Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online (SAO) is a Japanese light novel and anime series which follows the main protagonist, Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya as he fights to beat various Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (VRMMORPGs). The first series takes place in the year 2022 and follows his journey through the game entitled Sword Art Online, where the initial players were locked into the game through the VR technology and threatened with death should they be unplugged or die in the game.

Plot Summary

In an alternate universe in the year 2022, a VRMMORPG called Sword Art Online is released. On the initial launch day, 10,000 players log on, including one under the username Kirito. Kirito encounters another player, Kline, and teaches him the basics of the system which Kirito has learned by participating in the beta test of the game. After Kline attempts to log out but fails because the button is missing, the game master and creator, Akihiko Kayaba, transports all players into the town square. Here he announces that all players are stuck in the game and can only escape by beating the game; if players are forcibly removed from the system or die in the game, they will be killed in real life by the equipment, called nerve gear, they are using to play the game. Kayaba then uses data collected through the nerve gear to create accurate avatars for the users. With this last act, the users are released from the square and Kirito plays solo, using his knowledge from beta testing and past experience with VRMMORPGs, and moves on to the next town to find less scarce resources.

As the game progresses, players form guilds and teams. In order to defeat the first boss, Kirito joins a party with another character, Asuna Yūki, known in the game as Asuna. The group they are a part of uses information distributed by other beta testers, who are stigmatized as 'beaters', a combination of beta and cheater, and find the boss. Together, they defeat the boss, with the final strike from Kirito which earns him special gear to use in the game.

As the players progress, Kirito continues to play solo, working on the 'front lines' with powerful guilds and assault teams, encountering Asuna later on when she is the second in command of a powerful guild, Knights of the Red Oath. They fight over the use of Non-Playable Characters (npc) as decoys for monsters and later reconcile over Kirito's protection of Asuna when she falls asleep under a tree. Players start challenging others to duels while they are asleep, murdering them in the process, so it was possible for Asuna to be attacked unawares.

Their friendship is tested by those who hate beaters because of the advantages they had coming into the system. A member of the Knights of the Blood Oath, tasked with protecting Asuna, attacks Kirito after finding out that they formed a party again and intend to battle together on the front lines outside of the guild. Kirito beats the guard and he and Asuna head to the front lines, finding the boss. A guild from the lower floors appear, attempting to force Kirito to reveal the map data he's collected, but he relents quickly. The guild attempts to beat the boss, but are overpowered and kirito saves them, effectively beating the boss himself.

The commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath challenges Kirito to a duel and wins by secretly manipulating the game structure to allow him to move faster than Kirito. Kirito is forced to join the guild, and is nearly killed in the skills assessment challenge. As a result, he and Asuna decide to get married in the game and take a break from fighting. During the break, they meet a young girl named Yui who has lost her memory. By looking for her origin, they discover that she is a fully developed Artificial Intelligence program designed to monitor and assist users with mental health issues. She is shut down by the system after saving Kirito and Asuna from a powerful monster.

Kirito and Asuna return to the front lines to participate in a boss battle. Fourteen players die in the effort, and while recovering, Kirito realizes that the commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath is really Kayaba. After confronting him, Kayaba offers Kirito the opportunity to fight him, betting that if Kirito wins, that Kayaba will release all players. Kirito is successful, though not before he and Asuna die. However, Kayaba saves them and the series ends with Kirito heading off to find Asuna in the offline world.

Characters

• Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya - The main protagonist, is a beta tester, plays solo on the front lines, married to Asuna in game, and defeats the creator, setting the surviving players free.
• Asuna Yūki - Second in command for Knights of the Blood oath, married to Kirito in the game.
• Akihiko Kayaba - Creator of Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online, disguised as the commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath.
• Kline - Friend of Kirito and a leader of a guild himself. Plays on the front lines.
• Agil - Merchant and friends with Kirito, helps Kirito and participates in boss raids.
• Yui - an AI program, formally known as Mental Health Counseling Program, prototype 1. Treated like Kirito and Asuna's daughter.

Similar Works

Other works have explored similar material to Sword Art Online. Among other anime, shows like .hack//Sign, which explores identity formation through the main character who, unlike with SAO, is the only one trapped in a VRMMORPG.

In film, movies such as The Matrix and The Congress explore VR worlds and implications related to their known and unknown usage.

For books, the 1993 novel Killobyte explores a VR game wherein two players with medical conditions are targeted by a hacker who traps them in the game for harassment which, through their methods, could lead to the players' death. The 1964 novel Simulacron-3, also known as Counterfeit World, explores a world where a computer simulation of a world is used for market research and the inhabitants of said world are unaware of their purpose.

Criticism

Critics of the series enjoy the art and animation as well as the music score while critiquing the writing and characterization choices. Theron Martin of Anime News Network notes how the anime's adaptation from the light novels provides drawbacks as the novels were written out of chronological order and the anime's use of such order leaves the viewer feeling as if Kirito is a 'Gary Stu'. In Martin's review of the later half of the first arc, he notes that the series continues to exhibit 'structural inconsistencies, [and] irregular character behavior'. Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku initially praised the series initially for it's pacing, discussion of implications for living inside of a video game, diversity in genres, love story, and unexpected ending within the first arc, but critics the series for over use of tragic plot points and later, it's poor characterization of women.