I watched this in theaters and I was the only one in the entire theater. Glad to see it's finally released to the public now for everyone to enjoy :)

Man those guys who could go but didn’t missed out a lot!
For me i would love to see it in theaters!

It’s basically Asuna’s POV and is more faithful to the Light Novel. SAO is one of those series which I don’t regard as a complete masterpiece but i still can’t stop watching this. The whole community hates on this anime but for me it’s not that bad at all. Sometimes i do consider it as bad but even if it is bad, all that matters is that I enjoy watching this shit. I won’t complain if we get more seasons ;)

Late to watching this movie do to laziness and pushing it off, but as someone that's been watching anime since Dec 2015, I feel the same way. Ever since I joined the anime community, this has continued to be one of the most hated ones, and I think it's ridiculous.

People say it's a bad anime, but forget, it's actually really good for it's time. (Given that it came out around 2012, way before the majority of anime people know and love today). And because of that, they forget that of course it's not going to meet up to the really high standards we set for them today.

Also, if you look at the newer seasons of SAO, it's AMAZING compared to the first few. I think people just remember the bad memories, and instantly want to rag on it, and I feel like there will always be a divide in the community. People that had really good memories with it (For me, this was one of my first animes I watched, and was my first *Favorite* anime). And those that just hate it altogether.

Altogether though, I still watch all of these movies and get so drawn in. I can't explain it, but ever since I first watched this anime, I have loved the shit out of the romance between Kirito and Asuna.

I can't quite explain it, but there's just something so captivating about the connection between those two. Like when the ordinal scales movie came out, that was the first time since I watched SAO I had really felt that powerful romantic connection between two fictional characters.

Quite honestly, it might be entirely due to the setting. I've found that romances forged in life-or-death situations tend to be some of the strongest ones. But those kinds of shows have a really bad habit of *needing* there to be a death of one of the main heroes in order for it to be powerful.

Don't get me wrong, it is a powerful concept to have one die, and one could say it's more realistic, but I think having characters be in that sort of situation only to make it out of it and make it back to a "Normal" lifestyle opens the doors for way more powerful romantic moments in the future.

That's because you're still just a hatchling , if SAO is as you say, "one of the first anime you ever watched" and one of your favourites at that, then it just tells me that your pallet is not developed enough. The reason SAO gets ragged on so hard is because it's shortcomings are glaringly obvious to anime watchers who've seen their fair share of anime. Also SAO came out 2012, It wasn't good for its time, considering masterpieces such as Psycho Pass, and other fairly good anime came out during that period. Also ("Majority of the anime people know and love")? What's that supposed to mean?

It urks me when there are people who consider themselves anime watchers but have only ever seen attack on titan and other popular newly released anime spout nonsense like they've read some sort of gospel, Like Bitch You're opinion isn't even worth shit, fuck out my face. <not directed="" at="" you="" btw,="" just="" for="" people="" who="" pretend="" like="" they="" have="" taste="" but="" don't="" know="" shit.="">

I mean I can understand you being upset by like people that don't know much about anime, but try to act like they do.

However, to call me a hatchling is 100% incorrect. I have over 200 completed anime and have been watching since Dec 2015.

There are definitely problems with it as an anime, that's not what I was trying to say. It's just that, ever since i've been in the anime community, it's gotten hate on tier with anime that are MUCH worse.

Don't get me wrong, I understand criticizing an anime that is ACTUALLY TRASH *cough* rent a mid *cough*...But SAO was NEVER that bad.

more faithful to the lightnovel? didnt watch it yet so might just be something wrong with the description, but the reason given in the description for asuna playing sao at all is already wrong. according to the lightnovel she just randomly booted it up on her brothers device, who sadly missed out on the launch of the game because of a business trip or smth

Yeah you're right about that. I haven't read the LN myself so I can't say anything for sure. I just heard some people say this and thought it was true as I'm not a LN reader myself :)

SAOP is Reki Kawahara rewriting the story day to day, every single floor. So it is indeed different from the original novels, yet still cannon. I read the first few ones, the movie adapted the first half of the first novel! There is however lots of anime original stuff here, the reasoning why being pretty obvious. In the progressive novels, Asuna’s and Kirito’s perspective is pretty much split 50/50, A fourth of a single novel isn’t really enough to make a 2-hour movie from hah

Mito is entirely anime original, so I was a little worried it would change a big chunk of Asuna’s arc, but honestly it only added to the story and made it better! So no complaints there :)

bruh her presence is like dunking a perfectly good steak in ranch

now I'm more concerned about your health than us getting a new season with the continuation from when Kirito, Asuna and Alice went back to the Underworld..

wait from what i saw mito is in progressive novel too? at least according to wiki

dont understand why theres any hate to begin with. This anime has pure romance action, sound effects and great concept

No, especially after Aincrad arc, it has way too many problems. Doesn't make it impossible to enjoy it, however it is still incredibly flawed. This just means it isn't perfect, however for a more casual viewer it is absolutely fine as it is (atleast for Aincrad arc).

I enjoyed the Alfheim arc and it's follow-up in the web novels (not a threat to anybody's life but the game was at risk of destroying itself because it was made using the same Cardinal System from SAO, which initiated a quest chain that could potentially make the game delete itself from the server), in additon to GGO and the Ordinal Scale movie. I don't like Alicization and dropped the series there though.

Did I see you in DxD ?

kirito isnt really egoistic as haters said, but my thing is diavel, diavel used to be cool here, im not sure if all of you understand his actions but he purposely die in order for the player to synchronized having the chances of beating the game increase but how? yes kirito, he got the information that kirito is a beta tester that also had the same intent as him from argo which he then prepare for the boss day and was executed perfectly, i cant remember wether the talk from diavel and argo was shown mid battle or after battle where argo approaches kirito but confident that kirito doesnt know any of this at the time, where he just do the "beater" thing because he sought an oppurtunity, so yeh this could be a spoiler if shown in part 2 but at anyrate diavel sure is cool there, though the down side is him dying and kirito suffering but still cool.

diavel literally just wanted to go for the final blow bonus cuz he was a beta tester himself and knew about it lol

idk if thats a trap but its obvious that im not baselessly speculating things as i said something about being a spoiler or specific scene or character, U ok bruh?

ive read the progressive lightnovel and i dont know what you would be referring to, i might also just have misunderstood part of your comment because of ur flawless grammar tho

idk if i said this to this comment or my other but let me clarify that i'm referring to the manga and i know nothing about ln but knew that both were written by reki kawahara. that being said would give you several hints what actually is happening, im not passionate enough to search and give the specific chapter for you to believe then leaving the outside stuff behind its honestly wouldnt make any sense if the thing you're trying to say is the case, i could think of many factors why but you could just check the manga really.

I really dont understand what you are trying to say at all, but the Blue Hair guy leading everyone was a beta-tester and did want the special drop for himself.

Well most people are haters for some reason because they hate the raping part

I'm gonna tell ya a secret...
There is a grand total of one attempted rape in the entirety of SAO.
Also, contrary to popular belief, the second season didn't have rape. Shinkawa was trying to get them to die together, hence the Death Gun. He was going for a double suicide, but because he pinned down her arms, haters somehow spin that as "rape."

I cringe whenever I hear some moron say something along the lines of "every season of SAO has rape."
Yes, there's molestation at the end of the first season, and one attempted rape in Alicization, but those are few and far between, and nowhere near as common as the haters make it out to be.
On the other hand, Kirito getting randomly abused by girls is pretty common.

Actually, one attempted rape in Alicization with Leafa, and then the ACTUAL rape (though indirectly shown) of Eugeo lol

Well tbh you got a point there

it's fr the animation studio not the seriesnot really spoiler but yes

The animation Studio shall go to horny jail! xD

What raping part? Can you explain more?

No i can't

Kirito gets raped? I assumed he just liked it rough and was playacting the usual no->yes trope.

Ayo chill

Kirito is a dirty boy...

surely I'm not going to get flamed for this comment.

Lol

I'm sorry, what?
Which part are you all talking about the rape?
The only attempted rape I know is... other half of the season 1 when a fcking bastard tried to do that to Asuna.

I am because I do not like his personality and the power of love.
also, it was not rape, was it?

Nope, it was attempted rape. They didn’t do anything. Well they did alot aside from intercourse which was hella disturbing.

This will always be the dark part of SAO that genuine fans of the show wish never existed and haters use as a reason for disliking the series, which I can also understand since as you said it was disturbing af.

indeed man. I can't call myself a genuine fan who is crazy for this series but I'm also not a hater. I even consider it one of the isekais I enjoyed the most. Not a masterpiece but still an anime that mist be watched. As long as I enjoy it, that is all that matters and I dont like to waste my time on hating on it but some people go to such lengths that it scares me lol

Can you explain more of this? Is this in the light novel?

Bruh in alicization when kirito was a vegetable and all his friends came to help I remember his step sis CLEARLY GETTING RAPPED BY THE BITXH WITH THE TENTACLES 😅😅😅

Tentacle scene is anime-original. But even then it wasn't rape, as genitals weren't targeted at all. They were piercing her flesh.
There was a lot of moaning though.

wait what rape scene are we talking about??

I can relate to hating the power of love

Well it was something close to rape but i can't remember since it's been months

What raping part?, i remember something from alicizations seasons but nothing else

If its in this then sorry lol im like halfway thru rn

Yeah no in this movie there is just Asuna being a scaredy cat to the tough girl

Kk

Leafa attacked by that Witches' tentacles, The two kouhais attacked by some nobles in that Academy, That clown attacking Administrator at the end are ones I remember right now.

idk why but that's the best arc for me. It's equivalent of naruto's pain arc. Well, I too is a sao haters but not as a whole, some of em is (well not masterpiece), but very good anime plot. Aincrad arc and alicization first half, basically those 2. The rest are shit, I know.

I think that's the reason of sao haters, not the rape part.