Seasons One and Two

This review is for season one and Two , there are additional seasons that follow the main cast on additional story lines. I’m focusing this one the original story and the first two seasons. I will add additional reviews at a later date for the additional stories.

Synopsis

Sword Art Online tells the story of Kirito , a gamer trapped in a virtual reality game called Sword Art Online (SAO) where players must fight their way through 100 floors to escape, with the deadly twist that dying in the game means dying in real life. As a beta tester, Kirito has some advanced knowledge of the game and its inner workings. Typically he relies heavily on his solo playing style. However, Kirito must team up with other players like Asuna, to survive and ultimately defeat the final boss to gain freedom and the freedom of all those who are trapped in the game. 

Genre

Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Scifi

Languages

Dubbed:  Japanese, English, Deutsch, Español (América Latina), Français, Português (Brasil)

Subtitles: English, Deutsch, Español (América Latina), Español (España), Français, Português (Brasil), العربية

Where To Watch

Crunchyroll

HULU

Content Advisory

14+ Violence

My Review

The first fourteen episodes of season one take place in a MMO RPG called Sword Art Online or (SAO). The players place on their VR nerve gear and log into the game. One day they log in, they can no longer log out, If you take the gear off or try to exit the game the nerve gear ends your life. The twist is you die in the game you die in real life as well. The first 14 episodes end up spanning about two years where we follow our MMC Kirito through the game and how he grows and levels in the game. I do like that we don’t have a whole lot of filler and that its very clear where the time jumps are. The main characters are well written you can tell they are in their mid teen years ( around sixteen-ish ) when they start and the two year jump puts them around eighteen. The game becomes real to them and its their life. You do get the flashes in the real world on the players being kept alive in the hospitals and how their families are reacting but the story is very centered inside SAO. When I did the first watch through i was very much convinced that the conclusion to this arc was going to be the end, it wrapped up fairly well, until we saw there was a twist.

The second half of season one takes place in a Fantasy Fairy Game where Kirito is on a quest to save Asuna from the fairy king. After SAO was defeated Asuna does not wake up. Kirito still feels as if they are married and he is trying his best to save her, we find she is being held in the nerve gear and captive for reasons that differ than the original game captivity. Kirito follows some leads with help of some old friends and some new ones to save Asuna. This time the game gets a little more personal with Kirito as he discovers who his new friends truly are.

As for the first two seasons I did truly enjoy them, i have started the next season but it does have a different overall feel to it. I will write more on that at a later date. As for a trapped in another world or virtual world anime goes this is a good one, its mostly family friendly, however there is violence and some subjects that may not be best for the smaller members in the family. In todays world VR and AI are becoming more prevalent to every day life and this is an interesting take on what if it was your life. The plot moves at a good pace and the characters are fairly well flushed out. There is romance, but its very much young romance and stays appropriate and its not the entire plot point.

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