Back to WeR1's Profile WeR1's Profile

Non-spoiler TL;DR [updated with comments on English Dub]:
If you enjoyed watching the original SAO anime series (at least the Aincrad arc)...then what are you doing here? Go watch as soon as it is available to you! It probably won't win over any new fans as there are many moments that will go right over people's heads if they have little to no knowledge of the original show. If you have at least watched the show but didn't enjoy it, this movie might leave at least a slightly better impression on you than the main series did.
And now, having seen the English Dub at Anime Boston ... 2017, I can say for myself that I still prefer the sub. But if you enjoyed the dub for the main series, then this movie will not disappoint. All in all, it was still an enjoyable watch and in particular, I liked how they handled the vocal songs for the movie.

Now for the main review, CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS AND/OR ALLUSIONS TO CERTAIN PLOT POINTS. Most of the heavy spoilers will be in my Spoiler P.S. section at the end of this review.

Art/animation:
As far as character designs go, they were decent with a few standouts. I personally didn't really like the Ordinal Scale outfits for the main casts that much, save for Klein and his guild. There were some that did catch my eye. Yuna, in particular, looks amazing as an idol if I do say so myself; and Eiji's IRL casual outfit didn't look bland, which is indicative of his self-consciousness if I choose to read into it. Moving away from the new characters though, there is also that hairstyle that Asuna sports briefly which was quite a refresher from her usual look.
Animation has its ups and downs. It's definitely sharper and generally more detailed than the previous TV series given that it’s been almost 3 years since the previous season. But there were a few moments in the beginning where character animation (facial expressions in particular) was a touch bit rocky. The quality of action choreography and direction was actually one of the lower points of the movie for me as the quality was inconsistent from fight to fight (and there are a lot of them), ranging from barely passable to outright epic. More on that in the Spoiler P.S. section.

Sound:
For sound effects, Yoshikazu Iwanami did a fantastic job with his work. He did work as sound director for the main series as well, but since SAO 2, he has definitely improved his craft working on shows like ufotable’s adaptation of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (which I had some of the most eargasmic moments in my few short years as an anime fan so far) and I could definitely tell he employed some of his newer stuff here in OS. Listening on theater sound system made it even more of an absolute blast!
As for the music, the LiSA once again did a great job with the theme song “Catch the Moment.” But if we are talking about singing, then Sayaka Kanda (Yuna) stole the show. One of the insert songs, “Smile for You,” may very well beat out every other openings, endings, and inserts as the best song I’ve heard from SAO and definitely the musical highlight of the movie. Of course, the genius of Yuki Kajiura as the composer was also part of what made that particular insert song as good as it turned out. Her BGM soundtrack was also good as well, as expected from someone of her caliber. However, there weren't really any original pieces from the film that really resonated with me as some of the iconic pieces from the main series have.

Character/story:
The premise of having cutting edge technology abused by someone for their own gain is not new by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s easily forgiven given that this movie is meant to be the culmination of the SAO story up to this point. And while the premise is similar to what we have seen before, it would be overly simplistic of me to say that it was a rehash of SAO’s first season. Unlike the Aincrad Arc, death is not a looming threat for most of the movie, and while some may consider it a bad thing, the movie did a fine job replacing the stakes with something more personal. Asuna, in particular, was forced into a situation she initially couldn't just simply break her way out of, nor could she exactly have Kirito do it for her, as much as he could try. For some of you thinking of the Fairy Dance Arc, no it's not a repeat of that either, but what we've got here places her in a much more sympathetic light than in previous situations that she fell victim to. And this ultimately leads to, what I would argue is, the most romantic development Kirito and Asuna ever had and is one of Asuna’s most memorable character defining moments.
The spotlight definitely belonged to the Kirito/Asuna duo in that movie, and as such, those who wanted to see more development (or at least screentime) from the supporting cast will find themselves fairly disappointed. While they do have their moments scattered throughout the movie, it didn’t amount to much at the end of the day. I did have some serious gripes that came with how the story handled Klein in particular: The clip of the first boss fight released before the movie’s premiere showcased Klein’s ability to just properly handle a boss fight as part of a team, and quite frankly, I got a little excited thinking we might finally see more of him in the movie. Then the movie decided to have him be circumstantially absent for most of the movie after. However, that’s not even my biggest complaint regarding Klein, but I will save it for the Spoiler P.S. section.
The antagonists were another highlight of the film. In the main series, we had more or less simplistic villains whose motives were either unknown just because, or they were evil just for the sake of being evil. Here we have antagonists whose motives for their actions were at least understandable, a cause that we ourselves may have been 50/50 on had we been in their shoes. With that being said, it would have made more sense if Kirito hadn’t polarized himself from them because despite being foil characters, they still have a bit more in common than Kirito had made it seem. I also came away from the movie wishing we got more development from them, not just as individual characters but also how they interacted with other characters as well. Again, I will elaborate more in the Spoiler P.S. section.

Wow, my first review on MAL turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be. And I know I have come across as critical in a lot of areas, but at the end of the day, there is only so much one can fit into a two-hour movie. And again, to reiterate my TL;DR statement, if you had enjoyed the SAO series, then from a fellow fan, I can definitely say that you will enjoy this movie as much as I have.
Finally, for me as a growing anime fan, I merely hope to eventually see an SAO work that will make the series become more widely accepted by the anime community than it is now. With that being said, for now, a toast, to Season 3’s success in the future.

SPOILER P.S. Now to expand more on what I had wanted to point out. First off, my biggest complaint with action direction came with one duel in particular: Kirito vs. Eiji. Even from the bits of that fight that were shown in the trailers, I could tell that it's not going to be up to par compared to some of the duels that we got from the main show (Kirito vs. General Eugene & Kirito vs. Death Gun), and after having seen the fight, my opinion has largely gone unchanged. But on the flip side, I will say that HOT DAMN the final boss fight made up for it though.
Moving on to Klein. He was absent for most of the movie after the first boss fight due to his encounter with Eiji which left him injured. That was fine because it showcased Eiji’s strength in AR. But the movie had an opportunity to remedy that at the final boss fight...only they didn’t. Klein did not get what I would consider a dedicated action shot unlike some of the other supporting casts have (like Agil with that giant ax slam from above). Even bigger offense still is that he is the only SAO survivor in that boss fight NOT to get a costume change. Hell, even Sinon got her GGO costume on and you are telling me Klein can’t get his old SAO costume?? Like...thanks Yui…
At the end of that whole thing, Yuuna (Dr. Shigemura’s daughter) did have that sweet performance of “Smile for You” and also have a moment of closure with her father. But I also had wanted to see a moment of closure with Eiji as well, since they were, by all accounts, very close during their time in Aincrad. As for the problem I have with Kirito completely polarizing himself from Eiji, that could’ve been somewhat mitigated as well if they had shared a reconciling moment between them after the whole debacle. That could just be the conflict resolution side in me coming out though.