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The criticism for this manga is lacking and im here to logically convince you why this manga is hot garbage. ( small spoiler at the end used as example)

For those that know nothing about this series, its like the manga battle royale but with only bombs. A hunger games of sorts. This manga had a good start then it dropped in quality during the 2nd half of the series. Its quite similar to death note in which the story has two distinct parts. 2nd half of the story was dog shit. Even the second half of deathnote was leagues better than ... this nonsense.

imagine having to introduce characters that were apparently a part of the series from the start but we just didnt see them at all. The manga has to basically back story every single new character in with 1 dimensional traits.

I wonder what the story is? is it a story about political control by creating this hunger game style of killing game as a mean to control the population. Or is this a game about evil spirits and demonic possessions? Or is this a manga about rape and cheating and shallow characters? insanity, redemption, regret, mental illness, family, it just mashes everything together into a hot mess. Sure there are some good scenes and character moments but the further you read the worse it gets. let me give you an example:

a girl, lets call her Carly cheats on her bf and blames it on her friend. her friend is a porn star and she claims that if her friend can have sex with others why cant she.
A: Carly is not a porn star, its not her job.
B: because of this Carly's bf wants to break up. How does carly respond? She kills him puts the blame on her best friend for being a porn star and want both of them to die.

Imagine recommending a manga like this. If you are into illogical , shallow characters be my guest. This manga sucks. It could have been a really cool series. Ok its not all bad. i just judge a series by its worst parts. If you can ignore or accept its worst parts i think you might enjoy the rest of the series. I cant do that. To me a the backbone of a series comes from its characters and details and i cant overlook the times when the writing was atrocious

If i were to describe this anime with 1 phrase it would be perfectly mediocre. Now, do not let my seemingly harsh words dissuade you from giving this anime a shot.

Soloing Leveling is an anime that knows its own strengths and weaknesses. It know what it is and the main audience it hopes to capture. If you enjoy power fantasies or having some weak character get stronger, then this is the show for you. Its a show with action after action, fight after fight. If you are after a show with good animation and action with none of the weight of ... stories or character motives or underlying themes then this is your show

Aside from everything mentioned above this show has nothing else to offer. Side characters really matter. They dont develop and they dont have any interesting characteristics or personalities. HxH, World trigger , FMAB, fate /zero, gurren lagann are all examples of good - brilliant side characters.


No thought process between battles so its purely a visual spectacle, and with no enemy or characters motivations there is no weight to battles. Stands from jojos was interesting on how to fight against ranged opponents, one piece always has character weight in their fights. World trigger is probably the best balanced of any fight mechanic, with a lot of though into strategy and preplanning. In retrospect solo leveling has none of that

The MC is going to win, and if i know that, whats going to keep me invested?
- is it characters motivations ?
- is it strategy ( during fights) ?
- is it character philosophy ?
- is it character development ?
- Is fight chorography?
- is it visually great animation?

Personally this anime only satisfies 1 of the many things that keep me interested. Not for me unfortunately but it could be for you .

Isekai de Cheat Skill is an anime that betrays its own ideology. Someone who is extremely bullied suddenly gets handsome and maintains his kind demeanor. If this series really wanted to showcase that appearance is secondary to individual values and beliefs then the show should have kept the MC 's appearance as he was at the beginning of episode 1.

To Be given the opportunity to enroll in this new school, as he was in the beginning of episode one. Instead we get a harem and the most shallow troupes such as falling on love at first sight, or falling on love after ... being saved, or falling in love after spending an hour on a photoshoot. It baffles me at how unrealistic and insulting this show to people with actual physical conditions.

Its an anime that unintentionally or intentionally supports the idea that beauty is what matters most. Even the artstyle tries to make everything and every character look pretty. I would have loved to see Yuuya as his old self get accepted to this school and slowly gain self confidence. I understand this is for entertainment but it could have been so much more and that's why I'm so disappointed

Finally a series that is half decent. An isekai about a character with feelings, worries and actual development.

No bullshit harem - Check
No Random demon lord or world saving - Check
No relationship within cast - Check

While the characters are over powered, the story doesn't really focus on beating some big bad. A few times they get put into situations that limit their abilities. This anime is character centric, focusing on the our party's past, and present. Its a good character driven story. Its nothing amazing but better than 80% of isekai anime.

I really enjoy some of the creativity, and unique ideas ... explored in this anime like the math brawl.


Ultimately, I think the anime has a lot of different genres in play, like idols, and dungeons, and they dont seem to distract from the self contained narrative. Even the villain's are not just randomly bad people, they all have back stories to why they became the way they are currently in the anime.

Characters not developing is the weakest element. Not enough nuance character interactions between the cast. Then again I wasn't really expecting that. I was just satisfying my trash isekai taste but got something better.

If you are a fan of overpowers iseaki protagonist, with crazy fights and explosions then this is not the anime for you. Fights are not the forefront of this anime. Fighting takes backstage. This anime actually has likeable characters.

We gotten so use to a lower quality of writing, that we subconsciously lower our standards. If you ever worked in sewers or been to the farmlands in india you will instantly smell the difference, yet the locals seem to not be as phased.

We become desensitized.


A hero so strong that he can defeat every enemy without effort. Standard overpowered protagonist cliche setting. The narrative being told is one that has been repeated 1000 times over. Our characters embody stereotypical personalities in the standard formula.

The saving grace of the series is the character interaction. His methods for communicating with the ... general and portraying their shortcomings was quite enjoyable. The relationship between the generals and the protagonist is what allows them to break through the deception in the final episodes.

The story could have benefited from more tension. There was nothing at stake, nor was this a comical series. There is no hidden message or themes being explored. Stories are art. They are communication, and they provide the opportunity to be expressive, political, motivational, or to evoke passion. This series is empty.

Vampire in the Garden is an anime that clearly understands what it wants to be. A rarity in the modern world where the average anime fails to form its own identity.

Too many anime are crop cutouts of overused clichés, and driven by random gimmicks. Just to be clear I think clichés can work when used well, and in the case of Vampire in the Garden, the cliché works extremely well.

We all know the vampire story, a elegant creature that feds on blood, fears sunlight with super human strength. You cant get more cliche than a standard vampire story. What makes this anime worth ... the investment is that it abandons trying to explain the world, or how things got this way. Instead it focuses all its attention solely on the narrative between our protagonists.

How can central forces find and chase Momo in cyberpunk frozen wasteland? What is the status of resources ? Why are humans trading blood for money ? does money even play a role this this world ? Yes our show is full of problems and understands its shortcoming. Instead it puts all its eggs into 1 basket. A tale of a vampire and humans wanting to coexist in a snow-piecer cyberpunk setting. If that doesnt ooze character and identity i dont know what will.


Yes, there isnt much development. Yes all of the supporting cast seem shallow but for 5 episodes the anime does exactly what it needs. There is only so much you can do in 5 episodes and this show excels at picking its priorities.


If you like vampire stories like happiness, or day breakers then give this a go. But if you are looking for a twilight like romance then i urge you to stop here. There are no sparkling vampires here.

overall a well told and concise story in 5 episodes.

ill be quick. If you are looking for a show that indulges realistic human struggles, brilliantly told romance, and a rich history of characters then this is not the show for you. This anime is not a critique of the princess genre that you were looking for. A glance at the tile could have told you that "Snow White with the Red Hair".

Its a show about a red hair girl that runs away from her country ( and the prince that is trying to court her) with another prince. This isn't realistic show about everyday struggles that people endure. I wish people ... would stop critiquing and treating it as such.

This is a calm feels good shows that is written episodically with an overarching romance. Its not trying to be anything else. A problem is introduced and resolved per episode. There is no high stakes, no dark themes ( there was one ep a bit darker than the others), and no life struggles. It does have a different feel from traditional Disney princess movies. The girl in question doesn't want to be a burden to the prince and tries to earn her place rather than use her relationship with the prince. I found that to be one of the highlights of the show.

Overall its a slow paced show aimed at a particular audience. If a heartful, and a bit over dramatic princess show is not up your ally then feel free to jump along to the next anime in your list.

It took a while to digest everything that is re:zero. This review contains my thoughts on all seasons of re:zero because it's impossible to talk about, critique and evaluate re:zero season 2 part 2 without considering how we got to this point. So get comfortable, relax and let's dissect this rollercoaster.


I'll be dividing this review into the following sections: S1, S2, S2 pt2 , focusing on characters and the story. SPOILERS AHEAD.

S1
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Subaru is a weak, emotionally unstable character who has taken the role as our protagonist. I found this to be a very interesting juxtaposition to other isekai wherein our lead characters ... are overwhelmingly stronger than 95% of the cast. Subaru as a weak protagonist, provides us viewers with a different perspective and expectations when viewing the series, especially given his power to return by death. The restriction that forbids Subaru from telling anyone about his powers is one of the best decisions the anime has made in the series.

Given this premise, anyone can see the potential the series has to offer. It reminds me of a combination of deathnote and steins;gate. Using his ability Subaru can gain knowledge by repeating events and overcoming situations using his brain as a substitute to the strength that he lacks. The series could also take a darker route and focus on despair and grief. Does the series live up to its expectation? Sometimes. The series has evoked emotional reactions from me but it has also left me swinging my head in utter disappointment. That is to say the series is filled with ups and downs.

The first arc with the bowl hunter is used to establish the nature of Subaru's powers. It takes a few deaths for our protagonist to realize his powers. This provides a few insights into Subaru’s characters. He is not a super genius; rather he is a normal character just like you and me. He also has a lot of guts ( both figuratively and literally). The first arc also introduces his love interest and makes him invested into this new fantasy world. Overall the arc is well done.

Moving forward from the 2nd arc you can slowly start to see gaps forming in both writing and direction. Re: zero is a show about either outsmarting his opponents, or convincing people to take his side through compelling arguments and information that he has obtained through his failures and resets. At least that's what you would expect.


In the 2nd arc Suburu learns there are two threats to his life: one from a curse, and one from within the mansion in the form of Rem. He handles the first threat well, learning where and how he was cursed. His opponent, Rem as the 2nd threat is not handled well. She doesn't listen to him, killing him quickly. Disregarding the fact that Subaru cant talk about his powers, he still sucks at explaining anything. There is no real information he learns that will persuade her to his side. We learn that Emilia is a candidate to the next ruler of the country. It explains why everyone at the mansion is suspicious of Subaru. Is he a spy, assassin or does he have a political agenda. Rem kills Subaru because he carries the stench of the witch, associating him with the witches cult, a fanatic organization responsible for the misfortune events that happened to Rem and her sister.

So how does he overcome this ordeal. Facing an opponent that won't listen, won't side with him. He falls into despair, gets his head placed on his waifu’s laps, recovers and then we divert from the Rem problem by turning our attention to the curse problem, essentially bypassing Rem killing him. Rem who has previously never listened to Subaru, killed without hesitation, and proceeded to heal and turture Subaru to learn about his connection to the witch's cult, now listens to him completely as he mentions he reeks of the witches spell. He asks her to trust him and she does. This is the time to be the most suspicious! Is this a trap? Is he telling the truth? Yet all these possibilities are overlooked.

Not to say there aren't good scenes but it's filled with holes and illogical choices. Subaru saves Rem's life, she falls in love, which is ok and even later results in a very emotional scene but it's rushed. Speeding things along, Subaru goes through a phase of constant death and failure. He breaks as a character and gives up. He is saved by Rem’s kindness and her love which fill Subaru with renewed energy and positive allowing him to succeed in breaking his despair and ending the final arc in a happy successful end. That is until the conclusion of the series we learn that Rem, the most important and pivotal character in S1, is erased from the minds of all but Subaru.


There are many plot holes, not mentioned, that drag the series to the ground. However, overall it's watchable and entertaining. We are introduced to his power, tensions build, towards the climax he gets a full dish of despair, overcomes the despair ( developing him as a character) and we are victorious in the final battle. Villains are there for the sake of being villains, Subarus acts like a baby and an immature brat sometimes, but that can be overlooked (for now).

S1 verdict - 7/10

S2 Part 1
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I expected season 2 to carry forward with the ruler selection process, Subarus focusing between political enemies ( between all the factions) as he supports Emillia and her ascend to the throne while also focusing on his goals to get Rem back and fight against the witches’ cult that that made everyone forget about her.


Instead what we get is Subaru falling into the same despair trap as we saw in season 1, negating any character development presented in S1. Unlike the previous season, Subarus’s brutal deaths serve as a visualization of gore with no purpose besides a shock factor. They do not change him as a character nor do they propel the plot forward. In fact the entire plot of S2, comes from a tiny decision made in season 1. When the mansion was being attacked part of the villagers went to the capital and the other half went to the sanctuary. In season 2 we discover that the individuals who were taken to the sanctuary never came back. The entirety of season 2 revolves around fixing the sanctuary problem alongside another attack on the mansion. The royal selection and Rem’s situation is fully ignored.


There are new concepts that I like such as the introduction of the witches and Subarus’s past. I especially enjoyed the witches personalities ( particularly the witch of greed and knowledge). The witches are represented as neither evil or good. They simply follow their own twisted ideologies, some of which I even agree with. Despite this, S2 is a regurgitation of S1 with worse characters, story and motives. It has no substance. The pacing also seems very slow for a minor sub-story such as this.

The biggest problem lies this season's villain, and Subaru’s return by death powers. We learn towards the end of the season that the main villain who ordered the attacks on the mansion was Roswaal L Mathers, the owner of the mansion and Emilia’s biggest supporter in the royal selection. Not only that he knew about Subaru’s power to return by death. His entire motive is to make Subaru grow as a character by making him choose who to save. The people in the mansion or the people in the Sanctuary.

This is Aizen all over again from Bleach, who apparently knew everything there is to know about Ichigo, predicted his entire life, set up all his fights just so he can see him grow as a character. This is the same situation between Subaru and Roswaal and it's one of the worst forms of character writing that exists. Let me explain why.


Subaru’s power is one filled with randomness. He can't choose where to resort to and he also has no control over how far into the past he can go with his power. Basically we know nothing about it, except that he returns by death. Somehow Roswaal has apparently figured this out because, he claims he knows about his powers and that it doesn't matter how many times Subarus resets, it won't change the outcome. This is such poor writing because there is no conceivable method to allow Roswaal this information. But let's indulge in Roswaals motive, ignoring the plot holes. Roswaal claims he wants Subarus to be just like him. Ok. Then what? What's the end goal? Do you want to be friends? Do you want to conquer the world with Subaru? Let me tell you. There is no end goal, the author has not thought about that. If there is no end motive then why all the shenanigans. Subaru is clearly not going to be friends with someone who made him choose between the people in the mansion and the people at the sanctuary. Subaru also has his taste of despair and hate so that clearly can't be a reason. There is no purpose for Roswaals actions. With no purpose, these events didn't even need to happen. The question to ask then is why does this arc even exist ?

Finally there is the issue of Subaru’s ability. By nature, every time Subaru dies we experience a different iteration. It would be very boring for the audience to watch similar content, therefore each reset Subaru goes through different experiences and events. This serves as the main method that Subaru uses to acquire new information to piece together the problem. On the surface, this propels the plot forward but creates the biggest deus ex machina moments in the series.

Because we need to experience something new, the author can create any new and unique way to kill Subaru. The story can create new characters, events, or revelations to fit the story. It's not necessarily a bad model, however re;zero takes away the option for the audience to solve the case. In similar shows that manipulate time ( steins;gate and Erased) we are provided the opportunity to make theories and guess. Specifically Steins;gate, we are given the limitations of time travel early on (such as how far in the past you can go) . When time travel is used in Steins;gate, it never feels convenient or made up because we established these rules earlier. Re:zero does the opposite. At the time of death Subaru is killed by a new person, entity or phenomenon. Examples: Rem, curse, Emilia’s familiar monster, and in S2 part 2 we learn that ally was an enemy without any prior indication. It feels so random.


S2 part 1 verdict - 3/10

S2 Part 2
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So lets talk about the positives first. Subaru finally starts relying on his friends, instead of trying to do everything himself. In the past he couldn't bare to watch his friends dying in an endless cycle. To prevent himself from repetitively witnessing the brutal slaughter of his friends, Subaru chose to shoulder all the pain by going solo. To be fair this is the exact problem he solved in S1, which somehow digressed in S2 Part 1.

Early on in the series we are taken into the past of several supporting and main characters such as Emilia, Garfiel, and Otto. It was very refreshing to see each character's history. It allowed us as the audience to relate and empathize. Without any emotional attachments, its hard for the audience to care about anything the character does. We slowly learn about the past of several characters, as we move towards the conclusion of this Arc. Emilia's backstory was particularly emotional, even providing good reasoning to how the S1 villain Romanée-Conti, Petelgeuse became the way he is.

Subaru learns how to use the unseen hands ability that he got after defeating Romanée-Conti, Petelgeuse in season one. It was noted the ability chose him as the next owner. It lay dormant up until this moment, where Subaru's mental / physical condition allowed for the power to manifest.

After being rescued by Rem, and the witches Subaru challenges Roswaal to a bet, in which he states if he can save both the mansion and the sanctuary, Roswaal will stop interfering and should try to support Emilia and her position as a royal candidate in earnest. At this point we should all know how things will turn out. So let's move on to what went wrong.

Romanée-Conti, Petelgeuse is given more backstory. He was in love with Emilia's step-mother, Fortuna ( Emilia's mothers younger sister). He loved both Emilia and
Fortuna immensely. One day Pandora, a seemingly immortal witch attacked the village and everything went wrong. Petelgeuse consumed something ( forgetting the name) to give him the unseen hands. Pandora accidently tricked him into killing the love of life, Fortuna which lead him into the crazy state that we witnessed in S1. From what we learn in this season, Petelgeuse is someone who would never harm Emilia. Despite his tragic history, his action in S1 contradict Petelgeuse as an individual. I can believe, his mind breaking; I can believe him going insane; but I can never believe that he would ever forget or be able to kill Emilia.

The entire trial to leave the Sanctuary is filled with questions, why does it only trap beast-men? Why does it target pure-blooded beast-men? It is established that the witches are most powerful beings in the world (that we know of). They created the white whale monster, the rabbit and snake monsters that we learn about. The witches cult worships the witches. So explain why the witch Echidna needs to make some barrier, to protect herself from a random dude.

This is a personal opinion but Subaru's confession was not something I enjoyed. I admire him for staying consistent, but his reason for loving Emilia was everything to do with the way she looks. Her hair color, her eyes, her voice. It would have been more compelling if he actually talked about her personality traits. I did like how he talked about her annoying parts in the end. In my eyes Rem is a better character. She feels more human. She never takes advantage of Subaru, always taking his side ( even when she knows he is wrong). She's fully aware that her love is one sided, yet still supports him, cares for him and helps him win Emilia. Again personal opinion.

Lots of problems that I don't have time to discuss, also many good points. This season is a mix of highs and lows. For any future season, establish a goal early on. Establish rules for Subaru's powers, and work within the limits to create tense and unique situation. And don't undo his character development.

S2 Part 2 Verdict - 5/10

By now most individuals either love or hate Mushoku Tensei with very few in between. You either side with rape and pedophiles or you side with historical accuracy and darker themes. I for one think both sides are wrong, but also right.

People are biased. We judge based on our personal experience, culture and the society we grew up in. Even today, there are many banned books that cover topics of rape, injustice, torture, and slavery.

Roots is a book about early Americans bringing slaves from Africa, raping them, and forcing them to work on their farms. The story is about the life ... of the people during that time. It depicts the historical accuracy of the time period. It is a fantastic read but one that is hard to get through. There are similar books, the color purple, two boys kissing, 1984, that cover similar or equally controversial topics. Even books that you think are ok, are banned in other countries such as hunger games.

I can understand the divide that this anime presents. As a biased human being myself, I will attempt to present my arguments and how I view the anime that is Mushoku Tensei. Let's start with what the show did right.

Isekai is an overly saturated genre that by nature doesn't have much diversity. The premise is the same. Someone dies and is either reincarnated or summoned to another world. As a futile attempt to diversify this genre, authors add quirks such as bringing a cell phone, or summoned as a demon lord. In some form or another the protagonist is always leagues about the regular inhabitants because he is a hero. OP shield, cellphone, divine powers, stronger magic, higher level / stats, and the list goes on.

Rudeus is a 30 year old reincarnated as a baby. He keeps his memories but its not really used as an OP advantage. He spends several years training in sword and magic unlike other isekai where training doesn't exist. Even by the 11th episode we realize that there are many people and monsters stronger than him. I think the show handled the power growth of the character well. Rudeus also has a fear of going outside his house early in the story due to severe bullying from his previous life. Although this was resolved rather quickly, this was a nice little touch to his character.

The 2nd thing that the show does well is the "incident". I very much dislike worlds that only revolve around the character. Usually character does X, resulting in some reaction Y. Nothing happens outside the character's perspective. In the story an incident occurs that is fully out of the protagonists control. Even if Rudeus wasn't reincarnated this event would still occur. This really stresses that the world is not in the hands of our protagonist.

The difficulty of evaluating the negative aspects of the anime comes from how the show combines different settings genres and troupes. The show in a nutcase is a medieval fantasy isekai from a modern perspective both from the audience and from our main character.

Let's talk about Rudeus and his father's sexual tendencies. Before we begin I would like to state that my stance of rape and pedophiles is that of the majority. Rape and sexual lust/ harassment are both terrible acts that should not approved of or encouraged. They should have severe repercussions / punishments .

That being said, Mushoku Tensei does not take place in our world, it does not have the same beliefs or laws of our world. And dues to its medieval settings I think rape and cheating can be considered common in such a world. If you take a stroll through our own history to the medieval age, I think you would find the events and atrocities of the real world to be much worse than what's being shown here. Rudeus's father cheats on his wife with his maid and gets her pregnant. The anger of the mother is very understandable. The maid has been serving Rudeus's family for many years, becoming a family member. This is the choice that mother faces, a choice between family and betrayal. This felt very humane to me personally. I wish they would have done a better job portraying the severity and weight of the situation.

Ultimately The housemaid chooses to leave the household. Understanding that a 1 month walk with a baby during winter would result in death for the maid and her baby, Rudeus argues on behalf of the maid with his already conflicted mother. This was not a rape scene, it was consented by both sides. Even the maid admits she seduced him.

What makes me most disappointed, is everything is back to normal after Ruedus' argument. If you are going to bring up topics like rape and cheating, you need to dive much deeper. You need to depict the mental states of the characters, really stress the difficulty of the choice the mother makes. I want to hear what the father and maid were thinking, their perspective. Finally there should be some lessons learned. The books I mentioned earlier all dive into their respective territory in great detail.

As a character the father is a mixed bag. He is serious when he needs to be, scolding his son when he makes a mistake, looking at his son's future. He also makes many mistakes. The incorrect scolding , and the cheating that we just talked about. He is basically Tony Stark. He is a womanizer. He trains in a serious manner but also to attract women (individuals who are ok with stark but hate the dad need to understand their own hypocrisy). I think to a certain extent this behavior should be accepted. There is no internet ot porn videos. It's very realistic to believe that this era had problems with dealing with sexual desires.

What annoys me is they take it too far. Especially with Rudeus. Early on Rudeus claims that he respects his master but later we see him holding his master's panties. The show treats this as a joke. It's very hard for me to relate or sympathize with rudeus as a character, even by the end of the 11 episodes.


I can't judge the series in its entirety because it's not complete. At least after the incident there are much less sexual references. Still the series needs to figure out what to do and what to focus on if it ever wants to redeem itself in season 2. This one had potential.

The SAO franchise has always been filled with conflict. The combination of amazing sound and animation and poor writing has divided the community. I always had an affinity with SAO in part due to it being one of the first isekai ( not including .hack). SAO opened the industry to the isekai era due to its success. SAO started off strong, set up definitive goals and introduced characters that develop and progress throughout the series. That is until ep 5 where they trashed everything. So stick around and ill try to explain my love / hate relationship with Sword Art Online: Alicization and the series ... as a whole.

Overall the SAO series is strictly not terrible . It has its ups and downs. SAO Alicization was a major up in my opinion from the original SAO. No harems, no super OP kirito. I think that was the redeeming quality. Kirito and Eugeo ( who is a man) as friends and co-main characters? Wow .

SAO War Of The Underworld and War Of The Underworld part two take some of the things done right in SAO ALicization and turn them upside down. Below is a perfect example.

Umm.. what

Some SPOILERS ahead but if you watched all the previous SAO installments then you should not be surprised. I want to get this out of the way before breaking down my thoughts so once again official SPOILER AHEAD UNTIL END OF PARAGRAPH. SAO series has always felt that adding a rape factor will increase views and acquire the acclaim that SAO deserves. Enter SAO war of the underworld part two. The first thought for developers was to decide which character will be raped this season. Ding ding ding, lets rape kiritos sister. BRAVO SAO BRAVO.

0/10


So let's get into breaking down SAO War of the Underworld Part 2:

SOUND/ ANIMATION:

Great as usual. Honestly some amazing direction from the animation team. The show has come a long way from Kirito vs 75th floor boss in SAO. Despite some amazing animation in action sequences, certain scenes display slack luster animation. An easy example is using the generic red armored enemies as the one and only generic enemy. This is a step down from an animation perspective. Since all the enemies are the same their animations can be reused and swapped between all the red soldiers. Furthermore I am not a fan of the color palette. The red enemies blend too much with the red desolate wasteland. I suppose by creating one generic enemy type with the same color it makes it easier to identify the villains and heroes but the red stormtrooper feel doesnt work in this instance. In what game or beta test is there only one type of generic character. To me this felt like a way for the staff to cut some corners in animation and focus all their attention on certain fights. This choice creates a disparity in animation.


The disparity can be seen in every non-main battle.When all the SAO and ALO characters enter the underworld I was expecting some really intense animation and battles but we are presented with generic 2D standoffs. Instead of showing the fighting and desperation of their battle being outnumbered, we are shown ALO characters starting the fight, then cutting to another scene and when we cut back everyone is exhausted. The fights are more like a slideshow display. It really takes away from what SAO is good at. This is just a consequence of a choice to focus the animation on main battles.

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Other times the animation is amazing. The battle between the dark god and Bercouli Synthesis One felt dynamic, and the fast pace helped sell that this is a real fight happening in real time. It was an amazing display of how fast you need to react and think in a real fight. The scene was most likely animated on 2s. There was some good stretching and squashing to really apply some motion blur to the fast movement.


The sound this time around did not speak to me. It wasn't terrible but it did not spring up any emotion. You can sometimes tell the emotion of a song through its composition. This time around I didn't understand what the opening was trying to convey. Similarly, the sound in the anime didn't help build up tension or create a specific mood. The fights between main characters is the only time when the sound is noticeable and helps heighten the fight sequence.

9/10 - Art, 7/10 animation, 6/10 - Sound

CHARACTERS:

Very dull and static characters. Part 1 and part 2 try to show that some people are bad and some are good. It fails at both. The supposedly “good” villains are not given much screen time, we dont get to see their motives. There is some very bad writing in war of the underworld, that tries to make a bad guy look good because this person can talk. Interesting?!?! So SAO sucks at making dynamic characters that develop. Ok. Thats ok, there are tons of static characters in anime that are engaging. Kamina from gurren lagann is an easy example. Kamina never changes but he's a great character because he's likable and compelling. Problem with SAO is it also sucks at making good static characters. I figured that a calm rational “marine trained” individual would make a great dark god Vector. Rip my beliefs. Even the america players are very flat, generic mob creatures like goblins or slimes you would face at the beginning of an isekai. The only difference is some have spoken lines. Most people cant seem to believe logical augments. When an attempt was made to talk with the invading players all it took was one lie to deceive everyone. It's as if all the characters in SAO were written by Karens.

There are clearly some good characters like Bercouli Synthesis One who is a static character done decently. And some decent character interactions throughout the alicization arc.


2/10 - there was an attempt made to be different




STORY/WRITING:

SPOILERS AHEAD. Story up till current point in tldr. JP is trying to make AI into weapons and Americans want this new potential weapon. This leads to the initial invasion of the research station with backing from some Japanese officials. Somehow the development team ( on a secret, secure research island fortress) are dumb enough to not put in any safety protocols for hijacking ? The also disregard any password protection for its interface and "god tier" characters. The invaders are able to learn all of the functions of this new system in under 2 mins and also somehow bring in thousands of american players into this AI world (would require a lot of back end programming just saying ).

Does any of this make sense to you ? I can criticize this all day but I would just like to point out that the whole purpose of this experiment was to not intervene, and let the AI develop and make choices ( to kill) on its own. SO why would you make god-like character profiles to enter this world? Why would humans even be allowed in this world ( with the exception of the initial founding). The more you think the less it makes sense.

MINOR SPOILERS:
For some reason the bad guys ( who are soldiers) are SAO/GGO players hmm. I didn't know you played video games for years as part of your duty in the US ….cool. The best analogy for SAO’s narrative is the carnival game where you have to shoot out the star. The goal is to shoot out the star shape on a piece of paper . Once the paper gets enough holes, it doesn't matter how many times you shoot you will never punch out the star. It's the same with SAO once you reach critical mass with plot holes it doesn't matter what happens, it will never recover.

Overall no change from original. SAO alicization was decent compared to this but I should have been prepared.

1/10


OVERALL:

I try to watch without criticizing or looking for flaws but when flaws hit my face and ruin my immersion then it becomes a problem. While sound and animation is good, an anime is defined by its story and characters. Literally every movie and novel is defined by these two factors. SAO is not a story or character driven show. Its driven by an idea with poor execution and no attention to detail or logic. This ultimately leads to poor characters and narrative, the most paramount factors of any anime, show, movie or novel.

3/10


Finally dont let me change your opinion. This review is my personal opinion. Your views may be different and thats totally fine :)