Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Kuraki Yuuyami no Scherzo

After vanquishing another boss and stepping through the gates of the fifth floor, the misfit duo Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki are greeted with a beautiful landscape of crumbling ruins and catacombs steeped in mystery. This idyllic adventure is short-lived, however. Tensions between the Dragon’s Knights Brigade and the Aincrad Liberation Squad—the two leading guilds focused on clearing Sword Art Online—continue to rise and threaten the fragile stability of the frontline raiding group.

Kirito and Asuna are forced to act quickly, making a desperate gamble and gathering a small number of allies for a dangerous mission. As a result, Asuna and Misumi "Mito" Tozawa must come to terms with their relationship after the near-tragedy that forced them apart on the first floor.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kirigaya, Kazuto Main

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Yuuki, Asuna Main

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Mills, Andrew Gilbert Supporting

Yasumoto, Hiroki Japanese

Argo Supporting

Izawa, Shiori Japanese

Tozawa, Misumi Supporting

Minase, Inori Japanese

Casals, Vassago Supporting

Koyama, Tsuyoshi Japanese

Kanamoto, Atsushi Supporting

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Morte Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Kibaou Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Shivata Supporting

Nagano, Yuusuke Japanese

Futami, Yousuke Producer

Aoki, Haruka Assistant Producer

Kuroi, Hitomi Assistant Producer

Kouno, Ayako Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Aug 9, 2024

Darkzepheran

Recommended

YES!, YES!!, YES!!!

The SAO Progressive movie sequel carries on expanding the untold story of "THE BEST ARC" of the SAO series AINCRAD!!!

Right from where it left of the movie shows us how Asuna´s and Kirito´s relationship keeps on growing as they make their way through the first initial floors by taking on new threats, challenges and comrades from Asuna´s perspective "A.K.A The Best Waifu Of All Time" (In my opinion)

If you´ve already seen the entire Aincrad Arc, you will definitively enjoy this sequel to the Progressive movie. The animation is on point probably the best out of the entire series. The fight scenes are amazing ... by the use of different abilities by the players and effects which is very well complemented by the soundtrack. As well as further growth of the characters such as Kirito, Asuna, Mito, etc.

Overall it´s a solid watch of an 1h 40m which flies by. I really do hope we get to see more of these movies since to me it really expands on the lore of the Aincrad Arc skipped back in season 1 by the HUGE time-skip.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Feb 4, 2024

aresendez88

Mixed Feelings

Outstanding visually and musically, as you'd expect from a SAO movie. However the story feels very lacking. Where Aria of a Starless Night felt like an amazing retelling of the first two episodes of SAO, only greatly expanded and from Asuna's point of view that leaves you anticipating more, this story feels like a letdown of filler that doesn't seem to have any real attachment to the main series. The stakes don't feel dangerous at all in the primary plot, and the much more interesting secondary plot of the movie feels like just a little teaser to keep you interested for what MIGHT come ... in the next movie.

The look and feel of Aincrad is definitely there and has never looked better with the boss fights being especially fun to watch, but there isn't much in the way of new world building in this movie compared to the last one, again except in regard to the secondary plot of the movie. We get to know a tiny bit more about the crafting system of the world but that's about all.

All in all, this movie feels like it's setting us up for what could be some fantastic SAO movies later down the line, with bigger conflicts, more characters and higher stakes, but for right now this feels like a tepid purgatory where you get very little of new substance and just 2 hours of gorgeous filler. A nice watch, but not much to write home about.

6/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 12, 2025

Halcyon13

Not Recommended

The Sword Art Online: Progressive duology is essentially a repackaging of the same story. For the anime's 10th anniversary, this is meant to be an expansion of the events that occur in the first few floors that were either glossed over or skipped entirely previously. As far as I can tell, for good reason too, given the tedium of the storyline. Across Progressive, we cover the emotional rapport between Asuna and a new character made for the two films, Mito. Once it has shifted away from their relationship, particularly in Scherzo, it's as though the plot has completely forgotten the objective of the game and ... gets into the RPG guild mechanics far too much. The first film, Aria, leans into sentimental mush that was better off ignored, like the original series, and in Scherzo, we're deep into upcoming lore without evidence of a sequel or anything conclusive for the duology itself. This retelling from Asuna's point of view barely serves a purpose outside of readvertising the IP—something of a legacy sequel considering there is almost no elaboration on the things that made SAO original. On the plus side, Progressive makes it clear that A-1 still has heaps of animators throwing away their talent on insignificant projects.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Kuraki Yuuyami no Scherzo Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Koito91 - Nov 14, 2022	107 replies	by Alvie48xi »» Feb 8, 10:49 AM
	Why is the anime story different from the movie story? zazo_Zero_2 - Sep 3, 2024	20 replies	by Dhanamerdeka »» Oct 4, 2024 5:33 PM
	Mito is basically a replacement for Kizmel Tank895 - Dec 31, 2023	5 replies	by Touma_Mikoto »» May 4, 2024 11:00 PM
	Are we getting a sequel? Mystogan14579 - Dec 20, 2023	7 replies	by Sajonji »» Jan 11, 2024 1:36 PM
	English dub?? Ryan-marsh611 - Oct 29, 2023	5 replies	by MazeCuber »» Oct 30, 2023 9:47 PM