Sword Art Online

[*guyverfan]

ryuki, should of atleast watched ep.4 aswell, thats about life and friendship.

 

to me, i feel its just not real enough without death, because death is a part of life, its all around us.

sometimes i feel a sad ending is more realistic than a happy one.

[durendal]

Well, you need to have a brooding Kirito in order to appreciate the happy Kirito. If you don't want to watch it because you are expecting a character you like to be killed, well, that's not gonna happen. Those who die gets to die early on, and you won't have to deal with the emotional hardship of seeing your favorite character die after they grow on you. Naruto is actually full of that. They develop a character to the point of you liking them only to have them get killed later on. *shakes fist at kishimoto*

[*Jess♥]

I think I didn't explain my point of view very well.

it's not the fact of people dying.

of course it happens all the time.

but life goes on. that is a very big part of the grieving process and is how we cope with the fact of death.

but what we have in this situation is not a situation where life goes on. life doesn't go on, because this is not life.

This is essentially the same as a battle royale. except they aren't pitted against each other, they merely need to escape.

The entire anime is in a situation where the main objective is 'not to die.' 

Even though Naruto has some major characters fall, it had meaning every time. The last one to happen took me by surprise. I still haven't fully realised it. It hasn't quite sunk in, but the reason for it was very clear. it happened for a reason.

In SAO, I feel like all these deaths are just senseless and wasteful.  it is sort of like a horror, but without the blood and gore.

I don't think I can continue to watch something like that. It's why I don't watch things like final destination.

[durendal]

Aha, don't worry, that erie feeling you get is contained in Episode 3 only. That's a phase for Kirito and that's probably the only senseless death that you'll ever see in SAO. In fact, I don't even see it as a senseless death as this single event had a great impact on Kirito. This single event made Kirito who he will become. And it sucks to go through all that hardship only to learn later on that it's a waste of time. If you didn't like that, imagine how Kirito felt. The phrase "with great power comes great responsibility" sure does suit a situation like this. You'll see how in the next episode.

I would suggest you tough it out as you still haven't seen the lighter side of the story. Most especially when Kirito goes Epic. Epicness happens in Episode 9.

[*Jess♥]

I trust you.

hmm... problem. I deleted it. this is mainly due to computer hassle I'm having at the moment though.

it shouldn't be a problem to obtain it again.

[durendal]

Yay! Finally got my hands on book 11 of SOA, Alicization Turning. At least I don't have to wait for the translations. My, the book is kinda small, smaller than your average manga, but at least I get a lot of inserts. Haven't really scrutinized the book yet since I got home late and didn't have the energy to fiddle with my latest acquisition. Damn, I should've brought the book to work with me.

[*guyverfan]

are there many books in the series that continue on from the anime?

 

are you able to give a brief description and review?

[durendal]

Sure, here's the volume number and how they corresponds to the anime.

Volume 1 - Aincrad (Main story)

Volume 2 - Aincrad (side stories featured in anime episode 4, 7, 11 and 3 in that order)

Volume 3 - Fairy Dance (first part of the Alfheim Online arc, the second arc in the Anime)

Volume 4 - Fairy Dance (Second part of the Alfeim Online arc)

Volume 5 - Phantom Bullet (not in the anime, features the game Gun Gale Online or GGO)

Volume 6 - Phantom Bullet (not in the anime, second part of GGO)

Volume 7 - Mother's Rosario (Story that focuses on Asuna)

Volume 8 - Early and Late (side story featured in anime episode 5 and 2, also side stories in Alfheim not featured in the anime)

Volume 9 - Alicization Beginning (New arc that returns Kirito stuck in the VR world again)

Volume 10 - Alicization Running (continuation Kirito's adventure in Alicization)

Volume 11 - Alicization Turning (Haven't read yet)

I won't discuss about Aincrad and Fairy dance since these are already included in the anime.

Phantom Bullet - Involved the game GGO. A government representative responsible in keeping the SAO players alive during the event asked Kirito to investigate another game which causes players to die in real life when they are shot online.

Mother's Rosario - Focuses on Asuna during their time in Alfheim Online. Asuna befriends a mysterious player whom even Kirito could not defeat in a duel.

Early and Late - Basically a side story book. the side story in Alfheim details how Kirito acquired the Excaliber (most powerful sword int he game) without using cheats from the system.

Alicization - Kirito is stuck in a VR world again due to an incident that happened in real life. This VR world is not a game but a virtual environment the government created to develop AI. The time factor here is 10000 times faster, so it means that spending years in the VR environment is actually just a few hours in the real world.

There is also a chapter written by the author not included in the official materials. This is supposed to be sometime in episode 10. It was removed probably due to the H nature being depicted. It was the infamous chapter 16.5, so I guess in the anime it should be episode 10.5.

[durendal]

Here's the book I bought.  Comparing it's size to a usual manga, it's tiny.  Like an manga mini.

 

[*guyverfan]

thanks, much appreciated.