Tag Archives: Kirito

Sword Art Online Alicization: Lycoris Review

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It’s time for the next big Sword Art Online game. I’m still behind by a few other titles but this was one of the big story driven ones and the second last title in its continuity. It’s definitely a long one as the average game length for this is over 60 hours. That’s pretty crazy but they really do go in depth on everything. It was well on its way to a great score for most of the run but unfortunately Sword Art Online has certain pitfalls that it tends to be trapped in and it ended up stepping into it here multiple times in fact.

The game roughly covers the first half of the Alicization saga and then also jumps into its own thing. The first chapter covers the whole anime part before the war arc so as you can guess it’s a very long saga. The story is mainly a bunch of cutscenes with a little gameplay in the middle. For that reason you can say this one leans the hardest into being a full on visual novel. Outside of a big difficulty spike near the end, the gameplay is fairly easy. So you tend to beat enemies in seconds and then go to another 30 minutes in cutscenes. That’s why the story plays a big role in how much you will like the game. More so than even the gameplay to be honest because that is the focus.

The story is not good though. My main complaint with it would be how repetitive it could be. The big new heroine for the game is Medina and her character history revolves around how everyone dislikes her family. They call her a defect and everyone is always rushing to gang up on her. It’s really not an easy life that she has at all. The problem is that they effectively repeat the same insults and plot points. Pretty much every 20 minutes you could expect someone to start scolding her while everyone just watches. It gets worse and worse as the game goes on because then you have the whole cast just watching and shaking their heads instead of actually doing something about it. You’d think they would know to just jump in and actually save the day and instead they watch. Yeah you can’t really get much worse than that. It’s absolutely something to be disappointed about.

Medina also takes a lot more than she really needs to. The whole engagement thing was an obvious farce from the start but she still went through with it. Then she gets manipulated by the main villain with ease and it’s all just rough for her. Also we learn the dark history of her family and it ends up getting wayyyyy too grim dark. We didn’t need to know all of that. So between the original edgy parts of Alicization and the new parts added for the game, it’s just way too dark and dreary the whole time. I’d definitely give it a thumbs down all the way as far as the story is concerned. There are cool parts to be sure but whoever was in charge of doing the writing for the game did not properly understand it and as a result they made a whole lot of mistakes.

Outside of the story, the gameplay was good but the menus are not always very clear. It is really hard to navigate and nothing is particularly well explained. You do have quick travel which is good but at the same time you can’t see any quests or locations until you use the quick travel. So that would mean memorizing all of the 20+ locations in your head because otherwise the only way to know what is there is to travel. Then when you pause you see the locations but it’s really odd that they couldn’t pre load this.

You can’t really see your equipment without going through a bunch of menus and your skills are all locked behind hidden side quests that do not even appear on the map. The hub world is huge so I’ll give the game credit there but of course that makes it even harder to find the places that you want to go. Not a very good idea if you ask me. It’s a world of difference from the other games I’ve been playing which have really clear menus at all times. The game feels way too hard to use on all of the technical aspects which is unfortunate.

The core gameplay itself is good at least. It feels good wielding the sword and you can play as over 20 characters here so there is a lot of variety in combat. I basically stuck to Kirito unless I was knocked out though. You are always in a party of 4 so you don’t lose unless they are all knocked out. It’s important to note that your party is disbanded after every chapter so if you forget to reform them then you will go into battle alone and be crushed. This happened to me a few times which was definitely rough. Hopefully you saved your progress.

The final chapter is close to 4 hours long and has a lot of different boss battles in it. Make sure you save when possible, but there aren’t many opportunities to leave the tower. So definitely don’t click past the dialogue too quickly or you will miss out on your big chance and that would be rough. At least you can skip the cutscenes the second time around so it won’t feel quite as long but that’s still something you should probably avoid if you can help it.

As far as the graphics go, I would say they have aged pretty well. The game is colorful and has a lot of detail all the way through. I am glad to see so many cutscenes even if the story was not really able to do them justice. The fact that the game is this long is definitely a testament to the developers’ skills the whole way through. The soundtrack is also pretty good. Not as amazing as you would expect for a Sword Art Online game to be honest but still good enough in the end. We did get a lyrical song for the final boss which was pretty fun.

I can also say there is a ton of replay value. If you want to get all of the trophies and clear every quest then I expect you will be here for at least another 30-40 hours. There are an insanely high number of quests to explore and the trophies look really long. Not particularly difficult mind you, but just a huge time investment. So if you’re a Sword Art Online mega fan then this should help you.

Overall, Alicization has got to take the title of worst Sword Art Online title. It’s extremely rare for me to dock points from a game for the story being no good but ultimately that’s what happened here. The story was bad enough that it actually dragged the whole thing down which is pretty crazy. It just goes for way too many edgy themes the whole time and it always feels no unnecessary. If you’re going to go for the visual novel format I would also say that you definitely need a more complete story at the ready. What we got was clearly not ready for this kind of length and so it had to be extremely stretched out over and over again in order to make the distance. As the player it is very noticeable the whole time. I have much higher hopes for the new game that just came out.

Overall 4/10

Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night Review

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It’s time to go back into the world of Sword Art Online, one of the greatest franchises of all time. The movies have stuck around with the first arc which is a smart decision since that is still one of the greatest individual arcs in anime history. It’s a great movie with stellar animation and a top tier soundtrack the whole time. You won’t want to miss out on this one as Kirito continues to show why his skills are the real deal.

The movie opens up with Kirito and Asuna taking down the powerful floor 4 boss. The heroes all decide to celebrate and since it’s almost the end of the year, both of the big competitive guilds will even team up for the party. It’s pretty unheard of but that’s a good thing. After all, the players in the Sword Art Online game are literally trapped within it. There is no way out of the game and if you die here, then you die in real life. The only way to end this curse is to clear all 100 floors of the game. It’s an extremely difficult task but it’s one that may even turn impossible if the groups start fighting among each other. Unfortunately there are some villains who are aiming for this. Information leaks that the 5th floor boss drops a legendary guild flag which would completely flip the balance of power. Now one guild may be gunning for that and skipping the party. There is only one way to stop this, Kirito will have to take the boss down and claim the flag but he’ll need to assemble a powerful group of trust worthy fighters. He only has a few hours to do this though.

When you think of the ideal movie, you’re often thinking of something that has a considerable amount of action, top tier character development, and a film that just looks great. Well, this one hits all the boxes and continues Sword Art Online’s streak of having absolutely amazing films. It’s why you can never really count the franchise out, at any point it can just deliver an absolutely insane level of hype. The fact that it’s an AU/prequel doesn’t even phase you because you’re having too much fun here.

Asuna is still more the main character than Kirito since this is in the progressive verse and she looks real good. She has come a long way in her fighting abilities and finally has a more offensive style here. She holds her own against the bosses, Argo, and even her old friend. At times Asuna still has fairly low confidence that can cause her to downplay herself but when the chips are down she definitely shows up. I liked that she came up with a plan of her own to get the rapier back and she also had really clutch moments against the villains. Once in a hostage situation and in another case to prevent a 2 v 1.

It helps that Asuna is a super pleasant person in general so you’re always rooting for her. She is a great character and it’s even fun getting flashbacks of her playing the Tekken homage with her friend. Sword Art Online is one of the few titles where it had an A+ romance for the whole franchise and this movie does well with that too. There isn’t a lot of time for romance here but the beginnings of it are still present and definitely work well.

Meanwhile Kirito looks great as always. He’s the top player that most fear but all respect. When he’s on the stage people can talk tough but nobody is about to fight him. The only exceptions to this are the Laughing Coffin members and unfortunately the film doesn’t give us a fight with them yet. That part was too bad because there are two different times in the film that the matchup is teased but doesn’t deliver. I feel like they are really setting them up to be the big villains in a third film but giving us a small fight here wouldn’t have hurt. That’s probably my only nitpick, teasing the fight twice was just too much. I wanted to see Kirito absolutely waste those guys. I have no doubts on his victory. Even 2 against 1 he would have been too much for them there.

In terms of personality the film also did Kirito justice with how he’s super knowledgeable and tough but not a showoff or anything like that. He may not be the smoothest with day to day interactions but still holds himself well. He’s a charismatic guy and has made quite a few friends. It’s impressive stuff and he definitely holds his part of the film.

Argo gets a rather big role here which was surprising, but nice to see. She doesn’t get as many moments in the spotlight as the other supporting characters but was definitely very important in the Aincrad arc. She knew how to get info and could hold her own in a fight. We rarely ever see her fight so that was another pretty fun thing. She has Wolverine claws and everything. I think it’s clear that she’s not quite as tough as Asuna or Kirito but the fact that she is really fast definitely helps her to avoid traps and such.

Mito also returns from the last film and has a good role here. It’s not a super big one but it’s definitely a critical role as the heroes would have had casualties without her. Her fighting style is still a whole lot of fun to watch and that long whip of hers also means that she can strike at foes from any range. It’s pretty much a direct counter to the final boss of the film. It’s nice to still see Mito mainly being a loner but I wouldn’t be opposed to her joining Kirito and Asuna to make their team a trio. At that point they could really start thinking about soloing more bosses.

Of course I mentioned before but the graphics are super top tier here. There are different fights in the movie and they all look amazing. The final boss definitely has the most spectacle but I would say the best fight in the film was Asuna vs Mito. I always like human vs human type fights because you can really focus on the choreography there. You see all the tactics, expert fighting moves, etc. I really had absolutely no complaints there. Then of course the soundtrack is super awesome as always for the franchise.

In particular the standout theme was for the final boss. What I liked is that it felt completely like a sci-fi boss theme. I’ve been listening to it on repeat for a while now. The boss also has full mechanics and everything that were incorporated into the film like the heroes having to jump over the shockwaves and targeting the circles. Everything about it felt like the people behind the story had really played video games before. It felt like the most accurate boss fight I’ve seen out of any of the movies and of course it’s a great bonus that the whole thing looked spectacular.

When it comes to Sword Art Online your main worry is always that there will be some fanservice or iffy moments but this movie mainly manages to steer clear. There are some super mild stuff but for the most part the movie knows that it’s elite and isn’t bothering with any of that. That’s a massive W in my book I gotta say. There are enough fights to keep the movie moving at a fast pace but of course you also have the drama with the guilds that is fun. The movie makes sure to balance it all while reminding you that at the end of the day this is still a story about Kirito and Asuna. They take the main focus and rightfully so. Without them there wouldn’t be a story after all.

Overall, I highly recommend this film. It’s an extremely epic story and one that you don’t really need any former context to get into. You can just jump into this movie and the story is masterfully told so you won’t be lost or anything like that. You can just sit back and let the narrative guide you. The technical elements are incredible as well and I definitely can’t wait until the next movie. It’s already been 2 years which is a super long wait. The movie industry just isn’t the same without Sword Art Online at the ready.

Overall 9/10

Sword Art Online: Project Alicization Review

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It’s time to talk about Sword Art Online which always gets intense. On one hand, it will always be one of the most exciting and intense franchises of all time. On the other hand it always ends up matching the extremely high highs with some devastating lows. This series is no exception. The series has to squeeze in a ton of content into only a few volumes so over half of the events are skipped but of course what event does it not skip? The worst one in the series. Mannn….that’s how it goes.

The basic plot is that Kirito has already been through a life or death event with several games at this point. Surely there’s no way he would ever put himself in that spot again right? Well the price is right and his safety is guaranteed so he works with a government group about one of the games and then he gets stabbed on a rainy day in a completely unrelated incident. Well, now he’s stuck inside of the game and if he dies in the game….he dies in real life! So Kirito is back into the same situation but this world is so much more real than the previous ones. Even the NPCs talk like real people.

Kirito figures if he can get deep enough in the game he will be able to find someone to log him out. To that end he meets up with a guy named Eugeo and Kirito helps him chop down a big tree. This means they can now pursue training within the city and try to find Eugeo’s long lost friend Alice who was kidnapped by the government a long time ago for breaking a rule. In this society, it shouldn’t be possible for anyone to break rules so if it happens then it’s a super big deal.

So here’s the thing, it takes a few volumes to even get the setup all completed. So now you’re over halfway through the series and the heroes still have to make their way past all 108 Integrity Knights, take down the Administrator, stop the Underworld armies, and then stop the drama happening in the real world. So you may be wondering, how will they do that? Well, the answer is simple. The series basically skips almost all of that. We get a few pages at the end of the volume that uses text to explain what would have happened next but even the final fight has to be abbreviated/basically skipped. It’s evident that the author simply ran out of time which is really rough. Especially when you see other adaption manga that kept going years after the main media had finished. Sword Art Online got the rough end of the stick this time.

It’s especially tragic since the art was actually really good this time around. There was a lot of attention to detail all throughout. The battles looked fierce and it really did adapt the scenes very well. You were able to be invested in what was going on the whole time. There was some real talent at work here. The story was already really engaging so throw in the solid art and it really made reading through the volumes really good. Ending with only 5 volumes does mean that there is only so much that you can do though.

So lets get the elephant out of the plaza first. The series did decide to keep and fully adapt the moment where two students attack two of the heroines who aren’t able to fight back since the rules are in effect. This should have been the scene that was skipped to be honest because it adds nothing to the series and is just another example of a crutch that Sword Art Online uses. It’s easily the most valid complaint that you can have about the series because it is definitely annoying. It doesn’t go nearly as far as in Fairy Dance since Kirito and Eugeo do stop them before it reaches that point but it still goes farther than it ever should have.

You’re rooting for those characters to get bumped off right away. I also think it’s a real stretch of logic on how their attack was within the rules. It reminded me of a certain attack in Jujutsu Kaisen that didn’t count as “violence” which was seen as this big 4D chess move by the villain when it was clearly violence. It’s the same thing here, no matter what flawed logic the royals used when attacking the girls, it’s still a full on attack. The rules in Alicization are definitely messed up.

It’s enough of a bump to shape 3 stars off of the series as well. That may seem rather harsh but that’s how bad the scene is. It’s not exactly something you want to see in this title when you’re just trying to have fun seeing the heroes taking out the villains. The core plot is basically a boss rush after all as Kirito and Eugeo take everyone out. I also like how Kirito is starting at level 1 technically but since he has his memories intact he is able to use more advanced techniques that wow everyone. It’s fair to say that he is stronger than all non Integrity Knight fighters right from the start of the series.

He doesn’t get to show off for a while there but Kirito is super confident and that comes through in all of his scenes. It’s easy to see why Eugeo looks up to him. The series does a great job of showing off the bond between Kirito and Eugeo as well. It’s a little odd to see Kirito in more of a mentor role since he is usually the young upstart but it does work well with how many life or death experiences the guy has been in. He still does have his carefree side though and that’s when Eugeo has to try and pick up on the responsibility part. You could really make a whole series just based on their dynamic. It’s a really solid one all the way through.

I’ve always really enjoyed Kirito’s character in every arc but I dare say this might be him at his best. He still has his confidence and cocky attitude but now he can also make great speeches. Kirito gets to talk about friendship, fighting with honor, etc. He has so many quotable lines in this series to the point where even this manga which cuts most of the content gets to show off a lot of his great scenes. Kirito is a generational character and that goes a long way to making the franchise really good as well. With all of the asterisks and iffy moments in the series that I have to dance around, I do think that it would have totally crumbled if Kirito wasn’t around.

Then eventually Alice gets added into the mix but unfortunately she doesn’t get almost any time to interact with Eugeo. The timing just gets messed up by that point but she has good banter with Kirito. Alice is a really fun character and while it takes a while to fight off all of the brainwashing, she ultimately does get to be a really solid character that you can completely count on. I also liked the main villain a lot. Design aside, she is a calculating opponent who is also really strong. She doesn’t really have any weaknesses and ends up being a villain that you can really fear.

One piece of credit I can give to the series is also that it’s fairly light on fanservice. You only have 2-3 moments with the Administrator and that’s about it. Usually the series can get a bit dicey in that area so I appreciated that at least. The short length may have helped in that respect but for the most part there isn’t a ton of time for that in between all of the battles. Later on in the war there would have definitely been some moments though.

As a final note, the human plot is pretty much nonsense for manga only readers. A lot of things are teased over there and Asuna gets some small appearances but the series ends before anything really happens. So it just ends up feeling like filler. It’s part of what makes the manga a very interesting read when it ends early like this. Some scenes you just won’t get and others will be under the wrong context. That’s why in an ideal world you will always want a series to be able to be long running and adapt everything but in a way maybe that’s just common sense. The cliffhanger of sorts is fun but it’s so early that there are a bunch of fights that you wish you had gotten to see.

Overall, Sword Art Online is fun as always but one scene definitely does throw the whole series for a loop. It’s a shame that there almost always seems to be some kind of catch to every piece of Sword Art Online media. It’s just really hard to avoid and I suppose that’s life. In the end I wouldn’t be able to recommend this manga all that much. What I would do is say to play the video game instead because that seems to fix things. I am early on in that game so I can’t fully confirm that but that seems to be what typically happens in these things. I at least know that they fixed the Administrator’s costume in that one.

Overall 5/10

Quinella vs Kirito

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Quinella is a powerful fighter and ended up being one of the biggest bosses that Kirito had to face. Still, our twin bladed swordsman is certainly up to the task. As powerful as Quinella is, Kirito ultimately outranks her in all stats. It is unlikely that she will ever appear again to receive a big power up and so she would be losing ground as long as the series keeps going since Kirito continues to grow stronger. Kirito wins.

Santa Clause vs Kirito

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This is a tribute to Santa Clause vs the Devil. Santa did not look very good in this one as he mostly spent his time laughing and getting tricked by the minion. Kirito wouldn’t have been falling for any of that and it’s why Santa needs to take the clear loss here. He has had some special abilities, super strength, and other assets over the years but this will not be enough to defeat Kirito. The difference in speed and power is just too immense here. Kirito wins.

Kirito vs Roy

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Suggested by Sonic Kirito and Roy are both very powerful swordsmen who know how to use elements within their swordsmanship. Kirito ultimately takes this one though as the guy just continues to get stronger and stronger with each arc. Alicization really brought this to the peak when he mastered aura usage and gained his powerful super form. In this mode it’s fair to say that he is barely even human anymore. Roy has had some really good speed feats in his day as well but at this point they are in different leagues. Kirito wins.

Kirito vs Halloween

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Halloween is a pretty scary fighter but the same can be said for Kirito. I don’t think anyone in their right mind would really want to go up against this guy. Kirito’s powers are just insane. A single swing of his sword could potentially end this match as soon as it has begun. Halloween has a lot of projectiles and abilities at his disposal but I don’t see any way he can compensate for his lack of speed. Kirito will be running rings around him pretty quickly and as soon as he lands a good blow then that’s game over. Kirito wins.

Kirito vs Alice Zuberg

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Alice is an incredible fighter and one of the strongest Integrity Knights out there. With a single swing of her blade she can bring most opponents to their knees. Even Kirito had to comment that her sword felt extremely heavy. While their match would have been close to a standstill for a while, Kirito has obtained abilities even beyond her limit. I don’t really think there’s a whole lot she could do to stop an opponent of his caliber. At this point Kirito has really mastered the sword at a level where no one can reach. Mix that in with his superior physical stats and there isn’t a whole lot that Alice can do here. Kirito wins.

Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale Review

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It’s time to look at the manga based on the Sword Art Online movie. It’s always fun to read manga based on previous media to see if it’ll follow things 100% or change things up. Other times you have to worry about the quality of artwork since they typicallydon’t put quite as much effort into it compared to brand new manga. Fortunately this one was definitely in a good position and really gave a satisfying recap of the events. I think the movie is still the definitive way to experience this story but the manga is a solid alternative. It’s reasonably long so you really feel like they kept everything in.

The plot begins with Asuna and friends trying to get Kirito to play the Ordinal Scale game. He’s not a big fan of it since Kirito has always preferred VR to AR. The main difference is that in VR it’s all in your head while in AR you have to actually move around and perform the actions. I guess it’s like thinking about Pokemon Go which is AR vs one of those VR Megaman games. It all depends on your preference. Once both styles are perfected I’d definitely say that I’ll prefer VR no question. Still, AR is a lot of fun too and since you actually feel the action it should benefit some genres more than others. A racing game would definitely feel exhilarating although I wonder how they will be able to handle the recoil effects. In my mind AR will always be more dangerous than VR.

Back to the plot though, Kirito isn’t particularly impressed with the game. He’s just not buying into the hype at all. He’s forced to take it more seriously though when Asuna is defeated in a battle and loses her memories. It seems that a man by the name of Eiji is behind this. He wants to take the memories of all the SAO survivors and aims to do it through this game. Kirito will have to take him down but while he may be the world’s greatest gamer, he’s not exactly known for being super fit. He’ll train with Suguha a bit and then go back in the ring. Time’s not on Kirito’s side but there’s no person more reliable to have your back.

Pretty much everyone gets a little something to do here which is always nice. Klein may have gotten stomped but we briefly got to see how his team was able to fight and do well in SAO. Klein, Leafa, Lizbeth, and the others also get to come in. None of them have particularly big roles though except for maybe Sinon who was able to back Kirito up when everyone was out of commission and landed a good hit on the final boss. She’s definitely more of a fighter than most of Kirito’s crew so it’s certainly not very surprising. Her gun skills also make her a very good partner to have since Kirito likes to get up close so this way she has his back.

Asuna looks good here as well. She’s definitely ready to re-enter the fray despite being in a pretty tough spot with her memories gone. The film really tests her courage a lot and she always passes with flying colors. I was also glad she remembered Yuuki’s final combo move and used it to great effect. It works as a very solid power up to be sure. Then you have Kirito who is pretty awesome as always. He may not take things too seriously at first but that’s because there’s no danger. How do you get back into the groove of things for a game with no stakes when you’re used to fighting for your life? Well, that certainly changes once Asuna is in trouble. After that Kirito just takes care of work and puts everyone down. He’s definitely one of the greatest main characters out there and continues to improve with each arc.

As for the villains, I’d say that mileage will vary on this. Eiji is a pretty solid one. At least he has good motivations which makes sense and he can fight. He regrets his inaction in the past which caused his best friend to die so now he’s working on fixing things. This fix would murder a lot of people in the present so it shouldn’t be forgotten that tihs guy is a big villain. He’s not a hero by any stretch of the imagination. The guy is just looking out for himself and at the end of the day that’s really all there is to it. He has a cool design and solid fighting skills. At the end of the day when you mix that together with his character motivation then that’s why I will end up giving him some props. He made for a good foil to Kirito since they were both fighting for the person most important to them.

Yuna is a fun character. She may not really know or agree with what is going on for the most part but she does her best to have fun. There are effectively two Yunas at this point anyway. You’ll see the context of that once you watch the movie or read the manga. I definitely have no qualms with her and in the past she definitely appeared to be a very selfless fighter who always did her best to continue improving her abilities. She may not have been a great fighter but she never let that stop her from doing the right thing and helping where she could.

There’s also a scientist villain but he’s not nearly as memorable as Kayaba. Here’s my problem with the guy, based on how we just need the memories to fulfill his goal, wouldn’t it have been possible to do so without straight up murdering everyone? With how advanced the Sci-Fi mechanics are here, I find it hard to believe that he couldn’t just do that very easily. Maybe it would take longer and he just didn’t want to risk it. Usually I would also question if this was even possible or if it would work but based on the fact that her soul is clearly still around, I think there would be a great shot at success. She just hasn’t moved on yet and that’s a very good sign for the plan. It’s too bad that the plan will basically eliminate the game though since that’s the second controversy in a row related to online gaming in Sword Art Online.

As I mentioned earlier, the art is excellent here. The fight scenes are very detailed and the character designs are on point. You can tell that a good amount of effort went into every bit of the adaption. You could easily not even know that this was a movie first and just assume that it was a really solid spinoff story. The quality is certainly there so I wouldn’t blame you. It’s a few volumes long so it definitely works well as a mini series. It’s 100% accurate to the movie so the experience should be very similar.

Overall, Just like how the movie was pretty close to being perfect I would say the same for the manga. The story itself is just very compelling. Kirito and Asuna have always made for very solid partners and this story shows how nothing will be able to keep them apart. They both do their best to stay strong around each other and keep on pressing forward. Whether you’ve seen the original Sword Art Online or not you should be able to quickly tell what’s going on here and get invested into the story. It never gets slow and there is quite a lot of action. Being able to see the final boss of the original SAO for the first time is also great and all of the guest stars at the end make this feel like a great wrap up to the series. The War of Underworld would ultimately go on to pass it with how huge the cast got, but at the time this really couldn’t be beat.

Overall 9/10

Sword Art Online Progressive Review

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It’s time to take a look at one of the more well known Sword Art Online spinoffs. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Progressive over the years and how it brought the series back to its peak. Being back in Aincrad from Arc 1 was definitely pretty cool since I did think that those had the best stories. Unfortunately the manga takes the easy out of adding in a bunch of fanservice during the second half of the series which does ultimately hold this title back. It’s a shame since it had started out pretty well. Apparently the manga adds quite a bit and changes the story/personalities as well so it’ll be interesting to see how the novels stack up. That said, if you’re a mega SAO fan then you’ll probably still want to check this one out.

Mainly this series is adapting Arc 1 all over again but doing it very slowly. The castle has 100 floors and the only way to beat the game is to clear them all. Naturally in the main series they weren’t quite able to go through all of the floors so the goal of this manga is to show them to us one by one. As a result, after the 7 volumes of this series the heroes are still only up to volume 3. That’s a pretty good amount of pacing I’d say. We’ll see if they can continue to use up so much time. It’s fun though and helps make the series more about the fantasy setting and slice of life aspects. We still get fights of course, but Progressive is more about the character interactions.

We see Kirito start out as the loner he always was with Asuna being a bit of a newbie to the game world. Gradually she grows more experienced and he learns what it is like to be in a team. It makes for a pretty good dynamic between the two of them. We see them train up and gradually improve their abilities. While there isn’t much of an ongoing plot for the most part, the final 3 volumes give us a mini arc of sorts that was completely not in the original story. It’s a quest arc. Basically Kirito and Asuna run into a group of elves who are duking it out. They are given the option of joining either the light or dark factions. Kirito lets Asuna pick and she decides to help the Dark Elves. They help the leader (Kizmel) take down her opponent.

The full quest is a bit on the longer side. They have to help her deliver a key, find the traitor and take down the opposing army. The tricky thing is that some other players have taken the light side and of course if they die in the game they die in real life. This means that the heroes are going to have to tread carefully here. You’ve also got a shady Sword Art Online player who wants to challenge Kirito and possibly eliminate him from the world. It’s nice to see Kirito going all out here and it makes for a pretty nice fight. It’s probably the most intense battle in the series with a lot of back and forth with good swordplay. Kirito rarely finds a challenge for himself so this guy did pretty good in managing to match him.

As for Kizmel, she’s a pretty solid character. It’s a shame that the series uses her for fanservice almost constantly. The series throws in multiple bath scenes which is pretty forced. She’s portrayed as a big sister figure to Kirito and Asuna. She is pretty advanced for an A.I. as well since she can understand human phrases and adapts rather well. It further shows just how advanced Sword Art Online was as a game in this universe. The A.I. systems were already pretty adaptive and this is only arc 1. Her skills were also far above Kirito and Asuna’s at the time. It makes sense since they are still in the opening floors I suppose. At this point nobody really had a whole lot of levels yet and this is the kind of quest where you are mainly playing as support.

It’s also interesting to see a time where Heathcliff had not yet formed his own group. At this point there are only two main attacking squads and neither of them are particularly helpful. They have numbers but not a whole lot of power. This was one of the more interesting points in the game because it’s fun to see Kirito and Asuna teaming up and clearing a bunch of quests on their own. It shows that they really don’t need the army and are prepared to handle everything on their own. If you were ever trapped in a game it does make sense to train a lot solo or in a small party rather than joining an army. It would be a lot harder to level up with so many people around.

Really the series is at its best when it’s letting the characters just enjoy the SAO environment. Learning new skills and having fun in the world is what the arc is all about. While Kirito and Asuna are both great characters, the supporting cast is a bit weaker so you don’t really want the focus to be on them. I could never really get behind the rest of the characters but fortunately each arc would add at least one good character so the series as a whole has a solid cast. It’s part of why Kizmel was a good addition here since she’s easily one of the better characters. I was also glad that she could fight at such a high level. Arc 1 will definitely always be nostalgic.

I was also glad that Asuna got a pretty powerful rapier here. It helped close the gap with Kirito and for a while near the end she was the power hitter. It’s what makes them such a dangerous combo. Asuna can land hits with lightning speed and then Kirito finishes the job with a crispy combo. As they said, it’s almost unfair for the rest of the players who are still struggling with the basics. Still, they’ll learn the ropes eventually. You just can’t hope to match up against the main characters. I wouldn’t mind if the series took some queues from the games and started adding in future characters. The series would have to completely be known as an AU after that, but I think it would be worth it.

The art is pretty solid and definitely one of the best for SAO. It has a pretty simple design set up like an online manga or Bleach. This allows the character designs to be pretty smooth and we also get a lot of great fight scenes. It’s all very clear and lets you read through the adventures with ease. You can clear all of the volumes in no time at all. At 7 volumes the series is a reasonable length although I always think you should aim to be at least 10 volumes long. That’s when you know that you’ve made it to the big leagues.

Overall, Sword Art Online Progressive is a series that is a lot of fun but does get bogged down by the fanservice. To an extent you can certainly block it out, but the series goes pretty overboard with how often it occurs. After a point it can’t help but lower the score of the adventure. It’s a shame that SAO tends to fall into this trap because the series is so awesome otherwise. Where else are you going to get a main character quite like Kirito? It’s really tough to match a guy like that. From what I’ve heard you are better off reading the novels for this part of the franchise. The original adaption of the first arc is also better as it plays the concept pretty straight even if the art isn’t that good. I’m ready for the sequel though and hopefully that one will fix some of these issues. After all there are still plenty of floors left to conquer and I want to see them all!

Overall 5/10