Sword Art Online is an anime based on a light novel series that has just reached the middle of its television career. At twelve episodes, it’s the smartest anime I’ve seen in years, including the recent Lupine III. But before we get into why this is the case, let’s take a look at the history.
When the first 10,000 lucky people log into Sword Art Online, a highly anticipated new virtual reality MMORPG, they find themselves stuck in the game with no way to log out. Worse still, players discover that if they die in the game or the connection is cut from the outside, the VR headset will heat up their brains and kill them in the real world. The only way out is to pass a hundred floors, each a self-contained world in its own right, and defeat the final boss of the game. To know more information about this article.
Good – A sense of time
In fiction, a story like this would normally last about a month, long enough for the players to become inseparable friends, but not long enough to change who they are at their core. Twelve episodes and more than two years have passed since the beginning, two years that we spent living in a world of virtual reality. This allows
an in-depth look at the psychological implications of being in virtual reality for so long that you start to wonder if the real world exists. And if it does exist, should everyone keep trying to get back to it instead of giving up and starting to make new lives within the game world?
Good: the implications of creating a society in a virtual world
But beyond discussions about reality, Sword Art Online also delves into the sociological issues of living in this virtual world. Some people caught in the game are hardcore gamers, while others:
Occasional Gamers or Young Children – They don’t have the experience or skills to risk their lives in the still undefeated dungeons. So as a hardcore gamer, do you draft the whole lot and make them fight? Do you leave them, including the children, to fend for themselves? As a non-fighter, can you really spend all of your time leveling up a trading skill, confident that hardcore gamers will bring you back to reality? And with a return to the real world that is always there to motivate you, can you justify loosening up, falling in love, or training in the skill of cooking? All of these questions and more are addressed throughout the story.
Good: a story that crosses the genres
Because everyone is trapped within the game, their knowledge of the virtual world is limited to what they learn in the game itself. So while everyone knows the basic rules of the world, no one knows the details beyond the data collected in the beta test. This makes the world perfect for adventures in a wide range of genres. Sometimes it is a mystery; sometimes it is a love story; sometimes criminal suspense; sometimes supernatural horror; and sometimes it is a pure fantasy adventure.
Final thoughts
Sword Art Online is a fantastic anime series so far. While it’s not the first anime to have the “stuck in an MMORPG” scenario (see .hack // sign), it’s certainly the most in-depth when it comes to the psychology and sociology behind it. Will you continue with your high standard of quality during the second half of your career? Be sure to check back with Kotaku East for the final verdict when the series concludes in December.
