Watching 'Sword Art Online'

The first season of Sword Art Online aired in 2012, and in the time since there has been a sequel series, a theatrical film, a spin-off and at the time of this writing it is in the middle of its third season with a live-action adaptation coming to Netflix. The anime is based off of a series of light novels written by Reki Kawahara. The first season was produced by A-1 pictures with Tomohiko Itou, who also directed Erased and multiple episodes of Death Note, directing the series, while Yuki Kajiura, who also worked on Fate/Zero, Pandora Hearts, the Kara no Kyoukai films and the Madoka Magica films, composed the music for the show.

Sword Art Online was a show that I progressively liked less as it went on with moments of brilliance that kept me coming back till midway through the second season. The fairy arc of season one being outright detestable. There are plenty of videos and articles that highlight why people hate this show, and I do not feel as if I could add anything to this discussion. So I will instead list five reasons why I watched the show as long as I did.

The first reason is the premise. Being a gamer myself and having spent too much time playing online, the idea of being trapped inside a game where if you die in the game you die in real life is an enticing one. This concept has been done in films such as Stay Alive and even in the .Hack series of anime, however, the way Sword Art Online presented itself superseded both the prior examples. The tone the show used, bordering on a horror aesthetic, while staying true to some video game tropes was refreshing to see. In addition, the weight of the stakes could be felt by the time the credits of episode one started rolling.

The second reason, is the look of the show. There is an interesting contrast between the real world and the world of the game in the opening episode. The real world is dull, boring and visually uninteresting, however, the game world is filled with bright colours, beautiful sweeping vistas, gorgeous art design and a great sense of scale to it. The complete antithesis of the real world in this anime. Which makes the end of episode one all the more impactful when the stakes are revealed and slowly solidified by visuals when they recreate a memory Kirito had in the real world in the virtual world.

The third reason is the characters. A bulk of the first episode is spent with beta tester Kirito and newcomer to the game Klein. While Kirito is without a doubt the lead in the show, our audience surrogate is Klein as we are experiencing the world just as he is, where every experience is new and breath taking. Plus the interaction between the two is endearing as we see a budding friendship. When the story truly begins and we are introduced to Kayaba Akihiko the tone shifts and we are immediately intrigued by the villain, there is an almost Emperor from the Empire Strikes Back feel to him as his presence looms over every one in the game in his robes and hood. Plus while there are a large number of characters on display at no point is it visible that they were copy and pasted as most looked unique and easily distinguishable.

The fourth reason is the music. As it is usually the case when it comes to a soundtrack composed by Yuki Kajiura, the music here is stellar as each piece of music perfectly encapsulates the scene it is placed in. It elevates every scene it is in and is a fantastic set of music to listen to in isolation.

The final reason is one that comes a few episodes into the series, and that is a romance. Something that is sorely lacking in a lot of anime, surprisingly in a lot of romance anime. In Sword Art Online, it comes fairly early on and this allows us to empathize even more with the characters hoping they get out of this mess. It also helps that the chemistry between Asuna and Kirito is quite charming.

These are the five main reasons why I continued to watch the show as long as I did. There are more interesting aspects being explored at varying points in the story, however, they are so scarce and of little consequence in the overall narrative that they are not worth mentioning on here.

Is Sword Art Online a good show? No. That being said it has, in my opinion, a fantastic opening episode. So my recommendation is to check out the first episode and nothing else. It is available on both Crunchyroll and Netflix.