Forum - View topicSword Art Online (TV).
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WhiteHairGirls
 Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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One thing that amazes me is how much SOA is talked about in here. I mean only 7 episodes have come out and we are already on page 29 of this thread. At this pace this thread might reach over 100 pages, but I doubt it continues at that pace. If you look at the Accel World thread (Made by the same guy), its only on page 19 despite having nearly 20 episodes out, although that could be because people do not like the main protagonist in Accel.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Yeah, but a lot of people have issues with Kirito and this thread is well-populated.
I don't think it is solely the main characters that are the reason for one thread being super-popular and the other thread not. That does remind me though, Accel World is by the same guy who wrote Sword Art Online. It will be interesting to see (once both shows are complete) as to which is better. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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Why do you have to set up these straw men to try and argue this point? I haven't seen Megiddo say anything about wanting to see "a hundred episodes of nonsensical fighting against random enemies with no plot to speak of." What I have seen is numerous people, including myself, saying that Kirito's character development has been very weak because each episode its just "Oh, by the way Kirito leveled up 30/40 levels and now is even more unstoppable. Ok proceed." Think about it for a moment. Why is it that most of the highly successful Shonen series show the protagonist starting as the weakest or at least unskilled character, and then slowly show them gaining new skill and figuring out how to defeat new baddies and gradually working their way up? This is a tried and true formula. Unfortunately, sometimes it gets kind of stale, but it is a staple of character development to at least spend some time showing the character growing. We haven't really seen any of that with Kirito. There are even many variations on the formula. For example, a show I really liked a while back was Dragon Drive. There, you had the main character's dragon partner as the "weakest dragon" but he has some crazy powerful attack that he can call on from the first episode. Then in an episode right after spoiler[he tries to use it again but fails and gets beat up. Then he and his partner have to learn how to get to a point where they can use it consistently and also learn how to fight without it.] Several 5 second training montages ensue, and most of the story that follows is all about them trying to get stronger to defeat the big bad. The characters were very well developed in Dragon Drive. You knew all their strengths and weaknesses. You knew their motivations, and they worked to improve themselves. I can only imagine how bad that show would have been if they went straight to episode 2 or 3 and said "Ok, so now Chibi is a fully grown bad ass dragon and he destroys anyone who challenges him. Proceed." There are so many plot devices which could have been used to show Kirito getting better. A few training montages wouldn't have hurt. Maybe show him fighting a boss now and then in random encounters (meaning, not as part of some goal of that episode such as spoiler[the dragon in ep 7 or the santa in ep 3]). Maybe you could start off an episode with him right at the end of a boss fight and struggling a bit, then finishing it off with some inventive maneuver. Or maybe during an episode while he's en route to some new goal, he passes through a grind spot and says "oh yes, I remember fighting goblins for 10 days straight in this spot. that was tough." So those are just a few examples of what could help Kirito's character development, but that is just development of his skill. I still also haven't seen any real development of his persona. Like I said earlier, Haruyuki from Accel World was developed fantastically in the first few episodes, which makes him very likeable and sympathetic. spoiler[He's a nerdy fat kid that everyone makes fun of, he escapes into this virtual world where he punishes himself playing games over and over to be the best (and as a result has become very good at games), and then he meets a girl who wants to use his skill and she gives him something to hold onto in the real world while using him as a weapon in the virtual world. On top of that he is portrayed as an extremely nice person who didn't let his struggles as an outcast make him bitter.] All of this was developed within the first few episodes. I would like to have seen some effort made as far as Kirito other than just saying he has a sort-of sister and thus has a soft spot for little girls, though at least that was SOMETHING. Also, like I said in another thread, the whole opening scene where we see Kirito in the real world and all you see is his face in shadows with a creepy smile was a very VERY strange start for me. If you are going to start a show like that, the character needs to be creepy otherwise why even do that? |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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I think the reason Accel World has less pages of discussion is because that show is less controversial. You don't have pages and pages of people arguing about the bad aspects of the show. As I said here I believe Haruyuki is a far superior protagonist at this point because he is developed many times better than Kirito. There are a lot of problems with Accel World (the design of the virtual fighters is extremely bland in my opinion and the whole virtual world thing is not very consequential... the story hasn't really explored the real world impact at all) but despite those flaws, it is a highly popular show and I will probably continue to watch it. I think it has gotten better in the last several episodes because the tone of the story is darker and I think that makes it more interesting, whereas the lack of real-world impact and light tone in the earlier episodes made it hard to connect to the story in a meaningful way. |
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Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
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spoiler[I don't think the main story is going to be the cure-all that people think it will be. Yeah, fewer cute girls in distress, but it's not like any of the complaints about Kirito are going anywhere. If anything, they're getting worse...] |
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MrTerrorist
Posts: 1348 |
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Here's the next episode preview for "Black & White Sword Dance"
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3653 |
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So, if I'm understanding this right, the quest that kicks off the story proper is "man, I don't know how to cook this rabbit."
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Yupa
 Posts: 77 Location: The Netherlands |
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Wow! We're actually moving on to the main story already? :p |
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WhiteHairGirls
Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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I assume spoiler[Kirito fighting Asuna's "evil" bodyguard is the start of the main story?] |
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Clarste
Posts: 430 |
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Yes. Maybe you haven't noticed, but eating is an incredibly common theme in the Kirito-Asuna relationship. It basically represents enjoying life in the video game since you're spending time and effort on making fake food taste better. |
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Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
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of course main story is not going to cure-all. You have to know ANN community is very different than normal anime community. Go read other forum will see the different. Other forum is more similar what is selling right now. Example, Persona 4, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere. If they don't like the main character there is no way around. I said the main story is different than the side stories because the side stories are episodic like American canton. It looks like most people think the first 7 eps are continuous story like other anime. I never understand the reason why people want explaining on every little thing. |
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CrimsonPaws
Posts: 1 |
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It started quite good but what's with this pacing ? Main story never advances. I am still hopeful for the next episode.
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Pixelationist
 Posts: 111 Location: London, UK |
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I see what you're getting at but I can't agree with you. Sure, the game premise gives it an automatic pass and anything goes, and not seeing anything of the real world also means we cannot make any conjectures as to what is going on there. But even so, SAO is every bit as ridiculous as any other anime out there. For starters, it is a harem ass harem show, that automatically rules it out of the "that could really happen" camp. Then there're all the aforementioned questions like how are the players staying alive? Why has it not been clamped down? How did the creator fund this state of the art product and how could he recoup his money by selling just 10,000 units? How is it they can't get hurt but feel the warmth and the cold? The list is endless and no amount of exposition can cover it. I think the main problem is that SAO seems to be set in the real world so we can't just chalk it down to the usual "supernatural elements", and it takes itself too seriously for us to dismiss it as merely being silly. Also, I don't know whether tech singularity comes in to this since the game creator seems to have planned everything from the get go, there is no unforeseen development as far as what the anime has covered. That said I am enjoying it enough to be curious about how it ends. I wouldn't have picked it up had there not been so much discussion here. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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ookamigirl
 Posts: 2274 Location: Croatia |
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Two years into the game and he's still soloing the front lines.
spoiler[Asuna & Kirito meet again. This time about a cooking thing. Looks like her guild became something she's not too happy about. Well, some things are better in smaller amounts ^^ Seems like everyone is slowly forgetting about home & the real world. Asuna's guard was acting more like a stalker and that guild of hers sounds more like a prison. Kirito vs Kuradeel was a nice bonus. Asuna & Kirito in the dungeons again. That was nice, but those 2 taking on a boss alone is not a good idea.] [EDIT: If you're going to insist on doing these summaries then use the spoiler tags. I know you know how to use them. - Key] |
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