Sword Art Online is among the most influential and disputed anime series of the last decade, with fans and reviewers equally enthralled by the show’s storyline and character development.
People who watch it range from devoted fans who hail it as a groundbreaking title in the Isekai genre to loud detractors confused about how and why the program has garnered such widespread appeal. So, how did the popularity of Sword Art Online become so divisive among the anime world in the first place?
There are strong suggestions that SAO is not over yet. The novels for the Unital Ring Arc are now in the process of being published. If the stories aren’t done, likely, the anime won’t be finished either.
Although Sword Art Online’s first season was technically sound, it suffered from poor writing in the following seasons. The anime’s tempo was erratic, particularly during the first arc, “Aincrad,” particularly frustrating.
Episodes were rushed over months and years, with no explanation to make up for the time that had been lost in the transition. This was principally due to the anime’s hurried attempt to cover various plot arcs throughout 25 episodes in S1 and 24 episodes in S2, resulting in a rushed conclusion.
Many fans found the characters’ shallow personalities and the show’s general lack of focus due to this hurried writing, which resulted in a lack of time and space for them to develop.
Reason Behind
This SAO is a brilliant anime interpretation of the Japanese light novel series of the same name by Reki Kawahara. It is crazily successful in Japan and worldwide, thanks to its excellent animation and storyline.
There are currently nineteen million volumes of the series in print worldwide, and the series is still going strong. The action of this anime takes place in the online reality world.
The tale is set in a future timeline in which technology has grown to a frightening level, allowing for total integration with the game’s development process. Sword Art Online was the first VR game to be developed utilizing this technology (SAO).
Thousands of gamers linked their virtual reality headsets to participate in the MMORPG. But little did they apprehend that they were in for a pleasant surprise when they discovered what was in store for them in the virtual environment.
This game does not offer the standard method of pausing and finishing the game in the middle of the game, as do most other games. Players will have to complete all one hundred levels to be able to quit the game successfully.
What’s worse terrifying is the notion that anyone who attempts to log out will be forced to perish in the real world. Around ten thousand players checked in and discovered that they had fallen victim to a trap.
SAO: Unital Ring is the follow-up to the Alicization anime series
Aniplex staff members were in the process of screen-testing the SAO: Ordinal Scale movie, according to Manabu Ono, who revealed in an official interview that “they were preparing to adopt the whole Sword Art Online series” at the time he talked with them. While Ono did not expressly address SAO: Unital Ring or the prospect of the fourth season of Sword Art Online, it is essential to remember that Kawahara had already officially announced Unital Ring at the time of this interview’s publication.
Because of this, it is reasonable to predict that a Sword Art Online: Unital Ring anime will be produced soon. The only issue is when the fourth season will be released, and Reki Kawahara, the series creator and executive producer, will determine the answer entirely.
How do you think Sword Art Online is?
We should only observe it for the action. Because it is not a ‘full action anime due to the love story as well as other aspects implicated, we should read the novel.
Which should probably (rationally) be referred to as a mighty fine light fiction based on anime’ if it includes all aspects like other novels do. However, because it cuts through scenes a lot, we should only watch it for the action.
Following Alicization, there will be another arc, which will be known as the Unital Ring. There will also be a conflict between intelligence agencies known as the Inter Intelligence War.
It appears from the final episode of Alicizatiion that the following plot would take place in an underworld that is significantly more advanced than the physical world. In which the residents of the Underworld engage in space combat!
What is it about Sword Art Online that has so many people believing it is overrated?
It’s because they underestimated how good it was. People want to see combat sequences in Dragon Ball Z, but few genuinely want to focus on the plot.
SAO concentrates on the plot rather than the action scenes, which is why it is underappreciated. Instead of being an action-adventure film, SAO is more of a reasonably dramatic epic narrative.
They are expecting more significant action from SAO, but SAO has failed to deliver on that expectation. Well, sword art online is way overrated, most likely due to its animation, world-building, plot development, and characters.
Still, it has completely diverged from the context of the storyline they intended to convey, which was a refreshing VRMMORPG, sci-fi, and isekai (life in another world) genre, and has become a harem and romance series. They settled a lot of work into the first season, which was an instant hit with the fanbase due to Virtual Reality and MMORPG components.
However, the narrative and storyboard have deteriorated significantly with the second season, and I have no idea what has happened. Reki Kawahara is a Japanese actress. But we would prefer the SAO alternative Gun Gale Online (GGO), which is now airing and has stayed true to its narrative and does not feel like it is pushing unneeded stuff on the public.
What do you speculate about Sword Art Online?
Everyone is dissatisfied with how SAO transitioned from a “dark survival” game to an anime filled with romance. That, on the other hand, was never an issue for some of us.
The violence is out of control. There’s even a second in which a character is on the verge of being raped.
On the other hand, the amount of brutality is one of the reasons it was not particularly enticing as a franchise.
After a while, it starts to seem a little shallow and overdone. SAO may have ended up in the same situation as Btoom. They might have made the survival game even more violent and gory by increasing the number of enemies.
And, believe it or not, if it had, a large number of anime series that have been successful since then may not have been for the simple reason that it would have flopped. Because of the show’s makers chose, SAO has become one of the most popular television programs of the past decade.
And there’s no disputing that point of view. Anime enthusiasts have put their cash where their mouth is by purchasing merchandise. The results are unmistakable.
And that money was reinvested back into the business, driving its continued expansion to the present day, as SAO continues to prosper and dominate the industry despite being dubbed “the worst anime ever.” But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.