*Spoiler Warning*
Sword Art Online as an anime is a bit like marmite, you either love it, or you hate it and unfortunately, the majority of people hate it. It takes place several years in the future when true virtual reality is no longer a dream and a games console called NerveGear is on the market, a headset that stimulates all five senses into believing you are in the game which is called full dive technology. Enter Sword Art Online, a virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game, VRMMORPG for short, played on the NerveGear, which allows players to control their in-game character with their mind. On the day of its release, ten-thousand players bought Sword Art Online and logged in for the first time, only to find they were trapped in the game; their only way of escape, defeating the boss on the hundredth floor of Aincrad, the world of SAO.
If the players die in the game or forcibly remove the headset, however, the NerveGear would emit a powerful microwave, effectively frying their brain and killing them in real life. Throughout the show, we follow Kirigaya 'Kirito' Kazuto on his journey, a 14-year-old boy involved in the BETA program for SAO and one of the many that logged in on release day. The plot of the first arc grabbed a lot of people's attention, partly because many of the viewers had presumably played games at some point but also as a result of the gritty story which presented itself to us. It is for this reason, that once the story deviated from being a death game, people got turned off from the show. I was instantly hooked and unlike most, remained that way for the rest of the anime.
Sadly, I believe there was a misunderstanding behind the real meaning behind this anime; yes, it does start off as a death game, yet, that is only the beginning to set up the rest of the story. One of the main themes of SAO is much more relatable than just being stuck in a game, I find it revolves around the need to escape reality. Throughout the series, we see Kirito throw himself into multiple full dive games after being stuck in Aincrad for so long. His reality had become embedded in a game, the traumatic experience and his many struggles during that time causing him to see VR games as his true reality.
Even though it’s a virtual world, I feel more alive in here than I ever did in the real world. - Kirito
I've always wondered if this mindset happened specifically after his stint in Aincrad, however, after rewatching SAO a few times, I've come to realise that Kirito wanted to avoid reality even before he played Sword Art Online. We can see that his escapism is specifically linked to VR games, as in Sword Art Online:Ordinal Scale he is reluctant in playing the new game Ordinal Scale as it is played on a new headset in augmented reality, not VR, so to him it wouldn't technically be an escape from reality. It is only when the bosses from Sword Art Online appear that he eventually joins in, once again solidifying that Aincrad is his reality.
There are other characters which also use the full dive experience to escape reality; Sinon struggles with PTSD in the real world, so uses the game Gun Gale Online to attempt a feeling of normality when faced with her fear. Yuuki, a girl infected with HIV from a bad blood transfusion, uses full dive to avoid her physical pain and leave the confinement of her hospital room, surrounding herself with people she loves, escaping the reality that she is slowly dying until eventually, she dies without pain or suffering. Asuna escapes into games to evade the pressures placed upon her by an overbearing mother, planning Asuna's life out for her and not allowing any deviation from that plan; in games, Asuna is allowed to be free from her responsibilities, especially from the arranged marriage her family had set up, truly being herself, not confined by the strict rules laid out by her mother.
Once we reach the second arc of the show, when Kirito plays ALfheim Online, the story behind his family in the real world is revealed. A year after his birth, he was adopted by his aunt and uncle as a result of his biological parents passing away in an accident; from then on, he was raised by his foster parents as one of their own. At the age of ten, Kirito discovers the truth about his adoption, which we can see plays a big part in his mentality; he distances himself from them in an attempt to not get hurt any further. This spills over into his everyday relationships, not allowing himself to get attached to anyone, but instead turning to video games to fill the gap. It isn't until he plays Sword Art Online that he finally opens up and even then, to begin with, it's difficult for him. In the first episode of the show, we experience Kirito push Klein away for fear of getting attached and potentially seeing him die. He continues as a solo player through the episodes until eventually, the Moonlit Black Cats, a small low-level guild, essentially force him to join them. Kirito's demeanour relaxes as he spends more time with them, allowing them into his heart and he gets especially close to Sachi, a player he likens to his cousin. Their deaths, Sachi's in particular, have a huge effect on him, causing Kirito to pull away from others again.
Asuna is, for all intents and purposes, is Kirito's saviour. The bond they build over the course of the first half of SAO helps him realise it's okay to love and lose than to never love at all; it's okay to have an emotional attachment to other people. His marriage to Asuna sparks him to become more open-hearted and allow other people in, expanding the number of relationships Kirito allows himself to form. This brings out an especially strong will, prepared to do whatever it takes to protect the ones he loves. When Asuna is held captive in ALfheim, he pushes himself to find her, stopping at nothing and surpassing each trial and tribulation until he saves her. After his ordeal in Aincrad, Kirito begins to mend the relationship he has with his cousin Suguha as an attempt to redeem mistakes he made in the past. I admire this side of SAO, as it tries to express the power of love, not only in a romantic sense, but also a love for companions and a love for family, showing the effect it can have on a person and giving meaning to the actions different characters make.
The gorgeous scenery built by Sword Art Online is exactly what I imagine a VRMMORPG to look like; an expansive and detailed landscape with endless possibilities for exploration. A-1 pictures' artists manage to capture the essence and majesty of a fantasy world perfectly, recreating what we feel when entering an MMORPG. The world is consistent throughout, meticulously detailed and animated in such a way, that you could easily get lost in the environment. By all means, compared to today's standards and especially the newer seasons of this show, the visuals do look a little dated, but back when I first watched, I was mesmerised by what SAO was offering.
Ultimately though, I believe my love for Sword Art Online stems from a deep-rooted nostalgia towards the show; even now, watching the new seasons, I am reminded of how I felt when I first sat down to enjoy it. The fact that I can repeatedly come back and find new things to love, still feeling the same way I did when I first watched SAO says a lot about the anime; I hope that I will always feel this way.
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