Everything Bad About Kirito

In the year 2012, the anime community began an epic war: Was “Sword Art Online” good or bad? After two parts that went way too much into the issue, I decided that while the Aincrad arc of “Sword Art Online” had its flaws (and boy did it), it does bring some enjoyment and can be considered mediocre at best. When writing Part 2 & 3 about all of the bad things in the Aincrad arc, I started writing about Kirito as a main protagonist. Before I knew I had a whole article dedicated to him and him alone, so instead of having a gigantic part 2/3, I left you with the question: How is Kirito as a main character?

Before we begin talking about how much I dislike Kirito, because we all knew it was coming, let me remind you of a couple of points:

1. This is just based off of the Kirito in the Aincrad. Later arcs will be discovered in future parts of the SAO debate.

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 very much my opinion. Feel free to discuss and debate in the comment section, but PLEASE do not get offended about anything.

Also, Spoilers Ahead.

I don’t like Kirito, there I said it.

But Zach? The main character in an anime can’t be the main source of hate. You even said that you were glad that Kirito got together with Asuna.

Yes, yes I know… but I really dislike Kirito and I have put together a list of reasons why!

OVERPOWERED MUCH?

Let’s start with the basics. Kirito started as a beta tester for “Sword Art Online.” He not only knows how to play the game once it has launched, but he knows more than anyone else and is consistently overpowered throughout the whole series. Now I’m not against overpowered main characters, there’s plenty of series that use this trope very well. SAO does not.

There are many times throughout this arc where Kirito easily gets out of trouble with no issues whatsoever. I mean look at this:

So what’s wrong with this? Well, with the fact that in SAO characters are in a life threatening situation at all times. Meanwhile, our main protagonist doesn’t fully face death until the end of the season (More on that later). Double this with the fact that through most of his game life, Kirito sets out as a solo player in an MMO, it’s almost impossible for him to be such a high level. Not to mention, he can somehow hack into a game that hasn’t been out long and create code to import a highly advanced AI into an in-game item. Oh and he’s 16.

LACK OF SOCIAL SKILLS?

Here’s a flaw I find in not just Kirito, but the story as a whole. A plot hole if you will. We’re introduced to Kirito as someone who never found a place in the real world, so he turned to video games. We’re then reminded repeatedly throughout the series that he’s a loner who doesn’t want to join any guilds with the main reason that he doesn’t have any social skills.

Does this look like a man with no social skills?

This older man has nothing to do with the story, sure he’s an interesting character, I guess, but would someone with no social skills randomly strike up a conversation with an old fisherman? Better yet, would someone with no social skills:

Join this random guild?

Talk to this random girl at the beginning?

I agree that Kirito is an introvert based upon his background, as most gamers are, but I disagree that he lacks social skills.

PERSONALITY

To be blunt, Kirito’s personality is toxic. From the very beginning we get the sense that he’s arrogant just by his first conversation with Klien. We notice that he lies to the first party that he joins by saying that he was only level 20, when in fact, he was a much higher level. While this can be seen as protecting the party, by not making them self-conscience about their own levels, it ends up being a terrible choice on Kirito’s part, because they all die.

Later on, we see Kirito laying down taking a nap, instead of fighting, because he believes himself to be better than everyone else. Yes, he technically is because of how overpowered he is and this is where our relationship between Asuna and Kirito start to bloom, but it also shows how much of an arrogant asshole he can be.

Finally we get to the most ridiculous thing that Kirito does. Towards the beginning of the anime, it is seen that beta testers are frowned upon (I discuss this flaw in depth in Part 2). When Kirito is being criticized for being a beta tester, he has the most unrealistic reaction:

He doesn’t pretend that he’s not a beta tester, he doesn’t try to defend the act of being a beta tester, nor does he try to help the situation by ignoring the comment; instead, he announces that he’s a “beater.” Besides the fact that “beater” sounds like an inappropriate insult, the fact that he doesn’t try to defend himself is baffling. One would think that being a beta tester would be an obvious advantage in the game that would help everyone beat the game quicker, but not once is this stated.

Also, he laughs after he has been insulted. Sure this is our main protagonist and if an insult caused the protagonist to be offending, we’d be reconsidering watching the series, but it’s the sheer fact that in the scene in question, Kirito is being insulted directly after someone just died. Laughing is a pretty terrible reaction to have.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON “SWORD ART ONLINE” AINCRAD

After watching the Aincrad arc of SAO, I fully realized that I didn’t like Kirito as a character. As you can see, he has way too many flaws that can rarely be defended. With this said, I haven’t read the light novels yet, so maybe he’s different in them. Overall, his only redeeming character, in my honest opinion, is his love for Asuna and Yui. He obviously cares about them and I feel that’s important to the whole story. If Kirito was a more lovable character, maybe it would make the overall anime a bit better, but who’s to say that he doesn’t get better in future arcs?

With that being said, Stay tuned for part 5 of “Is Sword Art Online Good or Bad?” I will be tackling the Alfheim or Fairy Dance arc in its entirety. And if you missed parts 1-3, go check them out here:

Part 1 – Everything Good about Aincrad
Part 2 – Everything Bad about Aincrad 1.0
Part 3 – Everything Bad about Aincrad 2.0