Review of “Sword Art Online”

      Sword Art Online is an Anime series that was based on a Light Novel series written by Reki Kawahara. The series was dubbed in English and brought to North America via Aniplex. The premise of the show is that 10,000 players join the Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online (VRMMO) RPG entitled “Sword Art Online”. Once in the world the users suddenly find out that they are unable to log out. They then find out via the game developer Akihiko Kayaba that this was his intention and the only way out would be to beat the game. He also informed them of another mechanic: should they die in this world, they will die in the real world. 

      In the series they travel to two different game worlds, the first being Sword Art Online, the second being Alfheim Online. It also looks like in the second season they will be exploring two more games, which will be cool. 

      The series has a lot of nods to MMO players in the things said and done in the world. Also the story is actually paced fairly fast, which is a surprise from most Anime series. You rarely feel like anything being done is just “filler” as plot points usually are in every episode. The only unfortunate thing about the quicker pace is that they do miss opportunities to explore certain aspects of each world. I feel like from the first season we missed more of Alfheim Online than Sword Art Online. 

      The main character in the show is Kirito who is late-middle school/early high school aged student who loves VRMMO games. In the game he falls in love with another student Asuna and the majority of the plot is focused on the two of them once they meet. The show addresses some pretty serious concepts like what reality really is. They also talk about how to make the most of each day regardless of the circumstances. 

      The show did a great job of handling the dramatic points of the story. They didn’t dwell to much on them, but they did show the major impact that they had on the players. The brief flashbacks that occurred in the second half of the series help to illustrate the continuous impact that these events had. The first season was wrapped up quite nicely as far as the plot went and it could certainly lead to additional stories, but it could also just be the stand alone end of the series as well. 

      I’m really looking forward to the second season of this series. I watched the dubbed version of the series for this review, I’m not sure I will be able to wait for season 2 to be dubbed. Season 2 will be premiering in Japan this summer, and I’m sure it will be just as good as the first series. 

A Missed Opportunity - Japanese Vs. Western Animation

      I have been a big fan of both Japanese animation and of Western animation for most of my life. The one thing that has always bothered me is why doesn’t the West ever have animation with meaningful plot lines?

 

      For example, the three largest animated shows created here in the United States over the last twenty years for mass media consumption have to be The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy. All three of these series are comedic in nature and follow a very sitcom-like model. There are very few examples of animation that has any kind of meaningful plot line or story to them and shows that have more mature themes on top of that is even less likely. 

      In Japanese animation this is the norm, I think one of the biggest contrasts between these two cultures is that Anime series usually end after one season (two at the most). Their are exceptions (DBZ, anything made by Shonen Jump), but the norm is that these are relatively short.  This offers a lot of advantages for writers, they can write one story arc that is compelling to watch and they approach the beginning of there series with an end game already in mind. Shows that don’t follow this model tend to have a lot of filler (Naruto, Bleach, DBZ to name a few). 

      In American animation we tend to see more of a sitcom model where their is minimal continuity from one episode to the next. This makes the show much more accessible but also requires minimal dedication to the series. I find it odd that with the rise more recently of shows with really deep plot lines (Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones) that no one has really considered to adapt this to an animated series.

      However Americans also have the general stigma that animated shows are either meant for kids, or that they should be funny in nature. This is a major diverging point between the two schools of animation. Their are several anime dramas and more are made each year, while in American animation, this is extremely marginalized. 

      If the west ever did decide to pursue an animated series with more of a plot, and meant for a more mature audience I think that it would now be a hard sell. Anime fans would immediately label this as a blatant rip-off of Japan Anime, and Americans would be resistant to adopt the show believing that animation is meant for kids and that the themes in the show are too adult for children. 

      I suppose on the plus side anime does give the audience a chance to experience parts of Japanese culture. Which I love, it’s something we never really get to see, and it has an authenticity to it. I suppose you could say the same by watching shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. They do portray a lot of American culture as well. 

     

      Are their exceptions to this rule? Of course, I have seen some shows that have been made in the west that have great story lines. “Avatar” is a great series and has had two successful story arcs that are very similar to anime type writing (and have an eastern theme to begin with). Also some of the DC and Marvel animated series have had interesting and unique plot lines. I think that American comic book writing could have a major impact for animation, and hope to see more of this hit the animated medium. 

      Look at the fan base for DC/Marvel, for the movies we all see. The audience is there, now if we can make a compelling animated series. I think that this would be a major success. However if it isn’t adopted by a major network (aka not a “Kid’s network”) it won’t hit that older audience. American’s animation writing needs to move on from a product first (ie toys and product sales) mentality. Animation is just as much an art form as anything else, and since we take such pride in comics, why can’t we move this into animation?

A "Fables" animates series? I would watch it!

      What do you think? Is the west just behind in this type of writing? Have we missed our opportunity? Are their other avenues we could be pursuing? Or is their something else to anime that the west just cannot imitate?