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Sword Art Online (TV).


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ghqt



Joined: 06 Jun 2012
Posts: 6
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:14 am Reply with quote


Sword Art Online (TV)

Genres: adventure, drama, fantasy, romance, science fiction
Themes: fighting, mmorpg, survival game, swordplay, virtual reality

Plot Summary: In the year 2022, the Virtual reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) Sword Art Online (SAO) is released. With the Nerve Gear, a VR Helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds. But an unexpected event occurs on November 6, 2022 when Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of SAO, prevents the players from logging out. Akihiko issues them a challenge; if they wish to be free and log out of the game, they must reached the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However, should their in-game characters die in the game, so will their bodies in the real world. As the game's 10,000 players try to accept their new deadly predicament, Kirito, a skilled player who tested the beta version of the game, is determined to reach the 100th floor and be free. Along with Asuna, his partner and love interest, and their friends, Kirito and his allies will face many obstacles and discovers the true purpose of SAO. As their adventure continues, they will also participate in other VRMMO games as well.
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EPISODE INDEX
Episode 1: page 1
Episode 2: page 3
Episode 3: page 7
Episode 4: page 12
Episode 5: page 15
Episode 6: page 23
Episode 7: page 25
Episode 8: page 29
Episode 9: page 34
Episode 10: page 40
Episode 11: page 48
Episode 12: page 56
Episode 13: page 65
Episode 14: page 73
Episode 15: page 87
Episode 16: page 93
Episode 17: page 104
Episode 18: page 118
Episode 19: page 128
Episode 20: page 139
Episode 21: page 148
Episode 22: page 163
Episode 23: page 180
Episode 24: page 200
Episode 25 and post-mortem: page 220

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Toonami broadcast: page 246

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Anime Marathon Discussion (Nov. 6th, 2015 - Nov. 15th, 2015) starts here

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I figured I'd make this thread early, the show's about to start and I thought it'd be fun for people who have read the light novel to speculate how the show is going to turn out.

You can safely assume there is going to be spoliers, so don't read them if you care.

spoiler[I can see why the show appeals to a large group of people, but I also know it's going to turn out awful for those who hate harem antics like myself. You can just glance over their character profiles and see that pretty much all of the females characters want the male lead's penis. Now that's fine and all but not when a show is trying to take itself seriously.

The real problem I had with it was that male and female leads end up having sex before even the end of the first novel, really, like 170 pages in. We see very little development between them, and if near life and death experiences called for two people to have sex almost every anime out there would be 18+.

So fine, whatever. They cybered/ had sex, where does the romantic premise go from there? It does not leave all that much room for progression on that front. Though because of this we can tell how all the other girls are going to fair when they try to come onto him, making the story fairly predictable.

Other than that, if you enjoy harem shenanigans and pointless sex, this is a good story]


[EDIT: Replaced picture with a more reasonably-sized one and added Encyclopedia link and some formatting to bring it more in line with the forum norm for series thread OPs. Also added episode index. - Key]


Last edited by ghqt on Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:24 pm; edited 2 times in total
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4nBlue





PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:42 am Reply with quote
Have you read the books or just read spoilers?

Book 1 and 2 spoilers below! (I would appreciate if others also marked what book the spoilers you plan to post are from)

ghqt wrote:
spoiler[I can see why the show appeals to a large group of people, but I also know it's going to turn out awful for those who hate harem antics like myself. You can just glance over their character profiles and see that pretty much all of the females characters want the male lead's penis. Now that's fine and all but not when a show is trying to take itself seriously.]
spoiler[
Currently reading the second book and at no point has Kirito interacted with more than one female player at the same time, discounting one scene where the one female was his party member and the other one a player killer. I think the first book had only two females with names (one of them already dead before she was mentioned).]


ghqt wrote:
spoiler[The real problem I had with it was that male and female leads end up having sex before even the end of the first novel, really, like 170 pages in. We see very little development between them, and if near life and death experiences called for two people to have sex almost every anime out there would be 18+.

So fine, whatever. They cybered/ had sex, where does the romantic premise go from there? It does not leave all that much room for progression on that front. Though because of this we can tell how all the other girls are going to fair when they try to come onto him, making the story fairly predictable.]

spoiler[
Where does the premise go? They get married and have their honey moon and the world is destroyed the same day they return to action.

Regarding the suddenness (never felt it was that sudden) of the sex, I believe you have made up your mind about that if you already read the novel, if you hadn't I would recommend you to first see how the story deals with it before jumping to conclusions.

Book two seems to be short stories with changing female lead. And the following books apparently have different casts and worlds/games (I have yet to read them and I'm doing my best to dodge spoilers).]


ghqt wrote:
spoiler[Other than that, if you enjoy harem shenanigans and pointless sex, this is a good story]

spoiler[
One implied sex scene in 350+ pages = enjoying pointless sex?]



Sorry for that wall of black for those who don't read spoilers.
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gxqt



Joined: 06 Jun 2012
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:29 am Reply with quote
4nBlue.... are you sure you know what the word "implied" means? I think you should re read chapter 16.

It was a rather explicit and detailed spoiler[sex scene]

I don't really even need to argue the harem aspect, just go read the character profiles
http://myanimelist.net/anime/11757/Sword_Art_Online
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:02 am Reply with quote
Wow, that image instantly brings to mind Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVkoAhbwpnc

Concepts where characters get stuck in video games is fairly old, even for anime, but rare enough to be interesting each time.
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opn



Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Posts: 904
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:22 pm Reply with quote
@wal the original LN series actually came out in 02 but it wasnt until 2010 (i might be wrong on the later date though) that it started getting published in book format. anyway defenitly my most anticipated anime for the summer season and hopfuly they cover everything in chronological order.
@ghgt spoiler[SAO's time is all screwed up and book one takes place after one of the side stories where kirito saves asuna and its where they meet for the first time and that will almost defenitly not be covered in the anime unless A-1 makes it as a special 18+ ova.]
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:37 pm Reply with quote
After watching several trailers of this as well as a recommendation from a friend, I think I'll definitely be giving this series a shot.
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4nBlue





PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 1:34 am Reply with quote
gxqt wrote:
4nBlue.... are you sure you know what the word "implied" means? I think you should re read chapter 16.

It was a rather explicit and detailed spoiler[sex scene]

Just checked the fan translation. Seem like the Japanese light novel release, that I had read, didn't include that chapter. Considering that it didn't make the cut for the light novel, it seems to be clear that it won't be showing up in the anime.

Not that it's really needed considering the chapter is titled 16.5 and chapter 16 works well without it. Seems like the Japanese version of 16.5 has been lost and there is only Chinese and English translation of it available. Kind of surprising that the fan translation just inserted it between the main story considering that it was originally not released as part of SAO1, but as SAO Gaiden X1.

Edit: I find this gap in our perception to rather interesting. Those who have read the fan translation treat chapter 16.5 as part of story of SAO1 (majority of English speaking fans). Those who read the novel back in it's web release days treat it as a racy side story. And then there is the light novel readers who are completely ignorant of it's existence if they haven't read about it from somewhere outside of the light novels (majority of Japanese fans).

So while the English speaking fans read it normally as part of the story, the average Japanese fan is not even aware of it and even if he/she wanted to read it, it's only available in foreign language.
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Volibear



Joined: 29 Nov 2011
Posts: 344
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 11:52 am Reply with quote
Ep. 1
Finally, it has arrived! Started the novels to this about 12 months ago but chose to put them down in favour of waiting for the anime and damn, its been a long wait but i definitely felt like it was worth it.

It's from the same author as Accel World, but i think i prefer this one by quite margin. The story just seems an all round better idea, although AW still has a good story. The lead, Kirito, is much better, and one of the generally better leads out there. The art and animation are generally great throughout, although they're no Fate/Zero they are still high-end.

On the whole its very, very enjoyable stuff. Its kinda been my fantasy even since my first GameBoy to one day play a VRMMORPG like SAO, so i'm sticking with this one for the duration.

[EDIT: This post was originally the OP for a second thread about this series. It has been edited for format. - Key]
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:22 pm Reply with quote


Well, well, this highly anticipated and overrated series is here. I guess it does live up to the hype and what not. Two of the main characters are introduced in this episode revolving around the world of SAO. A certain someone decides to put the players to test in the world and have them "complete" the game to ensure their lives will be spared.

So, far I liked this episode tbh. It has glorious animation, soundtrack courtesy of Yuki Kajiura, and an interesting concept. Asuna (the main heroine) of the series does not make an appearance in this episode so that was sort of a disappointment. But regardless, this series does live up to the hype imo and should be a good watch for this summer.

I'm keen to checking out what sort of ways these players will be able to clear the levels and escape from SAO.


Last edited by Stark700 on Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:50 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Volibear



Joined: 29 Nov 2011
Posts: 344
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:37 pm Reply with quote
huh, were was this thread? i looked in the index and the last 3 pages of threads like i always do but didn't see this anywhere

anyway, good opener, as good as i expected, if not slightly better
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MrTerrorist



Joined: 20 Oct 2010
Posts: 1348
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:41 pm Reply with quote
Stark700 wrote:
So, far I liked this episode tbh. It has glorious animation, soundtrack courtesy of Yuki Kajiura, and an interesting concept. spoiler[Asuna (the main heroine) of the series does not make an appearance in this episode so that was sort of a disappointment.] But regardless, this series does live up to the hype imo and should be a good watch for this summer.


Actually, she does appear. Watch spoiler[the crowd closely when Kirito talks about Kayaba.]
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:45 pm Reply with quote
Stark7000, none of those spoiler tags were necessary. Everything you're talking about involves the basic series premise (even though she didn't appear in this episode, the fact that there will be a female co-lead eventually is obvious from the advertising art), and that never needs to be spoiler-tagged.

I made my comments on this in the Preview Guide, so I'll only add here that I will at least be watching this one long enough to see where it's going. Think I need another episode or two before officially calling it a keeper, though.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:49 pm Reply with quote
MrTerrorist wrote:
Actually, she does appear. Watch spoiler[the crowd closely when Kirito talks about Kayaba.]


Oo, I missed that part.

Key wrote:
Stark7000, none of those spoiler tags were necessary. Everything you're talking about involves the basic series premise (even though she didn't appear in this episode, the fact that there will be a female co-lead eventually is obvious from the advertising art), and that never needs to be spoiler-tagged.


Ok, I'll keep that in mind, thanks Smile
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ikki_king



Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 3:36 pm Reply with quote
good start, been looking forward to this
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:55 pm Reply with quote
I guess I'm the only person who was rather underwhelmed by the first episode? Plotwise, nothing much was introduced aside from information already known from trailers and the description. Stylistically, maybe I'm just not that into the way the world was presented.

I'm watching more, but I didn't feel there was much there in episode 1.
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