SWORD ART ONLINE: ORDINAL SCALE

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME ActionSword Art Online II
ANIME ActionSword Art Online: Alicization
MANGA ActionGekijouban Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale
SPECIAL ComedySword Art Online: Ordinal Scale - Sword Art Offline

REVIEWS

• 

  beanwolf

  60/100
  The best thing yet from the SAO pantheon... but SAO is always still going to be SAO. And that's the problem.

  So this isn't exactly an airing show, but it DID release in this past winter season and I DID pay a whopping $15 to go see it, so I figured I'd share my thoughts on it. I was and always will be someone who will at least partially defend the Aincrad arc of the original SAO; it wasn't anything great from a narrative standpoint and had one hell of an ass-pull to cap it off, but it was executed very well and was a very aesthetically pleasing experience. Hell, SAO is what got me back into watching anime in college, and even if it is an over-hyped, well-polished turd (especially Fairy Dance and season two), I can at the very least respect its popularity. As someone who went in to Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale with this very prototypical anime-snob opinion of SAO at the ready, I have to say that I was honestly surprised.

  Now don't get it twisted here, Ordinal Scale is very firmly still SAO. The overall plot is forgettable, and simply a vehicle to get us into fights and show Kirito and Asuna in romance sequences. You still have your array of stupid and useless characters like Lizbeth and Silica. The plot is still incredibly forced and laden with ass-pulls and plot conveniences. Yui "Deus-Ex Machina Incarnate" still fucking exists to call Kirito "papa". This is all that stupid shit that makes SAO..., well, SAO, and without it I don't think that the series would be as monolithically popular is it is. If you stripped ALL that crap out, you'd have one of the most drop-dead gorgeous, technically impressive, and great sounding anime action movies that I have ever fucking seen in my LIFE, but all that "SAO bullshit" just drags you out of the experience and straight into the gutter. The ending fight in particular, where it's essentially just pure fanservice and bad-assery highlighting every character in the cast, was the most hype I have ever felt about SAO and likely ever will be. That is, unless they somehow kill off every male character, bring Yuuki back to life, and make a slice-of-life about her and Asuna living together.

  And it's worth noting here that I'm not even ragging on the Kirito/Asuna romance, which seems to ALWAYS be a point of criticism when discussing this series. Their relationship was always more well thought out and respectable than any offering from SAO's contemporaries, which has always been due in part to the fact that Asuna is far and away the best character. I can say without shame that their romance sections of this movie were definitely the plot highlights for me, giving Kirito a chance to act like an actual fucking human instead of a faceless edgedark husk of a killing machine. Their relationship is a far cry from something like Toradora's Taiga and Ryuji, but Asuna and Kirito are believable and charming enough in a world where everyone still plays video games despite almost being brutally murdered inside one.

  If you're an SAO mega-fan and think that I'm an asshole for even attempting to criticize it, get the fuck out of your house and see this movie right now, preferably in the nicest theater you can. It'll be everything that you ever wanted, and it's a true sequel to the Aincrad arc for the series. Those who are more on my side of things should still go see it, as I'd say it's a technical marvel for a mainstream anime movie that didn't come flowing out of Miyazaki's skull. This is the best thing to come out of the SAO franchise since its initial adaptation, and although that might not be much more than "meh", at least it keeps bringing along something that's nice to look at and listen to. One day, it would be nice to see this series shake off the bullshit and grow into its aesthetic.

  ...but SAO will always still be SAO, and that's the fucking problem.

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• 

  biogundam

  51/100
  maybe season 3 wont be shit, but i wont hold my breath.

  Warning this review may contain spoilers.

  First impressions, so I guess I am back again to review my favorite trainwreck series but now in movie format yyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Let's just get this shit show rolling.

  Story: 4/10
  The film starts with our Lord and savior Kirito-sama joyfully reaping the benefits of his labors after the defeat of Death Gun, the reclaiming of the sword Excalibur and getting family permission to fuck asuna in real life. While kirito has been busy enjoying his day to day life. a new game has taken the world by a storm named Ordinal Scale a game that mergers the real-life world with virtual reality technology. Kirito who been living under a rock lately knows nothing about this new game until asuna and the harem club tell him about it and convince him to join in on the fun. As kirito and friends join in on this new fad they soon learn that things are not as they appear with odd accidents are happening to Sao players and an even more mysterious ghost-like girl who is appearing in front of kirito. Now the scales of destiny have started tipping and it time for Kirito to do what he does best solve video game related mysteries.
  So sword art online ordinal was hyped to be sword art online redemption to the mainstream crowd who have been arguably cynical about this franchise.
  By fixing the problems that I myself and quite a few people have about the series as a whole and with the added bonus apparently focusing more on kirito and asuna relationship. And I be honest when I first heard that's what they were Promising I didn't really have high hopes because Star Wars online pretty much destroyed any sense of hope in me that sword art online would be considered quote-unquote good. But despite my cynicism life seems to still surprise me because this movie by in large actually delivered on what it actually promised people. Like for example kirito not being overpowered and actually focusing on kirito and Asuna relationship. Which in that regard I feel it did an ok job at that which I will go into more detail later. But other than that regard I do feel that the storyline and plot was a little underwhelming and lackluster, to say the least. The basic story and plot are basically about this dude who using the game ordinal scale to gather the memories or PTSD from the sword art online players in order to bring back his dead girlfriend Yuna as an A.I. And even if I find this idea of people using technology to download themselves Onto a computer to keep themselves alive interesting and it also kinda hints there some sort techno afterlife that's going on in the background. But The main plot falls apart when you think about how exactly is other people memories and experiences of sword art online going to bring your girlfriend back to life exactly. Even if she in this a.l data format it still wouldn't work because those aren't her memories or her experiences and even if she had interaction with some of the people that they stole memories and experiences from it still wouldn't work because it, not her memories or experiences it's someone else point of view Not hers so the reasoning is pure grade bullshit. Now the kirito and Asuna relationship thing and kirito being less overpower which was quite hyped until this movie release I feel that it was a little overrated and didn't really amount to much in the grand scheme of things. Like Asuna loosening her memories and experiences from sword art online would make an interesting catalyst to test the waters of kirito and Asuna relationship because of that where they fell in love and I feel that conflict has enough emotional payoff for you to care slightly about what is going on. But at the same time, I kinda feel That it's a little overdramatized and doesn't really have much of a conflict with it. Kirito and Asuna aren't going to break up or are going through this rough stage of their relationship because of this memory loss issue The only conflict is that maybe this memory loss thing may get worse and spread to more parts of her memories. this is where feel they fucked up because what they should have done is made her lose all her memories of kirito and the rest of that conflict was kirito trying to keep their relationship together and it would have made his quest to get her memories back by becoming the top player of ordinal scale more impactful as the way they present it in the movie is very cringe-worthy at to say the least as there are scenes where kirito is playing and acting like a complete crazy man Because as well know video games are serious business, and if you don't take them seriously you are a newb that won't get good at games or get the girls. But besides that story wise there isn't much majorly wrong with it besides those things I mentioned.
  Of course, other small nit pics I have are that the info dumps are fucking mind-numbingly boring that I would prefer to watch paint dry as these infodump scenes slow down the pacing and the fact there is multiple info dumps scene in a two-hour-ish movie just showcases how shit the writing. Also after all the shit that people went through with the sword art online and dart gun incidents, You would think that the government at this point would keep an eye on new technology that involved video games. Because guess what this new device that people use to play ordinal scale can kill you wohhhhhhh mind fucking blown and the only reason why there were no deaths is because kirito and the government stopped it before it reached that point.

  Characters, 5/10
  Kirito is his usual self-insert self. But this time he actually has more of a personality, And for once we actually see him struggle for a bit with a conflict that is out of his control and he actually has to try really hard to get what he wants. Like it just shows that even if he quite strong and intelligent there still things that he can't beat alone without him giving it his all. Which is nice to see but it does really amount to anything and it's just another example of sword art online classic wasted potential moments.

  Another thing I want to address is Asuna is more relevant and actually shows the combat skills that made her this vice commander of the Knights of blood oath in the first place. In fact she actually a little stronger than kirito in ordinal scale and she actually even kicks quite a bit of ass. Which I liked and even after the memory loss thing they still treat her character with respect and not just some damsel in distress that needs to be saved all the time by our lord and saviour kirito Which I also like and I feel she was handled a lot better in this movie than the rape fairy arc or all of season two. Also before I move onto the side characters, I want to talk about Yuna quickly. And I like what she brings to the table it just to me she isn't that interesting and I didn't really give a shit about her anyway because I have no reason to care. So The Side characters The usual crew is back again nothing much has really changed. Except like Asuna there all made more relevant and actually do something instead of being fodder or mouthpieces until kirito shows up to rekt shit. Like they all showcase their abilities as well and it nice they have a role and do it well, Like at the end there this one scene where they all fighting this massive boss monster and they all work together to kill it and during that fight, they used teamwork and even saved each other a few times from video game death Which was nice to have. So the main villain or should I say man villains are a massive step up form. I don't know why I did this guy, rape fairly and darth gun. Eiji the dude who getting the memories for bringing his girlfriend back. His reasoning is understandable and even though he does questionable things to reach that goal. He not evil and a bad guy he just wants his girlfriend back and even if that kinda simple and basic it's a lot better than rapey dude. And the other villain Dr. Shigemura. He basically a dude full of guilt because he blames himself for his daughter Yuma death in sword art online because he brought her the nerve gear thing for her birthday which lead to her death. And even he is understandable and not exactly an evil person he wants to bring his daughter back to life even if he has to harm others and even if he is also basic and simple it's still 100x better than rape guy.

  Art, 8/10
  The animation is god tier and it looks like it was animated by the gods. The background is so clean and crip that would want to make a wallpaper out of it. There also really good CGI that doesn't clash with the animation. the fight scenes are really good and even if I find them a little too flashy for my liking. It still looks pretty cool to watch and some decent fight choreography as well, with people using teamwork or fets of combat prowess. I am not exactly a big fan of there new VR form character designs because they don't have much of a personality to them anymore and I kinda which they did. Because gun gale form had more personality to them and they looked cool because it reminded me of fallout.

  Sound: 8/10
  The ost, by Yuki Kajiura, was fucking amazing as always and easily one of the redeeming aspects of this movie. Even by the standard, she’s set in the past though, I was astonished to see how above and beyond she went with the quality of the soundtrack this time around. My favorite piece of this movie’s ost was probably delete, an extremely divine sounding track, making the contents of the movie feel a lot grander. It was also extremely pleasant to see that a few old favourites were revived for this movie, such as swordland All in all, ordinal scale has a lot of outstanding tracks that are amazing to listen too and do an excellent job of making the movie they go with feel like it has some weight to it, despite the actual narrative contents.

  Enjoyment: 6/10
  The bare-bones story and lacking characters, unfortunately, prevented me from getting really invested in the vision that this movie was trying to realize, but nevertheless, it at least gets a cookie for presentation. I really enjoyed this movie and I would recommend it to anyone who just wants a nice action movie to watch. SAO as a whole is never lacking in the spectacle department and this movie definitely brings it. The fight scenes, in combination ost, especially make for some excellent popcorn material, but other than that nothing really got my interest.

  Overall: 5/10

  Conclusion:
  Was this the big redemption for the franchise that it was hyped up to be? Well yes and no. A lot of the series’ has had in the past major problems were taken away, but I still feel like this movie was pretty bare bones and underwhelming considering what’s been done in this franchise before. It’s certainly a step in the right direction and if they keep this up then maybe sword art online won't be such a meme in future. But a step in the right direction doesn’t equate to a good end-product and I don't have high hopes for season 3, but who knows, this series may shock me once again.
  Special thanks to my pain in yu-gi-oh cards editor, Lonecrit.

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• 

  Cinephile

  50/100
  High Production Value Cannot Save This Mess

  Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale is the best movie about Augmented Reality since compilation videos of people falling off of things playing Pokemon GO. It’s two hours of all your favorite things associated with SAO: underdeveloped characters, Gary Stu Kirito, nonsensical plot, a villain with ridiculous motivation, and the romantic equivalent of watching a pickle and a pickle in a wig make out.

  It starts promising enough. Kirito and the Trope Troop are into a new piece of technology called an Augma that is pretty much Google Glass. It allows you to play a fantasy video game in the real world while walking around town, earning promotions and such for ranking up in game. At this point in the movie I was pretty happy and content. It’s a decent idea, even if I think it’s ridiculously far-fetched to think that this type of technology would be used en masse after the events of SAO.

  Spoilers ahead for those of you who actually want to sit through this dumpster fire.

  It turns out that the guy who created the Augma has sent out a former SAO player to beat up players in the real world so that the monsters inside the fantasy game defeat the player and said player loses his memory. Because the bad guy’s plot is to steal the memories of former SAO players, upload them to a database, and recreate his daughter who died during the SAO incident using said memories.

  This begs a number of questions. First of all, if this technology has the capacity to steal memories and leave a person with irreparable brain damage, why the fuck was it allowed on the market? After the SAO incident, you’d think anything that is able to connect directly to the brain would be vetted extremely well (but apparently they still sell Amuspheres...because those things weren’t the cause of 4000 deaths or anything).

  Secondly, if you have the technology to steal people’s memories and upload them as data, why not just copy their memories? That way you can recreate your daughter without going to all the trouble of having people get defeated by monsters before you can steal the memory.

  Third, why are SAO players playing Ordinal Scale? After being trapped in a life-or-death video game for so long I have a hard time believing that nearly every SAO player would happily pick up anything that transports them to a virtual world. “Oh, I nearly died playing a video game, but fuck it! I’m gonna keep playing video games that are out to kill me!”

  Fourth, why can’t the bad guy remotely steal the memories? If he’s going to steal them, why go to all the trouble to have the player be defeated by a boss monster when you could just figure out who is an SAO player, tag them, and steal their memory remotely? In fact, this would make a lot of sense considering I’ll assume that not every player of SAO who was trapped in-game is from the immediate city area Kirito and friends are at. Or maybe SAO was only released to a tiny demographic of people in a tiny portion of Japan to make plot happen in future arcs.

  Fifth, why steal the memories of every SAO player in order to recreate your daughter as an AI? I’m going to assume that the vast majority of players didn’t know her, let alone remember who she is. This point alone makes the plan so stupid I couldn’t take the last half hour of the movie seriously.

  The catalyst for the rising action of the movie is that Asuna is defeated and starts losing her memories. So Kirito goes out of his way to defeat the bad guys and return the memories stolen from her. Because the catalyst for the action hinges on my suspension of disbelief surrounding circumstances found in a sci-fi b-movie from the 80s, the emotional resonance that is meant to be felt for Kirito’s desperate struggle for his fiancee is lost entirely.

  The end of the movie has Kirito confronting the “assassin” character sent out by the main bad guy to do the dirty work. He was in love with Yuna, the daughter of the villain. In a fight for the memories of his future wife and payback for the pain she has been put through...Kirito turns on the AR device and fights the dude in AR. They are both physically present inside the room. They could both duke it out man-to-man. But that wouldn’t be stupid enough. So here’s a sword fight in a parking lot.

  Then it turns out that in order to return everyone’s memories, the characters have to defeat the 100th floor boss of SAO. This makes sense because the movie needs to have a pathetic attempt at emotional manipulation by forcing all the heroes of the series to show up to fight a monster inside of a game they thought they’d never return to. So as they do a deep dive using their AR headsets (Why can the Augma be used as a deep dive device? Because fuck you!), their clothing is changed to reflect their “iconic” outfits. Cue the fan favorite side characters who show up to help out for no reason. Cue up Yuuki’s ghost manifesting. And cue the theater full of teenagers crying and clapping hysterically because they recognize things. Because we are at a point in human history where merely recognizing things is enough to trigger emotional responses from people.

  Anyway, the final plan for this guy was to get all of the former SAO players to show up to an idol concert because, again, every SAO player has an Augma (to the story’s credit, they all got a free Augma for being an SAO survivor. Not to the story’s credit: WHY THE FUCK WOULD SURVIVORS PLAY WITH IT AFTER WHAT THEY WENT THROUGH? “Sorry you nearly died playing a video game, have another video game!”) and lives in the immediate vicinity of the story’s action. Suddenly, monsters attack the concert as our villain stands over everything watching people’s memories get ripped from their brains and uploaded, all to recreate his daughter. Because that’s enough motivation to become a potential mass murderer.

  Thankfully Kirito saves the day and the police, who were too busy arresting me for watching Eromanga Sensei, finally show up the moment Kirito has saved the world.

  You know...the police could have intervened way earlier...the government could have told everyone to not use Augmas because they will give you brain damage.

  But nah. In fact, the government and police of Japan are so inept, Augma’s are still being used even after it was found out they can steal memories, replace memories, and do pretty much every plot device from Ghost in the Shell (which begs the question, are all the characters actually androids or cyborgs? Do they all have cyberbrains? Because you can’t rip memories out of someone’s biological brain using a device that you take on and off like a headband).

  I wish I had one of those Augma’s to rip my memories of watching this steaming pile. I feel like I lost IQ points watching Ordinal Scale; and given my anime viewing habits I don’t have many more to give. This movie continues Sword Art’s streak of good ideas being ruined by the incompetence of a writer who doesn’t know how to craft a sensible plot grounded in a realistic world. I can forgive the fact that this AR tech would be extremely dangerous to use in real life (getting hit by cars, falling down stairs, all kinds of potential hazards), especially if it changes your perception entirely to that of a fantasy world. I mean, that was my first major question but for the sake of enjoyment I can let it slide.

  Sword Art Online as a franchise has a problem and this movie exemplifies it: the games are cool and the technology is interesting but the author feels the need to constantly push over-the-top villains and real world drama into a show that would be better as a slice-of-life about an overpowered cardboard cutout and his harem playing a variety of futuristic video games. Mother’s Rosario continues to be the only shining spot in SAO’s history purely because it didn’t have some ridiculous villain and stupid stakes. It was applying the technology to a realistic situation and building characters through slice-of-life drama rather than action drama.

  I’m not a baseless SAO hater. I actually like quite a few facets of the series. But I also can’t brainlessly fanboy over something that gives the middle finger to my capacity for thought. The promise at the end of Ordinal Scale that SAO will return is a double-edged sword. I’m excited to see the game the author creates next but I’m terrified by the stakes he’ll attach to it.

  Ordinal Scale is a bad movie with high production values and a couple good ideas here and there. It’s pretty much on par with the stupidity of every arc that came before (and nowhere near as good as Mother’s Rosario). The stupid plot, the desperate appeal to emotions at the end, and the weak motivation of the villain leaves the only real reason to watch this the two seconds of Asuna’s nipple you see in that one shot where they show her leaving the bathtub. Because they couldn’t cut it when the audience intuits that she is going to leave to do something, you have to physically see her leave the tub. And see her nipple.

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