships can have a lot of pointless drama in them, but that confession of his was just shallow. It felt way too much like an exposition for exposition’s sake. At the very least though: this episode did break the “girl of the week”-formula.

What also didn’t really help that revelation was the very overly dramatic string music. I guess that they wanted to make it sound dramatic and all, but that scene was so over the top, rushed and out of place that it only worked against it. And yeah, I”m afraid to say it but Yuki Kajiura’s soundtracks are starting to sound more and more like each other. I don’t mind if some tracks sound the same and all, but what has made her soundtracks stand apart in her early days were her songs full of power and originality: her songs were varied and yet fitted together perfectly. From out of nowhere she could pull up sounds that you couldn’t see coming. Right now though, I have yet to encounter any song that really caught my attention or that stood out in this series. I’ve been noticing this for a while in her series, but here it really stands out. Yuki Kajiura’s strength doesn’t work when she just fades into the background. And it’s not just because of Bee-Train ‘s influence on this. Just compare this with her most recent work.
Rating: 3.5/8 (Enjoyable)

This episode’s girl of the week is based around a murder mystery: she once was a member of a guild. One member of that guild is currently killing off its other members. Again, the interesting part of this is the setting: it’s established that SAO is a well designed game, and allowing powers that would enable people to kill each other in save places would be unfair, yet an item like that exists. Why would the designers have put that in the game? This game seems to be balanced on the idea that it’s an MMORPG: such a power in an MMORPG would be complete suicide that would utterly destroy the balance or any kind of social interaction people can have. This arc will probably shed some more insight into the minds of the creators.

Meanwhile this episode introduced a few more flaws for the two main leads (yes, the female lead has appeared again). The guy really once again established that he is this hardcore gamer who has started to see the NPCs as actual characters: he’s actually starting to sympathize with them, even though they can technically be used in a plan to take out bosses. With the girl, I’m having trouble why she became a squad leader of the top guild around. Mostly because in the first minute we see her handing out orders, only to leave and never do anything leadership-ish again and instead going on a date with the male lead while everyone was fighting. Also, does she have to be a tsundere?

The acting also was a bit wonky at the end of the episode. I mean, I understand being paranoid and all, but these guys completely lost it and started sprouting nonsense. Another thing that really is starting to irk me is that this series is trying to populate its setting, yet completely failing. With that, I mean that it shows crowds, but these crowds completely lack any sort of life. Everyone just stands there, nobody responds, and you can spot the important character amongst them by looking at who has cute character designs.

Apparently people are able to change their hair colors in this game. Why do only the characters who are important to the story use this feature?
Rating: 3.5/8 (Enjoyable)