Sword Art Online (SAO) is the story of a young gamer named Kirito (real name: Kirigaya Kazuto) who excitedly gets the newest game called Sword Art Online and ends up stuck in the game indefinitely after the creator of the game traps all the players inside. Kirito must learn to fight, survive, and build a life within a virtual reality. The SAO game is a mmorpg set in the traditional fantasy setting. The anime’s story takes place in the year 2022 where a new fully immersive technology called nerve gear was developed. It allows the player live in and experience the new virtual reality world first hand.
Our hero Kirito is completely relatable to any geek. He is a loner who uses games to escape his reality. Kirito, who beta tested the game, is eager to experience the world that is full of people from all over the world. However, once the world goes live the creator tells them the only way to get out of the game is to defeat the boss on level 100 otherwise they are trapped in the game. Any attempt to remove the nerve gear will result in death and probably more importantly, if you die in the game, you die in reality. This game is no less than brilliant.
Of all the anime I have watch over the years this is by far one of the best. Between the world that we are pulled into, the characters and the action sequences, this show provides everything that I look for when I watch anime. It even has a romance component which is integrated very well and doesn't detract from the main story.
As people get more adapted to being stuck inside virtual reality and the rules of their new home and once survival is no longer an issue, people stopped trying to get out of the game and started accepting a life within it. Using skills they acquired early in the game, they must make homes, establish government systems, and establish rules. Kirito learns what it means to live life, he make friends and even becomes a better person over time.
The Review:
Generally I’m not a fan of villain’s with justifiable reasons for committing evil deeds because I feel this is quite over done nowadays. The villain in this story has a justifiable reason but I don’t hate him or the backstory. This anime is in my top ten list because the main characters are relatable and especially to a gamer. The story is simple and some people are happy about its simplicity. I enjoy this because similar to Wall-e, it shows where technology can lead us and something that appears bad in the beginning may help you in a multitude of ways by the end.
Final Score: 8.4/10
