Anime: Sword Art Online II

I won't bother to make this more structured than this, so here you go, everything wrong with SAO II, in bullet format.

EPISODE 1

Making radical changes to the gameplay of an MMO would normally make most of the older players to ragequit. Not in this game though.

The main villain has the lame name of Death Gun.

The threat is nowhere near the level or interest of the first arc.

Kirito and Asuna are on a date in the real world and the only thing they can talk about is videogames.

Flashback to things we already know about and wished we had forgotten.

Agent dude claims he was there when Kirito woke up in the end of the first arc, when we never saw him standing there.

Agent dude and Kirito chat about very dangerous and top secret matters by shouting in a public restaurant.

Boring infodump in the pilot episode.

On top of that, said infodump happens by having people sitting on a table and talking, which is the laziest method of exposition.

Super secret intelligence organization begs a teenage citizen to go in another deadly videogame just so he will become a target for Death Gun. Said plan assumes Death Gun will be interested in a guy who is not a top player there but also has no idea how to play first person shooters.

Kirito accepts to go back in a deadly videogame and risk losing his perfect life, all for the wellbeing of videogames. Said wellbeing is all about videogames which are using helmets that fried the brains of thousands of people, and were used for brain control on hundreds of others, but are for some reason not forbidden already. This is why it is very important to stop a guy from killing a few people because that will totally make things worse.

First sight of the new girl in the story is having the camera zooming in on her ass and vagina.

EPISODE 2

The sniper class is broken since it can wipe out any player or monster if they simply stay far away and keep firing at them, without ever being spotted.

Lazy infodumping amongst professional players talking about basic strategy plans a few minutes before the mission begins

Creepy guy tries to seduce a teenage girl just because her avatar looks sexy (and the camera makes sure we realize that)

Retarded group formation of otherwise professional players (scouts walk a few feet in front of their team, the team walks in the open like sitting ducks, their bodyguard walks behind them)

If a simple cloak can hide your equipment and make it impossible for enemies to know what your fighting style is, why isn’t everybody wearing cloaks?

People taking first person shooter games too seriously. New girl talks about honor in videogames when she is there to stalk and murder people for money

Smiling means you are a professional

Falling down 10 floors with one foot causes no falling damage

There is a limitation to how much you can rotate your weapon, which gives even more unfair advantage to snipers, since they can hit you if they are far away but you can’t hit them if you are right above or below them.

Reuse of the tentacle rape scene

You can only have one account and play one game, something which would never work financially

Side harem girls wetting themselves over Kirito-sama

EPISODE 3

Lazy infodumping once again by simply sitting on a table and talking. Because Kawahara doesn’t know what good exposition means.

A little girl can overpower an adult male, while all other adult males do shit

If you save yourself and your mother from certain death, she will be terrified of you

The best therapy to get over the fear of people pointing their fingers at you, is to shoot people in videogames

The show reveals the identity of Death Gun instead of keeping it a mystery

Once again the show makes all males besides Kirito to be douche bags, just so he will look better by comparison

Kirito is so OP that even when doing nothing while in a coma, he seduces sexy nurses

Three episodes and Kirito is still not in the game

EPISODE 4

Asuna hereon does what she is best at. Doing nothing and letting Kirito do all the work.

Kirito is now a trap, just because

Kirito has a super rare, beautiful, special avatar everybody is jealous of and wish they owned (of course)

Nobody would play a game that gives you a random avatar whose features you cannot customize. But it’s not like Kawahara knows anything about videogames or something.

People sexually harassing Kirito because he looks like a girl. Nobody questions if a player is really the same genre as his/her avatar

The first girl Kirito befriends all by chance in the game is Death Gun's next target

Our noble hero manipulates a girl he just met for his benefit. As heroic as it was back in the first arc.

Kirito wins right away at a mini game nobody else who has being playing for years can

Nobody questions why a new player with no experience or equipment can do that without yelling hack or cheat

Star Wars knock-offs

Lightsabers exist in this game, even though nobody can use them properly or even afford to buy them

Kirito can use them and buy them right away

Motorbikes exist in this game, even though nobody can use them properly

Kirito is good at driving motorbikes because he played racing games

Kirito drives a bike in real life even when it’s illegal for his age (great message for the audience)

EPISODE 5

The tournament is called Bullet of Bullets

Nobody in this game has a nickname with digits. This is impossible in any game with millions of players.

Kirito doesn’t input his real information as means to keep his identity hidden, even when the sole purpose he is in the game is to lure Death Gun by making it public he is there

Kirito is more worried that he will lose game prizes than his life

Making a fuss over a half naked avatar

So much for not making his information public. Death Gun finds him just from his name. Because magically nobody else chose to be called Kirito.

Nobody recognizes Death Gun in the tournament, even after he made himself public in the beginning of the show. Hell, they act as if they don’t even see him.

If Laughing Coffin members still exist, it means they were not arrested after they were freed from the first game. Another proof of how nobody in this world cares about deadly videogames.

EPISODE 6

Wasting time by repeating the same slow ass scene from the last episode

Forced infodumping by explaining what they are supposed to do in a mission, a minute before they do it

Kirito’s personality is rewritten every 20 minutes (from serious outside the game, to goofy inside the game, to terrified because of something that happened years ago and which didn’t show any signs of even caring about, up until then)

Kirito feels remorse for saving his life and countless others by killing psychotic and amoral mass murderers

The battles lack excitement because they lack choreography and animation. Plus, because nobody can hit Kirito even if he fires a hundred bullets while he is standing still.

Kirito can avoid bullets because he can see the eyes of the sniper from miles away

Kirito cheats on Asuna once again by seducing Shinon

Kirito and Shinon both conveniently suffer from PTSD, and both accidentally met in this game as soon as he logged in

Kirito was constantly telling us he doesn’t like popularity and is continually not trying to attract attention from the people around him. And now seduces girls in front of a huge live audience.

You go to the finals even if you lose a duel

EPISODE 7

Mostly filler around people who never mattered

More incest

More talking while sitting on a table

Kirito lies to his harem girls once again but it’s ok because he is the protagonist

EPISODE 8

Kirito acts as if he never had PTSD in front of others

Kirito acts as if he likes others cheering for him, even when he claims he is anti-social and doesn’t like men to sexually pursuit him

Shinon hits the grenades someone carries when she could simply beat him with a simple shot

Despite all her bold claims to beat Kirito this time, he sneaks up on Shinon and overpowers her in a few seconds

Kirito once more knows how to cheat the system when nobody else knows, by swimming naked underwater

A pointlessly complicating fight scene where someone is assumed to be Death Gun

Shinon contradicts her claim from before, when she said players in this game don’t use close-range weapons

EPISODE 9

If invisibility cloaks and stun bullets are so effective, why isn’t everybody using them?

Death Gun kills a player for no reason, even when his target was Shinon and nobody else

Kirito lets Death Gun to escape while standing there, not doing anything to stop him, so the story can last more episodes

Kirito proceeds to keep fighting other players as if winning the tournament means more than finding Death Gun

EPISODE 10

Kirito conveniently leaves, so Shinon will need to be saved by him. Just more excuses for looking cool.

Kirito fails to shoot Death Gun while he was standing still and defenseless, so the story can last more episodes

Death Gun shoots Kirito with the paralyzing gun which magically doesn’t paralyze its victims anymore

Death Gun doesn’t constantly shoot at them while Shinon is too scared to fire for five minutes

Shinon misses Death Gun but hits all by accident an exploding gas tank. How convenient.

Kirito defeats a player without even bothering to show us how

Kirito says he never forgot the faces of the people he killed even though he clearly had done so for years until his PTSD was asspulled into the plot

Some sort of weird sexual innuendo is exchanged when Kirito says “you live in me” and Shinon replies “I never gave myself to another man” followed by her totally falling in his lap

EPISODE 11

Kirito magically figures out how Death Gun kills people, by simply speculating over a dozen different things, with absolutely no evidence to support his conclusion

While doing so, the camera shows Shinon’s ass and her bending over like she is giving him a head. Way to ruin the seriousness of the whole thing.

All of which are recorded and shown to Asuna and the rest of the harem, who are magically not annoyed by all that

Kirito doesn’t even give a damn about the above, as if it’s normal for him to seduce girls

This is one shitty game if players can peek at your personal information while you are inserting them

They decide to confront Death Gun, instead of Kirito simply shooting himself, logging out, and calling the agency to go arrest the killer in Shinon’s apartment. Or better yet, just running to her apartment in a few seconds because he is Kirito.

Some believe you cannot log out or communicate with others while the tournament is still running. If that is true, this is one shitty game if you are paralyzed and playing dead for hours, without at least chatting with someone else to pass the time. Damn, this game is really like the first SAO; it traps you in it.

The secret agency can’t do anything to stop Death Gun because the owners of the game are overseas. So how do they expect Kirito to stop him then? Better yet, why are they sending someone to investigate without informing the owners of the game first? After all, it’s about a guy killing their top players and hurting their profits. They will be more than willing to cooperate by being in constant touch with Kirito. As soon as he tells them who Death Gun is, they will trace his account to his home and ban his avatar, thus stopping the threat. But no, they are overseas and they are better of not knowing someone is killing their top players…

EPISODE 12

They are casually talking about the specs of a player, as if they are not in a grim situation all of a sudden

Said player is introduced and taken out in less time than they were talking about him

Shinon and Death Gun snipe each other’s weapons, a thing which has the odds of one in a trillion

Internal affairs has all of SAO’s players real names and character names but for some reason they didn’t know which of the players had killed others in the game

Death Gun actually thinks he can defeat the OP protagonist

Death Gun is using a melee weapon that is supposed to be the best in the game and way better than the one Kirito is using. And yet Kirito is shown defeating players with one slash, while Death Gun has stabbed him multiple times and yet he is still alive.

EPISODE 13

Fuck the rules Shinon, just believe in yourself so years of psychological trauma and game experience are rendered meaningless. She can now snipe at impossible distances because she knows she is weak, something she couldn’t do while she thought she was strong and had a scope.

Kirito once again uses impossible detective skills to remember Death Gun’s real name. All it took was to think of a Laughing Coffin member who wore a mask with red eyes. Seriously, that’s all he did.

The nurse says she can’t save him from dehydration if he stays in the game for too long. Which is bullshit since this is the most basic thing all hospitals can do.

Also, if that was the case, how come ten thousand people did not dehydrate for over two years while they were trapped in the first game?

Asuna assumes Kirito can sense her presence by touching a tablet.

Zaza you idiot, you were discovered because you didn’t wear a mask with different colors. It’s a different game for crying out loud.

But then again Kirito wears black in all the games he goes in. Must be a fetish.

The red bullet lines appear only when someone fires the bullet. But for no logical reason, they appear now when Shinon is just aiming at Death Gun.

Also, how come this was just a distraction? If she can lock on him from such a distance, she might as well shoot at him.

Kirito defeats Death Gun with one hit, and makes him blow up for no real reason.

Double suicide, really???

Everybody watching is happy to see two people winning a single winner tournament instead of complaining it is rigged.

Kirito jumps up from the bed and without saying hi to his harem bitches, runs to feel some ass from his latest conquest

Once again the main villain of the arc is a psychotic rapist, just so Kirito will appear to be chivalrous despite being a cheater and a hax

And of course Death Gun was Shinon’s friend. It’s not like there were any other possible candidates who had more than 10 seconds of screen time.

And of course his cool avatar personality is nothing like his creepy real personality, even though everybody else acts the same

Yet another guy who takes videogames too seriously. Fuck reality if you can be the best in a fictional world.

Also, hail contradiction! First he wanted to kill Shinon, and now acts like he planned for years to rape and take her to some fairy land.

Also we are meant to believe he had a partner who left Shinon’s house while he sneaked in despite Shinon going around checking out the place.

Also, we are supposed to believe he was stealing dangerous drugs from his father, who never found out about it.

Also, we are supposed to accept he has a brother, a father, and a business when the show didn’t bother to show any of those.

Gotta love those door locks. They open so easily from the OUTSIDE when the second Death Gun went in to kill Shinon, then locked again, only to open again easily for rape-kun to go for her ass. But when she tries to open the door from the INSIDE then the door remains locked. Then Kirito comes in and again the door lock does not work.

And predictably Kirito arrives to the rescue. The police or a secret agency weren’t able to mobilize faster than a typical teenager.

EPISODE 14

Rape-kun overpowering Jesus-kun. I call bullshit.

No nipples for Kirito-sama

Plot armor strikes again as Kirito is shot with poison in the only square centimeter of his body that was accidentally protected

Do you know what we do in my country when students bully and even point real guns at people? We tell the teachers about it, and call the cops.

Yes Shinon, don’t even bother to tell anyone this guy is not your boyfriend and you are not his 5th waifu. Let the viewers imagine stuff.

Describing with monologue how a masterplan took place after the whole thing is now over

Talking about the background and the motivation of people who were accomplices or died in the game without ever bothering to show them in the whole anime

What is that you said mr. special agent; people confuse reality with games? Maybe if you go public about this problem you can increase public awareness and prevent future tragedies. But why do that; just give Kirito lots of money and walk away while hiding the truth from the people.

Kirito treats his other harem girls like shit, and they respond by acting like complete idiots

So how come Kirito-dono thinks of something so simple to help Shinon get over her PTSD that no other psychiatrist did for all these years, and instead she was proposed the therapy of killing people for money in videogames? It had no effect anyways.

EPISODE 14.5

A recap episode for all those who found the plot too complicating to understand it, even if it sums up as: Videogames are serious business and Kirito is boring as hell for succeeding in everything without effort.

EPISODE 15

Excellent continuity. Asspull a whole event that happened in the past in narrated flashback with still images and pretend they always knew about it but never mentioned it. And do all that by having people talking while sitting on a table.

Excellent characterization. Show Asuna naked, yearning Kirito’s D, instead of being that dynamic woman you pretended she was at first.

Shinon has officially entered Kirito’s harem, and is now a cat woman with a tail for him to pull for the lulz. Remember when they pretended she was dynamic and wouldn’t let anyone boss her around?

Excellent world building. Have narration with minimum animation to explain the backdrop of something that is just a harmless videogame quest.

And yes, we moved from videogames that can kill you to fool around trying to get a videogame item with no risk or tension whatsoever.

They are role playing this quest so well, to the point they even refuse to message the other players to stop killing the flying spaghetti monsters and prevent the disaster.

Funniest part is that Kirito has founder privileges in this game. He doesn’t need to go find the sword or prevent the disaster. He can create anything he likes because he is like a god in this world.

And even if he does it just for the heck of it, he doesn’t need other party members. He can solo the whole thing.

EPISODE 16

This game is way too easy if a bunch of players who just found out they can use magic, after a long battle that leaves them injured and with most consumable items gone, can still wipe out several bosses in a line without dying once, all of which while still being pressured by time.

Klein falls in love with a fictional character, even after everybody tells him she’s not real and most likely a trap.

EPISODE 17

Remember all those MMO boss raids you won by looking for magical win triggers in the boss room? Neither do I.

And this concludes the most boring, aimless arc ever. ZZZ…

What Shinon says to Kirito about pulling the sword is an allegory for fapping only to her.

EPISODE 18

Oh look, they return to the cottage where chapter 16.5 happened. And this time they bring all the harem bimbos for an orgy.

EPISODE 19

Oh so that is the amazing conflict of this arc. A classic evil mother who doesn't want her daughter to be with the peasant boy WHO SAVED SIX THOUSAND PEOPLE, including her daughter. Love the logic.

EPISODE 20

New harem girl appears. So much for calling this Asuna’s arc.

Evil mother wants Asuna to marry an idiot like she did, for power and money.

Kirito appears to steal the spotlight once again.

EPISODE 21

I honestly don’t care about this boss battle. It’s just a game.

EPISODE 22

I don’t care about the sick new girl either. We only saw her for 2 episodes and they expect us to care? And why does Asuna even give a damn about a girl she met 2 days ago? Her stupid mother is a bigger issue than this bs drama.

EPISODE 23

Videogames are so cool, they make even stuck up parents to change their minds from the very first time they try them out.

Too bad real life stuck up parents wouldn’t even touch the controller, much less agree to enter a virtual reality that they know is addictive, ruins the social lives of children, and killed thousands of people.

Why did the mother even need to go into the damn videogame to have a typical chat like any normal person would have in real life? Reality is not enough for that?

She changed her mind so easily, making the whole conflict feeling superficial as hell.

And even if she hadn’t changed her mind, Kirito would simply appear, win her with his godly charm, and then they would have a lovely hentai threesome. Hell, that would be a better ending to a bullshit resolution by having people talking while sitting in a videogame.

EPISODE 24

In real life, very few players would give a shit about another player dying, much less coming to see her, all at once for a last time, because of time zone differences and various other real life obligations (assuming they have a social life and still go outside). Although she was famous, her fame is limited to her avatar, not the real her or her real life issues. Nobody cares if a gorgeous dark elf is in reality a smelly 60 year old fat male.

And seriously, it’s her last moments and she STILL needs to spend them while playing videogames.

In real life, there would be thousands of conspiracy theorists who would cause uproar by her death, claiming that videogames give people AIDS.

Ah yes, there’s that girl who helped the original villain to do all the crap he did. Yet another plot point that was just thrown in there and was never touched upon.

Review
Sword Art Online has a lot to prove. The fandom gets all giggly when talking about it, but the first season had tons of boring slice-of-life and an absurd exageration of siscon by the end, not to mention all the nonsense it spat with each episode. I resumed my amusement of the first season as "the best when it comes to make things worse". Anyway, jump to 2014 and the second season, smartly named Sword Art Online II (SAOII), is finished. My sanity told me to keep away, but my curiosity got the better of me and when I noticed I was watching the first episode.

First of all, SAOII has nothing to do with the game Sword Art Online Kirito and his girls played in the first half of the first season. Now the game of the moment is Gun Gale Online (GGO), where Sinon, a lonely and traumatized highschool girl plays in a vain attempt to free herself from her tragic past. What she doesn't know, however, is that a player appears to be killing people in real life through the game, and she is likely a target.

---

1. Kirito joins the fray
   SAOII starts with the wrong foot already. You see, instead of investigating these murders by regular means, with real police force, detectives, and making some simple political trades, the adults of SAO's world go crying for Kirito to help. Apparently, any normal means is blocked because the game servers are overseas, and Kirito's superb expertise with ingame murdering comes to play. It's a rushed and poor excuse to put Kirito in another game, but damn... this can be doable considering how much nonsense stuff the previous season gave us.
   
   The first half
   The first half of the show goes around this "investigation". Although the pace can be terribly slow at some times, the fact that Kirito and Sinon are the only important cast members showing (and they are not a love-dovey couple with a hut in the woods and nothing to care about besides sex) allows SAOII to focus more on the events at hand. This turns out to be a great decision, which makes this entire first half already a LOT better than anything the previous season showed us. There is a large sense of danger, Sinon is far more human-like and charismatic than any of the previous girls, and even Kirito himself is not a jerk as he used to be (he still is the unmatched super-uber skilled hackz0r playa-ki11).
   
   The midseason terror
   The tale progression solves the mystery behind the player-killing and then Sinon just changes her personality and importance to be only "one more dere to Kirito's harem, with cat ears" and the show suddenly dives head-on into a absurdly stupid filler saga of three episodes that throws any momentum the show head right out of the window. This quest for a random ingame item with no importance whatsoever and lacking any kind of meaning or character development is simply unnaceptable for a show that finally got itself on track with GGO. Fortunately this ends quickly.. which takes us for...
   
   Sword Feels Online
   
   
   After a tense combat with a player killer and a absurdly boring quest for a random ingame item, SAOII flies to the skies of extreme drama and neverending tears. A pilot entry as boring as the previous three episodes only hides the "feels" awaiting the watchers as Asuna meets a new girl to play and learn about her fight for life, as well as her teammates in terminal situations.
   
   Seriously, this can get anyone by surprise. After stupid slice-of-life, siscon crisis, investigation, and random wandering, SAOII now tries to be the drama queen. What can surprise you even more is that it does a great job at that, perhaps the best thing it offered since its start.
   

   Show Spoiler
   
   A better cast
   SAOII achieves two decent milestones here: first, it proves that by removing all the girls and leaving romance as only a timid charm, the cast can be less annoying. Sinon achieves what Asuna failed miserably at first season, portraiting a damsel in distress that is much more likely to be loved instead of hated. Kirito also changes his jerk personality around Sinon to some extent and becomes a less annoying protagonist.
   
   But when the gils return
   Second milestone, it proves that SAOII is just a sort a harem. Right after Sinon's saga ends, she completely changes to a secondary role and tranforms from traumatized girl to Kirito's Harem Girl #5. The rest of girls are also all there, knowing Kirito and Asuna are a thing, but doing regular stuff girls do around protagonists.
   
   The emotional strength
   Perhaps what made the cast of SAOII shine this time was the traumas they had. Some of them absurd, yes, but traumas nonetheless. It is interesting how the show manages to make Sinon's trauma and Yuuki's situation seems absurdly more tragic and impressive then being trapped in the game during the first season. The former SAO players are just carefree happy guys, as if they just played WoW for a year in the comfort of their chairs and now are playing Destiny instead. The damage was already done, but I can only wonder how much better SAO could be if they tried to put this absurd level (or at least part) of drama to the original cast during the first season.
   
   No progression with the fights though...
   If you felt that SAO had a lack of exciting combats and the coreography in general was lacking, this will only slightly change here. The production value of this second season is on par with the first by all means, which translates to cute girls and guys, combats resumed by a single flash super power, and lots of talking and cutie face close-ups. SAOII, however, do try to make things better by giving Kirito a light saber and putting him on more fights by the start. They rarely get truly exciting, but we can at least leave a small sense of progression.
   

---

Comments
SAOII surprised me, I can't deny that. The first season left me angry after every and each episode, it delivered so much nonsense that I barely could keep up with. Studio A-1 Pictures is a certainty of light presentation and that was one of the major issues back then. Now, however, the studio decide to transform SAOII into a exagerated drama, much like what happens in Ano Hana.

The result is positive. Very positive. The first half with only Sinon and Kirito achieves a degree of tension and urgency that was non-existent in the previous season, and the late arc was so heavy in drama it transformed the whole show. I can only truly point a finger at the filler 3-episode long middle arc, which not only totally destroyed the good momentum, but also gave me back all the feelings I had when I watched the first season.

So, with these decent start and ending, an annoying middle part, and a drastic reduction in the nonsensical decisions and real world interference, SAOII achieves a good quality standard and now deserves a bit of praise at least.

The famous/infamous Kirito has successfully fought off two impossible opponents in two virtual MMOs, and now gets to spend his time relaxing with his friends and Asuna. However, not everything is peaceful in the online world as there is a player who can apparently kill actual human beings just by killing their virtual avatar in the game Gun Gale Online. Kirito is summoned to this new world to confront this new threat; what will he discover, and how will his past affect his endeavors?

Like it or not, SAO is a show that ended on a pretty conclusive note; and for those who didn't have enough there was a summary OVA with a small bonus ALO quest at the end. So why is there a full on sequel? What could they possibly add on to the original?

SAO II adds on a few more pieces that are worthwhile to the entire storyline. These include some additional background pieces on Kirito's future aspirations (perhaps maybe leading to a bridge for Accel World), a new friend to add to his harem, and (most importantly) an extended arc focusing on Asuna. So, if you happened to want to see what a trap Kirito would look like, want to see what a Counter Strike - turned MMO would look like, or would like some more time with Asuna this addition is well worth your time. If you despised the original SAO, then there is no point diving into this. If you haven't seen the original SAO, then I'd recommend picking that up first, lest you like watching things in a confused state.

Animation:
The animation in SAO 2 is solid and continues pretty much where SAO left off. As with the original SAO, they do a great job of painting an interesting, virtual world. This time, the first arc takes place in a gritty, smoggy world full of assassins and bounty hunters, a sharp contrast to the bright, lush fantasy worlds in the previous two MMOs. As with the original, a good deal of attention was paid to user mechanics such as how to buy weapons or adding virtual aids for the player, like a reticule to measure accuracy when shooting. Though the atmosphere for this arc was much darker than previous settings, the overall tonality was never bleak; perhaps this is more due to the actual story though so I'll get to that in a bit. Character designs are similar in style to the original; they bring back a lot of the original cast even if many former characters only get somewhat brief cameos. What was a strong annoyance, and why I held off on watching this for awhile, was that Kirito turns into a trap in GGO and is often mistaken as a girl; so this is just the millionth time that he apparently by "chance" rolls a super-rare avatar/ability. The new girl, Sinon, is an interesting add-on though personally not as interesting as either Asuna or Leafa.

Expect a good deal of action in this one, as with the original. Since most of it takes place in the virtual world, damage just looks like colored patches or in extreme cases detached limbs, no gore or blood though. As the first arc is gun based, expect a lot more ranged battles. That being said, Kirito can't give up his sword skills and, due to his insane in-game reaction time, decides to use a beam saber to essentially deflect all incoming bullets. Expect a lot of pretty good action sequences, some of which are a bit over the top with vehicular chases and massive explosions. Apart from some personal time with Asuna, don't expect too much in the form of ecchi.

Sound:
There are two OPs and three EDs that pretty much line up with each arc. The first OP is a bit light by SAO standards and, though fast paced, didn't really feel like it had a strong connection with the show. The first ED continues Luna Haruna's work on the franchise, but the song pales in comparison to the crisp melody of Overfly. The second OP is fittingly sung by Asuna's VA, though the particular melody isn't anything special. The filler-arc ED, a pretty nice and peaceful tune, is sung by Lisa. The last arc's ED (also sung by Lisa) is a very fitting piece that fits well with the mood of the arc, in addition to having some very high notes. Not to be outdone, the BGM and sound effects are likewise very well done. There is a background hum in GGO and the BGM is fittingly different with a more down-tempo, electronic based theme. However, action moments, like the original, are accentuated with orchestral instrumentals. There are definitely hints of the themes of the original SAO BGM as well. The transition between the dark world of GGO and the fantasy fairy world is further accentuated by the BGM, which takes on the familiar and more playful themes of the original SAO second season.

The VA cast of the original return to give a likewise great performance. You won't hear as much of Ayana Taketatsu as the main heroine roles go to Haruka Tomatsu and Miyuki Sawashiro. Aoi Yuuki also plays a significant role in the last, emotion-filled arc. All of them give great performances, giving each of their characters a unique and memorable flair.

Story:
The story of SAO 2 is a bit of a mixed bag. Some parts are very well presented while others were fillers or very predictable.

What made SAO's first arc so special was the very real threat of death hanging over everyone's head, it added a lot of tension that seemed so ironic to some of the scenic, peaceful lands in the virtual MMO. Once again, the series attempts to hold characters' lives hostage, though in this case the tension never really materialized. By the start of SAO 2, you just feel like Kirito is analogous to Neo from the Matrix; he can basically enter any MMO and pretty much dominate from the get go. Add in a few foreshadows and you can pretty much predict the entirety of the arc. Predictability aside, it is probably the most traditional of all three arcs with a decent exposition of the detailed world of GGO and the new heroine Sinon. It builds to a final, climatic battle that feels (probably purposefully) similar to the climatic battles in the original SAO.

The second arc feels like a filler arc in elf land where Kirito and his friends must go on a quest to save the entire world and involves some hybrid cross between a King Arthur and Norse mythology story. Some curveball plot twists aside, it is relatively straightforward and not particularly engaging.

The final arc starts as a seamless continuation of the second arc, except that the focus quickly shifts from Kirito to Asuna. There's a mysterious knight that is challenging all players and, to everyone's surprise, even Kirito loses (gasp!). There is a new group of characters introduced in this arc, which builds to a very nice climax. This is probably the most emotional of the arcs and does a good job humanizing MMOs.

Overall, the plot is entertaining and, mixed with good production values, offers a pretty compelling package. There are quite a few plot twists and cliff hangers, which make this show a great one to chain. I thought the ending arc was a particularly good one, as it tries to remind us that the player on the other side is indeed another human being. What I took away from this is that despite being pseudo-anonymous, we should still be respectful, as we don't know what others might be going through in their lives.

Character:
Kirito, Asuna, and the gang have pretty established relationships already by SAO 2. Thus, two of the arcs revolve around brand new characters. The first arc introduces Sinon, a sniper who in real life is traumatized by guns due to a childhood incident. Kirito happens to bump into her in GGO and they eventually bond despite some humorous bumps along the way. Though Sinon is pretty well developed, I found her character slightly off putting and not really all that relatable. After the first arc, her character somewhat fades into the background. Asuna takes the lead in the last arc, backed by a new character Yuuki. Yuuki is a very strong character with a very strong will and a slightly tomboyish attitude. I greatly enjoyed her performance, saying anything more would be a spoiler.

Since the show does spend so much time bringing the viewer up to speed with all the new characters, our existing crew from SAO (excluding Kirito and Asuna) get significantly less screen time (i.e. this will suck for those who like Leafa, Lisbeth, or Silica). Furthermore, the antagonists aren't anywhere near as imposing as those in the original show were. This greatly diminished the potential excitement and tension in the show. Despite the fact that the existing crew is static, the overall interactions between the cast were very enjoyable.

Value:
Given that I didn't think SAO needed a sequel, I think they did all right. It's not as intense as SAO, not as engaging as SAO, and not as creative as SAO. Despite being inferior in some crucial ways, the show still carries the original's production values and introduces some new interesting characters. Heck, at least it had more new content than the SAO OVA. Still, this is a pretty decent watch considering everything else in the season. If you're itching for an engaging and occasionally intense action show with a bit of emotional tension at the end, definitely try this one.

Following the chaos and overhyped piece of shit that was Sword Art Online in 2012 of course there going to be a second season and of course its gonna be way more inferior to the ALREADY mess of a story and steryotypical characters of the first show so let's begin it from the top

ANIMATION:
probably the only good aspect in this series is the animation,the animation is done by A-1 Pictures and as they mostly deliver the animation is awesome the art is generic but the background detail and the character figures are awesome and visual effects are damn amazing
ANIMATION=9

SOUND:
as far as sound goes its pretty good,OP's and ED's are all nice and voice acting still has that damn Mastuoka voicing another generic main lead and i dont really remember the BGM so its not very memorable
SOUND=6

STORY:
OHHHH THE STORY if you thought that SAO 1 was bad then just look at this shitfest first lets see what the show has to offer in terms of premise:
the first three episodes are FiILLED WITH EXPOSITION AND JUST KICKS THE SHIT OUT OF STUFF LIKE THE INFAMOUS CIRCLING KIREI IM FATE/ZERO and they are also im café so its not remotly entertaining as that circling was so ridiculous it was very fun its just a bunch of guys eating cake(GODDAMN IT K-ON) and discussimg how shit hits the fan in another VRMMORPG called Gun Gale Online A.K.A Call of Duty when Darth Vader sorry sorry i mean Death Gun(wich is a stupid name like seriously Death Gun? what is there a life gun somewhere in the future,if there is i know i would shoot Satoshi Kon or something) appears out of fucking nowhere and starts fucking shit up and killing players by shooting them through the TV in the game and somehow they die in real life from a heart attack wich reminds of an other suspicious notebook with death in it's title so it's up to our main hero to save the day and figure out who the fuck that is!
by turning into a girl(wich is only inserted for that one time where he gets to see the main heroine mistake him for a girl and change her clothes right infront of him,no reason else)wich brings me to another problem i have eith this show wich is the weak explanation of the world now this may not disturb the casual viewer wich i know a lot of the SAO fanbase are but for me the writer just dosent know how RPG mechanichs work like for example the random customization Seriously HAVE TOU EVER FUCKING SEEN AN RPG WITHOUT CUSTOMIZATION BUT APAPPARENTLY IN THE FUTURE THEY SAID FUCK THAT COSTS TOO MUCH MONEY SO WERE JUST GONNA MAKE IT RANDOM wich leads him to becoming a girl and a jedi master weilding a light saber by the help of the main heroine who can do mid
air 720 quick scopes who obviously we get ass shots galore from her,and unlike how it is advertised and everybody focuses on this side of the story that can be somewhat entertaining my main hate with this anime is in the second half of it where it turns into a tear jerker anime focusing on Asuna(wich was completly ignored in the first half even the show disregards her relationship with Kirito)and some girl back in ALO wich was totally disappointing because i hate anime that try to be more than they are YOU ARE AN ACTION ANIME IF YOURE GONNA DO EMOTINAL SCENES DO THEM FUCKING RIGHT IF NOT STAY AN ACTION ANIME and well because i hate tear jerkers and between those two arcs there lies one of the most shitty anime epsiodes i have ever seen in my entire life wich are in the excalibur arc where they didnt know what the fuck to do in the gap between the two arcs so they just decided to make Kirito and his friends go on a random MMO quest to get some sword and defeat some shitty boss TOTALLY POINTLESS
so in short mediocre intertaing first half and shitty in between two main arc episodes and a shitty last arc that staryed from the formula that it was going with WICH IS ACTION ACTION FANSERVICE
STORY=2

CHARACTERS:
there arent a lot of additions the only important ones are Sinon the main heroine of the first half and is only there for ass shots and another harem addition the other one is Konno Yuki who thank god didn't become a harem girl is well......i really cant say much without spoiling anything otherwise than that the characters are bassicaly the same cast
CHARACTERS=5

VALUE:
rewatchability is not that much having only the first half remotley entertaining and you'll probably never really look back and say "oh i really want to watch SAO 2 again"
VALUE=3

ENJOYMENT:
In terms of of enjoyment it is very entertaining for thr casual viewer but if you want a story that makes sense and has good characters this is not going to be very different from the first Season and thats only the first half and with the second half being either boring or being just a bunch of pointless action scenes so
ENJOYMENT=2

Overall it just suffers from having too much fanservice on Sinon Boring exposition game mechanics that dont make sense(eich was also a flaw with the first season)and a boring second half and completly pointless middle

THE FINAL RATING FOR SWORD ART ONLINE II IS=4.6/10 I give you a recomendation to just watch the first half if youre intrested and just look up the rest of the story on wikipidea or something

for alternate anime recomendations:
Log Horizon
Btooom!
Hunter x Hunter Greed Island arc

Sword Art Online II

Since I've been the only person to have written a generally favorable review for the first season, it is only fitting that I'm doing it again (hereby in advance before all the review-shitstorm is falling upon the show here).

Again, as always, I'd like to apologize for any inevitable typos and grammar mistakes.

Art/Animation

It's production-wise of very similar quality to its predecessor, which results in very good still footage and decent animation quality. I commend the show for its visual adaption of GGO in particular.

8/10

Sound

Voicework is again top-notch and deserves full marks. Soundtrack is a mixed bag, containing nice new arrangements of established pieces as well as some very intriguing new composition. The soundtrack is generally too repetitive, though.

9/10

Story

The similarities to SAO I are again very striking: The show includes a very solid first arc and a mostly disappointing follow-up with little to work with. That being said the implementation and plot of the Gun Gale Online-chapter are generally convincing and result in a somewhat fresh perspective in favor of the base material. The mystery about Death Gun is compelling enough to capture more than just shounen-aficionados.
Unfortunately, the second arc is oozing with ridiculous melodrama and otherwise irrelevant plot development, again very comparable to the first iteration's narratic setup. It provides enough fan-service for most of the audience, which prevents them from skipping the last episodes altogether.

It does have a cliffhanger-esque ending, so there should be more to come.

6/10

Character

There is little change to the base cast. Kirito is still the invincible, rather all knowing boy-hero, Asuna mainly the damsel-in-distress-like girl-hero. In favor of the show I have to say that the second (more irrelevant) arc provides further nuances to Asuna's character, which is certainly welcome.
I've been very happy with the implementation of Sinon, she is by far the most intriguing addition to the show and is generally interesting to watch. Yuuki is a little less interesting, but still tolerable.
All in all it's a definite improvement to the generally one-dimensional cast of SAO I.

7/10

Value

It does have a few feature-fights and moments I've watched a couple of times. I could imagine that some people would like to watch the first arc again, but the replay value is limited in general.

6/10

Enjoyment

Make no mistake, it's fully enjoyable for a full run and provides fans with more of the same. In addition, the Gun Gale Universe provides enough wonder and mystery to attract a new and seperate audience. The dystopian look of the new MMO-scenario also helps to keep things fresh.
Unfortunately, the series loses a lot of its momentum (again!) in its second, generally unimportant arc that adds little to the universe (except some additional character development for Asuna). This prevents the show from any longlasting impact the world of Sword Art Online would otherwise demand.

--

22.12.14 - Shadowbroker