I’m aware SAO is controversial, but I’ve deliberately avoided hearing why so that I can form my own opinion after watching SAO and SAO abridged.
The biggest strength of the SAO 1-14 story is the way it creates a real world where people are growing and forming societies and bonds with each other. There are huge time skips between episodes which help to imply that lives have been lived, people have had experiences and have been changed by them and that’s leading to more changes in the future. This is a growing, living world.
And it creates a sense of consequence and weight. SAO’s problems aren’t going to be solved by four kids on holiday, they’re worn down by the relentless organisation of hundreds of individual chipping away every day.
It does undercut itself a little – people don’t really die in SAO, the story says they do but the tone doesn’t match that. It’s impossible to have that many deaths without creating a bleak and hopeless view, and SAO doesn’t match that. But it does have the same tone as if dying sent people into a coma. Life isn’t cheap and every accomplishment has a price. And that only builds SAO’s world further.
The characters are its weakest part, it’s true that SAO Abridged has better characterisation, but it’s not as bad as it seems. SAO Abridged is building on foundations that are there in SAO. Asuna really does sometimes seem like she’s actually going to give someone the death of a thousand cuts. It can’t quite follow through and SAO Abridged fixes that, but the permanence of the world helps get past those problems.
Because consequence is real, and time is real, Asuna and Kirito have a genuine relationship. It’s not just a crush, they grow to rely on each other, to be comfortable with each other. They become a part of one another. It’s not just the romance, they settle down and learn to live with each other. It’s so rare for shows to do that!
I would happily recommend SAO 1-14 to people, it’s a lovely _complete_ story that I’m happy to have seen start to finish. Nothing can change that.
What came after though…
Episode 1-14: Building Worlds
I’m aware SAO is controversial, but I’ve deliberately avoided hearing why so that I can form my own opinion after watching SAO and SAO abridged.
The biggest strength of the SAO 1-14 story is the way it creates a real world where people are growing and forming societies and bonds with each other. There are huge time skips between episodes which help to imply that lives have been lived, people have had experiences and have been changed by them and that’s leading to more changes in the future. This is a growing, living world.
And it creates a sense of consequence and weight. SAO’s problems aren’t going to be solved by four kids on holiday, they’re worn down by the relentless organisation of hundreds of individual chipping away every day.
It does undercut itself a little – people don’t really die in SAO, the story says they do but the tone doesn’t match that. It’s impossible to have that many deaths without creating a bleak and hopeless view, and SAO doesn’t match that. But it does have the same tone as if dying sent people into a coma. Life isn’t cheap and every accomplishment has a price. And that only builds SAO’s world further.
The characters are its weakest part, it’s true that SAO Abridged has better characterisation, but it’s not as bad as it seems. SAO Abridged is building on foundations that are there in SAO. Asuna really does sometimes seem like she’s actually going to give someone the death of a thousand cuts. It can’t quite follow through and SAO Abridged fixes that, but the permanence of the world helps get past those problems.
Because consequence is real, and time is real, Asuna and Kirito have a genuine relationship. It’s not just a crush, they grow to rely on each other, to be comfortable with each other. They become a part of one another. It’s not just the romance, they settle down and learn to live with each other. It’s so rare for shows to do that!
I would happily recommend SAO 1-14 to people, it’s a lovely _complete_ story that I’m happy to have seen start to finish. Nothing can change that. What came after though…