So since I made it to SAO in my story... · 9:12pm Jul 22nd, 2015
I may as well put this out there. "THINGS THAT SWORD ART ONLINE COULD'VE DONE TO BE A MUCH BETTER ANIME"
Before you throw your objects and chairs and beer bottles at me. These are only opinions first and foremost, I won't be comparing it to other anime like "it should have done what log horizon did" or "it should have been like HACK" No. These are simple structural things that SAO's anime story and presentation failed at. I'm aware that this is an old and probably worn out topic but hey... I had nothing else to post today.
1: The Characters!
I'm not going to rant about how Kirito is a mary sue or harem king. I WILL say that he's underdeveloped and that some of his important revelations come off screen. Did you know in the light novel Kirito encountered and even partnered up with Asuna several times before their next meeting with the murder arc? In the anime it was implied but not outright stated. You just got the feeling that you missed something. Did you also know that Kirito almost never encountered Klein in the LN(which covered events in the anime as well as those it skipped over), even off screen? Klein is barely referenced considering he's (and this is directly stated by Reki herself) he's Kirito's best friend and most trusted ally beside Asuna. He's also considered to be the third most important non arc-focused character. (SHOKING AMIRITE)
My suggestion: We have the unique opportunity in the anime, set up very early on actually, but ultimately unused in both the anime and LN. I'm sure it's been said before even in reviews or by critics. We could have used three viewpoints and three main characters. Klein, a bumbling noob of a guildmaster who makes use of what Kirito taught him to keep his friends from real life alive at all costs. Kirito, the lone wolf player who needs to take every precaution to stay alive while still trying to level himself to keep himself at the front line. And finally, Asuna, the explorer and strong willed fighter who, after learning its importance from Kirito, freely teams up and parties with others in order to find out more about the world around her. In one, we get to see how the player hierarchy works with Klein falling into it. How guilds work and how they're formed. What they do and so on Perhaps more about the slave or murder guilds briefly mentioned. With Kirito we find out just how dangerous and beautiful the world really is when he goes places normal parties don't dare to go in an attempt to get stronger. Perhaps find out how he knew about the best sun setting? With Asuna we get to see the social aspect of the game only seen once with Silica. How characters are dealing with the situation, the orphan children brought up and then forgotten in the Yui arc and more about the world as a whole.
Not only them but we could see the side characters more often. Kirito and Agil, Asuna and Lizbeth and Klein and his old world friends. With them every so often interacting with each other leading up to Kirito’s and Asuna’s marriage.
2: The Villains!!
My god the whole “antagonist posing as an ally” is slightly cliche on its own but in SAO it could have been done so much better. Not only did we have a good set of distractions but nobody would’ve suspected it in the first place. Kayaba could’ve easily been labled a cheater and that would’ve been a good cover, not to mention something that could link him and Kirito as he would be the only one to have noticed. It could’ve been a series long arc running in the background. Everyone wants to leave and his “cheating” is helping them get closer to doing that, so why rat him out? But it still grates on Kirito’s nerves and pride as a gamer. As a tech nerd himself Kirito struggles on how exactly he's cheating before coming to his final conclusion. Not to mention, even if he did say anything his “Beater(Beta test cheater)” rep would negate anything he said.
HOWEVER! Even if we forget all of that something else unforgivable happened. You know what it is? It was brought up twice in separate occasions, left by the wayside, and was apparently solved off screen but was a major issue with the players for the majority of their time in SAO. I’m talking about The Murder Guilds. Laughing Coffin in particular was a well known one. But on halfway into Gun Gale are they given something of an explanation, including what seemed like an awesome plot point or story arc we missed out on. Easily could’ve been the quote unquote main antagonists of the season and could have taken everyone's eyes off of the immortal guildmaster. Tragically underused and underdeveloped for what they were.
3: The pacing!!!
You all know what I'm talking out? No, I don't think you do. By the end of Day 1 in the game Kirito is level 4. After his first meeting with Asuna he's level 13. When he joins the Midnight Black Cats in Ep 3 he's LEVEL 40. While the light novel covers a lot of the time between levels it needs to be remembered that not everyone reads the manga or light novel (filthy casuals) and that, unless the name of the anime is Fate, most anime are created with that knowledge in mind. SAO would've made a lot more money if it ran continuously while spacing things out and covering more of the LN and even adding in some filler to make things interesting. I dare say I wouldn't even mind if it ran with infrequent hiatus, not unlike Fairy Tail (Which is produced by the same studio) or an american cartoon.
Just the first arc with them in SAO could’ve lasted somewhere around three 24 episode seasons. Then move on to ALO then GGO and then Excalibur and Mother’s Rosario. BAM 150 episode anime that rakes in cash like a mofo. (Season 1 of SAO was the number 5 highest when it came out)
Don’t get me wrong, I know the various reasons why such an airing wouldn’t be feasible given Japan’s airing station’s style differing from our own and a few other factors. But It’s just my opinion that if SAO presented itself more like this less people would give the first season so much flack.
Am I wrong? Do you hate my opinions? Want to debate them with me in a civil manner? Too long didn’t read? Do you want to add anything constructive? Do you realize that this is ultimately a waste of time? I do. Comment below.
I'm still debating whether or not I should watch this anime. with all the good things I've heard about it, I've also heard a bunch of bad things about it to, so I'm still weighing my options.
3260981 The anime isn't completely bad any any stretch. The best word would be underused as in It could have done much more considering what had to run with. I'll tell you the same thing i say to everyone who asks. In a completely fair manner:
If you like action in your video game anime, watch Sword Art Online, if you like story centric VG anime watch Log Horizon, if you like character developmental VG anime stories watch Accel World All three are great anime and all are worth watching if you have the time.
3261059 I guess I could give it a shot. I'm pretty sure I've seen animes that were far worse.
You make three completely valid points, but all of them fail when you look at one thing: they had only 25 episodes to work with from the very beginning. They didn't know that it would be so popular and that they would have the audience necessary to make more seasons. Honestly, with the number of episodes they had to work with, they did the best job they could.
I'm not denying that these are potentially issues, but they become absolutely forgivable when you consider the situation and context. But that's just my opinion.
3260981 I highly recommend watching it. These issues are visible in retrospect, but they aren't noticeable while you're watching them. At least, they weren't for me.