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The greatest SAO story ever, brought down by cut content, horrible pacing, and Mito. Yes, I am a source reader.

I do not exaggerate when I say Scherzo is the greatest SAO story. It perfectly encapsulates why Kirito and Asuna's relationship works, why Progressive as a series works, and is a culmination of multiple plot threads weaving into a beautiful tapestry. That is why I love Progressive Volume 4, and hate the Scherzo movie.

The film completely butchers Asuna's insecurities when it comes to being Kirito's partner. It butchers her growth throughout the story by portraying her as "independent and strong" at the start, instead of ... learning that she has to stand on her own during the runtime through Kirito and Argo. It butchers the strategical elements of the boss fight by removing key players because their stories haven't been adapted. It butchers the tension of a pivotal scene because the focus is given to Mito instead of another character who was cut. The film tries so hard to be it's own thing, but it can't because THIS IS THE 4TH FUCKING BOOK IN THE SERIES. You can't expect to adapt half of volume 1, jump to volume 4, and have it not be jarring.

The only thing I will give this movie praise for is the combat animation and Kibaou. Yes, of all the things I liked about this film, it's mother fucking Kibaou.

I love Progressive, but this is just not it.

Eighty-Six is not a grand story about standing up against oppression or uprooting the system. It is not trying to tell us anything substantial about racism or war aside from things we as humans should already know.

Eighty-Six is much simpler, it's a story of children making the best of their fucked up situation, and how these children react once they are finally given an out. Racism and war are merely tools, the setting, to a boy-meets-girl story.

The series rides on the struggle of these two characters, the boy who only knew of the battlefield and the girl constantly yearning to be by his ... side. All I can say is their struggle touched me, as frustrating as the both of them were at times. But hey, they're teens, they're supposed to be frustrating, especially since neither seems to be fully right in the head.

Shin is not someone who wants to be off the battlefield, and Lena is not someone who wants to be left behind as others fight on her behalf. These two deserve a peaceful life after what the world has put them through, but their pride and idealism won't allow it. The series' main struggle is these two characters finding meaning in each other, and by extension, finding meaning in a world without combat.

Once the series nailed the MCs, the rest is merely icing on the cake to me. The world is interesting enough, far more than other Light Novels care to build nowadays. You don't really reed LNs for their prose, but the translation is great and often doesn't actually feel like an LN. My only gripe with the series would be its criminally underdeveloped side cast, especially since I like them already and want to know more.

10/10 would cry to Theo's rant again.

CONTAINS SPOILERS AND MY OPINION (if you want to know if the show is worth your time this isn't the review you're looking for)

This show isn't great by any means, the ending was all over the place, conflicts had rushed resolutions and the main characters (Hiro, 02, Ichigo and Goro) stopped developing mid way through the show. But it's first few episode were a good if not fantastic watch for both the characters and the world building. The beach episode is my favorite for those two reasons. The show up to around episode 18 had been an enjoyable enough watch for me to give it ... an 8, but then... VAMPIRES. Ok trigger, what the hell are you doing. I realized later on that the VIRM attack's sole purpose is to be a God from Machine. It was 1. So that squad 13 wouldn't have to convince the other parasites to join their cause, 2. So that Dr. Frank would die revealing the stasis pods to Nana and Hachi, 3. So it creates savior and saved moments between Hiro and 02 and finally 4. So that they would have a reason for both Hiro and 02 to be killed off. Episode 22 and 24 were the only decent episodes in the VIRM arc and they were the only ones that I could say I enjoyed. Overall I enjoyed this show, it's just the plot was not what I enjoyed

This applies to volumes 1 to 4 (So the first 5 chapters) as canon of the golden rule hasn't been translated.

This is the SAO that I have always wanted, the original novels and anime always had some sort of problem whether it was pacing, bad plot or just unbelievable characters. This solves some of the problems that the original had, Kirito in SAOP is not a blank slate anymore as he comes out as a wise ass trying to act cool but sometimes ends up being immature and to my delight, ASUNA GETS TIME TO SHINE!!! The last time Reki truly wrote about Asuna ... in the main series was OS and then shoved her to the side. Rather than being a side waifu (that acts like she is main waifu, we all know Sinon is best) that is there for wish fulfillment, in SAOP she is a main character, and she feels like a main character. Her relationship with Kirito as his Partner and Student feels way more realistic than the original series. It really shows how well they match and will probably fix my problem of the forced relationship that happened in the original. It also expands on other existing characters such as Agil and Kibaou.

So far I adore this series, not only for the plot but also for the world building. It fills in the gaps of Aincrad and the game of SAO, although I would like more explanations like about how weapon stats work (Is the power of a weapon only determined by Upgrade Attempts or is there some other factor) and some sword skill explanations in weapon categories other than the OH Sword and Rapier, over all I'm happy that Reki took the time to add to SAO.

Pros: Everything about it excluding the cons
Cons: Pacing, where the anime was too fast with Aincrad this is too slow and a time skip will probably happen once Kirito and Asuna split up
The Manga, don't read it. It differs quite a lot from the novels and has a lot of bullshit moments and unnecessary fan service.