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I know that most
seasonal anime fans out there are looking forward to this series and I guess
all the expectations that are being thrown to Sword
Art Online didn't go to waste. This opening episode definitely lived up
to the expectations with that easy to understand story line and that really
beautiful art and animation.
When I first saw
this without reading the synopsis or anything, I thought that this will be an
anime based on an MMORPG but
no, it's not. Rather, it's based on the light novel of the same name by the author
who brought us Accel World (which I still
have yet to watch), Kawahara
Reki. I've only played an MMORPG once and never again did I decided to go
back there. It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I personally think
it's a rather useless wasting of time. AND for the record, I've also played a
2D MMORPG - Adventure Quest Worlds (LOL). I
can't believe I wasted my time playing senseless stuff.
ANYWAY, what is Sword Art Online (SAO) about? As obvious as it
seems, it's about getting stuck in an MMORPG and the only way out is finishing
it. That's about it. If they die in the game, they also die in real life. This
opening episode basically goes over with all (I think) the details the players
need throughout the game. It's pretty interesting, really. Now I understand why
anime fans are eagerly looking forward to this show the most. In another note,
this show pretty much standout for me because this season doesn't really offer
much interesting series.
Going over to the
characters, we were only introduced to two of them. First off, the main hero of
this show, Kirigaya Kazuto or 'Kirito' (Matsuoka
Yoshitsugu) is a pretty good main character. He was one of the few beta
tester of the game has got to be one of the few people who easily digested the
fact that the game just turned into a freak show reality of life and death. The
second character introduced in the game is Klein (Hirata Hiroaki) who
asked Kirito to teach him how to fight. Unlike Kirito, Klein plays with his
friends which became the reason why he didn't join Kirito although he knows a
lot about the game being a beta tester. I'd really like to see the two of them
together since they will look like a pretty good duo :3
As I have mentioned
earlier, Sword Art Online doesn't only
have that simple story line but it also have that outstanding art and animation
that I don’t even know how to describe. It's probably too good for words @.@
A-1 Pictures being the one behind this amazing animation is definitely no
surprise. One pretty good example is when Kirito attacked a monster. It's
flawless and beautiful. As for the art itself, the character designs are pretty
standard. While looking at the image at MAL,
it just makes me think that they are pretty generic most especially the female
characters. Disregarding that, I really want to commend A-1 Pictures for the
wonderful background art. Seriously, I always look at the background art at
every anime I watch. AND this one is one of the most beautiful one I've seen.
In an overall look
on this episode, it did a great job in introducing the game in which the story
will focus on. As of now, I love everything about this anime - the art, music,
characters and the story. This is definitely a must to watch this season :3
