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Do you think SAO really deserved all that backlash?
Jan 12, 7:12 AM
#1
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Jul 2018
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Another example of why a show can be a masterpiece, no matter the bad ratings or reviews people write. This show is even more relevant now than it was back then. I've realized people just follow the bandwagon when it comes to popular stuff. They either turn into contrarians or hypocrites, hating on things they don’t even understand why. SAO doesn’t deserve the hate or bad reviews it got. It’s one of the best shows ever made. You guys feel the same way?
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Jan 12, 7:30 AM
#2

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Jul 2015
12489
Both takes that "it's a masterpiece" and "it's utter garbage" are radical sides of the spectrum and are idiotic takes.

First arc was very good and because SAO made a good first impression, it went mainstream. But when Alfheim came, it heavily plummeted in quality and kept falling until first half of Alicization, where it was amazing again. Then it got bad again.
PiromyslJan 12, 7:37 AM

Jan 12, 7:32 AM
#3

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Sep 2016
11992
First 2 seasons are mid, but Alicization is awesome.
DesuMaiden said:
Nobody resembles me physically because I don't even physically exist.
Jan 12, 7:38 AM
#4
♡( •ॢ◡-ॢ)✧˖° ♡

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Dec 2014
20682

I do think SAO is overhated as the bandwagon haters seem to feel like some cool kids hating on popular stuff.

But I also think that SAO isn't the best anime I've ever seen, it is a flawed, wasted potential anime and could be much better, but I enjoyed watching it nevertheless.



(っ◔◡◔)っ 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪 𝔀𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓭𝓪𝔂 ♥
Jan 12, 7:44 AM
#5

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Mar 2018
322
tbf, sao is kinda overhated. doesn't mean it's good though, just very mediocre.
saoa is peak though
Jan 12, 7:45 AM
#6

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Apr 2020
3120
Is it overhated?
Sure. Ones every month some normie, in here, will make a Thread like this. We know. It is.


Is it a masterpiece?
No. It's pretty flawed, with lots of plotholes, plotarmor and predictable, simple writing.
Jan 12, 7:48 AM
#7

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Jun 2016
13435
It's true that it's not the worst thing but "masterpiece" is too much. It's a Spiderman 3 situation when it was treated like the death of cinema when it was just ok.
MEA·MENTVLA·INGENS·EST
Jan 12, 7:54 AM
#8
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Jan 2022
23
Honestly,everyone hates the fact they rushed the first part and went to the second part which wasn’t as good.If only aincrad had more episodes but the ones it had it was truly top tier.The only part that comes close to aincrad is aliscization
Jan 12, 7:56 AM
#9
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Jan 2022
23
Piromysl said:
Both takes that "it's a masterpiece" and "it's utter garbage" are radical sides of the spectrum and are idiotic takes.

First arc was very good and because SAO made a good first impression, it went mainstream. But when Alfheim came, it heavily plummeted in quality and kept falling until first half of Alicization, where it was amazing again. Then it got bad again.

It never went bad after alicization tho
Jan 12, 7:57 AM
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Dec 2018
1319
Definitely overhated and definitely not the best of all time but by looking at the impact it had on the anime industry it's definitely an historical milestone that deserves any new isekai / tenseikei enjoyer to stop by to take a good look.
Jan 12, 7:59 AM
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Jul 2024
37
yes it is overhated but not a masterpiece
Dip_jyotiJan 12, 7:56 PM
Jan 12, 8:01 AM
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Nov 2018
1351
In my opinion it was just ok. I would never call it a masterpiece. Just something with a huge fan base. With anything that has a huge fan base it's going to have a lot of haters. That just shows how popular it is. I don't see why there are any complaints towards haters. They are partially the reason why it is popular. The more they complain, the more reason why people are going to watch it to see why they're complaining. Eventually the more fans the series is going to get. Basically free advertising.
MoppitJan 12, 8:05 AM
Jan 12, 8:02 AM

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Jul 2015
12489
Reply to shouko_u
Piromysl said:
Both takes that "it's a masterpiece" and "it's utter garbage" are radical sides of the spectrum and are idiotic takes.

First arc was very good and because SAO made a good first impression, it went mainstream. But when Alfheim came, it heavily plummeted in quality and kept falling until first half of Alicization, where it was amazing again. Then it got bad again.

It never went bad after alicization tho
@shouko_u Nah, this whole Asuna going in after Kirito was corny and cringe af. Romance was always the weakest aspect of SAO and Kawahara ditching it was when SAO truly shined, but unfortunately only briefly.
Overall, the SAO's biggest sin is trying to force some deep drama and suspense, which completely backfires. Shangri-la Frontier actually does not do that, which is why it's just gamers enjoying the game without any big stakes and it works in it's favour.
PiromyslJan 12, 8:28 AM

Jan 12, 8:02 AM

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Apr 2023
13
If someone only considers the first season to be good, and then says it's just to "make money", Kirito is an overpower and has never read a LN.
For these people, they actually overrated the first season.
Jan 12, 8:02 AM

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Dec 2020
527
Its not a very good show, but it’s certainly not as bad most people claim. It’s still a lot better than most isekais that tried to copy it though.
Jan 12, 8:08 AM
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Apr 2023
28
Of 51 different anime I’ve completed, I have SAO ranked at #51. I honestly can’t believe I sat through the slog that is season 2 and alicization. The only arc worth watching is the first one. Though I’ll admit the last like 7 episodes of Alicization are pretty good.
Jan 12, 8:09 AM
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Dec 2018
1319
LuckasWolf said:
If someone only considers the first season to be good, and then says it's just to "make money", Kirito is an overpower and has never read a LN.
For these people, they actually overrated the first season.

Most anime watchers don't read novels and even more people followsuit like dumb sheeps when it comes to criticise something...
Jan 12, 8:30 AM
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Dec 2020
5
yea, ppl glazing first arc too much.
like ik its the og, but the alfeim online til alicization deserve some respect too
Jan 12, 8:34 AM
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Oct 2023
169
SAO was my first anime and i watched it during "that" era of my life. So yeah it hit hard and was the best for me and will stay that way
Jan 12, 8:47 AM

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Sep 2018
11993
Women dislike sao how most men dislike yaoi. I think sao has a lot of darker aspects that upsets newer fans who only watch corporate safe stuff like OP and DBZ.
Jan 12, 9:03 AM
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Mar 2024
5
it's Underrated you can say
Jan 12, 9:20 AM
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Jun 2023
10
rohan121 said:
Women dislike sao how most men dislike yaoi. I think sao has a lot of darker aspects that upsets newer fans who only watch corporate safe stuff like OP and DBZ.

as a girl myself, I like SAO myself, I don't hate it but I wouldn't say it's THE best. But ig it was worth my time atleast, I enjoyed it. Especially alicization was very nice and the Eugeo's death part was very emotional to me. But the one part I didn't like about it much was how Alice fell for Kirito, I know it's not a very bad or unrealistic choice for Alice, but just.... I wanted her to fall for Eugeo personally. Yeah, I think it's definitely overhated.
Jan 12, 9:24 AM
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Jun 2023
10
rohan121 said:
Women dislike sao how most men dislike yaoi. I think sao has a lot of darker aspects that upsets newer fans who only watch corporate safe stuff like OP and DBZ.

As a girl myself, I enjoyed and loved SAO, though it was not THE best, but I loved it, especially the alicization was amazing and the death of Eugeo hit hard for me 😭. The only part I didn't like much was how Alice fell for Kirito, yes, it is understandable but still.....after she(the main villainess I forgot the name) said all those stuff and this came true was kinda sad for me. But yeah, I think SAO is overhated. THANK YOU!!!
Jan 12, 9:26 AM

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Jul 2022
607
a very subpar anime didn't like it 😫

Jan 12, 9:31 AM

Online
Dec 2018
1051
Eh, the progressive movies made it better but the second arc of the original series really brought it down for me, with the way Asuna was treated and all that xD

Jan 12, 9:54 AM
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Aug 2023
39
I can’t speak on any season besides season 1 as I decided to never watch the others afterwards but I can go ahead and say it’s not a masterpiece or utter garbage. It had a very good first half of season 1 and a very bad second half and as such I personally gave it a 5/10 because I literally only liked half of it. If you love it then that’s awesome and I understand being annoyed by the hate it gets on here because there’s always morons on here making threads just to hate on everything they can but saying it doesn’t deserve any bad reviews/ratings is crazy.
Jan 12, 9:57 AM
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Nov 2015
178
If you compare SAO to other anime it doesn’t look that bad. If you compare it to all media, it falls off hard.
Jan 12, 10:32 AM

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Jan 2021
1861
I don't think it's the worst thing ever, but I'd seriously doubt someone's media literacy and taste if they said it was a masterpiece.
It has an extremely rocky graph to say the least; it shows promise occasionally and messes it up, or is downright insulting to the viewer's time and intelligence.
Alternative is much better in that regard, it is a decently fun ride all the way through.

Piromysl said:
First arc was very good and because SAO made a good first impression, it went mainstream. But when Alfheim came, it heavily plummeted in quality and kept falling until first half of Alicization, where it was amazing again. Then it got bad again.

That's the most accurate trajectory of this show's graph tbh
certifiedbingerJan 12, 10:36 AM
Jan 12, 10:38 AM
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May 2024
4
it has it's flaws but overall it's a very good and enjoyable show. If you watch all of the seasons and films it makes for a good story not just overall but I feel like mostly for Kirito and Asuna. I think that most of the people that clown on this show can't see the connection between them and only care about the isekai aspect. This is not one of the best shows but one very dear to me. But the hate that it is getting is out of hand when people say it is worse that boku no Pico or what is that shit called which is insane.
Jan 12, 10:47 AM
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May 2024
1
Disclaimer: I only watched the Fairy and first arc the show.

I watched it with a friend, and while the experience of watching was kind of fun because of the constant jokes we made, I never felt like the show was operating at its full potential. It felt kind of empty, like there was so much more that could have been explored. For example, there could have been factions of players who wanted to stay in the game and protested against progress, or other interesting conflicts. But none of that was really done.

Also the second arc of the first season felt kind of stupid at times. Although the anime often seemed like it was aimed at kids, there were some scenes that felt unnecessarily disgusting and were included purely for fan service. Those scenes didn’t match the tone of the rest of the show and could have been shortened to avoid getting into the nitty-gritty while still delivering the same effect.

Overall, the experience of watching it was mostly enjoyable, but the show itself wasn’t very good.
Jan 12, 10:49 AM
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Jul 2023
1
I didn’t like it entirely, but I don’t think it deserved the level of hate that it received
Jan 12, 11:02 AM
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Jun 2023
12
nah, it's underhated
Jan 12, 11:05 AM
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Jan 2024
60
I'm not sure if it's overhated or not. All I know is that the first half of season 1 was amazing! They should have kept it up. Instead, they ruined all of that wonderful build up with Alfheim. The first half of season 2 had a different vibe than either part of season 1, but it wasn't bad. But the second half of season 2 was garbage. This anime is all over the place. I watched the first movie they came out with and that was pretty alright. But I've given up on SAO. I'm not wasting time off my life that I won't be able to get a refund for on any more of it. It's like Russian roulette with a chamber that only holds 2 bullets. I'd rather watch something that's worth my time. I do use the 3 episode rule, typically. I wish they'd make a new anime as good as the first half of season 1 and do it well. I'd watch that. I loved the combination of medieval, fantasy and sci-fi SAO had.
Jan 12, 11:09 AM
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Mar 2021
9
I mean if they keep making these awful sequels and spinoffs the hate is deserved…
Jan 12, 11:15 AM
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Feb 2020
62
k6r6to said:
Another example of why a show can be a masterpiece, no matter the bad ratings or reviews people write. This show is even more relevant now than it was back then. I've realized people just follow the bandwagon when it comes to popular stuff. They either turn into contrarians or hypocrites, hating on things they don’t even understand why. SAO doesn’t deserve the hate or bad reviews it got. It’s one of the best shows ever made. You guys feel the same way?

Bait account made on Jan 2nd of this year. Even if it wasn't bait, it's clearly made in bad faith by a supposed megafan.

SAO is filled with lazy cliches, underdeveloped characters, poor pacing, and misogynistic treatment of its female characters that degrade it beyond simple badness into offensive badness.

You're free to like it, but these observable qualities are hard to look past for most people when even the genuinely interesting death game premise is thrown out halfway through the first season because the author ran out of ideas.
Jan 12, 11:21 AM
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Apr 2022
2
k6r6to said:
Another example of why a show can be a masterpiece, no matter the bad ratings or reviews people write. This show is even more relevant now than it was back then. I've realized people just follow the bandwagon when it comes to popular stuff. They either turn into contrarians or hypocrites, hating on things they don’t even understand why. SAO doesn’t deserve the hate or bad reviews it got. It’s one of the best shows ever made. You guys feel the same way?

Instead of telling us, hoping we will agree, prove wrong the points of haters. In my opinion this anime is rated fairly.
Jan 12, 12:17 PM

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Mar 2024
120
I can’t really say anything about this bc sword art online were like an anime I watched when I just got into anime. So there’s some kind of bias there

Hello! I
started to really watch anime in 2022/2023,
this me frfr -->>
started reading manga 2024,[right]

started to read Light/Web novels 2024

so I'm really new to all this.
please be nice

Jan 12, 12:21 PM
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Mar 2021
57
k6r6to said:
Another example of why a show can be a masterpiece, no matter the bad ratings or reviews people write. This show is even more relevant now than it was back then. I've realized people just follow the bandwagon when it comes to popular stuff. They either turn into contrarians or hypocrites, hating on things they don’t even understand why. SAO doesn’t deserve the hate or bad reviews it got. It’s one of the best shows ever made. You guys feel the same way?

Now if you want to argue that Sword Art Online is a "Classic" despite the poor ratings then I 100% agree, it is an incredibly influential genre changing work that has inspired many creators to this day. However no way are we saying that Sword Art Online as a story is good. Every Antagonist character is completely unrelatable as well as generally irrelevant for the series themes and exist solely to be a character for Kirito to have to defeat. The characters in general are often one-note and offer little to nothing interesting to the table outside of that one specific charcter trait. There are multiple times that Sword Art Online has bizarre fetishy scenes that completely rip you from your emersion and distract you from the plot. While a couple of the arcs do bring interesting concepts such as the original Aincrad arc or Mother's Rosario, a vast majority of the arcs are just downright bad and genuinely offer very little besides empty calories as a viewer. The animation while often times good, because of the usage of CG it has aged somewhat poorly even compared to similar time period anime using CG like Guilty Crown from a visual perspective. Lastly at the end of the day since Sword Art Online and before there are have been superior Isekai, Fantasy, Video Game, Romance, Fantasy and Action series that have been better. So please do not use a term like "Masterpiece" to describe Sword Art Online that is exactly why people dislike it so much.
Jan 12, 12:57 PM
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May 2024
15
alcisation saved the series ts is the closest to masterpiece we’ll get out of sao
Jan 12, 1:45 PM
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Oct 2023
3
Piromysl said:
Both takes that "it's a masterpiece" and "it's utter garbage" are radical sides of the spectrum and are idiotic takes.

First arc was very good and because SAO made a good first impression, it went mainstream. But when Alfheim came, it heavily plummeted in quality and kept falling until first half of Alicization, where it was amazing again. Then it got bad again.

tbh, i believe SAO, as a whole, is close to "masterpiece" status. this is a subjective matter, so its just my opinion ofc, but i thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of show, barring the 2nd half of alicization.
Jan 12, 3:15 PM
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Sep 2023
182
For me it's the unnecessary "attempted rape" moments that ruin it.
Jan 12, 4:22 PM

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Mar 2017
212
k6r6to said:
Another example of why a show can be a masterpiece, no matter the bad ratings or reviews people write. This show is even more relevant now than it was back then. I've realized people just follow the bandwagon when it comes to popular stuff. They either turn into contrarians or hypocrites, hating on things they don’t even understand why. SAO doesn’t deserve the hate or bad reviews it got. It’s one of the best shows ever made. You guys feel the same way?

I mean SAO did deserve part of the hate since from a critical perspective there are a lot of flaws, especially in the first 2 seasons, since Alicicization was better.

Now does that mean there wasn't a massive amount of "bandwagon hate"? No, but popular series have a lot of praise, attention and love, but when they fuck up they also get alot of hate cannot be all good...

Personally, the only problem with SAO is the wasted potential, one of the first shows people used to start with (me included) that was pretty good until the EP. 14 Incident 💀. Since then and continuing on season 2 was just a trainwreck imo. The rape theme out of left field, the abrupt ending (in 1 episode mind you) of a full cour (13 eps.) worth of world development of the game, characters and plot points completely forgotten or irrelevant to the story, BS contrived reason at the end for happy ending... I could go on
Jan 12, 4:32 PM
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Jul 2023
4
I watched first season, so I can't judge next seasons. By the way, the first season is just mediocre and is hated not because is orrible per se, but for his reputation and what represents, as a popular masterpiece, as the first isekai (not true, there were products like Escaflowne before), as a product made almost solely of fights, to the almost total detriment of substance, coherence and surprises. If you want to defend Sword Art Online's substance, you are constricted to cope with plot holes, deus ex machina and the protagonist who starts in the end of Alfheim to defend a true villain as was the first antagonist, like if his crimes were forgivable so easily and without remorse, what message do you convey to the audience? The two protagonists are one-dimensional. We could enjoy his influence on later isekais (that I think is more related to an output in the right time than other and even SAO's author critiqued the first part of the novel, transposed in first season), we could enjoy some good ideas in world building, the technical level of some animations but still is too empty and the forcings are so many that I think an attentive watcher shouldn't forgive that flaws, even if we try to close our brain. The entertainment is not just a mosh pot, can be also at least a bit coherent and profound.
Jan 12, 5:27 PM

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Apr 2022
6585
far from the best but i'd only praise alicization onwards, not anything before.
Jan 12, 6:32 PM
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Feb 2016
27
k6r6to said:
Another example of why a show can be a masterpiece, no matter the bad ratings or reviews people write. This show is even more relevant now than it was back then. I've realized people just follow the bandwagon when it comes to popular stuff. They either turn into contrarians or hypocrites, hating on things they don’t even understand why. SAO doesn’t deserve the hate or bad reviews it got. It’s one of the best shows ever made. You guys feel the same way?

Acting like SAO is a masterpiece with all its flaws and that anyone who doesn't like it is a hater or contrarian is delusional. The show has good moments but parts of it are hard to even watch. But really, "one of the best shows ever made"? Come on.
Jan 12, 6:44 PM
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Jul 2024
1686
Season 1 1st half is good. But like others have said, then came Alfheim. Way to ruin a good series. I kind of liked the Gun Gale part of Season 2, but after that, it drags on pointlessly. Alternative is fun, but not at all related to main story. The movies are pretty decent, except the one that is mostly recap. I really liked learning about Aincrad through Ausana's eyes in her Early experiences in the Game. Might be my favorite, though the one that follows their return to the Real World & the New VR devices is really good.
Jan 12, 6:55 PM
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May 2023
12
Its ass stop coping
Jan 12, 7:07 PM
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Oct 2021
41
The bandwagon is crazy with this one. I jumped on it. Then I got to re-watch it. It was pretty cool. I watched a reactor start "hating" it from Episode 1. It's basically Cool to hate SAO.
@NoIdea
Jan 12, 7:51 PM
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Jan 2025
2
yes SAO is over hated. The Aincrad arc and alicisation were extremely good but the alfhiem and the others were not. It is just wasted potential now. Yeah it is fun to watch tho and it was one of my favourite animes
Jan 12, 7:59 PM

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Nov 2016
1959
This is one of the few overcorrections I have noticed myself falling into. When I first started watching anime (around 2013, didn't immediately make an account here) I really liked SAO, then around 2016 when I decided to dive a little bit deeper I started shitting on it and now I can feel it balancing out in the middle. I would need to rewatch it but it could even land as a 7/10 now compared to whatever low score I have it as right now and refuse to change until I give it another go around.



愛がなければ、見えない。
Without Love, the truth cannot be seen.
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