Sword Art Online: Alicization Is Worth a Watch—Even If You Don’t Like SAO

Sword Art Online, or SAO for short, is an anime fraught with strong opinions. It’s a show people love to hate and love to love. For better or worse, you will find few anime fans with a neutral opinion about the story’s characters, plot, and execution. So, if you are in the “strongly dislike” camp, why should you give the anime’s latest arc, Alicization, a chance? My hope is you’ll stick with me, keep an open mind, and dive in.

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I’ll start by saying SAO, as a light novel and anime series, is far from perfect. Even though it’s a personal favorite, I think some of the criticism levied against it is justified. The first arc moves too fast and is too short. Too little of the game’s mechanics and premise are explored for how much thought went into the world-building. There’s this frustrating sense that the anime should be better. SAO’s second arc, Fairy Dance, is terrible (I think few SAO fans would disagree), and as a protagonist, Kirito needs strong supporting characters. These issues, along with others, hold SAO back from being a truly exceptional anime.

There are clear reasons for some of SAO’s shortcomings, and while I believe art needs to be judged on its own merits, understanding the backstory of SAO’s creation does give some perspective. The author Reki Kawahara wrote both Sword Art Online and his other series, Accel World, for a contest. Although Kawahara has never explicitly said he is dissatisfied with SAO, he’s gone back to rewrite the Aincrad arc in a new series entitled Sword Art Online: Progressive. In the fictitious game of Sword Art Online, players must ascend all 100 floors of the castle Aincrad in order to beat the game. This new series slows the story’s pace significantly (one book per floor) and gives ample time to explore the game and characters. It’s a passion project that may never be completed, but to me it signals an author who is fully aware of his original story’s shortcomings.

In the afterword of SAO: Progressive Volume One Kawahara writes, “I wrote the story [SAO] as a submission for the Dengeki Novel Award, so I had to finish the story with the game being beaten right from the very first installment. . . . I’ve always harbored a secret desire to write about how Kirito and the others cleared each floor and defeated each boss in the game, it just didn’t really happen until now.”

The sword fights in Alicization are easily the best in the entire series. A-1 Pictures pulled out all the stops to make every clash beautiful and unique. Sword fights in the Underworld have different mechanics than in the other virtual reality games in SAO, which only add to their beauty and weight. There were many fights I sat completely still, afraid to take my eyes off the screen.

Returning to write the soundtrack for Alicization is Yuki Kajura, bringing both familiarity and excellence. Each game in the SAO universe has its own sound, and she delivers sweeping new themes for Underworld and remixes older ones. It’s a soundtrack anime fans won’t want to miss, especially the audiophiles.

Alicization also addresses some moral issues that come with artificial intelligence. How should artificial intelligence be used? Do the AI’s have human rights? What separates an AI from an advanced computer program? Should artificial intelligence be considered alive?

The big question is, if you’re interested in watching Alicization but never finished the earlier arcs of SAO, do you have to slog through them? In short, no. Alicization is mostly self-contained, and events from earlier in the series are referenced with explanations. But if you’re wanting a summary of the most important information, here’s a basic synopsis.

After the events of Aincrad, it was discovered the creator of the FullDive virtual reality system and creator of the game Sword Art Online, Akihibo Kyaba, left his technology in a virtual package referred to as “the Seed.” Because of the Seed, every FullDive game is based on the same basic programming. This allows players to move characters to different games, transferring skills and level. Kirito is approached by the government and agrees to go undercover in an MMO called Gun Gale Online, where he meets Sinon and tracks down a real-life murderer. Underworld is also based on the Seed. Kirito does not have the opportunity to transfer his data to Underworld, but he discovers the sword skills from SAO are hidden in Underworld’s code.

As an arc, Alicization spans ten books as opposed to the single original volume of Aincrad. Instead of having too little content for the anime to adapt, there’s too much. The anime cuts a lot of finer details, but the world of Alicization feels fully realized. There’s more time to breathe and settle into the story. And because there’s more content, more time is spent watching Kirito level up his skills. The anime doesn’t show boring grinding scenes, but there is a clearer sense of how he gains abilities and how much time it takes.

Without getting into too many spoilers, Alicization takes places in the virtual land called the Underworld. Unlike other virtual reality games in SAO, Underworld is a secret simulation in which the government attempts to develop a true artificial intelligence, or “bottom-up AI.” The Underworld is fully populated with virtual characters that act and behave on their own terms rather than a game with bosses and quest lines. For most of the anime, Kirito is the only human inside Underworld, and that changes the show’s dynamics. It makes the story more like a fantasy and less like a video game with player objectives.

Alicization is the best Reki Kawahara has written thus far, bringing years of experience and learning to write something special. A-1 Pictures has also made a faithful adaptation anime fans should experience, whether they like the entirety of SAO or not.

The first season of this arc aired in 2018 and 2019. The second season, Sword Art Online: Alicization: War of Underworld Part II, was originally scheduled to debut in spring 2020, but it was delayed until summer due to COVID-19. It’s currently being simulcast on Crunchyroll and Funimation, where you can also find the English dub of the first Alicization season.

A-1 Pictures