I agree, as someone who didn't know anything about the story prior the end of this arc seemed to just jump out of nowhere.
I agree, as someone who didn't know anything about the story prior the end of this arc seemed to just jump out of nowhere.
It felt that way in the LN, too. Kirito kinda jumped to a conclusion outta nowhere.
What the hell is wrong with those people. Get trapped in an MMO where people actually die for 2+ years and then they decide to go play another one?
Yeah, the explanations in the LN are pretty awful. ALO is an MMO that popped up while people were still trapped in SAO. There's a new NerveGear that has a failsafe against getting stuck inside of a video game... or something.
This episode should have been two instead. One for the rest of a fuckawesome boss battle and the rest for the final fight+arc conclusion.
On a side note in accel world the reason their nuero linkers are designed the way they are is so that any old schmuck can just rip them off if a person tries to pull a SAO.
Is the next arc the one with crossdressing Thor or did the anime skip that part already?
Besides the interesting characters and high production values SAO has actually felt pretty lack luster to me. The overall story is shoddily told and feels rushed. We learn very little about the actual game world and all of a sudden the entire thing abruptly ends at Floor 75? The whole setup of the story was to make it to floor 100 but then it was like "k, nm, lets do the fighting here since u discovered my haxs". Then, there's no actual conclusion or explanation for the events, he just gives a small rant then teleports away. The only real 'ending' to this is that Kirito and Asuna finally get together irl but then go off to play another game where they subject themselves to more online nonsense? With elf ears this time? WTF.
Also, the show has a tendency to just skip over all the cool battles, Kirito vs Santa, this boss battle, etc. It's seems like the author would have rather written a romance than an action story.
Yeah.. so much potential with things they could have done. I still don't understand why they gave that arc with the guy who killed his wife because she didn't stay in the kitchen 2 episodes.
The santa fight had kirito run out of all his items/etc so i think the lack of fight scenes might have more to do with the studio being lazy. sure there's only so much you can write down in a novel but the anime team could have at least watched some kung fu movies for inspiration on choreography.
I'll agree on the general feeling of rushed-ness, but I guess the end result was striving more for the romance than the action. I'd argue .hack also failed in action, which makes me wonder if these writers are actually trying to appeal to MMO players or what. That said, plenty of room for a game adaptation.
.hack (//sign at least) didn't fail at action because there was barely any action and that was done as purposefully as possible. That'd be like saying Breaking Bad failed at being porn or an Adam Sandler movie failed at appealing to intelligent people.
What .hack lacked in action was made up for in drama. Each episode of SAO was a small self contained plot with little connectivity to each subsequent episode. The idea that they compressed 2 years into 14 episodes is absurd and the bits of plot we were given felt more like fanservice than plot progression. The fact is we don't know much at all about Kirito as a person besides him loving Asuna and being a loner. The Kirito from episode 1 and the Kirito at episode 14 are essentially the same person sans being single; his character barely developed/changed. I enjoy SAO for what it is but it could have been soooo much better.
Also, as for the game, it looks awful and is being made for a PSP. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hobVAqgbE3w
I'd just say being PSP kills it, but I'm also sick of RPGs going to handhelds.
The reaction to this episode is fantastic, especially because it seems like half of the viewing audience thought this was the last episode and are treating it as such.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEST OOOOOOOOOOF SEAAAAASOOOOON!
Yeah, it was a little rushed, but after reading the LN and as far as I noticed, they essentially got ALL the material in.
There isn't really anything in the way of cut or filler (maybe ep 2, 5, and 6 are, unless they're stories he did that aren't in book. 1 & 2), they got two whole books into a half season. And I'll take an authors pacing choice over an adaptation futzing around with things. (I want them to friggn restart Soul Eater where the anime branched off the cannon line)
So, if you want it exactly like the LN, watch ep 1, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14. (Then go 4, 7, 11, 12, 3 for book 2)
I just started SAO a couple of days ago. I really did like it for what it was. I enjoy Kirito as a main character (though I agree he didn't develop a lot) and I also enjoy Asuna as the heroine. Like it was mentioned earlier, this could have been an episode for just the boss battle and finished up with the second part of the episode as an episode of it's own but I am excited to find out they are doing the ALO arc as well. (hopefully with better fight sequences because a couple of the battles have a ton of potential)
Considering how interesting the concept and world is you would want more episodes.
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Spoiler: show
the land of elves and fairies? boy this isn't time for Lord of the rings!
yes, it was completely necessary to quote that.