History Anime / SwordArtOnlineTheMovieOrdinalScale

* AnAesop: A two-prong one about the importance of memory, both because those memories, good and bad are what made you who you are, and because those we love who we lost live on in the memories we have of them. Best shown with SAO survives losing their memories of the game and Eiji's rejection of that part of his life as well as Eiji and Shigemura's relationships with Yuna, [[spoiler: and in a short moment dripping with symbolism Asuna's relationship with her late best friend Yuuki.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: [[spoiler: Eiji is working with Shigemura to harvest the other SAO survivors' memories of Yuna in order to resurrect her as an AI. However, Eiji is so determined to get Yuna back and redeem his shameful cowardice inside SAO that he neglects to consider one key factor: he was Yuuna's lover inside SAO, meaning his own memories of her carry the most weight and importance of all the survivors. It therefore genuinely never occurs to Eiji that this means his partner's also going to harvest his memories once their endgame's nigh. Shigemura even lampshades the trope as he's betraying Eiji.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: [[spoiler: Eiji's fatal mistake during his alliance with Shigemura. He's allied with Shigemura to harvest SAO survivors memories of Yuuna to resurrect her as an AI. However, it never occurs to Eiji that because he was Yuuna's lover inside SAO, his memories of her carry the most weight and importance of all the survivors -- meaning Shigemura ''had'' to harvest them too as part of the plan. Shigemura even lampshades Eiji's blind spot here just before he betrays him.]]

* DidntThinkThisThroigh: [[spoiler: Eiji's fatal mistake during his alliance with Shigemura. He's allied with Shigemura to harvest SAO survivors memories of Yuuna to resurrect her as an AI. However, it never occurs to Eiji that because he was Yuuna's lover inside SAO, his memories of her carry the most weight and importance of all the SAO survivors -- meaning Shigemura ''had'' to harvest them as part of the plan. Shigemura even lampshades Eiji's blind spot here just before he betrays him.]]

! Spoilers for all previous ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' works will be left unmarked.

** Fukaziroh from ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'' is namedropped by Dyne during a news segment, revealing that he's a fan of her and asking if he could buy her a new grenade launcher.

* AllThereInTheManual: In ''Ordinal Scale'', the titular augmented reality game actually has [[http://dreadfuldecoding.blogspot.com/2017/05/sao-secret-report.html a pretty extensive in-universe plot]], but it's available in a Japan-only pamphlet, without mention in the series or the movie. Though that story is also used in the Ordinal Scale related Extra Stories in ''Memory Defrag''.

** After Asuna [[spoiler:loses her memories of Sword Art Online]], Kazuto takes her to get scanned by a Medicuboid, the same as Yuuki Konno had been using. Afterwards, Kirito and Yui try to jog them by showing her one of her signature sandwiches.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:Yuuna was actually the daughter of Shigemura ''and'' Eiji's former lover, who perished in the Sword Art Online incident]]. The reason why they want to steal the memories of SAO surivors is because they want to [[spoiler:implant them into AI!Yuuna, completing her "resurrection"]].

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The subtitles seem to alternate between "Yuna" and "Yuuna." [[spoiler: This is an averted trope: the spelling distinction is crucial. "Yuuna" is the proper spelling of the original human Yuuna Shigemura, while "Yuna" is the name given to the "Black Yuna" AI idol singer and the "White Yuna" AI ghost fragments of the original Yuuna's memories.]]

* TheStinger: [[spoiler:Kikuoka leads Shigemura to a room and helps him develop Underworld Online.]]

* WhamShot: Kazuto finally gets a moment to have an extended conversation with the hooded girl he's been seeing all over. After their conversation ends, she tells him it's 'time to wake up', and snaps her fingers... [[spoiler:and Kazuto has a CatapultNightmare reaction out of a bush in the park he'd been walking in earlier. Despite the Augma's AR selling point, ''it has a full-dive VR function''... and Kazuto's failure to realize that means it's not as diluted as the [=AmuSphere=]'s. Now what was [[TheMostDangerousVideoGame the big reveal about the NervGear]] in the first episode of Aincrad?]]

''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline TheMovie: Ordinal Scale'' is a 2017 anime movie based on the light novel series ''Sword Art Online'' by Reki Kawahara. The film features a new original story written by Reki Kawahara and is produced by Creator/A1Pictures and directed by Tomohiko Itō. The music is once again by Music/YukiKajiura. It was released in Japan on February 18, 2017.

* {{Gainaxing}}: When Yui pops out of Leafa's cleavage to restore their skills and outfits from Aincrad [[spoiler:for the final boss fight]], Asuna's breastplate -- not her actual chest but the solid steel ''breastplate'' -- bounces into existence.

* DefeatingTheCheatingOpponent: [[spoiler:Eiji has an inroad in the Ordinal Scale game, showing him his opponent's moves. He also has a power suit augmenting his physical abilities. Despite that, Kirito defeats him Eiji the penultimate battle because Kirito actually learned to fight, while Eiji just got by on cheating. Once the cheating was exposed and Eiji couldn't rely on it anymore, he was a sitting duck.]]

* DefeatingTheCheatingOpponent: [[spoiler:Eiji has both an inroad in the Ordinal Scale game, showing him his opponent's moves. He also has a power suit augmenting his physical abilities. Despite that, Kirito defeats him in the penultimate battle. Possibly because Kirito actually learned to fight, while Eiji just got by on cheating.]]

** [[spoiler:"Welcome to Underworld."]]

* WhamLine: Eiji whispers "Switch" to Asuna while aiding her and the others during the first boss fight, confirming that he's a fellow SAO survivor.

* GuardianAngel: Proving that [[AmbiguouslyBi love]] and [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship friendship]] transcend even death, [[spoiler: Yuuki's spirit descends from heaven to help Asuna perform a ''twelve'' strike Mother's Rosario.]]

* {{Irony}}: Back at the start of the Fatal Bullet Arc Kirito, talked about his goal of tearing down the boundaries between the real and virtual world's through augmented reality, but here when that dream has more or less come true, he finds himself to not be much of a fan of the results.

* AnAesop: A two-prong one about the importance of memory, both because those memories, good and bad are what made you who you are, and because those we love who we lost live on in the memories we have of them, as shown with both Eiji and Asuna with their memories of SAO and their respective relationships with Yuna and [[spoiler:Yuuki.]]

* BigBadDuumvirate: Eiji and [[spoiler:Tetsuhiro Shigemura]] form an alliance. It would have been a triumvirate, but all [[spoiler:Yuna wants to do is sing.]]

* GuardianAngel: Proving that [[AmbiguouslyBi love]] and [[RomanticTwoGirlFriendship friendship]] transcend even death, [[spoiler: Yuuki's spirit depends from heaven to help Asuna perform a ''twelve'' strike Mother's Rosario.]]

* ArtShift: The film uses noticeable more realistic and detailed art for its character models and action scenes, which many have praised.