![Why Sword Art Online Is Better Than You Think (SAO Defense) [Full]](/images/yt/nl/why-sword-art-online-is-better-than-you-think-sao-defense-wpqaq.jpg)
Why Sword Art Online Is Better Than You Think (SAO Defense) [Full]
41SPOILERS FOR ALL MAIN SEASONS, especially War of Underworld 2!
Yes, you heard right! This is a video essay defending Sword Art Online, popularized by the four-season anime, against the most common critiques. I will be discussing all major critiques in detail:
00:00 Introduction (https://youtu.be/LioXDezUCII)
01:40 1. SAO is a Harem Anime. (“sao is harem”) (https://youtu.be/yOGvKU_6SDs )
07:59 2. Kirito is a bland and overpowered protagonist. (“mc is op and boring”) (https://youtu.be/HQYeHShxey0 )
14:28 3. Asuna is a stereotyped character without plot importance. (“asuna is stupid tsundere no one cares”) (https://youtu.be/_SQwnGd8Om8 )
19:24 4. Suguha (Leafa) being in love with Kirito is disgusting and unnecessary. (“eww elf incest”) (https://youtu.be/buvaHhgyb84 )
21:05 5. The antagonists are bland and uninteresting. (“the bad guys suck”) (https://youtu.be/4hsyhfOUSjs )
30:14 6. A lot of important stuff doesn’t make sense. (“wtf happened i dont understand”) (https://youtu.be/VJEMb98MYDM )
38:33 Conclusion (https://youtu.be/ZlnKEt6Vy-A )
–– This video contains all of the above episode's content plus minor corrections ––
Read the script here:
https://klfr.spdns.de/blog/sao-defense-script
Now, as I am saying in the video, before you go keyboard-warrior-ing and hate on me for no reason: I will not listen to you, and the people that actually use their brains to argue won’t either. I know that SAO isn’t the perfect anime and even in this video, I will be exposing quite some of its flaws. However, feel free to sensibly share your contra-SAO opinions and arguments and we can have a friendly discussion. I will only be removing comments that incite hate or drama and otherwise violate comment policies.
My source material is always quoted at the time I talk about it. Quotes “SX EY” refer to Season X Episode Y of the Anime, while “VX SY CZ” refer to Volume X Story Y Chapter Z of the light novels (story only included for multi-story volumes). As timestamps are a bit tedious and page numbers in LNs vary on editions and translations, I am not giving these in the video, but my evidence shouldn’t be hard to find.
Thanks goes out to the r/SwordArtOnline Subreddit who helped a lot in collecting evidence and improving my arguments during the writing process. You can find them over at https://www.reddit.com/r/SwordArtOnline, they are really a friendly bunch! You may also discover my older posts with early versions of this script, as I mentioned. Special thanks goes to u/SKStacia and u/GeicoLizardBestGirl for providing comments that I quoted in this video, and to the mods for leading such a vibrant community.
The “Asuna Done Dirty in Alicization” post, also by the amazing u/SKStacia can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/swordartonline/comments/ifk1h3/asuna_done_dirty_in_alicization_anime/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3.
Watch Gamerturk’s video on the Incarnation System: https://youtu.be/2iUPo275TI4. Although his last points are a bit fishy, it is an excellent source for this poorly-understood part of Alicization.
Another thanks to Tim Hickson from Hello Future Me (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFQMO-YL87u-6Rt8hIVsRjA) for letting me use parts of his video on soft magic systems. Go watch the video here: https://youtu.be/ZVrnfniQiS8 and also check out the video on hard magic: https://youtu.be/iMJQb5bGu_g.
Brandon Sanderson’s first law of magic: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/
The usage of video and audio content from the anime franchise „Sword Art Online“, produced by A1-Pictures and licensed to Aniplex USA and others, is under the terms of Fair Use according to U.S. Copyright Law, as well as the Right to Quote in German Law and Law of the European Union. The material is transformatively used for criticism, discussion and review purposes and its volume is kept to a minimum. The official website of Sword Art Online can be found here: https://www.swordart-online.net/.
Of course, my main thanks goes to Kawahara Reki-san (or Mr. Reki Kawahara, if you’re not a weeb) for writing this amazing story. You can support his work by watching the anime (on most legal streaming platforms, including Netflix!) or buying the manga or light novels (official translations available in English and other languages). As mentioned, the light novels are the original canon source, so any of their content has precedence over anime and manga content.