Sword Art Online Review

By Alex M.

Review at a Glance:

Rating: 3 out of 5

An interesting premise in a not-oft used setting which is somewhat ruined by a mediocre cast and plot.

Highest point: The implications are astounding. What if MMO’s were for realz? Barring a massive sociological experiment, Sword Art Online might yet be our closest guess.

Lowest point: Spot-the-hentai subplots. Many of the subplots and minor character archetypes appear to have been ripped directly from animated erotica (especially in the second season), ruining the gravity SAO appears to be going for.

Recommendation: SAO is intriguing but ultimately insubstantial. It starts strong but ends poorly, watch the first season and skip the second.

Overview

Sword Art Online (ソードアート・オンライン) is an Action Science-Fantasy anime produced by A-1 Pictures Inc. under the direction of Tomohiko Ito, of Seikimatsu okaruto gakuin (Occult Academy). It began airing in July of 2012 and is based off of an incredibly popular series of light novels of the same name. Sword Art Online was the top selling light novel series in Japan for 2012 and was authored by Kawahara Reki, the man behind the Dengeki Novel Prize-winning: Accel World.

Premise

Sword Art Online is set in the not too distant future  of the year 2022 when technology has advanced sufficiently enough to allow for the creation of the Nerve Gear- a virtual reality helmet capable of interfacing directly with the human brain. Though the applications of this may perhaps be innumerable, the anime revolves around its use as a recreational device, namely the playing of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games or MMO’s for short. The hottest and newest of these MMO’s is the fantasy role-playing game, Sword Art Online (SAO). In a Matrix-esque fashion, SAO players may experience and control their in-game avatars with their minds through nerve stimulation.

But without all the yuck

After an initial beta testing period, SAO is opened to the public for the first time. The game is sold out on launch with over ten thousand registered players logging in. Things take a dark turn however, when they discover that they are unable to log out. Kayaba Akihiko, the game’s creator informs them that in order to free their minds of the matrix, erm... SAO, they must reach the 100^th level and defeat the boss there.

Also, if you die in the matrix you die in the real world. 

No more red pills for you

The story follows Kirito, an angsty but exceptionally skilled player who is well-versed in the mechanics of the virtual world and has a fondness for black trench coats (read: the one/neo) as he endeavors to free SAO’s players.

Itchy Social Implications

Sword Art Online carves out for itself an incredibly captivating world filled with a multitude of possibilities.  In fact, if I had to choose the best part of Sword Art Online, it would be the profoundly interesting society inadvertently created by the circumstances of SAO. A rich world lies silent and alluring in the narrative’s backdrop, which deepens my frustration when SAO ultimately fails to capitalize on all its potential. 

While the story itself makes no promises, preferring to meander through damsel-in-distress arcs, it’s far too easy to look around Kawahara’s world and see more interesting tales to tell or aspects of the world to discover. From the collective Stockholm syndrome suffered by SAO’s captive gaming population to IRL (in real life) society’s possible technological aversion to FullDive (the tech that makes nerve gear possible) resulting from SAO’s catastrophic hijacking. The numerous repercussions of SAO on the world and on gamers’ collective psyche would have perhaps made for better story telling. What’s worse is that as the series progresses, many such plot lines are hinted at, but never returned to. They become loose plot threads left swaying in the wind. Over the course of the series, my desire to see and explore more of Kawahara’s post-SAO society became a persistent itch that just wasn’t scratched. 

Is there a cream for what I have?

It wasn’t all bad, of course; what SAO does happen to flesh out is weighty and thought-provoking. While it’s far from being the first narrative to tackle the “Inside a Computer System” premise (.hack//, The Matrix, Ready Player One and Tron, to name a few of its predecessors) Sword Art Online applies itself to a very specific crossroads in gaming culture and speculative fiction: the survival MMO.  It takes two distinct aspects of society (modern online gaming culture and social solidarity) and attempts to reconcile them within the unusual mechanics of a deadly game. In doing so, it brings to the table something fresh, unique and insightful.

Gamer Tropes

As someone with extensive experience with MMO’s and their resulting subcultures, it was all at once strange and fascinating for me to see the familiar tropes of online gaming validated and played out on screen.  Kawahara obviously tried to keep the MMO jargon to a minimum (even going as far as to simply hand-wave much of the game mechanics in the second season), but it was unavoidable that SAO would become saturated by them. Tropes such as levels, HP (health points), PVP (player versus player/player killing), inventory, skills and mobs (monsters) became the staples of daily life for characters stranded in SAO and when applied to particularly twisted characters, these became remarkable drama-inducing plot devices.

No, seriously. There are bears and shit.

While as a gamer, I would have preferred a deeper exploration of game mechanics, I understand that this would make the narrative less accessible to non-gamers. Thus, it was particularly entertaining to see Kawahara lightly touch upon some of the more obscure notes of MMO subculture. From the comedic consequences of cross-gender role-playing to the darker implications of PVP ganking in a life-and-death MMO, each video game reference stood out to me especially.  As a whole, it was surprisingly refreshing to see Kawahara weave well-worn video game tropes into narrative devices and dramatic tension.

Pictured Above: Probably a dude

Lonely at the Top

While I could go on for a hundred more paragraphs about how rich the world was or how many video game tropes I could spot, ultimately a narrative is made or broken by the characters that populate it. While there is nothing inherently wrong with Kirito and the cast of SAO, neither is there anything particularly remarkable about them. The story follows Kirito, an unassuming sixteen year-old gamer who happens to be an MMO veteran (and hikikomori of sorts, apparently). As desperation sets in on Aincrad (the fictional world of Sword Art Online), his skill at MMO’s and prior experience with SAO as a beta tester immediately sets him apart from his fellow players, leading them to fear and discriminate against him. He thus takes it upon himself to reach the 100^th level all on his own, even taking pains to scare off or drive away potential allies.

*sigh* I guess I’ll play by myself then.

While Kawahara tries to make Kirito out to be something of an anti-hero, he clearly isn’t. Kirito’s effort to drive away any attempts at friendship with a false façade of insolence and selfishness doesn’t keep up for long after the first episode. Rather than a solitary quest to free those that despise him, he finds himself a devoted little following of pretty girls who are utterly charmed by his banality and cluelessness. Also, damsel-in-distress syndrome… just saying.

Sure is lonely at the top. Thank god I brought my harem.

What saves SAO from descending into haremdom however, is Kirito’s decisiveness. He may perhaps be lacking a noteworthy personality, but at least he is firm in his beliefs and emotions. He knows where his heart is and though his soft-heartedness could sometimes be misconstrued as flirtatious behavior, he is ultimately a one-woman sort of guy.

That isn’t to say that SAO doesn’t take full advantage of its female cast, though. Every potential love interest is subjected to a gratuitous panty-shot or some other assault on their modesty. This leads me to one of SAO’s more distasteful offenses…

                  

Soft-core

While fanservice is far from uncommon in any media and is typically a staple of anime, SAO perhaps, is too enthusiastic about providing opportunities for such. SAO goes so far as to needlessly violate and debase its female cast in subplot premises that bear striking similarities to those most often used in hentai (Uhm, not that I would know). Incest, tentacle erotica, and rape are all suggested on multiple occasions throughout both seasons at varying levels of gravity; sometimes they’re played for laughs, and at others they’re played for drama.

Behold! Sword Art Online at its finest!

While I am usually the first to applaud an anime for taking on darker themes or tackling adult issues, I will only do so when it enriches the storyline and is not merely tacked on as, what appears to be, some sort of twisted power-fantasy. To make things worse, the form this takes in the second season is to the severe detriment of one of SAO’s primary protagonists. A powerful, independent, caring and strong-willed female lead is reduced to…

This.

Perhaps I am incensed because the narrative was effective at making me care for the characters. Perhaps I only noticed because I’m familiar with Hentai tropes. Perhaps this was indeed the intended effect. Regardless, I cannot stomach Kawahara dehumanizing his female cast by turning them into rewards or accessories for male characters.

Conclusion

Though throughout this review I’ve complained about a great number of things, it was only because I so thoroughly enjoyed much of SAO. I can’t help but contrast my enjoyment against my frustration. Missed opportunities, abandoned plot threads, mistreated characters… this anime could have been so much more than what it was and that saddens me. However, misgivings aside, Sword Art Online still provides a fascinating world worth appreciating. Watch the first season and skip the second.

3 out of 5.