“No point in wondering who someone really is, all you can do is trust them and accept them for who they are. Because the person you come to know is who that person really is.” – (Kirigaya Kazuto/Kirito)

Series: Sword Art Online II

Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Game, Romance, Shounen

Review

Somewhere into the future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online has been released to the public. The game requires a NerveGear, where once it is equipped; it uses brain waves from the user to control your avatar within the game. However, the creator of the game, Kayaba Akihiko decided to trap all the players inside the game. They can only log out once they clear the entire game which means they have no connection to the outside world at all. Also, their health bar must not reach zero or else they will die both in the game and real life.

The series’ protagonist, Kazuto Kirigaya, has acquired a beta version of Sword Art Online before it is officially released to the public. Being a beta tester, he knows the game inside and out, for example where to level up faster and is able to defeat monsters easily, earning him the nickname “Beater”. Of course, this upset those who didn’t have the same advantages he did and instead died very easily.

On the other hand, we have the heroine, Yuuki Asuna, who is also trapped in the game. She was introduced briefly at the beginning of the anime but started to become very significant later on in the series. She was the sub-leader of a guild within the game known as “Knights of the Blood”. When she first met Kirito, they helped each other out so that they could defeat the floor boss and move on to another level. However, they become temporarily separated due to other players calling Kirito a “Beater”. In the end, they manage to meet each other again and continue their partnership.

In terms of the plot of the anime, I consider it very fascinating. However, to me, it felt a little rushed as there very many jumps between each episode. For example, they were at floor 28 in one episode but on floor 30 in another. That jump made me feel like there could be something included in between it.

As for the graphics, it was really surprising how good it was, especially during the fight scenes, and the use of special effects is particularly impressive. Overall, I think that this is a really good anime not because it managed to entertain me, but because the plot was far more interesting that I thought it would be. Although it felt like the plot was unfinished, it was well done considering that they had to convert 2 volumes of the Sword Art Online light novel into 24 episodes show.

Flame Anime Rating: 6/7