Sword Art Online

[MasonC2K]

What an amazing anime. I've only watched about 5 episodes but it has made such an impression on me that I can say now it's one of the best anime I've seen.

The premise is that 10 years from now, a new virtual reality MMO called Sword Art Online comes out. The creator of the game then traps everyone in the game by removing the logout button and sets it up so that if you die in the game, they die in real life. And if someone tries to remove them from the hardware they will die. The only way to leave the game is to beat it. It focuses on one of the beta testers who spends his time between the front lines of the game and helping lesser players in lower areas.

As someone who has played MMO's for a long time, they really nailed some of the characters types you find in MMO's. The fact that death is real here makes for quite a few dramatic moments. It can be very tense and very sad at times.

My only lingering question is how is everyone getting their basic needs for their real bodies since they can't survive on virtual food and drink and such. However, I have read that does get explained later in the show.

I highly recommend to any one who like anime as this has a little bit of everything in it.

[Orenshi]

YES!! I agree. Highly recommend this anime as well. I was sick yesterday and I literally blasted through 16 episodes.

[MasonC2K]

So I've watched 10 episodes or so. The show really makes you think about the consequences of such technology should it ever come to light. It was revealed in the last episode that you can have VR sex in the game.

So let's say the whole death thing didn't happen. Just the ability to have sex in a game would be highly unethical don't you think? I mean, it would be a cheaters paradise. And even if you weren't the type to do that going in, wouldn't it be a great temptation?

Right now my only complaint about the show is that I think it is progressing too fast. Sudden changes in character are just explained to be the result of something unseen that happened during a time skip. 10 episodes = about 2 years. I would love to have seen some of the things that were alluded to and implied.

I am only refreshed to see a male protagonist that:

1) Isn't a loser or idiot. His only really awkward moments are with one girl that he likes.
2) Despite the development of an unwanted harem, he has actually chosen just one girl and sticking with her. I am pretty convinced at this point that they would get married in real life when they finally leave the game.

[Badger711]

Have yet to check it out....Is it on Netflix yet?

[Orenshi]

Idk about netflix but I get my anime fix on crunchyroll.com or animefreak.tv

Also @MasonC2K I agree that the story seemed to progress too fast. But I found out that the first volume of the light novel correlates to 14(ish) episodes of the anime. So I can only imagine how the story progresses given the fact that there are so many volumes!!

[MasonC2K]

I am watching it on Crunchyroll for free.

[Raptor]

So I've watched 10 episodes or so. The show really makes you think about the consequences of such technology should it ever come to light. It was revealed in the last episode that you can have VR sex in the game.

So let's say the whole death thing didn't happen. Just the ability to have sex in a game would be highly unethical don't you think? I mean, it would be a cheaters paradise. And even if you weren't the type to do that going in, wouldn't it be a great temptation?

No different than going and role playing it out via text with instant messenger or e-mail. I know a number of people that do that and neither them nor their significant other think it's cheating. It just really depends on the person.

[carlson]

This sounds cool I may have to check it out while playing with my new tablet

[MasonC2K]

No different than going and role playing it out via text with instant messenger or e-mail. I know a number of people that do that and neither them nor their significant other think it's cheating. It just really depends on the person.

While I can agree that cheating can happen in a non-physical manner, I say it's way different. Physically doing it is on a whole other level. And with this tech, you get all the physical sensations.

Well, I have finished the first story arc. I honestly would have thought it the end but apparently there's 12 more episodes. I must say, that with as much beautiful action and game terminology as this has, the romance is top notch and darn it I almost shed a tear at the end of the last episode. Now my wife balled her eyes out at Clannad and I felt depressed from watching. But this is more of a bittersweet thing. I bet Chanin would ball at this too.

[MasonC2K]

So I finished the series this weekend. The manga continues on but that anime had a very satisfying closure so I would be fine if it just stopped there.

I found it amazing that the second big villain, even though he looked like a fairy (literally) incited so much more hatred from me than the guy that ran the death game in arc one. The guy got every bit of what he deserved. And yay for happy endings!

I tell ya though, the whole "It's ok to date your first cousin" thing in Japan I will never get used to. The whole idea is just gross to me. This is the Nth anime to have something like that in it.