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Not sure if shameless bump. Anyway, time for a review*.
Story: 5
The story, for all three of the stories were rather weak and forgettable, with the exception of Mother's Rosario. To be honest, I totally forgot Gun Gale Online and quest for Excalibur were even part of this season. Let's start things off with the GGO arc.
Let's start from the beginning. GGO has a very neat premise and is actually pretty interesting. You have someone who is believed to be causing murders in the real world through their actions in game. That's neat, but they way they explained it was rather disappointing and predictable. For obvious reasons, it never made sense that it was the person in the game, but another person doing this. The Bullet of Bullets tournament was a good way to bait out Death Gun, but everything progressed too quickly; it felt very rushed. Death Gun, a player from SAO and Laughing Coffin, just kind of appears in GGO and reaps havoc. Great, but that's all the arc is about. This one person linked to murders that are happening in the real world. Oh, and he only goes after people who live alone with poor security systems. Felt like I was watching a cop show or something. Kirito's partner during this arc is Sinon, a master sniper in GGO but cannot even handle someone making a gun with their finger in the real world? Anyway, she helps Kirito get started in GGO and Kirito decides to buy a sword, and then pistol as suggested by Sinon (which he hardly ever uses). It's like ALO all over again. A world heavily influenced by magic (or guns) and Kirito uses a sword. Needless to say, Kirito remains the strongest and wins after the generic injury.
Anyway, moving on to the Excalibur side story. Well, not much to say here. Character development for Klein but that's about it. I thought the Norse mythology was pretty neat to add and traps are fun I suppose. I'm just going to move into Mother's Rosario. Yuuki Konno is a young girl with AIDS. Due to her illness she lives at a hospital and is the first patient to test the first full dive system. Yuuki has been diving for 3 years and has proven herself to be a master swordswoman in ALO. She begins to challenge people every day and if they win, she will give them her original sword skill. She even beats Kirito. Asuna decides to challenge her and becomes the closest to beating Yuuki. The rest of the arc is focused mainly on Asuna and Yuuki's relationship up through Yuuki's death. They form a very sister-like relationship. They clear a floor boss, Asuna learns of Yuuki's illness, she has little time, ect. The story itself felt rather generic in that you have on character short on time while the other is their to support him/her. Nothing that made this different.
Characters: 3
I know a 3 is a very low score, but you'll see why when I explain a few characters and their development or lack of.
Kirito: Kirito is 100% the same person he was episode 1 of season 1. His character is designed to win, remain calm with the exception relating to SAO. He refuses to deviate from his sword which seems odd when he's playing games with a heavy focus on magic or guns. Minimal to no development.
Asuna: Asuna actually gets some development during Mother's Rosario. Asuna was originally this very shy girl who was off in her own world until she met Kiritio. Even after she joined a guild in SAO, she still only stuck around people she knew. In Mother's Rosario, it shows her willingness to leave her comfort zone and desire to go out of her way to help people, something we haven't seen her really do before. She is usually the "damsel in distress" but this time the tables have more or less turned. Some good development in the last 8 episodes of the season, but not enough to carry this section.
Yuuki: Yuuki, as I mentioned earlier, has AIDS and is living at a hospital and the full dive technology is her medicine. She is basically living in the virtual world. She is introduced as such and kind of dies without any other development. She calls Asuna "nee-chan" a couple of times showing her love for Asuna as she resembles her sister, but outside of that there is really nothing else, at least development, when it comes to Yuuki. Her personality was rather annoying and nothing through the arc made me feel attached to her causing her death scene to be kind of meaningless. The entire community, or at least a large part, coming to see her off was sweet, but didn't really make sense because she wasn't really part of the community as a whole. Her character was pretty under development.
Shinon: Shinon, aka Sinon on GGO, is an expert sniper seen as a top contender for Bullet of Bullets. However, her character has a pretty dark past. She once killed a man trying to rob a bank where Shinon and her mother were with his own handgun. Ever since, Shinon has been mentally unstable at the sight of guns and even someone making a gun figure with their hand. Yet, she is perfectly fine inside GGO, a game centered around guns. Because the AmuSphere doesn't monitor brain activity or anyth... oh wait.
Klein: Klein, the only other character with some real development this season, and the only character to get some good development through the series. Starting with the series as a whole, he is introduced as a clueless guy with no idea what's going on when it comes to SAO. Over time, he creates his own guild, tackles end game material, and becomes a huge ally and friend of Kirito. Coming into the Excalibur side story, Klein is no longer being supported by Kirito, but they start to work together and support each other in their adventure. Klein has changed from his goofy self to someone people can look up to. He matures a lot as a character during this season and is worthy mentioning as he has the most stable development of all characters, except maybe Asuna.
So with only 2 characters having any real development, and someone of it coming from the first season, it seems odd to me to give this section anything higher. Character development was missing from the first season and sadly still is. If the characters developed more as the show progressed, I would probably be very sad at their misfortunes. While Yuuki's death was a sad scene, it wasn't enough to move me because I didn't feel like I knew anything about her besides being a tom-boy who has AIDS and can pretty much only play games.
Art: 7
The art was pretty nice for the most part. Character designs are still nice, ALO landscape and scenes were also very nice and fitting to the environment and mood. Nevertheless, GGO seemed to be lacking in the art department. I get that it was kind of a "steampunk" world, but it just felt very dark, not in mood but just visually. There was minimal lighting and I think that maybe trying to visually represent a dark mood instead of dark scenes would have gone over better. For example the bar scene when you first see Death Gun, it's just a dimly lit bar. If perhaps the bar was dark and run downed, tough crowd, ect. it would have added another element that Death Gun is kind of the spawn of evil in this arc.
Music: 9
One thing I really enjoyed, as you can tell by the score, is the music. SAO has fantastic background music through the season. The fighting sequences, the intense moments, the sad moments, and all other emotional scenes are partnered by very appropriate music. To me, music is a huge part of a show and if the music doesn't match the seen, it does not create as much of an impact.
Enjoyment: 8
In the end, SAO is a very enjoyable show. I personally would probably not rewatch the series, but I would definitely recommend it to someone, especially if they are just starting to get into anime.
Score: 6.4/10
*Note: This is just my opinion. You do not have to agree with my opinion, but please do not create a scene over a difference of opinion.
Story: 5
The story, for all three of the stories were rather weak and forgettable, with the exception of Mother's Rosario. To be honest, I totally forgot Gun Gale Online and quest for Excalibur were even part of this season. Let's start things off with the GGO arc.
Let's start from the beginning. GGO has a very neat premise and is actually pretty interesting. You have someone who is believed to be causing murders in the real world through their actions in game. That's neat, but they way they explained it was rather disappointing and predictable. For obvious reasons, it never made sense that it was the person in the game, but another person doing this. The Bullet of Bullets tournament was a good way to bait out Death Gun, but everything progressed too quickly; it felt very rushed. Death Gun, a player from SAO and Laughing Coffin, just kind of appears in GGO and reaps havoc. Great, but that's all the arc is about. This one person linked to murders that are happening in the real world. Oh, and he only goes after people who live alone with poor security systems. Felt like I was watching a cop show or something. Kirito's partner during this arc is Sinon, a master sniper in GGO but cannot even handle someone making a gun with their finger in the real world? Anyway, she helps Kirito get started in GGO and Kirito decides to buy a sword, and then pistol as suggested by Sinon (which he hardly ever uses). It's like ALO all over again. A world heavily influenced by magic (or guns) and Kirito uses a sword. Needless to say, Kirito remains the strongest and wins after the generic injury.
Anyway, moving on to the Excalibur side story. Well, not much to say here. Character development for Klein but that's about it. I thought the Norse mythology was pretty neat to add and traps are fun I suppose. I'm just going to move into Mother's Rosario. Yuuki Konno is a young girl with AIDS. Due to her illness she lives at a hospital and is the first patient to test the first full dive system. Yuuki has been diving for 3 years and has proven herself to be a master swordswoman in ALO. She begins to challenge people every day and if they win, she will give them her original sword skill. She even beats Kirito. Asuna decides to challenge her and becomes the closest to beating Yuuki. The rest of the arc is focused mainly on Asuna and Yuuki's relationship up through Yuuki's death. They form a very sister-like relationship. They clear a floor boss, Asuna learns of Yuuki's illness, she has little time, ect. The story itself felt rather generic in that you have on character short on time while the other is their to support him/her. Nothing that made this different.
Characters: 3
I know a 3 is a very low score, but you'll see why when I explain a few characters and their development or lack of.
Kirito: Kirito is 100% the same person he was episode 1 of season 1. His character is designed to win, remain calm with the exception relating to SAO. He refuses to deviate from his sword which seems odd when he's playing games with a heavy focus on magic or guns. Minimal to no development.
Asuna: Asuna actually gets some development during Mother's Rosario. Asuna was originally this very shy girl who was off in her own world until she met Kiritio. Even after she joined a guild in SAO, she still only stuck around people she knew. In Mother's Rosario, it shows her willingness to leave her comfort zone and desire to go out of her way to help people, something we haven't seen her really do before. She is usually the "damsel in distress" but this time the tables have more or less turned. Some good development in the last 8 episodes of the season, but not enough to carry this section.
Yuuki: Yuuki, as I mentioned earlier, has AIDS and is living at a hospital and the full dive technology is her medicine. She is basically living in the virtual world. She is introduced as such and kind of dies without any other development. She calls Asuna "nee-chan" a couple of times showing her love for Asuna as she resembles her sister, but outside of that there is really nothing else, at least development, when it comes to Yuuki. Her personality was rather annoying and nothing through the arc made me feel attached to her causing her death scene to be kind of meaningless. The entire community, or at least a large part, coming to see her off was sweet, but didn't really make sense because she wasn't really part of the community as a whole. Her character was pretty under development.
Shinon: Shinon, aka Sinon on GGO, is an expert sniper seen as a top contender for Bullet of Bullets. However, her character has a pretty dark past. She once killed a man trying to rob a bank where Shinon and her mother were with his own handgun. Ever since, Shinon has been mentally unstable at the sight of guns and even someone making a gun figure with their hand. Yet, she is perfectly fine inside GGO, a game centered around guns. Because the AmuSphere doesn't monitor brain activity or anyth... oh wait.
Theta and gamma waves are pretty common in brain activity and these are responsible for learning and memory. Shinon has been conditioned, or learned, that seeing guns causes her to remember this experience and if the AmuSpwhere monitors brain activity, there is no logic way that she should be able to play GGO. Besides her character being flawed, she also lacks any real development. Shinon is always this shy, alone, and scared girl who tends to go on her own. Only after the events of GGO does she open up and convert to ALO.
Klein: Klein, the only other character with some real development this season, and the only character to get some good development through the series. Starting with the series as a whole, he is introduced as a clueless guy with no idea what's going on when it comes to SAO. Over time, he creates his own guild, tackles end game material, and becomes a huge ally and friend of Kirito. Coming into the Excalibur side story, Klein is no longer being supported by Kirito, but they start to work together and support each other in their adventure. Klein has changed from his goofy self to someone people can look up to. He matures a lot as a character during this season and is worthy mentioning as he has the most stable development of all characters, except maybe Asuna.
So with only 2 characters having any real development, and someone of it coming from the first season, it seems odd to me to give this section anything higher. Character development was missing from the first season and sadly still is. If the characters developed more as the show progressed, I would probably be very sad at their misfortunes. While Yuuki's death was a sad scene, it wasn't enough to move me because I didn't feel like I knew anything about her besides being a tom-boy who has AIDS and can pretty much only play games.
Art: 7
The art was pretty nice for the most part. Character designs are still nice, ALO landscape and scenes were also very nice and fitting to the environment and mood. Nevertheless, GGO seemed to be lacking in the art department. I get that it was kind of a "steampunk" world, but it just felt very dark, not in mood but just visually. There was minimal lighting and I think that maybe trying to visually represent a dark mood instead of dark scenes would have gone over better. For example the bar scene when you first see Death Gun, it's just a dimly lit bar. If perhaps the bar was dark and run downed, tough crowd, ect. it would have added another element that Death Gun is kind of the spawn of evil in this arc.
Music: 9
One thing I really enjoyed, as you can tell by the score, is the music. SAO has fantastic background music through the season. The fighting sequences, the intense moments, the sad moments, and all other emotional scenes are partnered by very appropriate music. To me, music is a huge part of a show and if the music doesn't match the seen, it does not create as much of an impact.
Enjoyment: 8
In the end, SAO is a very enjoyable show. I personally would probably not rewatch the series, but I would definitely recommend it to someone, especially if they are just starting to get into anime.
Score: 6.4/10
*Note: This is just my opinion. You do not have to agree with my opinion, but please do not create a scene over a difference of opinion.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2012
- Messages
- 1,281
I think you are being a little harsh on some of the scoring.
GGO was very exciting. There was a ton of cliffhangers making me wanting the next episode that same day. The only thing I didn't like about it was it also included a ton of filler episodes as well.
Overall score:
8.5/10
Excaliber...
Wtf? More awkward brother/sister romance. Klein gets rejected again xD. While he did get some character build up, it was really rushed imo.
Score: 6/10
Mother Rosario:
Mega explained it. I loved the first half of the story. The action was pretty intense. Kirito and Klein goes beast mode. The second half was character development for Asuna obviously, but damn can you say drama or soap opera???? Not what I wanted to see in this anime.
Score: 7/10
Music: 9/10
I LOVE the music. It's so near perfection. One doesn't simply skip the intro or ending!
Final score: 7.5/10
The third arc (GGO) was really enjoyable while the fourth arc (Excal & MR) was not as good, but not the worst. I still hate the second arc the most.
I would still recommend watching it for anyone who likes anime. It's becoming quite a classic.
GGO was very exciting. There was a ton of cliffhangers making me wanting the next episode that same day. The only thing I didn't like about it was it also included a ton of filler episodes as well.
Overall score:
8.5/10
Excaliber...
Wtf? More awkward brother/sister romance. Klein gets rejected again xD. While he did get some character build up, it was really rushed imo.
Score: 6/10
Mother Rosario:
Mega explained it. I loved the first half of the story. The action was pretty intense. Kirito and Klein goes beast mode. The second half was character development for Asuna obviously, but damn can you say drama or soap opera???? Not what I wanted to see in this anime.
Score: 7/10
Music: 9/10
I LOVE the music. It's so near perfection. One doesn't simply skip the intro or ending!
Final score: 7.5/10
The third arc (GGO) was really enjoyable while the fourth arc (Excal & MR) was not as good, but not the worst. I still hate the second arc the most.
I would still recommend watching it for anyone who likes anime. It's becoming quite a classic.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2010
- Messages
- 5,688
I did though. She was the third person on the list lol. Keep in mind, there is a huge difference between character introduction and character development. But as I mentioned in the post, these are just my opinions of the show.
How did I miss that.... :facewall:
