Sword Art Online 2

[Rodrigo]

INTRODUCE MAIN ANTAGONIST.

 

Terribly executed and forced love scene.

 

FLASHBACK TO PART WHERE MAIN CHARACTER IS TOLD TO GET MAIN ANTAGONIST.

 

Same terribly executed and forced love scene.

 

NEXT TIME ON SAO. WILL MAIN CHARACTER GET MAIN ANTAGONIST? WAIT 24 MORE EPISODES TO FIND OUT.

 

Also, more terribly executed and forced love scenes... and probably death, but the terribly executed and forced love scenes are more important.

 

Fixed.

[Tentacruel]

First episode was predictably bad, but it was really boring.

 

C'mon, get entertainingly bad. 

[Agro]

"The idea that agility is the only stat that matters is an illusion."

 

NO IT'S NOT.

 

 

...they're playing Pokémon, right?

 

 

[spoiler='WELCOME TO AGRO REACTS']

So I basically did this with myself during the entirety of the original SAO, so let's see how this goes here.

 

AGRO REACTS TO: Sword Art Online 2

 

Blue dude has sunglasses. Well, he must be too cool for school. Which is why he's playing an MMO. WHAT A LOSER.

 

1:31 - Look at that high production value. That's exactly what I like to see. Mainly because SAO didn't have anything going for it besides that.

 

Okay, so I'll admit the death gun guy looks cool. But like. What Desu said earlier. Your gun is a pistol, of which looks pretty lame. Sure, you can shoot through a TV in an MMO and knock someone out, but like... I'm not feeling the fear here. You're still playing a game.

 

"Gun World" - I mean, it was happening eventually. You can't spell video game without guns. Don't check for spelling, I know I'm right. SAO is too much of a cash cow not to go for it.

 

4:19 "Those clothes look good on you, they bring back a lot of memories." Oh god, don't remind me.

"Yeah, but I don't have a rapier." OH GOD, DON'T SAY 'RAPE'.

 

No, but I still hate both of them.

 

4:49 "Just say, 'Yeah, you're right.'"  You know, I feel like this is the advice you should give someone when they start watching this show.

 

Couple montage was a little sweet. But then they mentioned Yui, that girl they spent a few hours with and then decided they couldn't live without. Sorry, SAO, if you're going to make me like you, you're going to have to make me forget about the first season. At least now I know that if I spend time in forums I can become the best at programming s***.

 

7:44 "Don't sound and taste convey a lot more information in reality, too?" Well, yeah, that's what he was saying. You'd make it so that sound and taste were the same too... you know what, I just realized how subtly dumb they've made Asuna. She's sweet, but easily manipulated. No wonder she broke down over Kirito after only a small while. She's awful.

 

I like how they're going the "f*** the real world" route. This has probably been my least favorite part of SAO. It's entire purpose is to feed the wet dreams of those who want to stay indoors and play video games, and make them think that that's all they need to do. It'd be an interesting topic to talk about; whether living a virtual life is less than a real life if they're both experienced the same way, but that's not a question the show has ever tried to actually deal with. It accepts its own answer, and leaves itself so shallow and in no way selfaware that it offers a message just to play to the audience it thinks is watching, which, honestly, should insult the fans of the show more than it should really court them.

 

But the worst thing they've done so far– and note that we're still only 8 minutes into this episode– is remind us how little purpose Asuna has other than being Kirito's girl. She had purpose when she first appeared, but here she is. When they ask each other what they're plans are, Kirito goes on and on about making things and learning how to program, and Asuna's only purpose: to be with Kirito forever. Congrats, SAO, f*** off.

 

Clearly the Japanese secret service is f***ing terrible if it needs to resort to a kid who plays MMOs to solve a serious criminal issue. I mean, you have programmers and computer designers who are better than this kid–which is a proven fact because of the conversation he had earlier with Asuna– and just... he's good at MMOs. That's like it. That's all you're calling him in for. There shouldn't be any reason to come to him for this.

 

"He'd been logged on for two full days."

"That's not unusual."

 

THE f*** THAT'S NOT UNUSUAL

 

13:00 - So... everyone's paying attention to your classified information, but NAH KEEP GOING!

 

"I guess that's what they call a guild." Head of Japan's digital unit, everybody!

 

"Death Gun." "Death Gun?" DEATH GUN!

 

"You've done a lot of homework Kikuoka-san..." Still not enough to know what the f*** a guild was, apparently.

 

"Do you think it's possible to stop a person's heart with a bullet fired from within a video game?" Sure, ask this question to the kid who plays MMOs and shouldn't have any more ideas about programming or computer design than a percent of a single person working for you.

 

"...there shouldn't be much left for me to do." I swear if there's something for him to do... Sorry, I just can't stop thinking about how awesome it would be if the GGO arc ended right here.

 

"Would you, small child who plays MMOs, become a secret agent man? Because we can't do this without you- you know besides the many people trained for espionage that we have."

 

"...let's you exchange game coins for real money." Oh, so it's a shitty MMO, where you can pay to win. Well, mr-secret-agent-man, you're the Japanese government. Here's an idea for you: spend a billion dollars to make ANYONE YOU WANT be the best. Preferrably not this kid who's untrained in espionage-related fields. Problem solved.

 

"I just can't log in and expect to match them." Hey, if that were ever a problem in this show, I wouldn't have nearly as many problems with this show. Now let's see how they let you log in and expect to match them.

 

18:04 - Okay, props for this image.

 

Yeah, still not buying this "let's put this kid who plays MMOs into this game" because we, as the Japanese government, can't handle it ourselves. They give all these complex explanations that anyone with any knowledge of how the internet works can easily find a fallacy in.

 

"Four thousand people died in Aincrad." Virtual MMOs don't kill people, one person in control of a virtual MMO can kill thousands of people. Clearly the rewards outway the risks. I do like how they're showing all of those people who died under Kirito's watch. It's just a shame none of them were developed to the point where I cared about any of them and none of them felt like they should have impacted Kirito as much as they did... I'm kidding, they only affected him slightly until they were gone from his memory except for the two times they brought them up because they needed something to push the story along, rather than it being PART OF THE STORY THE WHOLE TIME.

 

"It's like someone is telling me not to forget." No. Forget. Forget everything. Please. Oh, dear god. PLEASE FORGET.

 

21:11 - Ah yes, I knew this episode of SAO was missing something: the butt shot. There it is.

 

ED basically reiterating all of my problems with this shows. Asuna's role in the show sitting and praying with Yui on her shoulder, Kirito getting a lightsaber in... a game about guns. OH COME ON.

[/spoiler]

[Aix]

"He'd been logged on for two full days."

"That's not unusual."

 

THE f*** THAT'S NOT UNUSUAL

Eh... true, you'd be suffering from dehydration, but you don't know how crazy video game addiction is in Asia. Even without an adrenaline-inducing, realistic total immersion where gamers actually feel like they hold any real power and can't actually feel their bodily needs, I've heard plenty of stories of people dying because they can't spare a second away from gaming and neglect the basics for survival.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

"The idea that agility is the only stat that matters is an illusion."

 

NO IT'S NOT.

 

 

...they're playing Pokémon, right?

 

 

[spoiler='WELCOME TO AGRO REACTS']

So I basically did this with myself during the entirety of the original SAO, so let's see how this goes here.

 

AGRO REACTS TO: Sword Art Online 2

 

Blue dude has sunglasses. Well, he must be too cool for school. Which is why he's playing an MMO. WHAT A LOSER.

 

1:31 - Look at that high production value. That's exactly what I like to see. Mainly because SAO didn't have anything going for it besides that.

 

Okay, so I'll admit the death gun guy looks cool. But like. What Desu said earlier. Your gun is a pistol, of which looks pretty lame. Sure, you can shoot through a TV in an MMO and knock someone out, but like... I'm not feeling the fear here. You're still playing a game.

 

"Gun World" - I mean, it was happening eventually. You can't spell video game without guns. Don't check for spelling, I know I'm right. SAO is too much of a cash cow not to go for it.

 

4:19 "Those clothes look good on you, they bring back a lot of memories." Oh god, don't remind me.

"Yeah, but I don't have a rapier." OH GOD, DON'T SAY 'RAPE'.

 

No, but I still hate both of them.

 

4:49 "Just say, 'Yeah, you're right.'"  You know, I feel like this is the advice you should give someone when they start watching this show.

 

Couple montage was a little sweet. But then they mentioned Yui, that girl they spent a few hours with and then decided they couldn't live without. Sorry, SAO, if you're going to make me like you, you're going to have to make me forget about the first season. At least now I know that if I spend time in forums I can become the best at programming s***.

 

7:44 "Don't sound and taste convey a lot more information in reality, too?" Well, yeah, that's what he was saying. You'd make it so that sound and taste were the same too... you know what, I just realized how subtly dumb they've made Asuna. She's sweet, but easily manipulated. No wonder she broke down over Kirito after only a small while. She's awful.

 

I like how they're going the "f*** the real world" route. This has probably been my least favorite part of SAO. It's entire purpose is to feed the wet dreams of those who want to stay indoors and play video games, and make them think that that's all they need to do. It'd be an interesting topic to talk about; whether living a virtual life is less than a real life if they're both experienced the same way, but that's not a question the show has ever tried to actually deal with. It accepts its own answer, and leaves itself so shallow and in no way selfaware that it offers a message just to play to the audience it thinks is watching, which, honestly, should insult the fans of the show more than it should really court them.

 

But the worst thing they've done so far– and note that we're still only 8 minutes into this episode– is remind us how little purpose Asuna has other than being Kirito's girl. She had purpose when she first appeared, but here she is. When they ask each other what they're plans are, Kirito goes on and on about making things and learning how to program, and Asuna's only purpose: to be with Kirito forever. Congrats, SAO, f*** off.

 

Clearly the Japanese secret service is f***ing terrible if it needs to resort to a kid who plays MMOs to solve a serious criminal issue. I mean, you have programmers and computer designers who are better than this kid–which is a proven fact because of the conversation he had earlier with Asuna– and just... he's good at MMOs. That's like it. That's all you're calling him in for. There shouldn't be any reason to come to him for this.

 

"He'd been logged on for two full days."

"That's not unusual."

 

THE f*** THAT'S NOT UNUSUAL

 

13:00 - So... everyone's paying attention to your classified information, but NAH KEEP GOING!

 

"I guess that's what they call a guild." Head of Japan's digital unit, everybody!

 

"Death Gun." "Death Gun?" DEATH GUN!

 

"You've done a lot of homework Kikuoka-san..." Still not enough to know what the f*** a guild was, apparently.

 

"Do you think it's possible to stop a person's heart with a bullet fired from within a video game?" Sure, ask this question to the kid who plays MMOs and shouldn't have any more ideas about programming or computer design than a percent of a single person working for you.

 

"...there shouldn't be much left for me to do." I swear if there's something for him to do... Sorry, I just can't stop thinking about how awesome it would be if the GGO arc ended right here.

 

"Would you, small child who plays MMOs, become a secret agent man? Because we can't do this without you- you know besides the many people trained for espionage that we have."

 

"...let's you exchange game coins for real money." Oh, so it's a shitty MMO, where you can pay to win. Well, mr-secret-agent-man, you're the Japanese government. Here's an idea for you: spend a billion dollars to make ANYONE YOU WANT be the best. Preferrably not this kid who's untrained in espionage-related fields. Problem solved.

 

"I just can't log in and expect to match them." Hey, if that were ever a problem in this show, I wouldn't have nearly as many problems with this show. Now let's see how they let you log in and expect to match them.

 

18:04 - Okay, props for this image.

 

Yeah, still not buying this "let's put this kid who plays MMOs into this game" because we, as the Japanese government, can't handle it ourselves. They give all these complex explanations that anyone with any knowledge of how the internet works can easily find a fallacy in.

 

"Four thousand people died in Aincrad." Virtual MMOs don't kill people, one person in control of a virtual MMO can kill thousands of people. Clearly the rewards outway the risks. I do like how they're showing all of those people who died under Kirito's watch. It's just a shame none of them were developed to the point where I cared about any of them and none of them felt like they should have impacted Kirito as much as they did... I'm kidding, they only affected him slightly until they were gone from his memory except for the two times they brought them up because they needed something to push the story along, rather than it being PART OF THE STORY THE WHOLE TIME.

 

"It's like someone is telling me not to forget." No. Forget. Forget everything. Please. Oh, dear god. PLEASE FORGET.

 

21:11 - Ah yes, I knew this episode of SAO was missing something: the butt shot. There it is.

It was ace.

 

ED basically reiterating all of my problems with this shows. Asuna's role in the show sitting and praying with Yui on her shoulder, Kirito getting a lightsaber in... a game about guns. OH COME ON.

[/spoiler]

 

What's this Agro Reacts bullsh*t? Didn't you see the fade into the title screen. You should have known you were watching Sword Art Online II. You turn OFF your brain for that crap.

[Agro]

What's this Agro Reacts bullsh*t? Didn't you see the fade into the title screen. You should have known you were watching Sword Art Online II. You turn OFF your brain for that crap.

4:49 "Just say, 'Yeah, you're right.'"  You know, I feel like this is the advice you should give someone when they start watching this show.

 

I agree.

[Thar]

Sinon may be the only sniper I've seen who uses a scope to fire point-blank.

[Agro]

Sinon may be the only sniper I've seen who uses a scope to fire point-blank.

Someone never quick-scoped in call of duty.

[Thar]

Someone never quick-scoped in call of duty.

 

Makes sense, cause I never play it.

[Fusion X. Denver]

So this episode gave us a peek at our other protagonist, Sinon. She seems mellow overall, aside from that moment she yelled at her partner over giving up.

She didn't need to get so heated, but the guy also didn't need to be lame and log out.

Wasn't too engrossed overall, but the final kill Sinon made was pretty cool. Looking forward to more of that kind of action.

[mitchermitcher]

Finally watched this, got through two episodes. It was alright I suppose. Nothing much really happens, except from some plot expositing in episode 1.

 

Sinon is cute. Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute. Especially her irl incarnation. Glasses and that hairstyle, cute. Her ingame incarnation ain't too bad either. Those legs.

 

Nice lil' ED song(I've always been fond of SAO's ED songs, both, or rather, all three of them). OP is meh though, as always. It does have nice visuals.

 

Kajiura OST in this feels a little out of place, but I find orchestral chanting in a wasteland setting to be fitting, so it doesn't stand out that much to me.

[Thar]

Am I the only one who sees a resemblance between Sinon and Ene from Mekakucity Actors?

[Aix]

Finally watched the latest episode. If she could quick scope mid-air like that, why did she not quick scope while she was on the ground?

 

[spoiler=Let us reminisce a bit on last season][/spoiler]

[Dr. Cakey]

It disappoints me a little bit that that Sword Art Online is memetically hated. Not because I think it's good - no, I think it's terrible - but because there's very little to distinguish it from other otaku-pandering filth other than its strengths. What separates SAO from Akame ga Kill? Well, SAO looks better, and has better music, and...is less "brutal", I guess, but they're equally cartoonish. They actually present fairly similar world-views. The only difference is that anibloggers pushed hard against SAO - and deservedly so - and the meme trickled down to the anime community as a whole. It's just bandwagoning, and I don't like bandwagoning even when it's on something I agree with.

 

Anyway, episode two did not have Kirito, thus making it the best episode yet. Sinon is wonderful or, more accurately, is Miyuki Sawashiro, and the whole episode was one giant action scene. If this keeps up, I'm not going to be able to hatewatch this show anymore, just regular-type watch it.

[mitchermitcher]

It disappoints me a little bit that that Sword Art Online is memetically hated. Not because I think it's good - no, I think it's terrible - but because there's very little to distinguish it from other otaku-pandering filth other than its strengths. What separates SAO from Akame ga Kill? Well, SAO looks better, and has better music, and...is less "brutal", I guess, but they're equally cartoonish. They actually present fairly similar world-views. The only difference is that anibloggers pushed hard against SAO - and deservedly so - and the meme trickled down to the anime community as a whole. It's just bandwagoning, and I don't like bandwagoning even when it's on something I agree with.

 

Anyway, episode two did not have Kirito, thus making it the best episode yet. Sinon is wonderful or, more accurately, is Miyuki Sawashiro, and the whole episode was one giant action scene. If this keeps up, I'm not going to be able to hatewatch this show anymore, just regular-type watch it.

You've essentially captured how I feel on the subject. It feels like a lot of people shit on it because others are as well, rather than coming to said conclusion by themselves.

 

With that said, you're a fellow Sawashiro appreciationist so you're very fine in my book.

 

Like, holy shit, Sinon's legs. When does episode 3 come out...

[Rodrigo]

It disappoints me a little bit that that Sword Art Online is memetically hated. Not because I think it's good - no, I think it's terrible - but because there's very little to distinguish it from other otaku-pandering filth other than its strengths. What separates SAO from Akame ga Kill? Well, SAO looks better, and has better music, and...is less "brutal", I guess, but they're equally cartoonish. They actually present fairly similar world-views. The only difference is that anibloggers pushed hard against SAO - and deservedly so - and the meme trickled down to the anime community as a whole. It's just bandwagoning, and I don't like bandwagoning even when it's on something I agree with.

 

Anyway, episode two did not have Kirito, thus making it the best episode yet. Sinon is wonderful or, more accurately, is Miyuki Sawashiro, and the whole episode was one giant action scene. If this keeps up, I'm not going to be able to hatewatch this show anymore, just regular-type watch it.

 

Spot on. I also believe SAO is terrible, but before I watched it, I was excited to see a supposedly good show that was hyped by many people. But when I actually got around to watching it, I couldn't help but dislike the show. My main gripe isn't even the story or animations, it's how the romance is executed (terribly poorly, I might add).

[Elijah~]

My views have chamged on SAO. Whenever I first watched it, I was in love with it, but that was because I had the mentality of a five year old, then when I rewatched it, I was utterly horrified from what came across my computer screen. Now I'm not gonna say I'm completely against SAO since my name is based off of it and a very small part of me still likes it.
As for SAO 2, the first episode was boring. Very very boring. I was luck to have made it through the first five minutes really.
Episode 2 was actually not that bad. I was actually interested in it. And Sinon, she's so freakin' cute!

[Dr. Cakey]

My views have chamged on SAO. Whenever I first watched it, I was in love with it, but that was because I had the mentality of a five year old, then when I rewatched it, I was utterly horrified from what came across my computer screen. Now I'm not gonna say I'm completely against SAO since my name is based off of it and a very small part of me still likes it.

It's okay. Trap Kirito is Love. Trap Kirito is Life. Someone on the Internet told me so, so it must be true.

 

As for SAO 2, the first episode was boring. Very very boring. I was luck to have made it through the first five minutes really.
Episode 2 was actually not that bad. I was actually interested in it. And Sinon, she's so freakin' cute!

This is going to sound silly but, prior to episode two, episode one of SAO II was my favorite out of every episode of the series. I somehow found Kirito being given information we already knew more interesting than him engaging in a vaguely epic battle with a giant blue pig monster. But that's just me.

[Fusion X. Denver]

Episode 3 has us learning what makes Sinon tick.

Jesus.

That's one hell of a tick.

[Trebuchet MS]

That backstory.

 

The flashback alone would've been fine, but the triggering sequence was drawn out a tad too long there, though. Doesn't detract from how she's best girl - no, best character - in the series.

[Fusion X. Denver]

[spoiler=Episode 4]

That was good. It's nice to see Sinon acting really happy for once and I got a kick out of the cowboy's engrish as well as the guy wanting to buy Kirito's model becoming more interested knowing it was a guy.

(so Kirito's an actual trap, not just a guy using a girl avatar...aight)

 

I don't get why GGO would price sabers that high when no one elects to use them, but whatever. At least Kirito didn't hack a sword into the game.[/spoiler]

[Dr. Cakey]

This picture of Sinon checking out femKirito's package will never get old for me.

 

 

Anyway, this is an SAO I can get behind. Kirito has made a barely perceptible shift from "nerd fantasy" to "nerd". Also, he waves around an Edgysaber and ASSISTS HIS NEW WAIFU IN FILLING OUT A FORM BY RIDING A MOTORCYCLE. A MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN MOTORCYCLE

 

Honestly, Kirito pretending to be a girl solves like a quarter of this show's problems, and him actually being a girl would probably solve another quarter.

[Agro]

Anyway, this is an SAO I can get behind. Kirito has made a barely perceptible shift from "nerd fantasy" to "nerd". Also, he waves around an Edgysaber and ASSISTS HIS NEW WAIFU IN FILLING OUT A FORM BY RIDING A MOTORCYCLE. A MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN MOTORCYCLE

 

Honestly, Kirito pretending to be a girl solves like a quarter of this show's problems, and him actually being a girl would probably solve another quarter.

tbh, if this season were about Kirito watching from the sideline as another character lived out their nerd fantasy, I'd probably marathon it happily in a heartbeat.

[The Amazing Avian]

I think the saber is priced so high because it was designed to be able to deflect bullets and it's essentially a guaranteed kill if you get in range. It's overpowered in design, but because of all the guns, it falls into awesome but impractical territory.

[goddamnit names are a pain]

I really will always love the first 10-15ish episodes of SAO 1, but the Alfheim arc was meh.

Now, onto this.

 

The fact that it took 4 weeks to start getting remotely interesting is pathetic. 

And I find myself hating Sinon with all that I am and wishing that Kirito were always a girl.

 

This is kind of boring, but not as boring as the elf arc.

 

I mean, they were still pretty high on my anime list ratings, especially with the soundtracks and all the references to past arcs, but...

[spoiler=for example]Laughing Coffin, for example.[/spoiler]

Among other things.

 

But its no where near as good as the first episodes, at all.

 

I don't get why so many people hate SAO though…to each their own, I guess.