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Forum - View topicSword Art Online: A Series of Retcons
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andramus
 Posts: 193 |
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My introduction to SAO was through the anime so I don't know if this is consistent with the books but I felt Asuna and Kirito's relationship progression came across fairly natural. This was because little bits of dialogue left me with the impression that they'd known each other for quite some time and had reasonably friendly or at least civil interactions. The point at which their relationship started to turn romantic felt like the tail end of a longstanding acquaintance where circumstances finally allowed them to deepen a pre-existing relationship.
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Lobo The Ghost
 Posts: 11 |
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Great article. I really enjoyed seeing Ordinal Scale referenced in alicization because often times movies like that can feel like just filler, so seeing that intentionally made not the case and how SAO as a series feels so living and breathing because of changes like those being allowed to happen.
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Pedram
Posts: 83 |
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Great and knowledgeable article as usual, Great work.
As an old Anime/LN fans that has been a fan of Sword Art Online for almost 1/3 of my life, (since ~11 years ago starting from Light Novel) I've seen the story grow and change many times over time and saw all the "Retcons" and Reki's attempt to integrate and fix them as much as possible in the LN itself. (Many Side story tried to integrate and cross reference SAO & SAO Progressive Light Novel since 2013, as well as The Light Novel itself, Alicization Arc (Vol9+) and onward, had many references and straight up talk about SAO Progressive events added in the story to make them fit) And Honestly, I can't say I'm the least bit annoyed of this at least in the LN/Side story side of things, I think he did a great job and it's always good to see his growth and the better and better stories he deliver which each coming volumes. As for the SAOP Movie, Other than a bit of shame for original SAOP Floor 1 plot not getting faithfully animated a second time for LN readers, it is a bit sad for the Anime only viewers who might be even more confused of the SAOP's standpoint in general and might think SAOP light novel series is also a "reboot" of Main SAO LN, when in fact, it can not be considered that due to all the references and integration of the story as well as no part ever being "retold" or directly changed. But the SAOP Movie including the Mito addition does feel like the biggest Retcons or better say, a reboot or alternative timeline to the SAO Series so far both in Anime or even SAO Progressive Light Novel. it's also nice to know that Reki Kawahara confirmed in an interview that Mito will most likely not be added to the Light Novels due to being out of place to be added now and even if she is ever added she will not be having the same story as the Mito in the Movie. (Source: Special Staff Interview 2 for SAOP Movie in NewType Magazine) So we can be sure that SAOP LN and SAO LN are still their own connected timeline unrelated to the Movie.
I completely agree on this as well. Even tho I started SAO from the Light Novel Volume 1 before anime release, it still felt the same to me due to the fact that Kirito and Asuna, while acting "distant" they knew a hell lot about each other, the story tell you clearly that they had a history before this point, it never become a relationship but it was a long history both personal as well as many life and death battle together. So it never felt rushed or bad to me when I read Volume 1 of the story. |
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Azumi14
Posts: 58 |
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Progressive light novel is all side stories. The arc with Kizmel a dark-skinned Dark Elf is excellent. They also add her to the SAO game I think the game was Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization. Not sure it been a while since I play it. Also, I like the side story of Argo in the progressive novel about the quest she fails and that is how she got those line on her face. There is a different way that Kirito meets Asuna in the progressive LN. In the notes Reki Kawahara give his reason for changing from the original LN. I have not seen the new movie yet but looking forward to it. I have read SAO LN vol 22 and Progressive to Vol 6. Just got Sword Art Online Vol 23: Unital Ring II last week. This is new material since the last vol was going forward after the last episode of the anime. I enjoy reading his work.
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Nate148
Posts: 521 |
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the book jumps from episode 1 to episode 8
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11621 |
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I'm not at all invested in the series, though I have watched all the anime and enjoyed it, so this is probably a stupid question, but how is there a Dark Elf in SAO Aincrad? Doesn't everyone look like their real world self? Isn't Progressive set entirely in the game before Kirito beat it? |
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 4030 |
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IMHO it’s badly written wish fulfillment fanfic.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18498 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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The dark elves are NPCs in Aincrad; like Yui, the one in question here is just a special case. I think the reason why SAO has pulled off all of this retconning without too much complaint is because the retcons are, with rare exceptions, improving the overall story rather than just adding to it. I just finished listening to the audio book of the first novel (which is my first time through the novel since SAO's early days) and was struck by how much it was missing. I know the anime telling the story linearly, with the side stories included, was controversial at the time, but it was a big improvement; in particular, that sense that Asuna and Kirito had known each other for a long time was an anime improvement, not a novel original. Progressive is doing an even better job of filling in the gaps. |
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1860 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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How is it fanfic? Wish-fulfillment, I'll grant you that. BTW, never watched or read SAO, much prefer Accel World. |
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Orion2
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Reki said he wrote it because he sucked at games so he imagined himself a story where a character is pretty much Neo from the Matrix in video games, so I guess fanfic/wish fulfillment are interchangeable when it comes to SAO, you could say it's a fiction for fans of video games, and it 1000% draws inspiration from things like the Matrix or other similar stories, it really does absolutely nothing new except put the anime spin on it, SAO doesn't even have characters, just concepts, the OP MC, the hot girlfiend for the OP MC, the masterming, etc. much like..... The Matrix this somewhat applies for AW as well, the ket differnece between AW and SAO bein that AW actualy has real characters with their own lives/motivations/stories within it unlike SAO |
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Dissident_Ranger
Posts: 12 |
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Pedram
Posts: 83 |
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To be Exact, the book Volume 1 start on floor 74, flashback to start of death game, then go back to continue Floor 74 story and end in Floor 75. as the article mentioned, it was like this due to being a 1-shot with page limit that needed a full conclusion. EP2 of anime is adapted from SAO Progressive Volume 1 but skipped a lot, EP3 to 7 of Anime is from SAO Volume 2 side stories.
Ah... yes ofcourse, we can't have a SAO thread without the usual misinformation spreader who truly believe what he is saying is correct so you can't even hate on them and only feel pity xD these wrong "facts" has been repeated so many time by the haters that the final result is nothing like the truth and even people who don't care about SAO or never even watched or read it believe it to be true xD That's the Stigma of being SAO. Reki never ever mentioned sucking at games nor did he mention "imagining himself" as Kirito, I think the source of this misinformation is Reki mentioning "He modeled Kirito as the Professional Gamers he would see in the games who were really skilled and experienced and knew everything about the game due to their dedication and time spent on the game." (Which is actually a good thing coz Kirito is modeled after real people with real weakness and hardship he have to go through and not some fantasy OP MC) But somehow this line got twisted into "Reki wanting to be a Pro Gamer but he never could" and then twisted more into "Reki imagined himself as Kirito and made him a pro gamer as wish-fulfillment" lmao. The funny thing is, Reki mentioned many time before that being a Pro Gamer was simply not his style or wish, some people love to be competitive and #1 in games, but some people are just casual gamer that might enjoying looking at pro gamers, follow the competition or stream/twitch in tournaments, but they don't really want to be them. as for SAO Character having no "Character"... lol I can't disagree more, specially if you read SAOP or most of SAO, when someone say this, it makes me wonder if they ever read any SAO and if they did, did we read the same thing or maybe they mistakenly read some fanfic of it ! As someone who has been reading Novels (hundreds of Western, Korean, Chinese and Japanese) in the last ~18 years (Since I was ~10, I was a bookworm and still am) I can say with certainly, SAO Series and It's Characters, specially if you include the latter Arcs & SAO Progressive as well, are in the Top 10% of all the popular novels out there. While it varies between each person's opinion (as it should), if you really read SAO Progressive Light Novels and then say it's a badly written wishfullfilling fanfic, then you gonna have a very bad time finding many good novel out there, since most of them are far worse than your "badly written wish-fulfilling fanfic" lol |
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SaneSavantElla
 Posts: 253 Location: Philippines |
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As someone who was quite active in the light novel translation community back in the day, I also saw how SAO grew and knew a lot of other fans and translators passionate about the series. I'm pretty neutral towards the franchise itself. Not the worst, but also not that great.
At some point the anime's reputation got so bad (primarily among English-speaking fans AFAIK), it practically became an unspoken rule to bash SAO when the opportunity presents itself, that it's almost baffling. But judging from discussions with some friends and acquaintances, apparently the hate SAO gets is not so much because it is terrible, as it is because of vocal fans always ready to defend its flaws (keyword: tentacles) and proclaim it as the Best Thing Ever TM. Like in every other overblown fandom of popular properties, I guess. |
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Pedram
Posts: 83 |
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many people keep on hearing others say this and they also repeat that, but the number of time you see obnoxious shitting on SAO is 1000 time more than you see obnoxious defending of it. Furthermore, there is some very popular SAO hating video on youtube that unfortunately, promote toxic behavior by not only shitting on SAO itself, but directly, shitting on any SAO Fans and whoever enjoy SAO with a variety of insults, creating an Stigma of "you are mocked on if you ever enjoy SAO". The result of such an actions is nothing more than seeking a violent reaction from the vocal fans of the series. coz they are being directly targeted and shitted on. Meanwhile, I do not care about the thought germs and their never ending arguments and I don't want to defend or bash on any side. I simply feel pity for the new coming fans who either feel scared to admit to their feeling about SAO or the potential fans who even avoid SAO becouse they are scared of being mocked, I recommend SAO from time to time when people ask for specific recommendations in r/LightNovels and I literally had people reply to me with "Sorry if I buy SAO and my friends see the novel in my house they will mock me for it so I can't buy SAO" |
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Touma55
Posts: 243 |
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It's nice to see people on here that actually know what they are talking about. The amount of misinformation I see spread around about SAO and Reki Kawahara is insane. |
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