Sword Art Online
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Spoilers for episode 25: (9:10 of 23:40) on the copy I watched:
These two guys were part of the hostage pool.
Their tearful reunion IRL was the pan-over image of the "the hostages live happily ever after" dialogue (the nurse had this hilarious eyebrow-cocked expression at their extremely gay-looking excited hand-holding).
These two guys were part of the hostage pool.
Their tearful reunion IRL was the pan-over image of the "the hostages live happily ever after" dialogue (the nurse had this hilarious eyebrow-cocked expression at their extremely gay-looking excited hand-holding).
Man! Was I ever late to this chapter...
*ahem* OMG THIS!!! This day in the life of Kirito and Asuna should have been animated.
Sure it would have been considered a filler episode, but it would have been great for feels, a nice character development moment for the couple (Kirito's stubbornness and desire to get married, moar of Asuna's serious and dere side) and Argo getting some screen time.
Also
Seems like the ladies, gents and otakus at Baka-Tsuki are also doing the translations for Sword Art Online: Progressive.
For those not yet in the know, now that Kawahara Reki has received enough fame and attention from both AW and SAO (thank you fellow fans!), seems like he went back and started re-writing the SAO Aincrad books; setting the stories in a more chronological order (like the anime/manga?).
I wonder how much will be retconned in/out. I do home some of the content form the Material Editions (Kawahara's own doujinshi under pen name Kunori Fumio) are added in, some of those stories did give it some nice flavor to the characters and the universe as a whole (the KiritoxAsuna relationship is better developed with moments that come off as dates... like Algade Showdown, Cold Hand Warm Heart and the stories from the 2nd/3rd floors).
*ahem* OMG THIS!!! This day in the life of Kirito and Asuna should have been animated.
Sure it would have been considered a filler episode, but it would have been great for feels, a nice character development moment for the couple (Kirito's stubbornness and desire to get married, moar of Asuna's serious and dere side) and Argo getting some screen time.
Also
Seems like the ladies, gents and otakus at Baka-Tsuki are also doing the translations for Sword Art Online: Progressive.
For those not yet in the know, now that Kawahara Reki has received enough fame and attention from both AW and SAO (thank you fellow fans!), seems like he went back and started re-writing the SAO Aincrad books; setting the stories in a more chronological order (like the anime/manga?).
I wonder how much will be retconned in/out. I do home some of the content form the Material Editions (Kawahara's own doujinshi under pen name Kunori Fumio) are added in, some of those stories did give it some nice flavor to the characters and the universe as a whole (the KiritoxAsuna relationship is better developed with moments that come off as dates... like Algade Showdown, Cold Hand Warm Heart and the stories from the 2nd/3rd floors).
And another chapter of Alicization has come out, and dreadful truths are revealed. We now know what the ½Final Boss? is. Prediction: Eugene and Kirito fights to the ½Final Boss?, Eugene gets defeated, and Kirito picks up the sword that remains and defeats the ½Final Boss? like a boss with his hax ½Dual-Wield? ability. He then gains ½Administrator? status and makes things fair, reestablishing Cardinal as ½Administrator?, restoring Alice and the rest of the Divine Knights to their original form, and then leaving to reunite with his waifu in the real world. Alice remembers Kirito's role in her earlier life and becomes part of his harem, par for course. Cue There is but One Ultimate Way story-line. The End.
I can't get into SAO... Kirito has too many parallels with Bella Swann for my liking, only instead of a feminine, passive inclination, they're masculine inclinations. The similarities are just too there, as is the series. It's, for me, the Twilight of anime, praying on the same types of dreams that guys and girls get in escapist fantasies. Fucking A.
Yeah... I'll admit it... Kirito is pretty Gary Stu, but he's not completely bland like rice cakes, or unemotional like whats her face.
Then again considering how Kawahara wrote both him and Haruyuki (AKA: Silver Crow from Accel World), they are pretty much diametrical opposites.
The former comes off as "teh lone wolf bad boi" that can do no wrong (even when he "plays the heel")... yet when you dig deeper, you find out that he has strong abandonment/trust issues (more noticeable in the offline segments of the Alfheim and GGO arcs) and had previously dealt with them in a quasi-antisocial manner; until he gets tossed into situations where he has to learn to depend on (and care for) others to survive.
The later is something of a social pariah, exacerbated by his self image (somewhat blown out of proportion, i doubt he's really THAT SHORT AND PUDGY) singling him out as the fat kid that gets teased by his peers. As he shies away and becomes a recluse, he develops a very specific skill set that is (eventually) recognized by others (peers he didn't know he had that are looking for a worth while challenge), and he will eventually learn to let go of his fears of failure and ignore social stigmas to improve himself.
In essence, yeah, very troperrific characters... but remember, main characters are nothing more than literary tools/vehicles to get the reader/watcher interested and immersed in the story... even then, if it's just not your cup of tea, then it's just not your thing.
Not everything has to be deep and meaningful or a literary masterpiece... sometimes we like stuff (and fluff) that pokes at our desire for escapism and fantasy... else we wouldn't be watching cartoons/reading comics/playing videogames.
Then again considering how Kawahara wrote both him and Haruyuki (AKA: Silver Crow from Accel World), they are pretty much diametrical opposites.
The former comes off as "teh lone wolf bad boi" that can do no wrong (even when he "plays the heel")... yet when you dig deeper, you find out that he has strong abandonment/trust issues (more noticeable in the offline segments of the Alfheim and GGO arcs) and had previously dealt with them in a quasi-antisocial manner; until he gets tossed into situations where he has to learn to depend on (and care for) others to survive.
The later is something of a social pariah, exacerbated by his self image (somewhat blown out of proportion, i doubt he's really THAT SHORT AND PUDGY) singling him out as the fat kid that gets teased by his peers. As he shies away and becomes a recluse, he develops a very specific skill set that is (eventually) recognized by others (peers he didn't know he had that are looking for a worth while challenge), and he will eventually learn to let go of his fears of failure and ignore social stigmas to improve himself.
In essence, yeah, very troperrific characters... but remember, main characters are nothing more than literary tools/vehicles to get the reader/watcher interested and immersed in the story... even then, if it's just not your cup of tea, then it's just not your thing.
Not everything has to be deep and meaningful or a literary masterpiece... sometimes we like stuff (and fluff) that pokes at our desire for escapism and fantasy... else we wouldn't be watching cartoons/reading comics/playing videogames.
EagleCeres said:
Yeah... I'll admit it... Kirito is pretty Gary Stu, but he's not completely bland like rice cakes, or unemotional like whats her face.
Then again considering how Kawahara wrote both him and Haruyuki (AKA: Silver Crow from Accel World), they are pretty much diametrical opposites.
The former comes off as "teh lone wolf bad boi" that can do no wrong (even when he "plays the heel")... yet when you dig deeper, you find out that he has strong abandonment/trust issues (more noticeable in the offline segments of the Alfheim and GGO arcs) and had previously dealt with them in a quasi-antisocial manner; until he gets tossed into situations where he has to learn to depend on (and care for) others to survive.
The later is something of a social pariah, exacerbated by his self image (somewhat blown out of proportion, i doubt he's really THAT SHORT AND PUDGY) singling him out as the fat kid that gets teased by his peers. As he shies away and becomes a recluse, he develops a very specific skill set that is (eventually) recognized by others (peers he didn't know he had that are looking for a worth while challenge), and he will eventually learn to let go of his fears of failure and ignore social stigmas to improve himself.
In essence, yeah, very troperrific characters... but remember, main characters are nothing more than literary tools/vehicles to get the reader/watcher interested and immersed in the story... even then, if it's just not your cup of tea, then it's just not your thing.
Not everything has to be deep and meaningful or a literary masterpiece... sometimes we like stuff (and fluff) that pokes at our desire for escapism and fantasy... else we wouldn't be watching cartoons/reading comics/playing videogames.
Then again considering how Kawahara wrote both him and Haruyuki (AKA: Silver Crow from Accel World), they are pretty much diametrical opposites.
The former comes off as "teh lone wolf bad boi" that can do no wrong (even when he "plays the heel")... yet when you dig deeper, you find out that he has strong abandonment/trust issues (more noticeable in the offline segments of the Alfheim and GGO arcs) and had previously dealt with them in a quasi-antisocial manner; until he gets tossed into situations where he has to learn to depend on (and care for) others to survive.
The later is something of a social pariah, exacerbated by his self image (somewhat blown out of proportion, i doubt he's really THAT SHORT AND PUDGY) singling him out as the fat kid that gets teased by his peers. As he shies away and becomes a recluse, he develops a very specific skill set that is (eventually) recognized by others (peers he didn't know he had that are looking for a worth while challenge), and he will eventually learn to let go of his fears of failure and ignore social stigmas to improve himself.
In essence, yeah, very troperrific characters... but remember, main characters are nothing more than literary tools/vehicles to get the reader/watcher interested and immersed in the story... even then, if it's just not your cup of tea, then it's just not your thing.
Not everything has to be deep and meaningful or a literary masterpiece... sometimes we like stuff (and fluff) that pokes at our desire for escapism and fantasy... else we wouldn't be watching cartoons/reading comics/playing videogames.
The ONLY change in factor is Kirito caters to masculine ideals, while Bella to a feminine ideal. Watching the anime gave me an eerie feeling at the way Kirito acts and its tandem with the aforementioned protagonist. He rarely, if ever, is called out on a bad decision (If there WERE any in the first place), the girls fall into his lap and he shows off super-awesome fighting skills.
We rarely see a sympathetic side to his character and besides his gaming, we don't see any moral growth of personality development. You could literally take a stick with a face on it and it would have the same development as Kirito had: the world revolves around his actions. Asuna and the rest of the groupies, his level ups, his "uniqueness", his "can do no wrong" attitude.
There's no exploration of his vulnerabilities, and even if there were, 80 percent of the show's only been emphasizing how "You wanna be the guy" he is. Call it backlash or whatever, but other than the "love at first sight thing" and "harem service", Haru actually slowly developed over his show's run. That's what I think of SAO.
Edit: Also, I never said the story was cliche. Don't put things in my text when I don't mention them. I mentioned my dislike for Kirito and that's what turned me off; I didn't mention the "trapped in a Game World" as a bad thing at all, so don't do that.