It’s time for another Sword Art online Progressive title. This one has the characters going through a bit more of a peaceful adventure for once. The first volume has a big fight but after that it is more about setup. The pacing can feel a bit odd for this one but I suppose that’s eventually bound to happen when you have a short manga spinoff for each adventure. These 2 volumes have to try their best to tell a complete story which isn’t easy since there is no ending yet. It’s probably one of the most sudden endings you will see in a manga, outside of titles that were literally cancelled.
The title starts with Kirito and Asuna continuing to gradually climb up the tower. They are doing it at their own pace though and for now feel no pressure to join the advance army. They will continue with their dark elf quest as well as take in the sights. Kirito and Asuna even get to check out some new food at a ritzy restaurant. Unfortunately journeys in SAO are never without some kind of danger and a random side quest ends up putting them in the crosshairs of the PKers.
I gotta say this felt a bit sloppy for Kirito. Now, I get that you can’t be paranoid 100% of the time about people trying to show up and murder you but agreeing to do a side quest where you get paralyzed for a while is a pretty bad idea. I blame the devs for this as well since you should at least make sure that the NPCs are near invincible to protect the players. They get easily crushed by the PKers who aren’t even at a super high level yet.
Relatively speaking, this is pretty early on in the SAO adventure after all. So Kirito gets some heat from me for doing the quest but the game itself gets some heat for having a quest that puts you in such danger. I expected better from Kayaba, the creator of the game. Naturally there are a lot of people who would want to be PKs who target other players and so you have to account for them. If the game didn’t have real life death stakes, it would even just be something that people do for fun since that is a legitimate way to play the game.
Otherwise Kirito looks good throughout the adventure. He really tries his best to always protect Asuna and also respecting her boundaries. She tends to blow up at him quite a lot because the two of them get into a lot of dicey situations but that’s not even his fault. I would say that she’s slightly improving in that regard but not by a lot. She is still not being reasonable at all. Her worst moment aside from picking on Kirito is when she stops him from finishing off the assassin.
You need to keep in mind that this assassin has been following them across floors and revels in murdering folks. Letting him stay alive will mean the death of other players. Sure, Asuna may not end up meeting those other players but they will still die all the same. I thought it was extremely selfish to let him live. Kirito listens to her because at the end of the day he will always defer to Asuna but that was not a good decision. It’s not like the series even has much of a jail. We know from the main series that there will eventually be a big confrontation to wipe them all out but it’s hard to say how far in the future that is.
You need to enjoy that PK fight from the first adventure as well because once that’s over, there are really no more big fight scenes. The fight was really good too so it leaves you wanting more. The artwork has been consistently solid for most of the SAO titles and this one is no exception. There is a lot of attention to detail and the choreography is on point. The backgrounds and characters are all drawn well too.
Unfortunately this also means that the series can’t resist the urge to throw in a bunch of fanservice in the second volume. A good chunk of the conversations take place in the hot springs and character keeps forgetting where they are and stand up to talk. Those scenes could have definitely been cut out. It’s a shame because Kizmel is a solid ally who always shows up to help the main characters but she is inevitably used for fanservice. I can’t think of a time where she showed up to help without that quickly becoming the case. It’s like a destiny that she simply can’t get away from.
Regardless, she is a good character though and deserves better. Based on how her plot ends, I assume she will be returning in a future arc. She is going off alone to fight powerful NPCs but in theory the game’s story wouldn’t have her just die off screen right? It’s hard to say because NPCs can absolutely die out of nowhere but it would feel like a rather cruel plot. As for Kirito and Asuna, they’ll have plenty more adventures to go. I believe the characters beat the game on the 70th floor and they’re still around 6 so there are plenty of other floors to complete. At this rate I feel like this series will never end unless the author significantly picks up the pace.
It also feels like the series is using the Dark Elf questline as the overarching plot of the series. This may not be a good idea as it never seemed all that interesting to me. Even here there is a lot of lore about it and their enemy in the war but you’re just not all that invested. Perhaps you can say that about any NPC quest but this one just doesn’t have much of a hook. You care about Kizmel but that’s about it. It’s interesting to see her gaining skills whenever Kirito shows her a new move so you can do a fun plot like that. Maybe she survives longer than she should because of it and it changes the pre set route of the quest.
I’d personally rather have the PK gang be the main plot but I suppose they constantly show up so they may as well be. Those confrontations always have way more tension and the stakes are just higher. Admittedly it is annoying that they always catch Kirito when he’s paralyzed or can’t move but surely that has to end by the next round. Their poison pick also seems pretty OP in this game. The way Kirito acts, it would drain all of your health very quickly which is not something you ever really see in these RPGs. Kayaba may need to rebalance that.
Overall, This is a very quiet SAO title. It makes for a quick read and is easy to blast through but does fall into some easy pitfalls like the fanservice. I also would have appreciated more action but the banter between Kirito and Asuna is always good. He can’t resist messing with her like with the ghosts and she’s always beating him up for being in an inconvenient place at the wrong time. For some the relationship may be a bit too toxic but it’s always in good fun. It does make Asuna look bad to an extent but if Kirito doesn’t mind then you don’t mind as much either. This might be it for Progressive for a while but I’ll definitely be back as soon as another one comes out.
Overall 5/10
