# SAO, artwork or abomination?



## Domjoe414 (May 7, 2020)

Hey all you furry anime fans (if there are any). So the anime Sword Art Online is a rather controversial one as far as I've seen. some people love it, some people hate it, and a few don't care. Personally I love it, and think it's a great anime (from my limited experience), but I'd love to hear your opinions. Did you like it or not and why?


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## Deleted member 115426 (May 7, 2020)

I love SAO. Made me cry my eyes out during one of the mini seasons.


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## Vinfang (May 7, 2020)

abomination.

I don't play online games, so unplayable power scaling / game mechanics aside, MC n supportive characters are boring / generic in design, and their motivation / dialogue / plot are bland. 

the story could have benefit from playing up the suspense and threat level. also, they could have design quirkier monsters to fight in the action scenes.

it would be a better experience, if I cannot tell who is going to die next, or at least have the hero bested by the villain (I mean, he is the mastermind archetype) once or twice, before overcoming the odds. (i love the hero's journey plot)


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## Domjoe414 (May 7, 2020)

Ovi the Dragon said:


> I love SAO. Made me cry my eyes out during one of the mini seasons.


Mothers Rosario? I know that one made me cry a bit


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## Sir Thaikard (May 7, 2020)

I can't stand it. There are other anime that do the trapped in a video game trope better (Log Horizon season 1, we don't talk about season 2), there are anime that do isekai trope better (Konosuba is the first that comes to my mind), there are superior harem anime (Bakemonogatari), I could go on and on and on.

Sword Art Online is the weeb version of Twilight. You have a bland protagonist that allows someone to insert themselves into a mediocre power fantasy.



Spoiler



Also, something something three years worth of semen into Asuna.


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## Domjoe414 (May 7, 2020)

Sir Thaikard said:


> I can't stand it. There are other anime that do the trapped in a video game trope better (Log Horizon season 1, we don't talk about season 2), there are anime that do isekai trope better (Konosuba is the first that comes to my mind), there are superior harem anime (Bakemonogatari), I could go on and on and on.
> 
> Sword Art Online is the weeb version of Twilight. You have a bland protagonist that allows someone to insert themselves into a mediocre power fantasy.
> 
> ...


Lmao at that spoiler, but as to the other points, I'd say that whether a specific trope is done better somewhere else is somewhat besides the point. A piece of art should be greater than the sum of its tropes XD. Although I do admit, season one second arc was...indescribably bad (in my opinion). But I think the show as a whole has merit. And Kirito...actually I guess his character is somewhat bland? Idk, I think he's pretty awesome, but I'll grant you that aside from being written as a paragon he doesn't have a ton of personality


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## Stratelier (May 8, 2020)

Domjoe414 said:


> I do admit, season one second arc was...indescribably bad (in my opinion).


That's because it was adapted from a series of novels, and the anime's first "season" was originally TWO separate books.


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## Deleted member 115426 (May 8, 2020)

I think the story is quite well and follows a group of people that have been scarred by a type of mental sickness due to being trapped inside another world with no escape. I'm actually listening to the openings and rewatching them and almost every scene shows the disconnect from the real world to the digital and back again.


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## Domjoe414 (May 8, 2020)

Ovi the Dragon said:


> I think the story is quite well and follows a group of people that have been scarred by a type of mental sickness due to being trapped inside another world with no escape. I'm actually listening to the openings and rewatching them and almost every scene shows the disconnect from the real world to the digital and back again.


So which story arc did you like best?


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## Deleted member 115426 (May 9, 2020)

Domjoe414 said:


> So which story arc did you like best?


I haven't seen anything past Mother's Rosario since I only watched it on Netflix because I'm a pleb. But I think either Mother's Rosario or the original Aincrad Arc is my favorite. Mother's Rosario gave me so many feels.


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## Domjoe414 (May 9, 2020)

Ovi the Dragon said:


> I haven't seen anything past Mother's Rosario since I only watched it on Netflix because I'm a pleb. But I think either Mother's Rosario or the original Aincrad Arc is my favorite. Mother's Rosario gave me so many feels.


wow! same exactly, except I also watched ordinal scale (the movie).


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## Deleted member 115426 (May 9, 2020)

Domjoe414 said:


> wow! same exactly, except I also watched ordinal scale (the movie).


I need to watch that!


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## Domjoe414 (May 9, 2020)

Ovi the Dragon said:


> I need to watch that!


yeah it's...pretty good. not as good as either of those arcs mentioned, but it's fun.


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## Pipistrele (May 9, 2020)

I don't mind people who enjoy it, but I do agree with the points its haters bring up. I think a lot of it comes down to the whole "teenager's wish fulfillment fantasy" approach that the story takes - the protagonist being an ordinary boi who's competent at basically everything, and the whole universe of the game he's playing skewing towards his awesomeness (he always ends up being a hero, he kicks everyone's ass, many girls love him, etc). The problem is in how it kinda ruined a genuinely good premise - you can do *a lot* with the idea of people being stuck in a virtual world, but since both plot and characters have to line up to how badass Kirito is, there's only so much interesting and complex storytelling you can do. General consensus is that "SAO's good if you're a frustrated teen, bad if you actually want to enjoy a strong story/lore", and considering all above, I kinda agree with it. That doesn't mean the anime is inherently horrible. and such works do have their place and time - just that it is what it is. In a way, complaining about SAO being a teenager power fantasy is just like complaining about Doom being a mindless demon-slaying masculinity trip, or Monster Musume being borderline chimera porn - sure, that sounds correct, but that's kinda the point x)


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## Nomiron (May 10, 2020)

The initial premise got me quite hooked actually and after the first episode aired I was really hyped. However that soon died down thanks to the focus really just shifting on Kirito and how he always saves the day. To me the trope of overpowered teenager with a harem of girls constantly flocking around him just isn't exciting. In general I feel like the series would have benefited from focusing and developing side characters as well, like Klein for example. That's also why so many people like the Mother's Rosario Arc or certain parts of Alicization since the focus just isn't purely on Kirito, other more interesting characters get the spotlight and more interesting stories are told.

Now I still enjoyed a few parts of SAO here and there and I'm still keeping tabs on what happens with it. I wouldn't say it's an absolutely horrible show like a lot of people out there say. It's an okay show. Nothing special, enjoyable if you just want to put on something to watch. It just seems to suffer from a lot of typical tropes and not well thought out plots and elements. I  also could have lived though without certain elements in it, especially without the villain in the Alfheim Arc and certain parts of the later stories including same-ish rapey scenes/villains.

The thing I probably most enjoyed to come out of SAO was SAO Alternative: Gun Gale Online. In general I thought that Gun Gale Online was an interesting change of scenary and would have enjoyed seeing more of it, Altenrative just simply delivers on that and has a good enough plot that kept me in it 'til the end. Though part of why I enjoyed it might have been that it was written by a completely different author and Kirito was only mentioned so, yeah.

If you liked SAO you should definitely give SAO Alternative: GGO a try. As well as Log Horizon (Season 1) that was mentioned by people before me. Other than that, there are some good Isekai anime to watch, shows like Overlord, Konosuba, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, the .hack//SIGN series and well there's obviously a ton more.


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## Toby_Morpheus (May 10, 2020)

SAO is like a bad take of .Hack//Sign.
Like you watch SAO after Sign and you're just thinking "Tsukasa has a better power than Kirito but it's written in a way Kirito is like cyberspace Jesus."


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## Zerzehn (May 10, 2020)

In short, I will give you a visual metaphor:



I will recommend something else, to make this less of a shitpost.

Look up a web series named "The King's Avatar". For some, they would say it's a Chinese knockoff, but is it really a knockoff if it does it better than the original?

EDIT: Keep in mind that it is owned by Tencent, so I don't blame you if you don't watch it.


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## Vesper2112 (May 20, 2020)

I enjoyed it, but had a lot of the same feelings that several of you brought up about it. I loved the premise, but agree that the game almost seems tailor-made for Kirito for him to be SO adept at everything. As much grief some anime get for dragging things on too long, I honestly think this could have paced the levels to last longer. With all that said, I wasn't expecting the dark nature of a certain plot (you know what), but that's a good thing. I might revisit it at some point, but gotta get through my re-watch of Soul Eater first.


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## Herdingcats (May 22, 2020)

I liked watching SAO but I wouldn't call it a work of art. Considering I hadn't watched any other anime series where someone gets stuck in a video game, this one was alright.


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