SAO goes Offline

with 25 episodes under this highly rated series, the first half of the whole virtual MMO story has come to an end. I wouldn't be surprised if there would be a 2nd season, considering the fact that there's still 2 more games following ALO, with the highly anticipated Gun Gale Online, but I guess that would depend on the speed of the novel that's being published.

reunited at last!

This series has been a bumpy ride, with signs showing uncanny similarities with Guilty Crown. Yes, although their genres are totally different, but the trends in the way the episodes follow seems too much alike. There was the awesome, level defining first episode, which sets the pace right for the series to go along, follows through the first arc with ease and then abruptly changing pace for a second arc, causing the series to go slightly downhill till the end when the finale actually did allow the ALO arc to shine. Firstly, the ALO arc had less story to tell which was focused on rescuing Asuna, which actually dragged on for very long and shows Kirito way more powerful than he already was, which makes the "game" seems less exciting than it was compared to SAO. Focusing on the rescue of Asuna, it all seems like a dragged out romance drama with inserted fight scenes deliberately used to extend the episodes to make the reunion happen at the 24th episode. I wouldn't say that the action scenes were bad, there were in fact good and I enjoyed them, but having to wait so long before Asuna actually met Kirito again was just as heart wrenching as we saw Suguha discovering that Kirito was actually her brother (I'll get to this later). Honestly, this's probably more of a personal preference, but I actually would've wanted to see Asuna being rescued earlier and adding more story developments for ALO such as the massive plan of Sugou actually in work. That, I believe, would make a more climatic scene than just facing off with Sugou which Kirito plainly owned him even with Sugou having equipped with a legendary blade. Seems like in the VRMMO, the most attractive factor is that the character skills and abilities develop from the user itself and not just plainly button mashing.

Another downside of the series was actually how powerful they made Kirito to be. As it was obvious in SAO that he hunts solo, or is a Beater, as others call him, and that made him to be as strong as he could near the end of the first arc. Coupled with his unique skill of dual wield, it actually made his character more unique and yet at the same time, didn't make him all overpowered with his unique skill as we see that he lost to Kayaba Akihiko when using dual wield, twice. This was actually good as they made Kirito a normal player who just is strong from experience, but not as overly strong that he kills all bosses in one hit. Furthermore, when he lost to Kayaba for the first time, (even if it was Kayaba using his admin rights, Kirito did not manage to land much hits onto him anyway) there wasn't a power-up or any sort given to Kirito at all and that's a strong point in the SAO's first arc. Things than start to feel "Bleach-y" at the second arc, where "fortunately", Kirito's character data was transferred from SAO and thus in ALO, he started the game as one of the strongest character, has a private pixie with admin rights near the end of the arc, and is able to forcely clear the supposedly unbeatable dungeon. So basically, Kirito in ALO was a character with insane stats when he started, has help from a GM, clearing a dungeon that is deemed impossible from the developers and finally gaining full admin controls over the game. THAT is what I call, overpowered. What it felt when watching the second arc was that the storyline didn't focus on Kirito anymore and he was just made into "someone who can clear the game", and develop other characters in the meantime. When an obstacle struck, he would find a way to turn the table around, one way or another. It was a nice touch at the end, when Kirito admits that it was impossible for him to do it all alone, which he died at the final dungeon and finally received help from the other clans, but it was then that he took Leafa's blade and with the two blades in hand, he managed to burst through the whole wall of monsters, alone. So basically what they are trying to show is that he can accomplish anything with two blades? What I can see is that the amount of monsters rushing towards him is no different from the amount that killed him off in his first attempt. SAO was much smoother as we don't see Kirito solo-ing any of the high level bosses and really plays the part as a player but the storyline deviated in ALO and turns into a love drama where hearts are broken and lovers are reunited. Kinda cliché but that's the impression ALO gave to me.

There were still more plus points that I could find from this series as compared to Guilty Crown which I totally lost myself in the second arc. The strongest point of the series SAO was the depiction of an VRMMO. Compared to Accel World where people just "dive" into the game and create virtual avatars and just fight VS battles, there was a huge stress of MMO details and game mechanics in the series and that's what brought me to love this series. I believe this is the first series I've actually watched, to have a full exploring MMO scenario with hp bars being shown here and there, item and menu list, party list and party member indicators, and with skills and equipments as well. The series has successfully brought the actual world of MMO right into SAO and with continuous references to their mechanics such as "Immortal Object" label being shown when Kirito hits a wall, adds to the special aspect of the series itself. Although this game series does seem similar in terms of genre with Tower of Druaga, that series showed characters in the game which was the real world for the characters whereas SAO showed the game as a virtual world with the detailed mechanics and that makes it a refreshing series to watch for MMO players like me. On first note, the series quickly reminded me of the Tower of Druaga when the mission was to climb a tower, which had a 100 floor. Well that being left aside, the basic storyline of the series was laid right with the players being forced to play a death game which brought despair, hope and romance into a world of MMO. ALO was a follow-up of the series but personally it could've been alot better than how it has been.

everyone back together!

Talking about the finale, the closure was good enough for me. I'm actually a fan of reunions where we get to see old characters being brought back for cameos or being bonded together again. It makes me feel happy when I see them all good to go and retain their friendship brought from the vitrual world. This was what I had hoped to see in Angel Beats! but perhaps that would be spoiling the story so it's ending was fine as it is. It was a nice wrap up of the series as a whole, with the conclusion of having Kirito revive the VRMMO culture with the system that Kayaba passed to him. Having the idea of linking various MMOs together to form a network is really good, making the MMO world full of endless expansion and exploration which adds to the element of playing a virtual MMO. There are complications when it comes to that as it'll increase the level gap of the players when too many dungeons or world gets incorporated but that's just another way to look at it. There was the conclusion of the Sugou incident as well which went good in terms of story and character development. It stressed heavily on the effect of MMO and real life and how Kirito actually managed to differentiate the two. For a moment, I had actually thought that Kirito was about to kill Sugou off and that would've killed the series off with our main protagonist acting all like that. It was good to see that only some things that happen in the virtual world can be brought back into reality such as friendship, love and personal values but about killing someone, that's a different story. Having played SAO where people die when their character gets killed, Kirito was more cautious around people but when ALO arrived where characters can die as many times as they want while incurring penalties, I had a feeling that Kirito might've got too accustomed to the game, since we saw him, brutally slaughtering off Sugou's character in ALO, that he might actually do it again in real life. Glad he kept his composure and reunited happily with Asuna once again. And with SAO now incorporated into ALO, Sugu no longer feels left out, Asuna returns and a whole new MMO adventure will unfold with everyone once again. A rather nice ending there I would say. The only awkward thing was the dance between Suguha and Kirito. That was really anti-climax and just pure weird.

Asuna's ALO avatar looking good there

I believe the series did rather well in terms of the action scenes, with most memorable ones from SAO, with the showcase of Kirito's Dual Wield unique skill where he single-handedly kills off a a boss and the second last boss, the Reaper. The whole dual wield scene was just badass and coupled with the iconic SAO battle OST, the whole fight was just as epic as how it should be. Dual wielding characters are just darn cool :X The introduction of the Reaper was an impact too, showing how difficult it was when only at the 7X floors and it was the first boss that was shown to be as threatening as it was. Player versus were shown in SAO too with rather good animations and similarly in ALO, dual wielding Kirito just kills hard. He totally killed off the game's defined strongest player but making use of his dual sword to counter the enemy's phasing ability and triumphed with ease and that fighting scene was just as badass too.

Kirito in the series was a rather straightforward character, just like any other male protagonist, a young teen that has a rather simple mind, protective of others and sometimes an airhead. He does what he can and in face of danger, he fights alongside with his party members, with his quote that when he's alive, he would not allow any party members to die. Now that's only something you would say when you got insane stats to begin with but that simply shows how protective of others he feels. He basically feels that he is responsible for things that happen around him as he has the ability to perhaps change the course of events that turn out. Take for instance the Sachi arc, where he had concealed his actual level and paid a heavy price when it led to the destruction of the guild, or human lives. Seems like "with power comes great responsibility" is a true quote. But as he blames himself too much, it begins tiring again to see him as a normal anime character where the main protagonist always blames himself when something bad happens. Not a bad thing but too common I would say. Took him a long time to actually discover that Sugu, or Leafa, actually had feelings for him and when he discovered it, it was in a hard way. Would've loved his character more in SAO rather than in ALO though, seems more like a hacker to me in ALO as compared to him being a player in SAO.

Asuna on the other hand had little developments from the start of the series. Little was known about her until Kirito actually joined her guild and the two got together as a couple soon after that. Her job was more vital in SAO (well duh.) where she was one of the forward groups and with Kirito, there were a formidable pair. And with her sacrifice over in the last episode of the SAO arc, it showed Kayaba what human will was like, with Kirito's concious returning to deliver the final blow onto Kayaba. That is another plus point I would say, as it shows that human feelings can actually bring forth a person's fighting spirit, or will to protect another individual, such that the mind still remains concentrated at finishing the task even though the mind is presumed to be dead. Asuna's role in ALO was just an experimental subject, someone who is locked up and waiting to be experimented on, someone who was bullied and in the end, couldn't do much as she sees her beloved Kirito being tormented by Sugou until the tables turn. Would've appreciated it more if she was given some action in ALO rather that just shown as someone who's waiting to be rescued (since her own attempt has failed)

For Suguha, the only thing I can say for her is that she's just plain "unlucky". I mean what are the chances of falling in love with someone in the real world being the same as another random person that she met in the virtual world. I think other than unlucky, there wouldn't be another word to use to describe her situation. Sure enough it was painful for her to realise that her brother that she is in love with had found his other half over in the virtual world and when she thought that she could escape from her past and find a new love with Kirito in ALO, she is yet again disappointed when she discovers that both individuals are the same. If only she had questioned Kirito when Yui calls him Papa, since anyone would be curious to know that if there's a Papa, there would be a Mama right? A very unlucky girl there I would say...

All in all, I would say that this series has brought me to awe with awesome action scenes, from fighting bosses and boss fights, anger from Sugou's irritating antics, feeling painful for the characters when I see Kirito falling into despair when Asuna sacrificed herself to save him, the moment when he realised that the one he loved might be taken away, and the final realisation of Kirito by Sugu and her confrontation of her and Kirito. This was a fulfilling show, a refreshing one, an action packed one but not really the best of the best out there for the its season. It isn't bad but there're just many improvements that the series can venture into which the series had failed to deliver at the beginning of the second arc. Basically it's more of a over-rated anime series which is still worth a watch. At least the finale was redeeming. Kudos to the most talked-about series. The series is over and it's time to move on. Perhaps the novels would be a good idea :)

Sayonara Aincrad!