Review - Sword Art Online (2012)

       Hey guys, Chuck here, and with a new movie in the long running anime franchise Sword Art Online hitting theaters in February, I decided to take a look at, at the very least, the entire first season of the anime series Sword Art Online, which aired originally in Japan in 2012, but aired in the United States in 2013. 

       So, in the world of Sword Art Online, virtual reality gaming has advanced to a new stage: Full Dive VR gaming. To this end, a company called ARGUS, based in Japan, has developed the NerveGear, which transmits signals into the brain to allow for full immersion into a VR environment. Specifically, the video game built to be played on the NerveGear: Sword Art Online. On November 6th, 10,000 players log in to the game for the first time, some of whom are former BETA testers. One such a former BETA tester is Kazuto Kirigaya, who takes on the Avatar handle Kirito, which is what we'll call him throughout the review. In the virtual world of SAO, which is set in the floating fortress of Aincrad, Kirito meets and befriends a novice player called Klein, whom Kirito shows the ropes to. After a few hours, they plan to log out, only to make a startling discovery: no logout button. Upon being teleported to the Town of Beginnings, the many players of SAO are greeted by a cloaked figure claiming to be SAO creator Akihiko Kayaba. Kayaba reveals that the lack of a logout button is not a glitch, it's deliberate. The only way to log out and return to the real world is to defeat the final boss and clear all one hundred floors of Aincrad. Any attempts from the outside to remove the NerveGear from players, or if a player has their health bar hit zero, the NerveGear will emit a microwave pulse to fry the user's brain, killing them. So, what was a simple VR MMO game is now a situation of life and death. In addition, players are given a mirror that remakes their avatars to resemble their IRL appearance. Players, all in a tizzy, try to make their way, but many die. Kirito and Klein part ways, and Kirito works on his own. 

          Two months and 2,000 dead players later, another former BETA tester named Diabel calls for a gathering of players to go after the Floor One boss. Many players all form parties, with Kirito and one other player, a girl in a cloak, left to form their own party. Another player, Kibaou, seeks any former BETA testers to apologize for all the dead players, when a large player named Agil points out a guidebook that was available to all players...and scribed by the former BETA testers. Anyway as the others in the assault team prepare, Kirito shows his partner something interesting: a creamy substance to make bread taste better. So, the boss fight takes place, and many players lose their lives, including Diabel. Kirito and his partner beat it, but Kibaou isn't happy. Kirito, opting to take the heat off of other former BETA testers, takes on the moniker of "beater" (which is a portmanteau of BETA tester and Cheater) and goes it alone, leaving his partner, whose name we learn is Asuna, to find a strong guild to join and stay alive. 

       Time continues to pass, and several guilds have formed, including the Knights of Blood Oath and the Moonlit Black Cats. The latter guild is one Kirito joins, but because of his lying about his level to them, each of them tragically lose their lives in battle, including a girl named Sachi. On December 24th, Kirito defeats a limited boss called Nicholas the Renegade, and gives the prize to Klein and his guild. As the story progresses, we see Kirito, now having earned a new nickname of "Black Swordsman," making friends with other players such as Klein, who is a merchant, Silica, who is a beast tamer with a feathered dragon named Pina (after her cat) as her companion, and Lisbeth,who is a skilled blacksmith. In fact, it's these connections and friendships that truly define him as a character. However, his bond with Asuna ultimately grows from her barely able to tolerate him, to the two becoming much closer as they work and fight together, and we even see a romance bloom between the two. 

        Eventually, after losing a duel against a top tier player named Heathcliff, Kirito joins the Knights of Blood Oath guild, and he roots out a traitor, as one of the guild members is secretly part of a renegade guild of Player Killers called Laughing Coffin. This traitor is killed, and Kirito and Asuna share a kiss. That night, he suggests that the two purchase a log cabin he found in the 22nd floor,.and then they get married. Yeah, apparently, players can get married in the world of SAO, and married couples can have a shared item inventory. So, now married and proud owners of the log cabin, Kirito and Asuna enjoy their time away from the Assault Team. One day, while wandering around in the woods, the newlyweds encounter a small child, a girl who appears to be roughly six or seven years old. Kirito and Asuna take the unconscious child home and put her in a spare bed. The two deduce that she isn't an NPC, nor is she a Quest Giver, and she must be a Player who got separated from her family. The next morning, the girl wakes up, and Kirito and Asuna ask for her name, which is the only thing she knows. Her name is Yui. Unfortunately, Yui has no memory of how she ended up in the forest, where her family is, and has difficulty pronouncing the names of Kirito and Asuna. When Kirito encourages her to think of names that are easier for her to remember, what Yui refers to them as comes as a shock, as Yui refers to Kirito as "Daddy" and Asuna as "Mommy." Okay, admittedly, in the Japanese version it's "Papa" and "Mama," but I'm basing my review on the English dub, so it's "Daddy" and "Mommy." Anyway, Kirito and Asuna accept their roles as Yui's parents, which makes Yui very happy, and the three sit down for some food. 

       After lunch, Yui is asleep, and Kirito and Asuna discuss the best course of action amongst themselves. While they definitely want to take care of her and have their little family with themselves and Yui, they also need to get back to clearing the game, but they need to find Yui's real family first. The best place to start is the Town of Beginnings, which is under the domain of a guild called the Aincrad Liberation Army, to see if Yui's family is there. And as she sleeps, Yui mutters "Mommy... Daddy..." Arriving in the Town of Beginnings, Yui is unable to recognize anything, so the three head along to find someone who might recognize Yui. They do come across a woman named Sasha, who looks after several children on the first floor of Aincrad, having given them a shelter at an abandoned church. Sasha and three of her charges are being muscled by men belonging to the Liberation Army, who are "collecting taxes" from players on the first floor. Asuna knocks some sense into one of them, scaring them off. Now, one thing to remember is that towns are seen as Safe Zones, and ergo health bars don't deplete. As everyone else celebrates Asuna's victory, Yui begins to remember something: she was never in the Town of Beginnings, and she was "always alone in the dark." Yui then suffers a seizure, which also causes a glitch in the game somehow, and she falls from Kirito's grip. Asuna scoops her up, and holds the frightened child close to comfort her until she passes out. 

        The next day, Sasha reveals to Kirito and Asuna that she looks after dozens of children on a daily basis, but had never come across Yui before. Kirito and Asuna are then approached by a woman named Yulier, who is the second in command of the Liberation Army. She reveals that the Army was meant for good things by their leader, Thinker, who was recently led into a trap by a player growing influential in the Liberation Army: Kibaou. Now, Thinker is trapped in a dungeon, and has no items or weapons, and no way out. So, Yulier begs Kirito and Asuna for their help, and after Yui points out that Yulier is speaking the truth, Kirito and Asuna agree to help. Initially, they plan to leave Yui with Sasha and the other children, but Yui insists on coming along despite the danger. 

        So, the four head into the dungeon, where Kirito takes down a bunch of frogs, who drop frogs legs as cooking ingredients. Kirito suggests that Asuna could make a meal with them, but a disgusted Asuna tosses the legs away, and the bickering between the married couple gets a laugh and a smile from Yulier, the latter of which is noticed by Yui. Anyway, they head to Thinker's location, which is a Safe Zone at the end of a rigged corridor. How is it rigged? A massive monster called Fatal Scythe. Asuna send Yui with Yulier, and she and Kirito try to fend the monster off. Yui, now determined to save her parents, heads out of the Safe Zone just as Yulier and Thinker teleport away. Yui, who is revealed to be an immortal object, summons a massive sword and deletes the monster. 

          Inside the Safe Zone, Yui reveals to Kirito and Asuna the nature of SAO's primary operating system, Cardinal, which is a matrix designed to be self sufficient and determine things like monster respawns, reward drops, and the psychological well being of players. To that end was created an AI program referred to as a Mental Health Counseling Program. Yui is said MHCP. Yui reveals that she was programmed to emulate complex emotions in order to better be of help to players and put them at ease with her. Unfortunately, on the day of the official launch of SAO, Cardinal gave Yui a directive to only observe the mental states of players, but not to interact with them directly. The sheer trauma the players suffered caused errors to pile up in Yui's system. However, one day, she found two players whose mental states were different. In them, she sensed joy, peace, happiness, and love. So, Yui materialized in the forest to be close to them. However, things are happening to her now that she can't figure out. Kirito consoles Yui, telling her that she's no longer a part of the system, and that all she has to do is ask for what she wants. To this, Yui says the most heartbreaking line in the entire Aincrad Arc. Yui says to Kirito and Asuna "I want to stay with you forever. Daddy! Mommy!" Fully embracing her as their daughter, Asuna and Kirito console Yui and promise that they'll be together forever, and that she's their child. Unfortunately, it's too late, as her actions in using a GM console disguised as a stone tablet to destroy the monster, Cardinal identified Yui as a foreign object, and subject for deletion. Asuna, powerless to stop what's coming, desperately holds Yui close as the girl slowly disintegrates, leaving Asuna heartbroken and in tears. Kirito, refusing to let Kayaba get his way, accesses the GM console to separate Yui's coding from the Cardinal matrix, backlog her code to to internal hard drive of his NerveGear, and convert it into a crystal teardrop that he calls "Yui's Heart." And I swear, I don't remember crying any harder than when I watched this moment. A family torn apart by a system, two parents helpless to keep their daughter from being deleted, and a father doing what he can to save her as best he could. Seriously, it was such a heartbreaking moment that really hit me, you guys. 

        Anyway, we get back to Kirito and Asuna relaxing, and helping an older player with nabbing a creature called the King of All Fish. After catching and defeating it, Kirito and Asuna are called back into action by Heathcliff, who reveals that he's assembling a massive Assault Team to go after the boss on Floor 75: Skull Reaper. Many players die in the massive fight, but they eventually take the boss down. It's here where Kirito reveals the truth: Heathcliff is none other than Akihiko Kayaba himself. Heathcliff confirms this, and reveals that he's the final boss. Although he plans to head to the top floor alone, and wait for the others to finish clearing the next several floors, Heathcliff makes an offer for a one-on-one duel to the death with Kirito, and if Kirito wins, all Players will be able to log out. 

        The fight is tense, and despite being clearly outclassed, Kirito manages to hold his own. However, when he's about to suffer a killing blow, Asuna steps in front of him and takes the blow. Kirito continues to fight, but clearly distraught. Heathcliff gives a fatal stab, but Kirito holds on just enough to deliver the killing blow to Heathcliff, clearing the game after a total of two years. Kirito awakens on a platform overlooking Aincrad, which is falling apart. Reunited with Asuna, the two are confronted by Kayaba, who informs them that the game is cleared, the surviving players, including Kirito and Asuna, will be logged out and freed from the game, and the game itself is being destroyed as the ARGUS servers are purged. Before logging out, Kirito and Asuna share an intimate moment where they reveal to each other their real names. Kirito reveals his name as Kazuto Kirigaya, and he is one year younger than Asuna, whose real name is Asuna Yuuki. The two log out, and Kazuto awakens in the hospital with one goal in mind: find Asuna in the real world. This ends the Aincrad Arc. 

        Okay, so obviously most Sword Art fans prefer the Aincrad Arc as the best, as it's the one arc where the stakes were the highest. Thousands of players trapped in a game where only victory was the way out. Death in game meant death for real. I also really enjoyed a number of the characters featured throughout the arc, such as Silica, Lisbeth, and Agil. However, my personal favorite moments were those where we saw Kirito, Asuna, and Yui together as a family. Honestly, it was so adorable seeing these two newlywed teenagers essentially adopt and become the parents of an AI who saw them as her mother and father. The various monsters and enemies that show up are pretty neat, and I definitely enjoyed the various monsters fights when they occurred. 

        Alright, so now we come to the second arc in Sword Art: the Fairy Dance Arc. During this arc, we meet Kazuto's little sister Suguha Kirigaya, or Sugu as he calls her. Now, I say that she's his little sister, but she's actually his cousin. You see, Kazuto's parents died when he was little, and his aunt and l uncle adopted him and raised him as their son. In turn, they raised Kazuto and Suguha as brother and sister, rather than as cousins. However, his discovery of the truth caused Kirito to grow distant from his family and immerse himself in the world of online gaming. However, after his experience in Aincrad, he's begun treating his sister much better, making her very happy. Unfortunately, he's still driven by his love for Asuna, who never reawakened. He does go to visit her in the hospital, which is okay with her father, Shozo Yuuki. However, one of his underlings at RCT Progress, a company owned by Shozo, is less than accepting of Kazuto's visits. This is Noboyuki Sugo, who reveals his plan to marry the still comatose Asuna, much to the heartbreak of Kazuto. That night, Kazuto gets a message from Andrew Mills, the former SAO known as Agil, of another VR MMO game where there's a girl who bears a striking resemblance to Asuna. 

       At his cafe, Dicey's, Andrew reveals the game where Asuna's picture came from. A full dive VR MMO called Alfheim Online, or ALO for short. The game is similar to SAO, but player killing is permitted, the gameplay is skill based, and is involves both swordplay and magic. It also has a flight system based on the fact that players take the form of fairies in the game. Realizing what he has to do, Kazuto asks to borrow the game to play it, which Andrew allows, telling him that it should be compatible with the NerveGear, despite being made for the new AmuSphere rig. AmuSphere replaced NerveGear on the market, and ultimately has the same base specs as NerveGear, but with improved security. So, no chance of AmuSphere being used to kill anyone. However, the game is still compatible with the NerveGear, so Kirito uses it to log in to ALO for the first time. Upon logging in, Kazuto sets his avatar name to Kirito, chooses a race of fairy called Spriggan, and is set into the game. Checking his stats and inventory, Kirito notices his skills are a match for his old SAO skills. Unfortunately, no dual wielding, and a number of his items are missing... except one. MHCP-001 aka Yui's Heart. Kirito brings the item from his inventory and activates it, bringing back Yui in the process. Yui, when asks if she remembers him, looks at Kirito and remarks "I do. I remember you, Daddy." Father and daughter are reunited, and I couldn't be happier. Now, I know that this moment drove off many viewers, and permanently soured them to the entire Sword Art franchise, but I don't care. I was happy to see Yui brought back. 

      Anyway, Yui synchs up with the game matrix of ALO, and recognizes that the game is copied from the old SAO servers, but using an outdated version of the Cardinal system. And in this world, she's been recognized as a Player Support Program in the form of a Navigation Pixie. Kirito then gets Yui up to speed on everything that's happened: after SAO was cleared, everyone logged out, but three hundred players, including Asuna, never reawakened in the real world. And evidently, Asuna was spotted in a massive cage located at the top of the World Tree in the center of Alfheim. Yui, really wanting to reunite with her mommy, agrees to help Kirito reach the World Tree and save Asuna. So, the two take off, and Yui detects other players nearby. 

        It's here where we are introduced to other races in the world of ALO, as two Sylph fairies are under attack from a group of Salamander fairies. The two Sylphs are called Recon and Leafa, the former of whom is able to take down one of the Salamanders at the cost of losing his life. Now remember, ALO is not a death game, so players are able to die in game no problem. Leafa, however, is saved by Kirito, and the last remaining Salamander retreats in an act of self preservation. After Kirito makes a joke about how Leafa can repay him, Yui quickly becomes defensive, declaring "Mommy and me are the only ones allowed to hug Daddy!" Leafa, initially confused, recognizes Yui as a personal Navigation Pixie, and agrees to lead the two to a town in Sylph territory to buy him a drink. She also shows him how to fly without use of a controller. So, Leafa, Kirito, and Yui all head to an inn in Sylph territory, and Leafa breaks down the Grand Quest: the first Fairy race to clear the Sentinels within the World Tree and reach the floating fortress at the top, will be ascended to a more powerful fairy race by Oberon the Fairy King, and they will be capable of unlimited sustained flight, as opposed to the ten minute limit for flight that most players are given. Kirito mentions that there's someone he's looking for, and they'll be at the top of the World Tree, and Leafa agrees to take him there before logging out. Upon logout, we see that Leafa is none other than Sugu, and she didn't recognize Kirito as her brother Kazuto. Speaking of which, Kirito checks into a room at the inn, and he and Yui both lay down in bed, with Kirito promising to rescue Asuna and finding a new home in ALO for their little family, which Yui says would be a dream come true. Kirito passes out and is logged out, with Yui saying to him: "Goodnight, Daddy." 

       Asuna, meanwhile, is shown to be held captive in the cage atop the World Tree. It turns out that Sugo is keeping her there under an avatar called Titania, Queen of the Fairies, whilst he is Oberon the Fairy King. Yeah, they literally took the names from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, I know. But anyway, Asuna wants out, but Sugo, being the sick bastard that he is, keeps her there hoping she'll come around. She does eventually get out, and attempts to use a console to log out, but she is caught by two of Sugo's science jerks, both of whom are pink blobs of slime. The slime jerks take her back to her cage, but she grabs an Admin's ID card on her way out. We'll get to that later, though. 

       Kirito, Leafa, and Yui all travel together, passing through several caverns, neutral towns, and what not while en route to the World Tree. Along the way, they learn that one of the Sylphs is planning to disrupt a meeting between the leaders of the Sylphs and Cait Siths, and plans to betray both groups to the Salamanders on the promise that, after an upcoming update, he will be able to be resurrected as a Salamander. Leafa offers to part ways with Kirito so he can get the Salamanders to help him reach the World Tree, but he insists on sticking with her because she's a good person, which matters more to him. So, the two head to the meeting place, and Kirito attempts to negotiate with the Salamanders. Unfortunately, things don't go well, and a fight does occur. Luckily, cooler heads prevail and the Salamanders honor their word to leave the Sylphs and Cait Siths alone. As for the traitor? Well, Sylph leader Sakuya banishes him from the Sylph race for good. And, lastly, Kirito hands Sakuya and Alicia Rue, leader of the Cait Siths, a bunch of money to acquire armor and weapons to help Kirito clear the World Tree. 

          Back in the real world, Kazuto takes Sugu along on his hospital visit to Asuna. Seeing her for the first time, Sugu realizes how deeply Kazuto cares for Asuna, and takes solace in wanting to get closer to Kirito. Back in the game, Leafa takes Kirito to the town of Central Arun, which surrounds the World Tree, and Leafa and Kirito get close enough for Yui to identify Asuna's Player ID. But still, Leafa has no idea who it is, as Yui is only referring to Asuna as "Mommy." Like a bullet, Kirito takes off towards the top of the World Tree, only to be stopped by the barrier surrounding it. Yui eventually reaches through to Asuna using "warning mode," and it works. How do I know this? Because we jump to Asuna in the cage, and she here's Yui's voice calling to her: "Mommy! Mommy, I'm here!" Asuna tries calling out as well, shouting towards the ground "Yui, I'm up here!" Unfortunately, she can't be heard, and she drops the Admin's ID card from earlier, which is caught by Kirito. Yui recognizes it, and realizes "it's from Mommy." 

         So, Kirito gets the location to the entrance to the World Tree from Leafa, and makes the attempt to conquer it. It ends disastrously, and Leafa gets him out and restores him. His resolve is unchanged, however, and the minute he blurts out Asuna's name, Leafa realizes who Kirito really is. And the minute she asks if he's Kazuto, Kirito finally realizes that Leafa is his sister, Suguha. They both log out, and he attempts to talk to her, but in an emotional outburst, she confesses to have starting crushing on him, but and after learning about Asuna tried to move on with Kirito, not realizing that Kirito was her brother the entire time. Yeah, they still try to play off the cousin angle as a reason, but it's still awkward. 

       Anyway, both siblings eventually log back in to ALO, and the two decide to duel each other, with each promising to not hold back. However, they both intended to throw the fight, as neither could bring themselves to harm each other. So, Leafa agrees to help Kirito clear the World Tree, and Recon, who himself confessed his feeling towards Leafa/Suguha earlier, is brought in to help as well. The three hold their own pretty well, but are pretty overwhelmed. Luckily, Sakuya and Alicia Rue show up with the Sylphs and Cait Siths to help, and eventually Kirito reaches the door to the top of the World Tree. Yui notices the door was sealed by the Admins, meaning it was never meant to be opened by a Player. Luckily, they have the Admin's ID card, which Yui is able to copy the codes from and open the door and the two are teleported to a programmer corridor. Oh, and Yui is her normal size again after the teleport.

        Okay, so Kirito and Yui make it through to the top of the World Tree, only to find no floating city at the top, meaning the Grand Quest of Alfheim was all bullshit. A lie. Yui tugs at Kirito to remind him of what they need to do, and they rush to the cage. Upon reaching the cage, Yui calls out to Asuna to get her attention with one word: "Mommy!" Asuna, eyes filled with joyful tears, sees Yui break down the cage door and come running towards her. Mother and daughter reunited, Asuna and Yui have a really big hug, and I gotta say, my heart melted when this scene came up. I teared up when Yui had to go away, I teared up when Kirito brought Yui back in the world of ALO, and I teared up when Yui and Asuna reunited. After the reunion of mother and daughter, Kirito walks in and has his moment with Asuna, and the two get ready to log out. Unfortunately, Yui can't log Asuna out, and points out the need to reach an Admin's console. 

       But, the joyful family reunion is cut short as a gravity well is activated, and Yui disappears again. Sugo finally makes his presence known, and impales Kirito with his own sword. As Sugo acts more and more disgusting and pervy towards Asuna, Kirito nearly blacks out, only to be called out to by a voice he didn't think he'd hear: the voice of Kayaba. Kirito stands up, and his sword falls to the ground. Sugo attempts to smack him, but Kirito blocks it and overrides Sugo's credentials with a login attempts. "System login. ID: Heathcliff. System override. Set ID Oberon to Level 1." Sugo, not willing to stand by as Kirito overrides his authority over the ALO system, he attempts to summon the sword Excalibur. Kirito, having higher Admin privileges now, repeats Sugo's command and successfully summons Excalibur. Kirito then sets the pain absorption index to zero, terrifying Sugo. Kirito then remarks: "Did you just flinch, 'cause the other guy never flinched. You know him. Akihiko Kayaba!" Upon realizing what's going on, Sugo remarks "Oh my God! Kayaba!?!?! That was HIS ID! Why? You're supposed to be dead! You're always doing this to me!" Kirito thoroughly destroys Sugo, frees Asuna, and logs her out after a tearful moment. Kirito and the spectral image of Kayaba have one last meeting, where Kayaba gives Kirito a gift: the Seed. 

          Back in the cage, Kirito frantically looks around for Yui, who pops up out of thin into his arms, exclaiming "Daddy!" Kirito is relieved to see Yui safe, and she reveals that she his herself in the internal hard drive of his NerveGear. When she asks about Asuna, Kirito reveals that she is back home in the real world, which makes Yui happy to hear. Kirito promises to visit soon, but is unsure of what will become of the world of ALO, but Yui reassures him that they'll always be together because her core programming is in his NerveGear. Kirito then tells Yui that he's going head out to see Asuna, to which Yui replies "Okay, Daddy. I love you!" Kirito gives his AI daughter a kiss on the cheek and logs out, returning to the real world. It's here where he's greeted by Suguha, who was glad to have been able to help him accomplish his goal. She then sends him off to the hospital, where they both know Asuna is waiting for him. 

       Upon arriving, a clearly insane Sugo attempts to kill Kazuto, but is easily beat by him. Kazuto leaves Sugo for the police, and goes into the hospital, get cleaned up, and goes to see Asuna. Now, this is the first time they've met in the real world, so it's an emotional moment for them both, and of course they share a very passionate kiss. Months later, and the two are now in school together at a special academy set aside for survivors of SAO. Kids and teens who spent two years trapped in Aincrad and needed to catch up on the two years of schooling they missed out on. And of course, Kazuto and Asuna are boyfriend and girlfriend in real life now, and there is some jealousy from the likes of Keiko and Rika, who played SAO as Silica and Lisbeth, respectively. We also learn that RCT Progress shut down, ALO was shut down, and Sugo was arrested and, despite denying it at first, finally confessed to the wrongful experiments on the three hundred SAO survivors he experimented on, none of whom had any memory of it and thankfully no lasting psychological damage either. Oh, and Kayaba rigged his NerveGear to emit a high output microwave pulse into his brain, frying it. So, yeah, Kayaba's dead. And the genre of full dive VR games was ruined by two controversial incidents: SAO and ALO.

          That evening, a big party for SAO survivors goes on at Dicey's, and Kazuto meets the likes of Thinker, who married Yulier in the real world, as well as Ryotaro/Klein. Kazuto then speaks with Andrew about the Seed, which was a self-contained version of the Cardinal system that could function on any computer system. The World Seed, it was called, was used by a new company who relaunched Alfheim Online, and several more companies started their own Full Dive VR games, all born of the Seed Nexus. And what's more, when Kirito logs in to ALO to find Leafa, who asks him to dance in midair with her. Then, he shows her something that is about to be a major part of the new ALO: a massive floating fortress called New Aincrad. Yep, they brought back Aincrad, and this time, the SAO survivors plan to re-enter it, no fear of dying IRL this time, and hopefully conquer Aincrad. Kirito asks Leafa to help him conquer Aincrad, and she happily agrees. The arc, and the season, ends with multiple ALO players, including former SAO players, flying towards New Aincrad,.with Kirito flying towards it alongside Leafa, Asuna, and Yui. 

      Okay, so admittedly, the Fairy Dance Arc is slightly weaker than the Aincrad Arc. The stakes are lower, as there's no longer a need to clear the game and survive. The world of ALO is nice to look at, but feels like an SAO version of Hyrule. And, of course there's the big elephant in the room: Sugo. Seriously, this guy is such a skeevy bastard, and his behavior towards Asuna is frickin disturbing. Now, I will give props to Todd Haberkorn's performance, as he did a good job, it's just a terrible character. 

      Speaking of which, I definitely want to get into the VO performances in Sword Art Online. Bryce Papenbrook and Cherami Leigh are excellent as Kirito and Asuna, and any scenes that the two of them have together are just gold. I also, of course, loved Stephanie Sheh's performance as Yui, as she definitely conveys the innocence of childhood with the character. With other characters, I really enjoyed the likes of Patrick Seitz as Agil, Kirk Thornton as Klein, Erika Harlacher as Sasha, Christine Marie Cabanos as Silica, and Sarah Anne Williams as Lisbeth. A major standout is Cassandra Lee Morris as Leafa, who definitely plays two side of her, both in game and IRL as Suguha, with a lot of passion and just sheer magnetism. 

     Now, I mentioned Todd Haberkorn as Sugo, but what about Kayaba/Heathcliff. Well, the character is played by two different voice actors: Kevin M. Connolly as Heathcliff, and Marc Diraison as Kayaba. Both play the character as stoic but mysterious, confident yet suspicious. We admire his for his creation, but detest him for indirectly causing so many deaths throughout the Aincrad Arc. Now, I have viewed the series of Sword Art Online from the point of view of a fan of the Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One, and I have actually drawn comparisons to the film and this series. In fact, in a way, Akihiko Kayaba is very much like James Halliday, except with the whole "death game" scenario. In that regard, Noboyuki Sugo is very much like Nolan Sorrento, a false leader who seeks to Lord over a virtual world he never created. A false king. A king of thieves, if you will. 

         The virtual worlds of SAO and ALO are both fascinating, as they both have very unique looks and are definitely indistinguishable from each other. Whilst Alfheim has several areas and towns in a massive world map, Aincrad has multiple floors, some looks similar to each other, and others are wholly unique with their own terrains, monsters, and weather environments. For example, there's a floor that's a garden, a floor that's ice and snow, and host of other floors. Unfortunately, the anime doesn't really get into the top twenty-five floors aren't seen in the actual anime, but there is a Sword Art Online video game called Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment that does explore said floors. And it's in a divergent timeline from the anime, so you don't need to worry about playing the game to keep up with the goings on in the anime. 

          Now, amidst the Dungeons & Dragons esque landscapes, the virtual environment that combines medieval fantasy with the virtual universe of the OASIS from Ready Player One, and all the monster fights with swords and whatnot, there is one core theme that most everyone who has watched, analyzed, and picked apart Sword Art Online has missed, or at least gotten wrong. The series, in my honest opinion, is all about connections with people. Consider this, those who were trapped in Aincrad for two years had to adapt and survive. In doing so, they made new friends, and in turn new connections. One such example is the connection between Silica and her feathered dragon companion Pina. And, of course, the most notable example is the connections that Kirito and Asuna made with each other and with Yui. And Kirito's many connections also repaired his connection with Suguha, further strengthened when he discovered she played ALO as Leafa. 

         Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Sword Art Online. Is it perfect? No. Is it flawed? Beyond belief. But, I still have a lot of fun with the series. So, it's for this reason that I'm giving the first season of Sword Art Online a rating of 4.35/5. Anyway guys, be sure to join me later today for my review of the 2021 movie Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night.