Pretty happy with this one. Not the show itself – Extra Edition’s a hot sack of garbage, there’s no reason to watch it. But I think the review itself gave me a pretty cathartic opportunity to give one last goodbye to SAO… at least until season three comes out. Or until I have to review season two’s blurays. Or until…

Alright, maybe SAO isn’t actually done with me at all. Still, I had fun with this review, and I have to say I’ve really developed a fondness for the show in spite of it all. Until we meet again, Sword Art Online.

My full ANN review is available here. My copious fanservice special notes are below!

Kirito and Sugu on his cool bike

The writing in the dub’s obviously more loose than the subs, but it works for a show like this

The cast in general feels a bit sharper and more nasally in the dub – it makes the show feel a little less naturally subdued in tone

Yeah, the subs are actually a little stiff

Introduces us to Mr. Kikuoka, the virtual reality dude from GGO

Wants to hear Kirito’s story on SAO and ALO

The player logs only show who went where, not everything that happened

He uses favors to blackmail Kirito into helping him

“I wasn’t this boobalicious before SAO” – Lisbeth. Wow this dub

Sugu looking embarrassed in her school swimsuit, big pan up. Fanservice all day. Comparing boobs, etc

Flashing back to the first episode

They’re really showing a lot of this scene – the whole “now we’re our real physical selves” thing, for some reason

“He made it to control a world of his design, huh? What do you think about that?” They’re just making us muse on the events of SAO. Blargh.

Nothing here for someone who remembers the first season at all so far

And the girls groping each other. Multiple scenes of the girls comparing boobs

Now they’re doing the Beater scene again NOOOooooooo

And then a flash moment of Sachi’s death

If you haven’t already seen the series, this means nothing. If you have, there’s nothing here for you anyway outside of some shots of the girls in swimsuits. This couldn’t be more superfluous

SAO’s best moments are often its small character ones, ones unrelated to the big dramatic moments – meaning this actually skips all of SAO’s best materials, and is basically just a montage of its greatest excesses

Third scene of boob comparisons

Going through the girl intro episodes

“This is the gnarliest magic sword a person can get” – Liz again. They’ve really given her some, uh, personality

“That’s how he is, though. Always doing the one thing you’d least expect.” UGHHHH ALL THE KIRITO WORSHIP

And now going through the fight scenes, I guess – reminding us they were worse than SAO II

“You needed help to beat these bosses” – followed by a sequence of Kirito beating bosses by himself. I HATE THIS SHOW

SAO I was a mess, and this is that mess incarnate

And finally on to the torture porn. DIE DIE DIEEEEE. Oh Kuradeel

A little bit of the “learning to appreciate the virtual world” narrative

The characters come across as significantly more snarky and antagonistic in the dub. The performances are fine, it just changes the tone

And the music is the same as it always was, very good at setting a variety of moods – from relaxing in the sun to dramatic battles and everything in between

All the plot events were actually this rushed in the show, but this recap doesn’t help

“I hope those girls realize how lucky they are to be back in the real world. They’d be dead if not for your heroic actions.” Oh my god

The best thing about this is that Kirito’s interviewer isn’t really taking him that seriously

Of course we get the hair-smelling scene

“I’m back in another game. Even after everything I just went through.” Everything YOU just went through?

I just realized they skipped the fun slice-of-life scenes with the fishing

The dialogue in the non-recap scenes is really awkward – it’s 100% dedicated to acting as segues between recaps

RIGHT ON SUGU’S SUGUS

“I thought, this is a guy I can believe in.”

The big incest confession breakdown scene – Sugu’s voice actress really killing it in this scene

Oh god, stuff like the “pain absorber” even existing. This whole scene is so awful

TEAR LICKING

Teaching Sugu to swim for a dungeon, which is really just an excuse to have a swimsuit episode

Okay, they’re doing this whole quest so Yui can see a whale. THAT’S THE ENTIRE POINT OF THIS NARRATIVE, which we only learn right at the end

Bouncy boobs one last time

At least we’re getting a little insight into quest mechanics in Alfheim

Not even much animation in these fights

So I guess Sugu feeling insecure is the big narrative bit of this story?

Aaand Kirito saves the day single-handedly, of course

Alright, so Sugu fell into a pond as a kid, which we learn right at the end, and Kirito saved her. And now he saves her again. The end?

The old man’s actually… a kraken

Nice videogamey sound effects

It doesn’t seem like they really invested much in any part of this production. It looks like SAO, but it’s bare-minimum SAO

So much Sugu’s sugus