This is not an adaption of the Progressive manga/light novel [spoilers from the movie]

Rowd said:
I went into this thinking it SAO progressive LN/manga but it turned out they only took some parts from them and tried to go in a different direction. I especially liked the first manga adaption since it was done by the artist of Tawawa on Monday and I was hoping to see his art style adapted into an anime but that didn't end up happening.

Wish they'd stuck with the original progressive story instead of muddling things with a new character and a half assed strained relationship arc. If they were gona had the new girl have a rivalry with Kirito wish they'd actually do something with that. Built up to literally be nothing. That first scene in the beta test where they raced to beat the dungeon before the beta test ended basically amounted to nothing and could be cut entirely. Also the whole leaving her when she had no hope of surviving in that situation didn't feel like a strong reason for why they just split up and didn't party together again. They could've have a more solid party by making it something like an difference of ideology. How the new girl can rationally make the choice to abandon people while Asuna is the type to risk her life to help people. It felt like they tried to allude to that in the film put wasn't properly conveyed and in the end the reason she gave summed to her disbanding with her long time friend to chase after a dude she just met.

It also took alot away from Asuna's character development adding a companion that was with her at the start of the game. Asuna's whole arc in the beginning was that she was trapped and alone when the whole death game started. Even before that she had never played a game before because she's was always studying to meet her mother expectations of her so she had felt similarly alone and trapped before the game started. On a simple whim she found the Nerve gear her brother bought but hadn't used yet to play a game for the first time to relieve some stress. With the new girl who shared a similar drive for high academic performance and had already started playing games to relieve stress introducing Asuna to games beforehand it really takes away from Asuna's first experience with games being SAO. It was a world where she had no knowledge of how things worked and that helplessness cornered her to the point that she was willing to disregard her own safety and charge desperately forward toward a way out of the game which she herself didn't fully believe could be accomplished. That what made her meeting with Kirito so impactful for her since she was able to stumble on someone who could help her and learn from. It also undermines the whole cream on the awful black bread scene, making it less impactful since in the original story we thought she's only been eating that since she started and the cream on bread was the first experience she had about a good aspects of the game. It was a luxury of reality, like the bath she coveted in Kirito's room, she'd thought she'd never get to enjoy while trapped in the game. Something to enjoy and help distract from the harsh reality of their situation but with the whole montage of her having fun with her friend, eating delicious things, it just takes away from that moment.

Only thing I'd praise the film for is redesigning illfang to look less silly and more like an intimating boss monster.

Rowd said:
Wish they'd stuck with the original progressive story instead of muddling things with a new character and a half assed strained relationship arc

kalebsmoker said:
as long as kirito and Asuna stay together I'm happy with it.