Kirito being overpowered was basically the point; and that isn't a bad thing, especially since we know he's not gonna die. Plus how is Asuna a Faux Action Girl when she's the fastest character in SAO? A distance that took Kirito/Kuradeel/Godfrey an hour to walk took her five minutes (at max) - plus she handled herself well against Gleam Eyes and Skull Reaper, to say nothing of the other fights she's curbstomped.
If however, you mean her Badass in Distress moment, we have a GM who's fully abusing his power. She has no abilities or skills as a likely result, he's unhurtable (literally, 'Immortal Object' by all means), and even 'dying' would likely respawn her back in that cage (and it's password is blurred to her vision, except by mirror)... yet she still nearly got out. It's a terrible situation, but it's an understandable one, and doesn't bring down her status imo.
Plus romance doesn't always need substance to work, so YMMV on it being a tumor. Same to Black-and-white morality being a bad thing; complexity isn't always required.
I would make my own review but I have waay to many flaws to point out.
Asuna is a faux action girl not because she can't fight, but because there's not much she actually accomplishes by herself. While Kirito does fight some bosses with her, you know he's the guy controlling the fight and Asuna acts more of the support. There is no focus on her accomplishments. She can take down a few mooks, but when it comes to the big guns, she plays second fiddle to Kirito. From what I can remember, she never lands the final blow to a boss or takes down a strong enemy by herself.
One glaring example of her Damsel moment was when that one stalker guy in the guild she was in tried to prevent her from leaving. Instead of Asuna fighting for her own freedom, it's KIRITO who fights for her freedom. That's just so insulting to her because it would have been a perfect opportunity to show her own independence from Kirito, but nope, Kirito just had to steal the spotlight.
This is why I never liked SAO that much. Kirito is always hogging the spotlight. We focus in on him and how awesome he is that you just get sick of it. Kirito being overpowered makes it feels like he doesn't deserve anything he did. He didn't deserve to be a hero because the powers he got were given to him or he somehow surpassed the game mechanics through SHEER DETERMINATION which is bullshit since it's just impossible. The story had rules, the game mechanics had rules, and it broke those rules for the sake of plot. It was an asspull that had no justification whatsoever. Things just go through Kirito's way and he doesn't have to work for it. If he does have to work for it, then it isn't shown.
Romance can feel artificial. Asuna and Kirito didn't have a lot of screen time together, and when they finally hooked up, it felt sloppy and rushed. Granted it could have been better in the books, but all in all, in the anime, it felt contrived and sudden.
Their romance would feel more genuine if we were actually emotionally invested in it. Spend a little more time focusing on Asuna, give Kirito more personality and let him emphasize with Asuna's situation. Like, if they spent several episodes talking about their lives before SAO, their families, their dreams, etc. they and we, the audience would have gotten to known them better. The payout would have been great if we got to know them a bit more, but the pacing was so sloppy it just became a giant mess.
Being a supporting fighter does not turn an Action Girl into a Faux Action Girl, unless the support is irrelevant for the outcome of the fight(s).
Lazy and pathetic.
^That's exactly what happens to Asuna. Past episode 2, she isn't really useful in fights, nor does she really fight at all. In episode 9, even with help coming from the both her and Klein, Kirito basically kills the Gleam Eyes solo. She pins down Kuradeel, but she doesn't kill him and ends up in a bind until Kirito comes to her rescue to kill Kuradeel. It's Kirito doing most, if not all of the fighting of value.
To omegafire17:
"Kirito being overpowered was basically the point; and that isn't a bad thing, especially since we know he's not gonna die."
The point of WHAT? If one of this story's themes is supposed to be about the lack of clarity of the line between reality and virtual reality, and it actually cares about demonstrating said theme, then I'd actually be able to accept Kirito's O Pness as is if he wasn't the main character. But he is, and he's OP, so that's an issue when there's no conflict that he has, either internal or external or interpersonal, that actually matters and is actually his fault (Examples: Kirito supposedly has his guild killed in episode 3, except that given that he was the strongest and most-combat capable player on that guild, you'd think that they'd listen to him having a bad feeling about a single solitary chest standing suspiciously in an empty room without enemies guarding it or something in a death game. He blames himself for it, but if it was his fault at all, it'd be because he did a poor job convincing them that going into an obviously booby-trapped room wasn't a good idea, not because he didn't reveal his level. On top of that, it's a guilt that's never really resolved... or focused on, to begin with; Kirito doesn't lose his first fight against Heathcliff because he was unskilled— he lost because Heathcliff, the CREATOR OF THE GAME, had to CHEAT; Kirito swatted Kuradeel away with ease in their first fight, and the only way that Kuradeel could hope to beat him is if he poisoned and paralyzed him; Kirito had no problem beating a FLYING DRAGON until Liz messed up his groove; Kirito gets along with the girls that end up falling in love with him (ALL SIX OF THEM) despite supposedly not having good social skills. He also doesn't seem to have the kind of awkwardness that would accompany someone with an actual deficence in social skills— just ask me.)
"Plus how is Asuna a Faux Action Girl when she's the fastest character in SAO? A distance that took Kirito/Kuradeel/Godfrey an hour to walk took her five minutes (at max) - plus she handled herself well against Gleam Eyes and Skull Reaper, to say nothing of the other fights she's curbstomped. "
To begin with, given the distance that she had to cover, that was part of a Deus ex Machina that, in the light novel, was made possible by— and I shit you not— "the power of love". That doesn't go into her character just because it wouldn't make sense for that to happen in the world itself. Concerning Gleameyes and Skull Reaper... she didn't do anything of value in those fights. Or rather, she didn't do anything that was focused on. Kirito still took on the Gleameyes solo, and Asuna and Klein were called on just to distract it. So, sure, she does well as a bloody distraction. Or, at least, that's as far as post-episode 2 goes. Most of the fight against the Skull Reaper isn't even shown, so whatever action she takes in there isn't even that significant or demonstrative of the skill she supposedly has. For the most part, her combat prowess is informed as to let Kirito steal the show and be the badass hero. Bottom line: she barely DID ANYTHING to those bosees, let alone did she "curbstomp" them.
"She has no abilities or skills as a likely result, he's unhurtable (literally, 'Immortal Object' by all means), and even 'dying' would likely respawn her back in that cage (and it's password is blurred to her vision, except by mirror)... yet she still nearly got out. It's a terrible situation, but it's an understandable one, and doesn't bring down her status imo."
Given what I've just said, the quality of that arc overall, and the framework of the arc's narrative (knight saves princess), she's a Distressed Damsel.
"Plus romance doesn't always need substance to work, so YMMV on it being a tumor. "
That's the point of a romance. A romance is a relationship. In order for it to be meaningfully compelling, it has to have substance. Otherwise, it's just fuel for sweet dreams. When you focus on two people interacting with each other for as long and as pervasively as they did, there has to be a REASON why I should care about these two characters and their relationship beyond "they look cute together", because God knows that looking cute together doesn't keep a relationship together. And if it lacks substance (and it does), then it's a waste of my time when they gush about how they love each other. It's manipulative storytelling, at best (but again, the first arc does it decently well enough that I didn't take much, if any, offense to it). Now, if you mean to say that "romance doesn't always need substance to look cute and feel nice", then YEAH, I totally agree.
It's just infinitely more preferable for everyone.
"Same to Black-and-white morality being a bad thing; complexity isn't always required."
In a story where one of the supposed themes is supposed to be about the lack of clarity of the line between reality and virtual reality, and it supposedly actually cares about demonstrating said theme, then it's of absolute necessity that all characters involved act human and have human motivations, because the focus is consequently human reactions to a proposed situation. But, SAO unfortunately doesn't stick to that theme (it doesn't even keep in mind its long established world rule that people die when they're killed in the game, or even that people die, for the longest time in the first arc). And this also has to do with how seriously it takes itself, and SAO takes itself VERY seriously— thus, the characters and antagonists NEED to be some form of complex.
I agree with Grand Prince Paulll; being overshined does not turn Action Girls into the faux kind; besides, Kirito specifically said she was a floor-clearing-Badass... and he's the overpowered one, so how you can (meaningfully) argue otherwise?
And seg162, when I said 'the point', I generally meant one of the points, not 'the' point that overtook all others - sorry if I didn't make that clear. And in response to your points, to put it basically, I'm saying I (personally) don't need conflict to enjoy something; Kirito being OP isn't an issue period; Asuna's abilities not including actual on-screen solo wins is okay (informed does not detract from that imo); Distressed Damsel does not detract from her abilities (again, I don't let competence go that easily, unless it was repeated - in Asuan's case it wasn't for me); and their romance was still cute, so yes about that part.
And like I've said, taking it too seriously - or not seriously at all - or just normal seriously... it all shouldn't matter. Imo, we just need to deal with things as they happen, and not think about if it's too over-the-top or not enough, etc
>Imo, we just need to deal with things as they happen, and not think about if it's too over-the-top or not enough, etc
That kind of defeats the whole purpose of the art of reviewing.
I don't really think so (I just said it shouldn't matter, specifically in the ways of detracting), but then I probably look at things a lot differently, as evidenced above
"I agree with Grand Prince Paulll; being overshined does not turn Action Girls into the faux kind; besides, Kirito specifically said she was a floor-clearing-Badass... and he's the overpowered one, so how you can (meaningfully) argue otherwise?"
Informed Attribute doesn't stop an Action Girl from turning into a Faux Action Girl. In fact, it's one of the latter's defining features.
And yet, we see and hear repeated evidence that she regularly fights on the (very dangerous) front lines, and is included in many Boss challenges. This in addition to Kirito's own words about her being a floor-clearing Badass, as stated
Parts or even most of it being offscreen, due to the focus on Kirito, doesn't make it Faux or Informed, least imo
We only HEAR these things, really. The first time she fights is in episode 2, but that was before the "front-line" distinction concretely existed. She isn't actually seen even being related to the front lines until her second appearance three episodes later (a problem in itself, really, skipping an entire arc and whatnot), and even then we don't get much action from her on the front-lines until episode 13.
As for boss battles, the aforementioned episode 2, the aforementioned episode 5, AND there's that time in episode 9 when she has to act like fodder while Kirito prepares to kill the thing, and participates A LITTLE in fighting it— but still mostly being fodder.
In all of this, you've mostly mentioned her being TALKED about being these things and barely actually being those things (if at all), which causes me to point back to So Ga's statement:
"Informed Attribute doesn't stop an Action Girl from turning into a Faux Action Girl. In fact, it's one of the latter's defining features."
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Arc 1: "It's Okay."
(For the record, read the novel. The anime copies it almost verbatim, improving some aspects, even...)
When I get over the raw emotion that the series seems to carry, it becomes a lot more easier to properly give my thoughts, and really... it was eh. I mean, the series definitely dropped the ball by the second arc, but even in the first arc, there were flaws. The main character felt like a Gary Stu without any distinct personality, only being defined by his actions (which were the standard hero fare) instead of having a personality to justify those actions. The only times he loses, it's either because someone had to cheat, or he ends up bending the system over to exact revenge before finally not dying. The supposed Action Girl Asuna goes from that to a Faux Action Girl to a complete waifu in a relationship that, while admittedly cute, was too saccharine and had a progression rushed way too quickly without much, if any, conflict. Opportunities for development on Kirito's part are brushed aside either to make him look badass or make him look sensitive or propel the romance (which, by the way, is a Romantic Plot Tumor)— his guild died and he's feeling survival guilt? Well, we're not going to actually have him bring that up by and for himself or in any other way until seven episodes later when it helps make a cute moment with Asuna, and they're not even going to address it then. And the antagonism, possibly Kayaba excluded, is just a complete black on the scale of black-and-white morality, and horribly so. So, then, why do I still say it's meh?
It all comes with presentation, and the first arc succeeds in that. Again, it's actually better than the LN in a lot of aspects: dropping some things, editing some others, and adding emotional weight in a way that only moving pictures can do while being further helped by the weight of the setting itself. The pathos is well done and justified. The romance, while lacking in substance, is cute, and the fight scenes are just bloody amazing. Even seeing all the flaws, and even being pissed with the complete romantic detour the arc takes between episodes 8-13, the anime's first arc is a fairly enjoyable romp.
So, 6.5/10.