the SAO progressive movie oh yes i was able to catch it like what a month and a half early
so non-spoiler review time. How was kirito? How was Asuna? Did going back to the original SAO
deliver? There is a lot to talk about so go ahead and dual blade that like and be sure to ring
the bell so youtube actually notifies you and a quick word from today's awesome sponsor Bokksu
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all of these while editing this video so tell me you're an Asuna fan without telling me you are
just ignore the others so i'm pretty happy this store is extremely strong for Asuna you get to see
asuna and her family even Asuna's Onii-chan you do get a taste of Asuna's troubles here and they're
worries about the incoming future you even see the origin of Asuna's trademark hairdo so there is a
ton to love with everything they do with Asuna in real life before actually getting into SAO
for a close comparison a lot of this reminded me of what you saw with Mother's Rosario for Asuna
if anything it does add this extra layer to Asuna that elevates future events. It does take its sweet
time you really do get to know Asuna and Mito the entire thing is really chef's kiss. honestly the
first hour this makes you feel really nostalgic i think a lot of you are going to be thinking SAO
season 1 should have been kicked off this way you get to truly see the SAO that Kayaba envisioned
i say you undoubtedly feels like an Isekai you got every single person living and breathing in this
new world log out be damned i really can't stress enough how the world building here is a wonderful
breath of fresh air. At the same time throughout this you do get chills at the dangers of this new
SAO reality it almost feels like every single thing out there is trying to drain your hp to the
last drop. You've seen that wolf crunching away at Asuna in the trailer it feels and sounds 10 times
worse on the big screen hell there's a particular scene that feels straight out of Goblin Slayer
bro SAO can be scary. Apart from the action one of the standout scenes for Asuna is really
just seeing her worries all coming together and then everything crashing down not much dialogue is
needed but it's really heightened by showing you visually this SAO progressive movie is titled
Aria on a Starless Night which spans the first floor in the original SAO progressive light novel
just to confirm the entire hour and a half run time is focused on the first floor in case
you're wondering since i still seen some confusion about how SAO progressive connects to the original
SAO anime definitely check out my in-depth video breaking down SAO progressive
that said having seen the movie you need to know this before going in from everything easily by far
SAO Progressive has been my favorite storyline since you not only get to see the original
characters fleshed out it pretty much gives equal love to Asuna and Kirito ultimately going back to
SAO being their story so now turning to this movie would you say in the trailers actually may be a
good indication of events to come unlike the light novels where they share roughly equal screen time
that is not the case in this movie which i think is going to be a real shocker for SAO Light Novel
readers and trust me i kept looking at my watch 10 minutes 25 minutes 40 minutes oh is
kirito even in this? Around the first hour this can be seen almost entirely as Asuna's point of view
what was Asuna up to during the first episode up until the start of the second one
which means you could pretty much add this on top of the first episode additional content you
do have Kirito popping up in scenes here and there but only briefly and at this point you
might be seeing the disconnect here naturally i had no issues with the focus being on Asuna
especially with SAO season 3 cutting so many scenes of hers but i could definitely see hardcore
Kirito fans or SAO fans in general having issues with Kirito taking a back seat in the first hour
as for Mito oh yes the latest SAO trailer is the most revealing about her thankfully that
just makes it easier for me i don't have to try to dance around spoilers yes Mito Asuna
are friends before even diving into the SAO death game oh yeah Rem has gotten his set guide into
SAO not like Rezero is using her and i know what you're wondering the causal question on everyone's
mind is who is Mito? This great flavor girl is a completely new character added specifically for
this movie for hopefully obvious reasons i gotta be vague here let me just say that mito is a
very lovely flawed character she does have this amazing chemistry with Asuna on top of
this none of her actions ever felt forced to me although i'm already predicting certain story
events surrounding her will leave some of you mixed for me her character and voice actress is
a lovely addition to the SAO family i mean there's something that happens between her and Asuna and
that's subtle but extremely touching and really props to her voice actors she's got great range
she barely sounds like that demon Maid. If i do want to guesstimate mito more or less has equal
screen time to Kirito by the way figure when i'm still waiting on that Quinella scale one
then for Kirito funny enough it feels like this guy's getting third billing here you know i like
Kirito so it's not much i complain given how much screen time he already got in SAO alicization
still how Kirito is handled is going to make some light novel readers question the choices it didn't
bother me while watching the movie but since then i have been reflecting more and more on this
this SAO movie does kick off with a new scene that does include Kirito but then he goes off to
do his own stuff you then really don't see him truly team up with Asuna until the Raid kickoff
meeting i'm estimating that Kirito is in maybe a third of the movie yet it feels a lot less since
at times Kirito is not given too much to do or the guy just happens to be in some scenes taking place
like the meeting you've heard my thoughts before on how i feel that Kirito has been mistreated or
sometimes outright shafted by the so anime let me not get that rant started again. Which is why at a
minimum it does feel like a missed opportunity for him i mean why not flesh out Kirito given how much
richness and development is shown for Asuna and Mito why can't Kirito get some of that love in
the anime that said to be fair i could actually see this being an easy fix next movie slash
floor maybe kicking off with the Kirito point of view flashback instead maybe include a certain
gardening quest that Kirito was involved in and truly flesh the guy out i'm not holding my breath
for this to actually happen but it is an option hell at this point i would take a blu-ray oni
original animation let me just stress that this was actually not an issue for me while watching
perhaps what a pin on this nitpick although i really don't think i'm gonna be the only one who
feels so much better could have been done for the black swordsman and i don't know maybe i just been
beaten down so much at this point trying to explain it to people who bring up issues that
are actually non-issues for SAO very likely just content the enemy skipped especially when trying
to talk to certain people who actually have an influence in the anime community or the anime
industry but Jerry didn't you say no rant right so positive stuff for Kirito i actually really
like the sort of things you do see with him when he is with Asuna like this young kid screwing up
he's so freaking shy in this movie you do see subtle defining quirks from both of them interacting
another thing to love is that the movie does hammer down just how torn up Kirito is about
the whole climb situation sorry Klein you're not a main character yet oh and i do think they handled
the jack scene better at the end of the raid boss fight speaking of which for argo Klein Argo, Liz,
and Silica they get like a quick cameo except for like Agil for obvious boss fight reasons
but touching specifically on Argo since a ton of you are asking about her i would highly just
recommend that assume that Argo is not even in this otherwise your heart is going to be ripped
apart i do really love Argo so i felt her missing i just hope hardcore SAO fans don't hold it against
Mito for this for Kiba and not Eldrie i'll just say they're not too different than what you saw
in episode 2. Anyway switching to another positive the animation as any hardcore SAO fan will tell
you we've been eating good ever since that leap in animation for the first seo movie then we've
gotten so many god-tier animation scenes in the recent SAO season 3. out of all of the so so far
this most reminded me of SAO Ordinal Scale which i would bet you that was intentional everything
looks so gorgeous on the big screen even on imax you do see some wonderful display of sword skills
emphasis on the art part that said even with that beefed-up thick boss i don't really think
there was any true god tier animations nothing on the level of Bercouli or Goddess Asuna which i
will put it out there i think we've been spoiled with so many great scenes last season which is
not a loss overall the raid boss look like day and night compared to the original SAO season 1 fight
the actual floor fight itself is pretty long the music the animation all this makes it much more
intensive too it really gave me a vibe of them fighting the floor 74 boss. Talking about the
music Yuki Kajiura returns once again he got me worshiping at the altar of this musical goddess
she does not miss it felt like some of the soundtrack were updated and improved versions of
past ones not to mention some new divine tunes for SAO what had a great combo of new ones was easily
would play during the boss fight i can't wait for the full soundtrack to be released on day one
also major props to the sound design oh my Stacia from the sword skills activating to two
swords clashing it was bone chilling especially in imax it really sent me back to my SAO Ordinal
scale experience years back alright so get over here LiSA she's back too and in case you don't
know let me just mention how much i freaking adore LiSA she's given us this embarrassment of riches
she's got quite the anime resume i almost started this part saying that i want to really go see LiSA
live someday but technically i have a few times i've just been to so many SAO events at this point
where she's been there actually while editing this video i've been going down lisa's soundtrack the
closest i think this new one sounds like is Saikai so if you haven't definitely give that a listen
but anyway a lot of you are expecting Crossing field 2. sorry just toss that out right now
Lisa's song here doesn't sound anything like it actually has a more ending feel to it and
maybe it's just a consequence of her own success from her work on SAO Demon Slayer recently faint
so let me just stress that while i don't think it's up there i did like it you know i'm going to
be playing this non-stop when it comes out. We'll see where it lands as for some other positives i
really did like the foreshadowing or really just laying down the foundation to make future events
that much more impactful like you might see a player do something in town or in a dungeon
and you're gonna pick up on what that ties into right away i also need to mention a certain fan
service scene that is really well done light novel readers might know except how they pulled it off
was so classy it comes off more like a work of art i might even wager that youtube wouldn't ding
you for showing it on screen and for the entire hour and a half run time i do think the movie is
really well paced there's practically no scenes that drag on alright so tons of positives now
let's get into more sensitive matters the SAO light novel and there is a manga let me just tell
you that on purpose i did not re-read the line or manga i really didn't want to make this constant
comparison while watching it for me it has been a good while i do vaguely recall the events but
i do think the manga and light novel stuff is just jumbo in my coconut not to mention you know about
the bajillion other isekai and fantasy light novels that i've read since so did Kirito
use explosion on the white whale? then Asuna used her curse shield to block the thick skeleton magic.
if you do have that stuff fresh with all the skipped scenes the cut content and certain small
and bigger changes towards the end you're gonna be instantly on the lookout i mean even with my vague
recollection i notices the first hour does include a hell of a lot of new scenes for me though
while the last like third includes some pretty significant changes it just has me wondering what
is Reki planning long term. I actually really enjoyed the additions that were made to make
the story tighter and also had more weight to certain elements at the same time some of the
bigger changes distracted me at times you've heard me talk about before how the SAO story keeps on
getting updated SAO Progressive being a prime example and hopefully more people just get used
to at this point than SAO is this living document of a story so what should you do i actually might
go as far as saying to not read the light novel before watching this if you do love SAO only
do highly encourage you to read it but hold off to after otherwise whether you like or hate the
changes during the movie you're just gonna have this constant distraction taking your attention
i do actually suggest you re-watch episode 1. as a very huge positive here the movie does seem to
take more from the light novel than the manga i didn't notice certain annoying manga only scenes
gonna have to double check later and by the way if you do want to actually see this future comparison
for the light novel and manga let me know by smashing the like and tell me below if there's
enough demand from you it will happen come on give me this awesome excuse to do another SAO video
anyway getting into some nitpicks two mild ones the first one really just involves some various
scenes redone here you're gonna be watching and waiting expecting this more fleshed out version
but it doesn't happen as a positive at least there are some welcome updates like the asuna
bread scene and two i don't think i'm gonna be the only one thinking about this in a recent video you
heard me mention the anime movie situation business anyways it just makes so much sense
run the times aside but since the movie i have reflected a bit on this i just can't help but
wonder how would this actually look as a tv anime the movie right now is around 4.5 anime episodes
5 rounding up. If you actually made this uneven 6 that could have given you extra time to flash out
kirito's point of view like show Kirito training show the guys in her struggles and downs i mean
just for me as a huge SAO fan it would be really nice to have something to point towards some
version of this in the anime i mean you've likely seen it too it is super frustrating when certain
people write off Kirito when he's literally one of the most hardworking characters in current
anime media you know i always like to ask is this anime of the year because just going into this
movie i thought hmm there is a really good chance after coming out i'm very very satisfied but i
don't think it has that number one spot for me and i think it actually has less to do with this movie
more just this year being super jam-packed but who knows we'll see what happens i'm gonna be watching
this what another five ten times anyway should you watch you might be like Jerry are you joking any
hardcore Asuna and SAO fan definitely should on day one but please keep in mind what i said about
the changes especially for SAO light novel readers this is totally Asuna's movie you get much more of
Asuna to love and another layer that makes her this excellent written character hopefully you
get to see more of this even split between the two next floor to come. So let me know how hyped
are you for this movie? Are you happy hearing that you're gonna be getting a ton of Asuna
are you not so happy to hear about how Kirito is handled? And let me just say this i think unrelated
to the actual movie itself you might have heard me just quickly mention it or see my post about it
but i really haven't been feeling well these last two months not getting into the actual details but
it's just been everything going on around me not related to the actual channel although the extra
stress of getting these out weekly definitely hasn't helped so what another positive coming
out of this movie made me extremely happy so once again thank you SAO oh and in case anyone's
wondering about this potential sequel or post credit sorry no post credit this is not marvel
at least none for the early screening that said you do get tons of teases and foreshadowing
throughout the movie i would almost guarantee it that seo will return not to mention the obvious
second floor coming as to whether that's gonna be a tv anime or this movie route i mean SAO
Ordinal scale already did great in theaters then the blu-rays so like vr pancakes which is why i
would keep my money on SAO Progressive keeping the movie around like one per floor maybe one
every one or two years and definitely consider giving Bokksu a try i've been munching away at
their snacks editing this video but anyway more important let me know how hyped you are
do post any spoiler question or any question about the event down below but don't forget
SAO is not the only anime coming out. Go ahead and check out my top hyped anime for the fall season
just cross SAO off that list subscribe ring the bell and i'll see you guys later!