Anime Review | Sword Art Online: Aincrad Arc (Lights, Camera, Action!)

Sword Art Online: Aincrad Arc (UK Rating: N/A)

Sword Art Online has, unquestionably, one of the weirdest success stories for an anime in the West. While it first followed the seemingly more-common-now manner of starting off as a light novel, becoming a manga, and then becoming an anime, something happened when it left Japan: namely, people hated it, yet it grew more and more and, with each passing season, it seems people hate it more and more. To make it even weirder, it seems that this hate is tempered by actual positive things about the anime. Make no mistake, regardless of this review, it seems near certain that everyone will fall into one of two sides regarding this show.

The plot is simple. In the future, there is this device called 'NerveGear,' which allows people to enter into a full-on digital world. It seems great at first since it means amazing things can be done, such as MMOs that the players can outright enter into. The only problem is that it leaves them unable to move about in the real world due to all the problems this would cause if, say, participants went around trying to jump over the nearest ice cream truck claiming it was an ogre, beating up mailmen claiming they were goblins, and then running away with the 'loot' of a pile of letters addressed to their dear granny to pawn off to the local bartender, along with a discarded shoe for 'gold,' which is actually just beer coasters. However, the creator of the newest Virtual Reality MMO, Sword Art Online, has decided he wants to take things to the next level and takes everyone inside of his MMO hostage by disabling the log-out feature and, should the player die in the game, they die in real life.

To start with, the positives: the soundtrack is simply wonderful. Featuring music by Yuki Kajiura, who also made music for such things as Magi Madoka Magica and Xenosaga, every moment the soundtrack is playing is simply wonderful. It would be quite easy to place the soundtrack on a disc and play it for someone whom had never even heard of the show and have them still find it as great despite not knowing where it was from at all. Almost every bit seems to hit home without question and would be enough to prop up even a bad show to at least 'notable' levels.

Secondly, is the animation and designs and, honestly, they are really good, as well. As an artistic piece, the show, while not the most wondrous, is well drawn and pleasing to look at. While it may be far from the levels of other shows Sword Art Online isn't meant to be an art piece. It appears to follow a philosophy of 'beauty in simplicity,' making it so that some of its best weapons don't seem overly fanciful but, rather, well-designed and pleasant to look at without being gaudy. Some may disagree and that's fine, but looking at many of the weapons in actual MMOs it's clear that something like Asuna's clothing simply loses to High Inquisitor Sally Whitemane's outfit in World of Warcraft in terms of design complexity, yet remains engaging and pleasing to look at. Passable, at worst, then, and great at best… It would seem the show is off to a good start. What's the problem?

Well, the plot. Removing the issue of the characters and their personality for a second (don't worry, it will get talked about), the show simply feels… unrealistic. People familiar with MMOs will start finding plot-holes and problems right away, without so much as a thought. A prime example: why hasn't Silica's pet, Pina, a tamed dragon that can heal other players, made Silica one of the most high-valued party members in the game where nothing like healing magic exists? Even casual MMO'ers know the value of a healer and having an MMO where there is no healing magic and you literally die if your HP reaches 0 makes this utterly invaluable. This is far from the only plot issue in the story that can be spotted right away and, even allowing for the MMO to be different from the standards of today, it feels like the author was trying to create more of a fantasy story with bits of MMO thrown into it, like making a nice beef stew before confusingly tossing in hunks of ice cream for little reason, and then trying to make a story set in a fantasy MMO.

Then come the characters; namely Kirito. Easily the biggest issue is the question of 'Is Kirito a Mary Sue'? For those not-in-the-know, a Mary Sue is what happens when a character is poorly written and ends up being presented as too good/pure/perfect/flawless/whatever in a story. This isn't the warrior full of courage fighting the dragon but the warrior who is 'honourable,' despite the village of Halflings he just slew because one of them gave him lip about his questionable clothes, being praised by the dragon that, obviously, stands no chance against him. Also, how the rookie, despite it being the first time they ever flew a jet-plane, is suddenly capable of joining the Top Gun program while programming the machine for Tron on the side.

Is he one of those? Well… Only so much as you let him be. There is no question that Kirito's flaws are underplayed while he suffers only minor, if any, repercussions for his attitude and actions. He often quickly succeeds, handling fights that should have been much harder with ease, not being called out for his bad attitude, and so-forth. Sounds like a bonafide Mary Sue, and that would not be inaccurate. However, the issue with this is that it is a viewpoint in which Kirito is the only thing worth caring about and focuses entirely upon a singular question: is he a Mary Sue? Not if he is entertaining or if he is bad enough to render the show inert. Since he is seen as a Mary Sue, and being one often equates failure in the eyes of many, it means that the show is not given the chance to even try to stand on its own in the eyes of some.

Despite Kirito's Mary Sue-ness, the characters are fairly solid all-around suffering less from an issue of bad writing and more from the fact that they don't get more screen-time. This is a good thing because it means that many of them held interest to make them desirable to know more about in the first place. When the focus isn't on how Kirito is a Mary Sue, the show's characters and plots do become quite interesting and, despite this, it seems that it still feels more than worthwhile to at least see the next episode up until the end of the first story arc.

6/10

Good

Keep those flamethrowers in check. At the end of the day the simple fact is that, between its good art design, soundtrack, and decent supporting cast, Sword Art Online isn't bad. Some may claim that a show should be held to higher standards, and they are perfectly fine to think so, but it is important to remember to not place something on a golden pedestal than treat everything that doesn't reach its level as 'inferior' and bad. Other anime may capture the MMO feel better, other anime may have better characters or stories, but that doesn't mean Sword Art Online is bad or not even enjoyable - at least for Aincrad Arc.