SAO Anime Discussion Thread

[Pryun]

@ lare: Transition: well, what can I say, perhaps it could have been done better, but they probably did their best. It's good for a standalone episode anyway, without taking future/past episodes into account. I've seen worse transitions though. You need to watch more horrible anime.

@probablyagundamcode: well, I was hoping for a flashback type story to fit the LN better, but i'm not about to complain, since chronologically works reasonably. I personally prefer three to two.(because: Argo)

Pina plushies!

[M.A.D]

The content was acceptable. But the execution was shit. I've never seen such jarring transitions in my life of anime watching.

After rewatching the episode just now, I've realized that the transition scene is actually right between part A and part B of the anime, that is to say, there is traditionally a few seconds or even minutes of commercial between those two. However, since this is SAO anime, any kind of commercial is removed to keep the seriousness of the series (or so I believe), and so the transition scene was also cut short. In other words, this is the fault of whomever uploaded the raw, not the studio.

EDIT: The cheerful Christmas background music is still inexcusable, though.

Pina plushies? WHERE?!!

[Pryun]

Christmas is meant to be cheery. also, doesn't that song tinge of loneliness to you? (fine, maybe its only me...)

and the fact that it was a dead sachi that was singing it... TT.TT

pina plushies are just my hope... I can't really afford plushies anyway.

[gn_x00]

@probablyagundamcode: well, I was hoping for a flashback type story to fit the LN better, but i'm not about to complain, since chronologically works reasonably. I personally prefer three to two.(because: Argo)

Pina plushies!

Ah, yeah... no Argo... not at all in ep 2... that one is also disappointing for LN readers... and since they skipped floor 2 (since the novel is not finished yet too). seems it will be hard to see Argo in anime again...

and you're the first to actually mention gundam related things to my username after a few years I used this name. Used it a long time ago and now it becomes a habit when registering... kinda strange to go in a forum with different name

[M.A.D]

Christmas is meant to be cheery. also, doesn't that song tinge of loneliness to you? (fine, maybe its only me...)

and the fact that it was a dead sachi that was singing it... TT.TT

pina plushies are just my hope... I can't really afford plushies anyway.

No, Sachi's song was absolutely beautiful. I was referring to the initial background music that goes with the Christmas scene right after the transition in the middle of the episode. Even if the transition before it was carried out well, they should have begun the Christmas part with silence, and as the camera's view slowly descend from the sky, the city goes in view with increasing detail while the music gradually getting louder, until the camera finally focuses on Kirito and Argo. That's how a movie keeps the depressing mood for a previously tragic scene. Jumping straightaway to a cheerful tone with cozy Christmas background after the cut scene like that can only be described as amateurism.

So. No plushies? Me=sad

[larethian]

@ lare: Transition: well, what can I say, perhaps it could have been done better, but they probably did their best. It's good for a standalone episode anyway, without taking future/past episodes into account. I've seen worse transitions though. You need to watch more horrible anime.

@probablyagundamcode: well, I was hoping for a flashback type story to fit the LN better, but i'm not about to complain, since chronologically works reasonably. I personally prefer three to two.(because: Argo)

Pina plushies!

The content was acceptable. But the execution was shit. I've never seen such jarring transitions in my life of anime watching.

After rewatching the episode just now, I've realized that the transition scene is actually right between part A and part B of the anime, that is to say, there is traditionally a few seconds or even minutes of commercial between those two. However, since this is SAO anime, any kind of commercial is removed to keep the seriousness of the series (or so I believe), and so the transition scene was also cut short. In other words, this is the fault of whomever uploaded the raw, not the studio.

EDIT: The cheerful Christmas background music is still inexcusable, though.

Pina plushies? WHERE?!!

Wish I have time to elaborate. But read Klashikari's posts in Animesuki regarding transitions in episode 3. He is anime-only watcher and made quite a few quality posts in that thread and his suggestions on what could be changed do not require really an extension of the episode; it's a matter of presentation and execution; and I agree with many of his points. Because I've forgotten the details of that short story (so long ago, and I'm not the type to re-read this), I was totally going 'huh' during each jarring 'jump' (not just the christmas one). I honestly think the director made an epic fail in episode 3.

@Pyrun I try not to watch horrible anime. I don't even have time to watch good ones...... But just because there's more horrible anime doesn't mean this fail is acceptable, unless this level of adaptation (with respect to jarring transitions) is very common in the industry. My suggestion would be the reverse. Watch more better directed anime and you will find this to be shit. And note that I'm only talking about ep 3.

[Lan013]

Pina plushies!

Ah, yeah... no Argo... not at all in ep 2... that one is also disappointing for LN readers... and since they skipped floor 2 (since the novel is not finished yet too). seems it will be hard to see Argo in anime again...

I think the adaptation was surely Volume 1-4.(well, correct me if not) If you flush stuff out of your minds or just take v1-4 into account, you'll think the anime was very faithful to the original. Though we saw other SS(aria), it doesn't mean that they have to follow through the new publications. Argo was just mentioned as rat in two lines in volume 2.
I've just realized this after ep 3.
Also, I think ep. 6 is lisbeth's SS, not that it's not obvious.

[Pryun]

Why include my quote talking about plushies in that?

@lare: did you watch the denden anime?

@lan: chronologically though, murder case is first.

[larethian]

Why include my quote talking about plushies in that?

@lare: did you watch the denden anime?

@lan: chronologically though, murder case is first.

Pryun, of course I did. But you know, I'm talking about jarring transitions here.

[Ushwood]

@lan: chronologically though, murder case is first.

Murder case is ep.5. And Lisbeth should be 6 (unless they put Murdercase in 2 episodes, which I doubt they will).

[larethian]

Pryun, I don't have time to search the thread as well. But a few things at the top of the mind, when we are talking about jarring executions in the absence of LN knowledge:

At the end of episode 2, we were shown the events that led to Kirito going solo and closing himself to others. Episode 3 starts with a timeskip with Kirito joining a guild without a good explanation. This is a big contrast to the characterization at the end of episode 2, and it's like Kirito had a change of heart without warning. This transition between ep 2 to ep 3 becomes extremely jarring. What can be done is to give a few more short cutscenes or explanations, especially giving Kirito monologue here is very crucial to let viewers know why he has a 'change of heart'. Also, notice that monologue is virtually non-existent in episode 3 when it's most useful?

While it cannot be helped that we feel nothing for Black Cats given how they were thrown away like pawns without emotional attachment from the viewers in the interest of time, we should at least feel the pain Kirito is feeling because of what happened. Again, because of lack of certain explanations and monologue, I can't really empathize that strongly. One reason I think could be how it does not seem like Kirito's fault that the team died in the anime (due to a bugger's noobish stupidity), because they didn't explain a few things. His guilt seems to only stem from him telling Sachi that she would not die, and not also from his Beater status which the leader dissed him about. The leader's dissing suddenly brings up question marks in the viewers. To a viewer, the leader's just being irrational because of his grief, since the viewer is missing a few pieces of knowledge.

Next, they did not explain how the guild that Klein fought disappeared. That's one of the most jarring parts that an anime-only watcher (who might be thinking that this is an original anime and no knowledge that this is an adaptation of a LN) could tell that the scriptwriter was either being lazy or dumb for such a thing to be glossed over without a single explanation. So now the viewers are left to their imagination. And no doubt some would think, so Klein's guild PvPed them to death. How evil...... But they don't seem like that sort...... = character inconsistencies.

Well, I can probably come up with a few more if I rewatch it (I bet I can find a lot on 2ch, but I'm lazy, or rather, busy). But this is what I essentially meant about jarring transitions. The episode looks like a stitched-up, cut-and-paste episode to me. No matter how much people are dissing about content cutting in episode 2, in terms of execution, it was way better than 3. Of course, there were some fails with ep 2 at the end and missing characterizations, but it was a relatively coherent episode.

(And Pyrun, I agree, last few episodes of DYD are totally incoherent)

[Sumguy]

I was okay with the humming instead of singing, which . Sachi's voice actress can't sing English well at all (ugh. the engrish). If you've seen Bakuman, you know what I mean. I was mostly dissapointed with Argo. The voice is all wrong and she seemed solemn for some reason. Argo has always seemed genki to me. I'll forgive the fact that Argo shouldn't have had any lines at all in that episode, since she's only mentioned in the LN version.

[Pryun]

... her friend and saviour is going on a suicidal mission and you want her to be genki?

[BeginnerXP]

The voice is all wrong

I'm curious, could you please elaborate how Argo's voice is all wrong? Imo, the voice actor did the good job portraying her unique way of speaking (as mentioned in ME7).

[Zero2001]

I wanted to see Kiriemon. Waaah!