Sword Art Online

[Aulayna]

I stumbled across this on Netflix a couple of days ago. It's an Anime about people who get trapped inside a Virtual Reality MMORPG, where if they die in game they die in real life too and the only way to escape is to get to floor 100 and beat the boss to clear the game. If the VR headsets are removed by anyone it also causes the player to die. It's a pretty interesting concept, and it really nails some of the jokes and cliches about MMORPGs and what people get up too once they realise that they actually are trapped inside a virtual world.

The Anime is pretty solid up until episode 15 where it veers off course somewhat and begins entering Japanese fetish territory.

It's based off a Manga I believe, with the first 14 episodes supposedly being like 50 episodes worth of content condensed into 14 episodes.

Either way I'd recommend checking it out. It's by no means the greatest anime ever made, and it certainly has a fair few flaws. But if you want some switch off entertainment, especially if you play MMOs, it's worth a look. I plan on actually making an effort to dig out the manga from somewhere.

It also has a pretty cool opening credits roll:

bUSwH8gsx4I

There's a 2nd season too which isn't on Netflix yet, so I haven't watched it and apparently a 3rd season has been commissioned too.

Has anyone else here seen it?

[rarity]

Ahh, I love this show. I couldn't get into the second lot, but the original lot was really good. The artwork is stunning too.

[krissy]

Yeah before it became a hentai show it was OK
Very cliche but well directed
Should've stopped after one season

[Pumpkin]

I didn't like it. Everything seemed way too rushed and it didn't leave me time to care about certain characters. Plus it reminded me of .hack//SIGN except not as good.

If other people like it though, great. I don't exactly have the best taste x)

[Tavrobel]

Ohh, look, it's Sinon's Ass Online.

[Karifean]

It was pretty enjoyable.

[Ergroilnin]

It's actually based of Novels, not manga, which may seem like a nitpicking but novels don't really get translated from Japanese that much and even then I'm talking about fan translations. There is almost none novels with actual English releases which is sad because most people don't care enough to read the original without pretty pictures on fan sites.

As for me, I loved it before the end of the first half of the first season. Afterwards it just seemed to me like a wasted time. I didn't watch the second season yet but with all I am reading about it on the web, I am probably not ever going to watch it anyway...

[Mirage]

oh, so it's .hack

[krissy]

Hero kun I'm your sister and I'm in love with you it's OK I'm adopted
Hero kun I'm your lover so save me from a sexism deviant who is also evil and r rich
Hero kun now we have a daughter
Blah blah
Heron kun why are you zero character development you are just perfect all the time kiss me meow
BTW new game were not fairies and btw new game it's now guns
Heron kun it's still me your sister what about our tension I thought we had something
Heron kun nnnnnnnn

[Fox]

I love Sword Art Online. Well, parts of it. Season 1 up until the end of the first arc I loved, and season 2 after the end of the first arc I love. The stuff in between has its moments but is largely disappointing.

I mainly like to watch it as a romance anime to be honest. Yeah the action and stuff is cool, but its the relationship with Kirito and Asuna where the real heart of the show lies. Hence why the Gun Gale Online arc, with no Asuna at all, kinda sucked.

[Shauna]

YOU DIE IN THE GAME YOU DIE IN REAL LIFE

There are about a million of these animu, a new one every season and I tend to avoid them for some reason. I have only heard bad things overall about SAO so I don't think I'll ever give it a chance.

.hack on the other hand is one I may look into.

[Chibi Youkai]

I think it's a pretty good series. The fairy dance arc left a lot to be desired, but the GGO arc was really good. Mother's Rosario has been good too, it's very Asuna-centric and helps bring her back from being the helpless character she became in fairy dance.

[krissy]

There's a fourth game now???

[Chibi Youkai]

No, there's still three. They go back to Alfheim after Gun Gale.