Reki Kawahara is not a good writer, and I am far from the first person to say so. His plots are haphazard and incoherent, his characters are dull and unrelatable, and his ability to completely destroy his own potential is legendary. All Keiichi Sigsawa had to do to clear his bar was to write a story with proper pacing and even two-dimensional characters.
The fact that he managed to take the most poorly-thought-out game in SAO’s universe and craft a story that features almost none of Kawahara’s faults speaks volumes about his ability compared to the series’ creator, and displays just how awful Kawahara is at his craft.
Here we have a show with multiple female characters with agency, none of whom are ever in danger of sexual assault, and all of whom have completely understandable motivations and consistent characterizations. We have a world where people take actions that make sense and are able to put aside all else when real consequences are on the line. And we have really satisfying, well-choreographed, and utterly brutal action that culminates in the best final battle scene in the franchise.
I can’t say that it was completely smooth sailing. There is one odd scene of strange fanservice, and though it never comes close to the creepiness of the original, it’s still an unfortunate speed bump that goes on way too long, but it’s still nothing compared to watching Asuna get molested.
And it’s not gonna stop me from awarding this an 8/10, with a really strong recommendation for any fan of the series - this is what SAO should look like. I have almost no hope that the upcoming SAO III Alicization will come anywhere close, since the premise of the arc involves it exclusively following Kirito and isolating him from the rest of the cast, but I’ll probably be watching it anyway if only to make fun.
Every last game mechanic in this series is from the original. You cannot both praise Sigsawa’s writing of GGO and trash Kawahara’s at the same time. You can’t have your cake and eat it too as a hater in this sense.
There was a guy that was going to sexually assault Miyu’s corpse in this series. Maybe you missed it, everyone that complains about the attempted sexual assault scene in SAO seems to as well.
The original SAO features multiple female characters with agency as well. Just because Asuna has to be rescued that one time and some of the other female characters are weaker in battle doesn’t strip them of their agency.
I have a lot of hope for season 3 personally since the original director is gone and I hope a lot of the issues the original 2 series adaptations issues will be gone. Excessive fanservice, poor explanation of mechanics and world building, even pushing shipping between characters like sinon who would never be even thought of as a love interest if their novel arcs are all adaptation issues and not writing issues.
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