The Anime and Light Novel of Sword Art Online has become one of the most popular animes in recent years. With that in mind, I decided to share several curiosities, Easter Eggs, and secrets involving the entire franchise.
Sword Art Online started as a web novel (written on the internet) by Reki Kawahara. The success was so great that its story became a Light Novel and then received a manga, anime, and even a remake and spin-off. The Light Novel was published in 2009 and has more than 20 volumes.
Table of Contents
The Origin Story of Sword Art Online
It is good to understand a bit of the origin story of Sword Art Online, which emerged through a web novel. The author of the work, Reki Kawahara, began publishing his stories in 2001. In 2009, he joined the Dengeki Bunko publisher after passing a contest with the draft of Accel World. His editor suggested also launching Sword Art Online, which ended up being more successful.
The success was so rapid that by 2012 it had already received an anime adaptation shortly after receiving an adaptation of Accel World in the previous season. The work functions as a kind of short arcs that ends up displeasing some fans.
The author Reki Kawahara wrote both Sword Art Online and Accel World in the same universe, with crossovers, mentions of technology, and perhaps even relationships between characters that still generate a lot of mystery among fans.
Reki created an incredible universe, but it could have been better developed in the animations. After seeing his mistakes in the first 4 arcs, he got it right in the fifth arc, making it very long and well-developed, even seeming like another anime.
Because of the criticism of his speed in writing the favorite Aincrad arc, he ended up writing a version called Progressive that details all the events of the first arc of Sword Art Online.
Curiosities about Sword Art Online
There are 10 unique skills in Sword Art Online, we only know 6 of them which are: Infinite spear, Shurikenjutsu, Battoujutsu, Darkness Blade, Holy Sword, and Dual Blades (Kirito). The dual sword skill that Kirito gains can only be given to the individual with the fastest reaction time in the game.
In the extra of Sword Art Online, during Kirito’s interview, the cellphone marks the time of 8 hours 23 minutes and 45 seconds. This is the total sum of the time of all episodes of the first season together (excluding the openings and endings).
In the first episode of the anime, there was an easter egg from MyAnimeList, which is a website where you can create lists and track information and comments about animes. Already in GGO, when Kirito enters the game, you find the Bandai Namco logo on a TV.
When Reki was creating Kirito, he wanted to make a character who would do whatever he wanted without thinking about the consequences. Heathcliff is a tribute to actor Heath Ledger, who played the Joker in “Batman: The Dark Knight”;
- In episode 4 of the second season of Oreimo, some action figures of Kirito, Asuna, and Liz appear;
- Kirito’s computer has about 24GHz of processing power. Nowadays, processors average 3.4GHz;
- Originally, Asuna’s brother was going to play Sword Art Online, but he had to go on a business trip, and Asuna decided to play in his place;
About the characters of Sword Art Online
The name Silica means silicon dioxide. Ayano Keiko (綾野 珪子) chose this name for her character because her real name is based on silicon, the 14th element of the periodic table. The ideogram of her name keiko (珪) composes several words involving silicon. She also ties her hair in a way that symbolizes the oxide atoms that are connected to her.
Asuna’s weapon is called Lambent Light. This sword is Asuna’s final sword that she uses in Sword Art Online. This requires an almost maximum level of one-handed skill, combined with Asuna’s extremely fast speed, earning her the nickname ‘flash’.
The Villain of ALO Oberon, king of shadows and elves, is one of the main characters of William Shakespeare, who appears in his work A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was because of William Shakespeare’s works that the villain kidnapped Asuna.
- In the anime, Lizbeth’s hair color is pink, this color represents a character who is often cheerful to the point of being annoying;
- Kirito’s favorite food is teriyaki chicken burger. He didn’t like onions unless Asuna cooked for him;
- Sinon’s weapon exists in real life and is called PGM Hecate II, a sniper rifle used by the French army;
Curiosities from the SAO Light Novel
Sword Art Online is not the only work by the author related to online games. Accel World follows the same genre of games, but with a failed character instead of badass. Both series take place in the same universe. In fact, in episode 22 of the Accel World anime, the Never Gear helmet from Sword Art Online appears.
The author of Sword Art Online wrote an extra chapter and erotic involving Kirito and Asuna in his light novel, chapter 16.5; The events coincide with episode 10 of the anime and chapter 16 of the light novel.
In the original version of the web novel, 50,000 people would be trapped in Sword Art Online. This number was reduced to 10,000 in the release of the Official Light Novel. Leafa has large breasts not because of the author, but the editor suggested that she would work better if she were busty.
The Illustrator of the Light Novel of Sword Art Online is known as ABEC. He had no interest in working with SAO until he read the story. He revealed that it takes him 10 to 30 hours to make a single colored illustration of the Light Novel.
There are many other curiosities about Sword Art Online that I don’t remember. Do you know any? Comment here and share with friends!
What is the order to watch Sword Art Online?
Sword Art Online is not that difficult to watch, below in summary we will show the arcs of SAO:
- Sword Art Online
- Sword Art Online Extra Edition (movie)
- Sword Art Online 2
- Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale (movie)
- Alternative Gun Gale Online (spin-off)
- Accel World
- Sword Art Online: Alicization
- Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld
- Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld – Part 2
The original fandom recommends watching Accel World (another anime by the same author) before Alicization to facilitate understanding of the game present in the Alicization arc. But in the timeline, Accel World takes place quite far in the future.
Sword Art Online – Aincrad Arc
The first arc takes place in the first season of the anime, between episodes 1 to 14. Aincrad was where it all began, 10,000 players are trapped inside a game called Sword Art Online, and to escape they will have to finish the game.
For this, they need to pass through 100 different floors, each with a boss at the end. The big problem is that in this game there is no Respawn; if the player dies in the game, he also dies in real life. The anime focuses on the protagonists Kirito and Asuna.
Despite being the most popular saga, it is one of the smallest composed of only 2 volumes of the Light Novel, and a large part is present only in the first volume. There is a more complete version called SAO Progressive.
Alfheim Online (ALO) – Fairy Dance Arc
In volumes 3 and 4 of the Light Novel happens the second arc called Fairy Dance, where Kirito manages to leave the game Sword Art Online, but discovers that his beloved is still trapped somewhere inside the NeverGear device.
In this arc, his sister/cousin is the new heroine, who helps her brother find and rescue her in the ALO game, a world of fairies and magic. The arc was adapted in the remainder of the first season of Sword Art Online from episode 15 onwards.
In this arc, we have the typical story of a princess trapped in a castle where the protagonist must do everything to save her. Without the threat of death, the protagonist still needs to go through an impossible trial to achieve what he seeks.
Sword Art Online: Extra Edition – Movie
This is a summary of the first season with flashbacks along with a cliché story with ecchi where the friends from the first season try to do a dungeon quest underwater. An optional extra that does not affect the arcs at all.
Guns Gale Online (GGO) – Phantom Bullet
Just like the first season, the third arc of the series is present between episodes 1 and 14. It all starts with rumors of people dying in real life inside a game called Guns Gale Online, which is an open-world FPS.
Kirito is requested by an old friend from the government to enter the game and investigate the deaths. Upon entering the game, his character appears with long girl hair; yes, that is what we follow throughout the arc. Why? I have no idea…
The development of this arc takes place with another heroine named Sinon, who is afraid of guns but plays an FPS. After this arc, we have a small extra of 3 episodes where they search for a sword called Excalibur or Caliber.
There is also a Spin-Off that takes place in Guns Gale Online with other characters and another story. It carries Sword Art Online in the title, but has no relation to the original cast at all.
Mothers Rosario Arc + Ordinal Scale Movie
This part of the story tells the story from Asuna’s point of view in the second part of the second season after Caliber. It shows Asuna’s mother as a rival to her relationship with Kirito and her days at school.
Right after this arc, a movie occurs that mixes augmented reality, similar to the items from Accel World anime. Although it is an original movie, it was made with the help of author Reki Kawahara and became canonical in the series.
Underworld – Project Alicization
One of the largest arcs of Sword Art Online, in this arc Kirito is attacked by a villain from previous seasons that leaves him in a coma. His friends from the government promise to save him by putting him in a Virtual Reality machine that accelerates the brain.
While some time passes in real life, inside the game Kirito lives for more than 10 years and has a whole life and story. The world is divided into two territories that are about to go to war, meanwhile villains from the real world interfere.
In fact, the story is much more complex than that, involving Artificial Intelligence, terrorists, and much more. Unfortunately, I don’t want to go into details to avoid spoilers, but this is the best arc of all, well-developed and very different from the previous ones.
This arc had a first adaptation with 25 episodes, followed by another adaptation (War of Underworld) divided into two seasons of 12 episodes, totaling 50 episodes in a single arc.
Unital Ring (UR)
The most current arc of Sword Art Online since the writing of this article. The author promises it to be as big and good as Alicization was. It is still being released in the Light Novel, so it has not received an anime adaptation, and probably will not receive one anytime soon.
In the story, Kirito, Asuna, and Alice end up involved in a mysterious game called Unital Ring. The brutal “survival MMO” that brought together all the other VRMMOs created over the years by the base program of Sword Art Online “The Seed”.
Why do many hate Sword Art Online?
If you follow news sites and forums about anime, whenever you read a post or article about SAO, there will always be someone commenting some nonsense, criticizing and complaining about the anime. In its year of release, it was a huge hype, but then everything collapsed.
The anime came with a new idea, but did not work well on its arcs and characters. So much so that a relaunch of the Light Novel was necessary with all the floors of Aincrad. Another major factor of hate is simply the passion of the fans.
That’s right, where there are many fans, there will always be those who are against it and hate it. I myself have been someone who has said several times that I hate trendy animes; I personally hate Naruto with all my heart without ever having watched it, blame the fans.
Of course, to generate great hate and criticism even from those who watched, the anime needs to make many mistakes. What could be the problems present in the Anime Sword Art Online? The opinion below is not mine but from another writer, because I like SAO and do not like to criticize it.
Weak plot and character development
Plot is like a chain of events that will give direction to a story, like events that occur and character development. And the Plot, or at least its central idea, is not bad! But it was not well utilized, mainly because it was something simple, like, “let me finish this quickly, I have other things to do.” Some would say, “Kirito-kun, you really… are lazy…”.
It would be the same as saying, “From the cover, I already know everything,” almost that. Also, something that leaves much to be desired is the changes in the characters. A good plot is also made by good characters, and good characters are made from good plots.
In the case of SAO, the characters are the same, from the first appearance to the end of the story, especially in our secondary friends. But this is a bit generalized, but a good point for this accusation would be that the changes and emotions presented were always superficial.
Because… You do not know what the character feels without him saying. Because anger also disguises itself as sadness and sadness disguises itself as joy. Even so, these things were not well explored.
It is common in animes for the main characters to be extremely powerful, but perhaps the story would be better if it were more developed, showing how the character evolved and not skipping months of events within the anime.
Loss of quality
In 12-episode animes, the quality is one, from the beginning to the end, with exceptions. But in a production with more than 20 episodes, it is evident the loss in this regard. A studio always has a budget for a production, so they will never have an idea of whether they will have the proper return. Therefore, it is common to have a considerable loss. But if that were all, it wouldn’t even be mentioned here.
After the first arc of each season of SAO, the story becomes boring, unfocused. Many started to hate SAO because of this, but many from the beginning. But of course, these many are also many who love it. I don’t even need to comment on the second season, which, although not so bad, is not good!
Things seem to have improved in Sword Art Online Alicization, where the animation became very beautiful. Unfortunately, as usual, some fiercely criticized this season, but they are just haters who are not worth listening to.
What do people like about Sword Art Online?
We saw earlier some points that make people hate Sword Art Online, but what makes many love this work with flaws?
Great animation, setting, and pleasant story
We mentioned above the loss of quality in animes, but even if this happened in SAO, it made no difference. The animation is not the “Hyper” of animations, but all the cuts, scenes, camera positioning, focus on the characters… This is also SAO. There is nothing to complain about in this regard.
4 Games, 4 worlds. And these worlds were very well represented in SAO, an extensive world, caves, forests… Everything very well planned, just like the tower of the game of games, perhaps the most well-planned thing!
The story, despite having holes, is still good. Especially for those who want to watch for fun and not to analyze the anime. The Plot is great, it just wasn’t utilized, so you just needed to connect the dots and make it enjoyable.
Physical appearance of characters and romances
The characters are well-made, pleasant, and indeed fit the story. Although not all characters are liked by everyone. So it is worth checking out the anime because of that.
And something that does not disappoint in SAO is the expressions of the characters. All of them were represented very well, such as expressions of pain, anguish, sadness, anger… Even if the actions of the characters do not do justice to the expressions.
And if you are a fan of light romances, you should definitely watch Sword Art Online. A platonic romance between the characters, between Kirito and Asuna. Although he has a harem in the game world and in his reality afterward. In a survey, Kirito’s harem ranked among the most desired by fans.
Soundtrack of Sword Art Online
The soundtrack is fantastic! Both in its Opening and Ending, as well as throughout the anime. Songs that did justice to fight scenes, songs that did justice to sad and happy moments. The soundtrack composed by Yuki Kajiura (the same as Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica). Yuki Kajiura would be like a Jun Maeda of soundtracks, so it was not to be expected less in this regard in SAO.
The fights in Sword Art Online
The fights are perfect, with the quality in the animation we even feel better about having to watch an anime, in this case, SAO. Although there aren’t many fights, and they are short and not very expressive, this is still SAO. From the beginning, it was something light, so the fights are great, but it is worth remembering that in the Light Novel we can feel the real fear of the characters, just like everything the series is.
Despite having more errors to be commented on, and some holes in the story, SAO is an anime that you should watch to comment on. The story is great, the plot that was not good, because if one arc is good and the other is not, both end up becoming bad.
But we also had positive points, and one of them is that SAO is enjoyable. You wouldn’t watch something that wasn’t enjoyable at least, right? There will always be points to criticize; I remember the time when people complained about Hunter x Hunter from Mad House.
Where to buy the Mangas and Light Novels of Sword Art Online?
Suki Desu has a partnership with Amazon Brazil, so we recommend that if you wish to read the original material of SAO, buy through our manga and light novel showcase below. In addition to the books, we will also share action figures and games:
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