Everything Bad About Aincrad 1.0

In the year 2012, a feud started with the anime community: Was “Sword Art Online” good or bad? After just finishing the first arc a few weeks ago, I decided to weigh into the age old debate (because 4 years is a long time) and get to the bottom of this issue. In Part 1, I discussed everything I particularly enjoyed about the Aincrad arc of “Sowrd Art Online” (SAO).

Now I’m back to begin discussing everything I don’t like about SAO: Aincrad. Before I begin, remember the following:

1. I am just covering the Aincrad arc in this post, the Alfheim arc and later arcs will be covered in later parts of this ‘series.’

2. I’ve heard a lot of critics, so I didn’t notice everything on my own. In fact, when reviewing anything, one rarely has a detailed opinion about the topic on their first viewing.

3. This is still my opinion. Feel free to discuss and debate in the comment section, but please do not get offended about anything.

Also, Spoilers of course.

VIDEO GAME MECHANICS

We know that SAO is about a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VR-MMO-RPG). With this specific of a genre, SAO has the responsibility to create a mock game world with decently realistic game mechanics and should be able to understand the demographics that would play such a game. I’m not saying that an anime about video games should know everything about game mechanics, but “Sword Art Online” knows way too little about the subject.

Our first encounter with Kirito inside of the game includes him giving a basic tutorial of sorts to the side character, Klein. Kirito is explaining the basics of killing a first enemy in an RPG world. While this makes sense, since Kirito is a beta tester, it makes absolutely no sense when we learn about Klein’s basic knowledge of video games. Klein, the one who couldn’t kill a basic RPG enemy, stood outside for three days to pick up a copy of SAO. Anyone who would wait that long to pick up this type of game would have to be a fan of RPGs and should understand at the least, basic RPG knowledge.

We then turn our heads to the leveling system. It is a well-known fact that in an MMO, players must form parties and join guilds to level up their character, make progress in the game, and ultimately become powerful. How then does Kirito, a solo player, gain such high levels in the beta testing period? Yet a better question, where are all the beta testers that did join parties and guilds? Theoretically speaking, they should be eons more powerful than Kirito. This is essentially a major plot hole which just so happens to be based on basic MMO game mechanics.

More so a problem with characters in the game, rather than game mechanics, the view on beta testers makes absolutely zero sense. There is a point in the show where beta testers, are viewed in the same light, as cheaters simply because they know more than the regular player. Just because a player is better at the game, does not make any reason for them to be discriminated against. In fact, one would think that beta testers would be praised, since they have a better chance of getting off the game world. It’s also common knowledge that all players were given a copy of the guidebook. Meaning, that they would have just about as much info as beta testers would, without the extra experience. This whole concept just seems so bizarre to me and I have yet to figure out how this mechanic furthers the plot.

Moving on, there’s the painstakingly obvious game mechanic that makes no sense — winning an MMO. For those who don’t play MMOs (I personally don’t), an MMO is designed to have endless quests, with players putting in hundreds of hours into a single MMO. The end result is that nobody “wins” an MMO. There is no final boss, no final dungeon, and no credits sequence. It’s an endless journey. Of course, if SAO was truly endless, then that would ruin the overall plot of the anime, it’s just – plot holes man.

This is not an ecchi

Somewhere down the line of development at Aniplex, there had to be a board of directors meeting, where everyone gathered around and decided what they wanted to add to the anime to make it different from the light novels. Of course, what did we get?

“Sword Art Online” is trying to be an ecchi anime for no reason whatsoever. Ecchi is a term used to describe a genre of manga or anime that has a relative amount of sexual activity or insinuations used throughout its story. It’s also described as fan service. This is typically the type of anime that can be frowned upon by people who are unaware of everything that anime can do and these shows are sometimes confused with hentai (which is far worse in adult content than the ecchi genre).

I enjoy an ecchi anime from time to time when it is combined with humor or slice of life, but only when it’s executed in a way that it is tasteful. Essentially there are times throughout the Aincrad arc where females are portrayed in a sexual way for absolutely no other reason except that the animators could. It’s tasteless and I hate to say it, gets worse in the next arc.

This is not a harem anime

Generally seen alongside the ecchi genre, the harem genre focuses on a main character (typically a guy) who has the opportunity or ability to have relationships with multiple characters (typically girls). Much like the ecchi genre, this genre can be tasteful depending on the other factors that a series can offer. For some reason SAO kind of hints at a harem for Kirito.

In Aincrad alone, we see a potential three partners for Kirito. It’s obvious that the creators of the anime want the viewers to expect this outcome and yet, they don’t at the same time? We all know that Asuna is Kirito’s main love interest and in Part 1, I explain exactly why I love their relationship, but very early on, we are introduced to characters that become part of the “Rejected Women’s Club.”

Without going into too much details, we know that each of these girls have feelings for Kirito, but he does not return these feelings. Silica is the first one of these girls, who Kirito says reminds him of his little sister. I don’t see the resemblance, but okay. She falls in love with Kirito after he helps her restore the life of an in-game pet.

Kirito's Sister

Silica

Lizbeth is a blacksmith who falls in love with Kirito after he saves her life from a dragon.

Kirito has his loyalty to Asuna throughout the entire arc and future arcs for that matter, which is very important to the story. What is strange is that these other girls, and more in the future, all have romantic feelings towards Kirito which inherently creates a harem; however, Kirito does not pursue a romantic or sexual relationship with any of them, due to his loyalty to Asuna. It’s an interesting dilemma and creates the question: Is SAO a harem anime? I just think that it’s a mediocre addition to the series and takes away from the overall plot.

Is SAO a bad anime?

At this point in the analysis, we take a look back at our main topic. Is “Sword Art Online” good or bad? We’ve seen a list of good qualities and now we’ve seen a list of bad qualities. Yet we still haven’t discussed character development, the ending, or even the main protagonist. In our pursuit for a fair evaluation on the arc, I decided it best to write two additional parts about the Aincrad arc.

In Part 3, we’ll talk about the rest of the bad qualities that SAO: Aincrad has. If you did miss the first Part, go check it out here:

Part 1 – Everything Good about Aincrad