Forum - View topicREVIEW: Sword Art Online episodes 1-7
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Exaar
 Posts: 279 Location: Delaware |
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I feel a little bit like you're missing the point. I'm a guy (albeit a bit of an older one), and I think Kirito's attitude is pretty understandable especially when you take in his real-life situation as related to us in one of the episodes. He's a good person at heart, and he hates to see other people in trouble, but at the same time he's afraid of making long-term relationships. The commitment, especially in this sort of situation where life and death are very real (or so it seems) scares him. Episode 3 really underlined this, when he DID come out of his shell a bit and join the Black Cats - and then look what happened. Is it any wonder after that that he doesn't want to hook up with another group and possibly go through the torment again? Yet at the same time, he can't stand to see people suffering - it's against his nature, so he has to stop and help. The antagonist in the series is really 'other players'. The point of the show, or so it seems so far, isn't about the action or the violence, it's about society and relationship which form in a microcosm of reality where the rules are suddenly changed. It's the same sort of theme you get in post-apocalyptic type shows and movies - the enemies aren't nuclear radiation, or zombies, or aliens - the enemies are other people, because invariably other people will take advantage and society will break down if given the chance to do so. We've already seen hints of this in the form of Laughing Coffin, and there were hint in episode 8 that they will be returning soon. Overall, I like this show a lot, and I think some people are just disillusioned by expecting it to be something which it isn't. It reminds me a lot in tone of .hack//SIGN, as the reviewer mentioned briefly, and that is one of my favorite series of all time. |
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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Exaar pretty much nailed it.
Kirito's not the most amazing, most dynamic, most-anything-really protagonist ever written, but he's still pretty good. A lot of people are, bizarrely, taking his "loner" statements at face value, and ignoring what he's actually doing. |
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SilverTalon01
Posts: 2404 |
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I don't get why people are saying Kirito doesn't want to group up or that he wants to play solo. I think episode 2's group fight and the guild he joined show that he does want to, but he is afraid to. And in episode 8, he clearly likes being with Asuna in town, but is hesitant to party with her in a dungeon. I'd say he clearly does want to be with people.
As for the writing being unable to commit to the "lone wolf" thing, again I think that is a misconception. I don't see them portraying him as a "lone wolf" but a guy who is afraid he will end up watching some one die again. I think those events the review saw as lack of commitment were actually suppose to provide insight to how he is really thinking beyond his facade of the invincible solo player. The beta tester thing was part of the first volume and most likely will be addressed further there (and it was brought up again in episode 8). Not sure why anyone would expect that to be part of volume 2 which the review mentioned the side stories were a part of. Last edited by SilverTalon01 on Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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The problem is, I haven't seen anything from him yet which justifies this conclusion. Why is he still pretty good? Because he can save some cute girls in distress? Because he is uber powerful and looks cool in a black outfit? I just haven't seen anything from him to justify him being a good protagonist. In fact, he seems almost like he's really just a recurring character at this point and not the real protagonist. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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What do you want from him, precisely? Especially considering that we're only a third of the way through the series. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Well, let's keep watching and find out if it happens. If you don't like that idea, you can decide to not follow it any longer. I'm optimistic the series will grow more intense from this point on, and hopefully shed the boob-grabbing and other tired anime leftovers that don't really belong here. If the series continues to fail to launch, then the attitude that it's much hype about nothing will be justified, but we still have two thirds left of a show left. The massive problem with this anime was all of the hype going in. If it had come in lowkey, the reactions and expectations would have been far calmer. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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To answer your question, that is why I gave those examples of good character development, so that I wasn't just kvetching about the show without explaining what would make it better. How about some kind of backstory to Kirito which explains why he's a loner? How about some scenes where he is having flashbacks about his 'little sister' and remembering times where he saved her from a bully or something, or where they worked together on a game, or something showing their strong connection. How about showing him struggling under some kind of harsh circumstances in the real world before he joined SAO, to build the audience sympathy for him? How about giving him some more consistent personality traits/quirks? (For example, Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail or Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece) This kind of stuff would help a little... |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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>show >not over How is this concept difficult? |
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Exaar
Posts: 279 Location: Delaware |
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I'd say Kirito is a 'pretty good' protagonist because he is relateable, at least to me. He's not some overpowered god-like being, he's not an arrogant elitist, he's not a 'run with the crowd' sheep. He's an insecure kid who happens to be really good at this video game when suddenly the video game becomes real life. So suddenly he's a star, or he could be, but he isn't emotionally prepared for that. He reacts to many of these situations the same way I would see myself reacting were I in his shoes - as I mentioned, his not wanting to team up long-term I find entirely understandable given what we've seen of his experiences, but I also understand his desire to help people because he has the ability to do so.
It's still early on, so he has room to develop, but I think his strongest factor as a protagonist is his 'everyman with an advantage' sort of quality. It is definitely easier to understand his motivations and his actions than many other shonen protagonists, at least for me. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3653 |
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Exaar
Posts: 279 Location: Delaware |
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Honestly I think episode 3 covers this quite thoroughly. |
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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Wait, I just realized another influence on SAO that not many would know. An anime from 1988 called Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru was about a boy transported to a magical realm that basically functioned as an RPG, where he had to progress up a physical realm by completing tasks. I posted about it right away in the SAO thread on the anime forum, but forgot about it here. Yeah, there's simply no way it's not related. Maybe the author watched it when he was a kid. Of course that anime is kid-related and very simplistic, but the overlaying concept of leveling through a tiered world is the same. I'd call SAO a mix of Dot Hack and this, incorporating themes, designs, and concepts from each.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVkoAhbwpnc |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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He doesn't actively annoy me, doesn't actively do stupid shit, and his actions are consistent with the character he has been shown to have (as opposed to what he has actually stated) |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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Episode 3 did not explain why Kirito is a loner. He was portrayed to be a loner before he even went into the full game. Remember when he first met up with Klein? He was hesitant to hang out with him, even though he did stick around long enough to teach him a few tricks. Eventually, at the end of Ep 1 he goes right back to being a loner and goes off on his own. Episode 3 was supposed to be a set up to show Kirito's loner mentality being reinforced by seeing people he cares about die. However, it was a botched episode according to most reviews I've seen and I agree. spoiler[The guildmates were not known by the audience long enough to make their deaths mean anything. Their interaction with Kirito was extremely limited as far as screen time, and it seemed mostly to just be them celebrating how nice it was to have a strong uber player like Kirito protecting them. There didn't seem to be anything deeper than that to their relationship with him, and he didn't show much outward affection for them aside for the brief scenes with just him and cute girl #1. Even that just seemed more like him playing the role of protector but not friend/companion.] spoiler[The scene where the guildmates die was extremely contrived. They died due to their own greed, which made them seem even more superficial and just plain stupid.] It was hard to feel anything from that episode, except maybe that last scene with Kirito listening to the recording device - that was somewhat moving, but the vast majority of that episode was very poorly executed. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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Yes, why Kirito is a loner has not been directly addressed. This is a problem...why? |
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