SAO Anime Discussion Thread

[eduardogranja]

So, episode 21 watched. They simply cut all the Jötunheimr trip and went right to the base of Yggdrasil. I wanted to see Tonkii

[Eternal Dreamer]

I know, I was so disappointed!!! I was really looking forward to seeing what he actually looked like! What's more, without the Jötunheimr trip, they won't be able to do the Caliber story if they ever decide to make a second season. (And, even worse, now the chances of even having a second season decrease further.) And the SAO anime was really do good so far, making sure to do all the arcs and side stories. So depressing.

If they do actually do a second season, I'm really hoping they intend to show Kirito and Leafa's trip there in a flashback episode. If they don't, then I will loose all faith in humanity...

[eduardogranja]

I know, I was so disappointed!!! I was really looking forward to seeing what he actually looked like! What's more, without the Jötunheimr trip, they won't be able to do the Caliber story if they ever decide to make a second season. (And, even worse, now the chances of even having a second season decrease further.) And the SAO anime was really do good so far, making sure to do all the arcs and side stories. So depressing.

If they do actually do a second season, I'm really hoping they intend to show Kirito and Leafa's trip there in a flashback episode. If they don't, then I will loose all faith in humanity...

Considering the amount of material, Caliber would fit better in a movie or OVA. Like:

Season 1: Aincrad-Fairy Dance
Season 2: Phantom Bullet-Mother's Rosario
Movie/OVA:Caliber

i won't count Alicization. That arc is so big that it would take an entire season for itself

[Eternal Dreamer]

An interesting idea about having an ova/movie for it, but I have doubts about whether they could make the second second with only three volumes' worth of material without the Caliber story to fill in the gap a bit. Either they would have to add filler, or REALLY stretch out the Phantom Bullet or Mother Rosario arcs, which would be in stark contrast to season 1 where they had to rush through many parts.

[eduardogranja]

An interesting idea about having an ova/movie for it, but I have doubts about whether they could make the second second with only three volumes' worth of material without the Caliber story to fill in the gap a bit. Either they would have to add filler, or REALLY stretch out the Phantom Bullet or Mother Rosario arcs, which would be in stark contrast to season 1 where they had to rush through many parts.

they wouldn't need to stretch out anything. They could simply follow the speed of the novel, making it more interesting for those who've read it. If it still gets too short, they could always use some of the space (like the end of the episodes) to explain some mechanics that someone without LN knowledge can't fully understand or new contents (I'd love to see more about the Puca race and etc...)

[AllentheBenevolent]

I know, I was so disappointed!!! I was really looking forward to seeing what he actually looked like! What's more, without the Jötunheimr trip, they won't be able to do the Caliber story if they ever decide to make a second season. (And, even worse, now the chances of even having a second season decrease further.) And the SAO anime was really do good so far, making sure to do all the arcs and side stories. So depressing.

If they do actually do a second season, I'm really hoping they intend to show Kirito and Leafa's trip there in a flashback episode. If they don't, then I will loose all faith in humanity...

And don't forget Tonkii and the Excaliber sword. They just missed them like its nothing. I liked the part with Tonkii getting attacked by the Undines but they just flat-out missed it. I guess the anime is getting worse and worse.....

[Pryun]

I liked the part with Tonkii getting attacked by the Undines

You cruel, horrible monster....

That said, that entire story line doesn't really affect anything, does it. The entire excaliber part can be missed without affecting the plot...

[Tap]

Well, they "skipped it" rather than "cut it out".
It's still possible to revisit it as a flashback, since they weren't shown going through some other route for the journey towards Alne.

[latos1117]

I liked the part with Tonkii getting attacked by the Undines

You cruel, horrible monster....

That said, that entire story line doesn't really affect anything, does it. The entire excaliber part can be missed without affecting the plot...

Well in my opinion it kind of those, since on mothers Rosario excaliber was kirito sword. Also it added more impact on the suguha liking kirito. That is why i am hoping they add this on a OVA.

[Pryun]

Mother's Rosario would be hard pressed to make it into anime form, maybe ova. It IS kind of short... Besides, the POV character is Asuna, so you won't actually see Kirito wielding excaliber, which he almost never uses anyway.(yes, he doesn't, if I remember correctly, he just stores it.). Also, impact to suguha liking kirito? have you watched the latest episode? there is no more need for impact. I can see the second half of the double heartbreak coming from a mile away...

[Skeptic]

Besides, the POV character is Asuna, so you won't actually see Kirito wielding excaliber, which he almost never uses anyway.(yes, he doesn't, if I remember correctly, he just stores it.)

It's a little more complicated than that. He only uses it under specific circumstances, which also means he only dual wields under specific circumstances. But there are two scenes in Mother's Rosario where he doesn't use it and one scene where he does, and none of them make much sense without the explanation at the end of Calibur. And the scene he does use it involves him and Klein being totally badass, and it would be a terrible shame for them to animate Mother's Rosario without showing some of that.

The Calibur explainy scene and the reasoning behind it, summarized in spoilers in case anime-only people don't want to know yet:

Spoiler! :

The main gang 7-man a world quest, succeeding through teamwork and The Power of Friendship. They get Excalibur at the end. Kirito finally realizes that he's not really a solo player anymore and pledges to only use Excalibur for the benefit of others. So in Mother's Rosario, as far as I know, he has never used it in public before That One Badass Scene. He doesn't use it in things like casual PvP duels, which means he's not duel wielding at all, which means he actually loses to a certain someone. Twice. Which is a totally un-Kirito thing to see, unless you know why he isn't going all-out.

I agree that none of the remaining material fits nicely into standard anime-season-sized chunks. IMO, instead of compressing things into a too-short block, it'd be better to stretch parts out. There are things that were kind of glossed over in the books, and leave a strong impression that the author wanted to cover them but didn't have the time or space to do it. For example, Phantom Bullet summarizes some SAO-era events; those could be shown in more detail, and some tie-in info that got cut from the anime (back in Murder mystery) could be added back in at an appropriate point, like one of the many parts where Kirito is struggling to remember details from back then. Mother's Rosario has a section that glosses over months of time with something to the effect of "and then they all got back together and beat another boss".

Jotunheim+Calibur could be done as an OVA of only a few episodes, since it's fairly short and self-contained; it would be loads of fun to see the one time the main characters get to play the game together without terrible real-life consequences hanging over them. And the OVA format means it can be a nonstandard number of episodes, which means they might even be able to also animate the alternate Failure version if they really wanted to.

[Pryun]

Every time I read Excalibur I get an urge to throttle something. The spelling is ExcalibEr

Also, yeah, that one scene is amazing, but who NEEDS to know how that scene occurs? we weren't even shown how Kirito got elucidator in SAO(yes it is a monster drop, but it isn't shown.) So even if Kirito manages to wield Excaliber, not many people would care how he got that sword.(ok, admittedly it is a legendary weapon, but do you know how Eugene gets Gram? Do you even care? Don't forget, in that section of the story, Kirito is basically a side character.)

[Excr]

Every time I read Excalibur I get an urge to throttle something. The spelling is ExcalibEr

Also, yeah, that one scene is amazing, but who NEEDS to know how that scene occurs? we weren't even shown how Kirito got elucidator in SAO(yes it is a monster drop, but it isn't shown.) So even if Kirito manages to wield Excaliber, not many people would care how he got that sword.(ok, admittedly it is a legendary weapon, but do you know how Eugene gets Gram? Do you even care? Don't forget, in that section of the story, Kirito is basically a side character.)

then they should just shorten it to Excr, if you don't mind.

Spoiler! :

anyway, we're still gonna see him summon the sword in the final battle. heck, summoning a sword is cooler than pulling it out of a rock.

the probability of a second season is thin? considering how masses view SAO as twilight for boys (and men).. as far as I know.

[Pryun]

Wow, talk about shameless self promotion!

But then we wouldn't be able to tell if we were talking about you or the sword...

Excr broke! Excr was stuck in an upside down tower! Kirito used Excr!

Not sure about second season, although it should have a good chance. The sales is quite high, after all...

[Excr]

Wow, talk about shameless self promotion!

But then we wouldn't be able to tell if we were talking about you or the sword...

Excr broke! Excr was stuck in an upside down tower! Kirito used Excr!

Not sure about second season, although it should have a good chance. The sales is quite high, after all...

nah, readers would probably understand that Excr refers to the sword.. and not by any means a pokemon.