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Old 02-18-2015, 06:08 AM   #301
Talon87
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In my opinion ...

1. SAO is by its nature bound to be more popular with teens and adolescents than with adults and with those who haven't read or seen many stories than with those who have seen or read tons. It doesn't mean you can't be an experienced adult and love it. And it doesn't mean you can't be an inexperienced teenager and hate it. I'm just saying, teens and the inexperienced are predisposed to liking it a hell of a lot more than adults and the experienced.

This is important to bring up because you're pulling reviews from two very different worlds: your school and this forum.

The closest pop cultural example I can think of is Twilight. I feel very differently about a 12-year old girl loving Twilight than I do a 44-year old woman. And generally speaking Twilight's biggest demographic of supporters has been the teen and adolescent female audience, with most adults blasting the book's terrible writing.

2. If you go into SAO wanting to hate it, you're going to find it very easy to do. I would suggest not trying so much to look for the reasons we say it sucked or your peers say it was amazing. I'd suggest simply watching it with as open a mind as possible. Don't be ashamed to admit there are parts you love: there were parts we loved too. And don't turn your brain off either: I'm not advising as unownmew did that you turn your brain off when watching SAO. No. You shouldn't have to turn your brain off when watching anything, and if you're noticing things about SAO that work or do not work, you shouldn't be afraid to discuss them. All I'm saying is, don't approach SAO with a goal in mind of loving it or hating it. It shouldn't be about validating your peers' claims or validating ours. It should be about (hopefully) enjoying a good story.

3. You're of course free to form opinions at the earliest levels of viewing, but I would caution that "you ain't seen nothin' yet," for better or worse. Probably for the best to save your tl;dr time for once you've made it to like Episode 08 or thereabouts.

Last edited by Talon87; 02-18-2015 at 06:43 AM.
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Old 02-18-2015, 04:53 PM   #302
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I hear ya, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it. I'll admit it may not be for the reasons they want me to enjoy it, but the first two episodes were fun to watch. I generally always try things out with an open mind, but I'd just be lying if I said I'd seen more good than bad so far. And I definitely agree with you on the "you ain't seen nothin' yet." I still think I'll enjoy the story regardless, and there's enough there, mainly Asuna and Klein at this point, to keep me having hope. One thing about me is I'm not good at dropping things. I like to see the whole product before I make an opinion on it, and that's what I'm aiming to do with SAO. If stuff like Episode 2 keeps up, not saying it will but if it does, then I'll probably end up saying it was pretty bad, but still extremely fun to watch for that fact. Which wouldn't really make it a bad show, since I wasn't bored out of my mind. As for being so critical of Episode 2, I just had a lot of stuff jump out at me. Back to the complete product thing, I was more looking at Episode 2 as a standalone rather than using it to make any opinions on the entire series, if that makes any sense. As it's own episode it was terrible, but it's only a single episode, and even great shows can have complete duds like this one.

But yeah, I definitely won't be passing any final judgements on SAO as a whole until the end. Thanks for the advice~

Episode 3:

Spoiler: show
Liked it tons more than Episode 2. The pacing felt off and everything felt rushed since it keeps introducing characters and killing them in the same episode, but it's easier to overlook since it's starting to be a commonplace thing. I'm still bothered by the amount of telling instead of showing, but meh. The plot's good enough I suppose, and it's definitely not boring, though it's kinda predictable even without me trying to predict things xd. In general, though short-lived, the new characters weren't bad? Don't want to judge too harshly since they only got a few episodes of screen time. Klein's back. Klein's cool.
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Last edited by Sparkbeat; 02-18-2015 at 07:58 PM.
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Old 02-18-2015, 09:17 PM   #303
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This makes me want to rewatch SAO as a 14-year old and see how I like it. Just pretend everything after 2004 never happened. It'll be intoresting.
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Old 02-18-2015, 09:49 PM   #304
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Yeah, I'd say I'm kinda in the targeted demographic but kinda not. I'm only a few weeks from turning 16, and I'm still definitely a beginner in terms of anime, but this is far from the first anime I've seen. No clue how much I'd enjoy it if it was the first thing I've watched.

Episode 4:

Spoiler: show
It's not bad, but not good. Just entertaining I guess. I'm enjoying watching it, but it feels like there's no real substance. Silica's not bad, the plotline was good, but everything involving Kirito is just...what. Once again, this show has lots of showing instead of telling, so the whole Kirito the bounty hunter plotline is all sorts of "where the hell did this come from," especially since it doesn't have too much relevance to the episode as a whole. I mean, it would have made more sense and been better, to me at least, if Rosalia had just followed them with her gang to get the rare item off of them. The whole mudergang thing just felt out of place and shoehorned despite the awkward foreshadowing from beforehand. But anyways, it was entertaining to watch, tentacle plant monsters and little sister-zoning and all.
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Old 02-19-2015, 01:35 AM   #305
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Welcome to the first edition of: SW!FTalk! Today, our talented and handsome host will be discussing none other than the popular VRMMORPG Anime, Sword Art Online. So let's...CUT to the chase and get right into it, shall we?

In the near future courts of law go super fast, and also everyone now has these newfangled NerveGear things made by Microsoft Akihiko Kayaba. When it turns out that Not Bill Gates is actually a terrorist psychopath and that all 10,000 gamers are stuck in the world until they beat it by clearing all 100 floors or they die...shenanigans ensue.

Episode 1: The World of Swords
Spoiler: show
We are introduced to our main protagonist Kirito and really have no information about him other than the fact that he's a kid and that he likes video games. Wait, what's that? Oh! Excuse me! He likes video games A LOT. Anyway, after some poorly set up backstory via news coverage hyping up the release of the game, we are introduced into the game world of Azeroth Aincrad, a floating castle in the sky that has 100 floors. Distinction between these floors is hazy at best and I still don't really understand how the in game system works, but that's beside the point. The show wastes no time with any of that trivial backstory, character development, setting elaboration, or any of the other things found in an exposition, and instead brings the audience into the game world within the first three minutes. Almost immediately, our hero Kirito, an individual we like simply because he is the main character at this point, is accosted by a scruffy looking 20 - something named Calvin or something who starts the trend of calling Kirito "amazing" after seeing him do blank. This time, it's seeing Kirito running freely in the streets, something literally everyone who is not Joe Swanson should be able to do since it was explained that the VR thingy just intercepts neural transmissions and puts them into the game for your avatar to do, whether its running around or rubbing one out in your room. Moving on, he begs Kirito to teach him how to do shit so Kirito teaches him how to do shit but not really and then they have this not at all forced character development piece that involves Calvin Clein guy trying to bang Kirito's younger sister or something. I actually have no idea, it was all very strange to me. Then, when underwear model guy says he has to log out because Pizza and Ginger Ale (10x C C Combo) are being delivered to his house, he can't because PLOT TWIST the game's developer is a lunatic who explains in a not at all drawn out way (sarcasm) after teleporting everyone to the town plaza or something and forming out of the sky warning hexagons' apparent menstrual cycle. Everyone freaks out whenever NotSetoKaiba tells everyone that if they die in the game, they die in real life (How original) and that if relatives or anyone tries to yank them out in the real world they'll still die haha you loose I win I'm a badguy BYE NOW and then he leaves, returning to the sky hexagons from whence he came. Actually he kind of just dissolves but whatever moving on. Calvin Klein asks Kirito if he wants to join his friends and him because teaming up would be good, but Kirito politely declines because he's a shy but powerful protagonist archetype. Right? Right? Guys? Thus ends episode one.


The first episode didn't AMAZE me like I had hoped it would but it was still passable as a pilot episode. I really disliked the egregious lack of detail and the gross glossing over of most of the cool details of some things, like oh I don't know, characters in the show. Basically all we're left with is that Kirito was a Beta Tester so he knows a lot about the game and he's good at video games. Yippee. A+. The dialogue wasn't HORRIBLE. In fact, it was rather realistic at times and soft changes in perspective help along the "Virtual Reality" feel a little more than if they hadn't been included. I would have to say that I enjoyed episode 1, but not as much as I feel I could have. Onto the next episode.
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Old 09-15-2015, 03:05 AM   #306
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*PG used Bump! It was Super Effective!*

So I've been watching this over the past couple of days and have finished the first arc, and I'll probably post my thoughts once I'm done with Fairy Dance. I did have problems with some of the Aincrad arc, mainly stemming from Asuna's portrayal over the arc, Kirito's blandness and how disjointed the series felt at times, but overall I actually enjoyed watching it, which surprised me cause I actually did come in thinking that I wasn't going to like it.

(Sorta mild very slight spoilers below. Read at your own peril)


Watching it, Sword Art Online was an interesting series. I found myself enjoying the more slice of life episodes than the plot relevant episodes. One thing I genuinely feel that SAO deserved props for is how it started off seeming like it was going to go the harem route but then didn't. Granted, I didn't really like the Kirito/Asuna relationship by the end of it, but nevertheless I did like how they actually committed to the relationship. Of course that being said, I probably would have enjoyed it more if Kirito had formed an adventuring party with Asuna, Silica and Lisbeth, or at the very least had them be more present than they were.
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Old 09-15-2015, 07:49 PM   #307
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Coincidentally, I recently started watching this as well. I've only watched about half of the original episodes/season, whatever you want to call it.

My unprofessionally written thoughts: If I were to be critical about it, there are plenty of things I could complain about in this show. It seems like most characters are rather shallow and get tossed out the window within the same episode they are introduced in, there are way too many just plain awkward moments that seem completely unnecessary, the first few episodes were crammed/rushed, and it feels like there is more talking than there is action. Regardless, I am still enjoying watching it for some reason. Perhaps that is just because this is my first real anime (unless you count Pokemon) and I am overrating it, or because it revolves around fantasy video game junk that I like. Either way, I enjoy the occasional mystery or action sequence. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's just a sort of... "for fun" show, if you will. I don't watch it expecting overly intriguing plot or anything of that nature. Although my continuation of the series honestly kind of depends on how much more of this "We're married and so cutesy together, ahaha." stuff I can take, since that's exactly what the last couple of episodes have been about. It's just weird to watch and really takes away from everything else in the story (of which there is not much).

So, overall? Not great, but still a fun watch.
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Old 09-15-2015, 10:57 PM   #308
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Finished Fairy Dance this afternoon. This was a major step down from the Aincrad arc in pretty much everyway. It was bad, very very bad, like ridiculously bad. Nearly the whole thing felt like filler, which was weird considering how unlike the first part, it was one continuous story and didn't implement time skips.

But at the same time I still had fun watching it, and I highly suspect that the reason that I didn't drop it after the first Fairy Dance episode was that a couple of my friends adore the show and I like talking about it with them. So I'll probably end up watching the next season of SAO when my friends end up buying the DVD/Blu rays (I ain't spending any of my money on this stuff).
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