To properly discuss the various elements at fault in the narrative, a quick summary of its contents:
A new game in the world of Sword Art Online has gained insane popularity, using a cutting-edge piece of technology called the "Augma". Wearing such a device creates a virtual world out of the real one, in which players can interact with, as well as play games within this world in order to earn in-game currency. This currency can then be used to, for example, purchase cakes at local shops or be used to earn discounts on over goods (be it clothing, or gadgets), which results in the game becoming insanely popular. However, the bosses from Sword Art Online begin to appear and battle against the players, whereupon the viewer learns that, if one who is defeated by said boss just so happens to be a surviving member of the aforementioned game, then their memories will be completely wiped! As is the case with our main girl, Asuna! Now, with a basic narrative, which is inherently fine on its own, there is a lot to discuss. Firstly, let's discuss the impracticality of the Augma as a piece of technology.
For starters, the game requires you to play with this device outside and to utilise your own body in order to fight off against the monsters you see before you, as you place the technology over your face (much like the Nerve Gear in SAO). The idea is that the players, with this technology equipped, can see the virtual world and monsters presented within it, and those without, cannot, and since the game requires the players to be running around and swinging their arms about, then your average person would just be seeing a bunch of man-children screaming as they fight off against seemingly nothing! It's an image I had while watching the film that made me laugh as it is quite frankly, silly. In addition to this, while playing the game, the player is not aware of the physical world around them, and, let's say if they go to punch an enemy in the game (in which only they can see!), in the real world they could easily punch a random pedestrian without even being aware! Thankfully, in this world, it seems nobody travels outside, as this problem never seemed to be brought into fruition. It seems everyone in the real world disappears once the players begin their flailing. Even more problems arise when you think about the dangers the players themselves are in while in the game. What about if they think they’re running to a dragon or something, a good sixty meters in front of them but instead they proceed to run into open traffic and get run over? And I know the writer even thought of this possibility himself because during the scene in which Kirito goes to a university lecture and remarks to the lecturer that there are problems with the technology, the lecturer responds by asking him, “Is this an issue with the road accidents?” or something along those lines. As such, it leaves me to believe that there have been plenty of incidents while wearing and playing this game, and the fact that the player is completely unaware of his or her surroundings makes me wonder why anyone would willingly want to play the game out of fear of an incident occurring. Hell, a random passer-by could easily steal items out of their pockets, or even worse since they’re practically undefended!
"LIQ, you always nitpick these small little things. Why does it even matter?"
Perhaps you're right, imaginary voice in my head in which thinks of counter-arguments to my points so I can provide justification against them. Perhaps I am being pedantic in my criticisms, and just looking for stuff to complain about because indeed I am talking about SAO. A series so overtly hated at this point, that people begin groaning when they see another video on YouTube criticising the series. However, the reason why I was so distracted by such little effort in creating something that feels "real" or "believable" was because the film bored me to death, and when I'm bored, my mind thinks of such things.
Boredom. There in lies my main problem with the film, and the main reason in which every element felt so contrived to me. As a result of this boredom, another problem with the technology that bugged me began to arise: there was no clear limitations of what it could or couldn't do. For example, when attacked by an enemy in the game, some people are perfectly okay, while others are thrown back or respond to pain when being hit by an enemy. They’re nothing more than CPUs, right...? How can they issue any pain whatsoever, more so have any ability to physically move a person? When a player is hurt by these enemies and is thrown through the air, does their real-life body also fly back? The character in the digital world's movements are dictated by the actions of the player in the real world, so it doesn't make any sense. It’s just incredibly inconsistent.
This lack of clear limitations regarding the mechanics of the game also extends to the abilities of the players. For example, one of the antagonists in the film was capable of pulling off all of these amazing manoeuvres by bouncing off the walls at great speeds, which, if this were a video game in which a player used some kind of gaming peripheral such as a controller would be understandable, this element begins to make less sense when you remember that this game is controlled by the player physically moving their bodies! It's just silly to imagine that anyone could realistically be able to do such a thing, and it ends up pulling me out of the film because my suspension of disbelief shatters.
Moving along to Kirito, one thing I always praised about Gun Gale Online, despite my obvious disdain for that arc, was that they attempted to do something new with Kirto's character. His short battle with PTSD was, in my opinion, the most interesting thing to ever happen to his character, and while the pay off for this is incredibly weak, at least there was an attempt! A gold star for effort, if you will. In Ordinal Scale however, Kirito is perhaps at his most bland, and that's saying something for an already bland character. Kirito's purpose in this narrative is simple: he is the hero who saves the day and that's it. We never learn anything new about him as a person nor are there any attempts at trying to give him any more of a personality. He feels like an empty shell. While initially I was ready to throw Ordinal Scale some praise as it presented Kirito as the weakest player of this new game, thereby placing him in a position in which he is not the strongest at all times, and even resulting in a somewhat charming scene in which he falls flat on his face in an attempt to be cool, unfortunately this element is only used for comedic purposes.
Kirito’s lack of strength means nothing in the grand scheme of things since he gains power pretty quickly, becoming the number one player with little to no effort, and is used more so to pad out the story otherwise Kirito would have defeated the antagonist in their first encounter. Having Kirito be the weakest, and having him struggle and work hard to gain power in order to save his girlfriend would have given the narrative a greater sense of sincerity and heart as well. I may have found myself rooting for Kirito, as he is the underdog in this tale for once, but unfortunately the narrative opts for its roots of having him be overpowered and that's all. Watching the film, I can somewhat understand where I believe the script was going regarding his character: that of a directionless guy who has to finally decide what to do with his life. This is evident by the fact that he seems even more melancholic than what we are used to, and by the fact that he is taking a while in choosing a college course to attend. I really want to find the pieces here, and I really want to like Kirito, but I simply can't, as, even with these tiny details, Kirito feels more so like a robot than a character.
Asuna’s character in the film acts as the focal point of interest for the audience, being that she loses her memory of her time in Sword Art Online. Their relationship is pivotal in holding together much of the emotional weight of the narrative, due to the fact that we see both of them at the beginning of the film promise to each other that they’ll see the stars together; something that is shattered as a result of this loss of memory. Asuna's struggle with her memory loss is honestly the only element that kind of held my interest. Seeing her experience some form of PTSD when being cut down by the antagonist, or when she breaks down and cries alone after losing her memories, adds some layers of depth onto her character, and while it is nothing extraordinary, it also adds some kind of drama to the narrative.
Perhaps my biggest gripe with the narrative was the use of exposition. Exposition is inherently not a bad thing, and, in fact, is a pivotal element in every narrative to allow the viewer to understand the world they are presented with. However, what's important is the way in which the exposition is delivered. Have the exposition be delivered in such a way to naturally allow the viewer to learn and gauge things by themselves. Perhaps use the cinematography and framing to convey ideas. Perhaps slip small pieces of information in conversations between characters that build on our established knowledge of the context of the world. There is an infinite number of ways to handle exposition, but the one most common, as it requires little effort, is when simply a character monologues, or flat out tells the viewer everything! And indeed, SAO: Ordinal Scale opts for this kind of delivery. As such, it makes the script come across as lazy and not very well thought out, as the viewer is subjected to large sections dedicated to simply telling us what is happening. While certainly not as prevalent in Gun Gale, Ordinal Scale makes use of plenty of cafe scenes in order to deliver such exposition, which, as previously mentioned, not only makes these scenes drag on, but the inherent framing that comes with a cafe scene is visually boring too.
The villains of this film are also incredibly poor. Both antagonists, Eiji, a surviving member of SAO, and Tetsuhiro Shigemura, a professor and father to a girl called Yuna, wish to bring this girl back to life. They believe the way in which to resurrect her is by extracting memories of the SAO survivors through the technology already discussed. While this is indeed a fine motivation, its ultimately undercut by how little emotional weight this carries. As a viewer, we have no reason to care for these people, or the deceased girl, as we know nothing about them. Who cares if they do not succeed? We are given no reason to do so, nor are their characters well-written enough to elicit such emotions of sympathy in me.
Moreover, as their targets are specifically that of SAO survivors, it doesn't make much sense to have the bosses be that from the game as a means to attract them. Perhaps it may act as a deterrent and stop people from even going as it brings along memories of that time in which they witnessed thousands of people die, and thus, be fruitless. However, I am willing to accept the possibility that, of course, some SAO survivors perhaps may have gotten over such trauma, as it has been four years, and will use such opportunities as a means of getting over their past nightmares, which I believe could have been an interesting angle, but is unfortunately never used.
As Kirito believes it be wrong for the survivors of SAO to forget their memories, as it would mean they're also forgetting the people that they lost, perhaps an interesting narrative thread would have been to have the antagonist play a direct contrasting ideology to Kirito's. Perhaps the antagonist could argue that it's in fact great for the SAO players to forget as they can move on with their lives. This would have given Kirito a greater sense of purpose in this narrative, and allowed the viewer to see the advantages of two ideologies. As such, we are not subjected to Kirito's stance, which the film propagates as the morally "correct" one, rather that the film allows the viewer to think for themselves, and would have given Kirito's rivalry towards the villain a greater sense of authenticity. It's not only about physically besting the villain, but also a journey of understanding them too, making each party all the more human.
I've talked at length about what this film "could have been", and offered many ways in which I think it could have been made interesting, but in doing so, I don't mean to suggest that I am a good writer, or my ideas are of any greater value than those presented. Simply, all my own interpretations of how Ordinal Scale could be good stem from my frustration with it: mainly its wasted potential.
Hell, even Kayiba makes an appearance in the film, and just like every encounter we’ve had up with him up to this point, all he does is spout off some random vague existential nothingness and off he goes! While it does add some introspection into his character, as he remarks that he too used to think like the father whom is trying to revive his daughter, suggesting some kind of growth or awakening, we don’t learn anything else. Ultimately Ordinal Scale’s narrative and character fails due to a lack of focus, and I believe that's the keyword here. "Focus". Ordinal Scale feels as if a team of over twenty writers had ideas for a story, and instead of choosing one or two concrete ideas and developing them, chose to use every single unique idea. The result is a rather confusing mess of ideas and concepts that never really mesh together, nor play out in any interesting way.
Now, that’s not to say that the film is ultimately worthless however. There were a few moments I kind of liked in fact! SAO’s visuals and music has always been pretty strong (for the most part anyway) and this is where the film excels best at. The film looks good from a visual perspective, and the final action sequence was one I certainly did enjoy! Another small detail I liked was a short two second visual in which we see Asuna fly up in the air to get ready for an attack. Overlayed on her stance, one can see an image of Yuuki, who then aids Asuna in her fight. It’s a sweet little exchange, and while it was mainly included for some forced manipulation of the FEEELS I’d imagine, it works on me anyway since these two are the only two characters with some semblance of actual emotional investment; I admit I smiled when I saw that! You know what other moment made me smile? An uncensored shot of Asuna’s nipples while she was bathing. Now THAT was worth the price! I did notice a few instances of CGI however, which did kind of break my immersion in a couple of places, used mainly in the final scene of the film with some of the designs of the monsters, and in a shot where Kirito is on the phone to Asuna on his bike, where CGI pedestrians are used in the background, but it’s nowhere near the worst case of CGI I’ve seen before. The music is also good too (albeit somewhat generic and forgettable in my opinion), and I honestly really do like Yuna’s character design as well!
In conclusion, Ordinal Scale was a massive mess of ideas and concepts thrown into a blender. While, upon reflection, I wouldn’t consider Ordinal Scale to be as bad as Gun Gale Online (for that was not only much longer, filled with more plot convenience and didn’t have nearly as good animation) it was certainly nothing to raise the bar for the series, and at this point my expectations are so low that they’re right next to Dinosaur bones! It’s essentially a movie for the fans of the series, with constant call backs to earlier instalments in the franchise and the such, which is not inherently a bad thing to be, but it doesn’t excuse all of the problems I had in regards to the script. Now, I'm not here to degrade anyone who likes Sword Art Online. I believe doing such a thing anyway is dumb, and rather counter-intuitive if we all want to be open to different perspectives. Like previous instalments, the reason why I feel such irritation towards Ordinal Scale is, again, the wasted potential. The ingredients are here. It's just a shame a chef who doesn't know how to cook made the meal.
