Sword Art Online - Anime Spoilers & Speculation (for SAO Novel Readers only)

[Vmem]

Originally Posted by Esebian

Well, but that only is right for SAO, Alicization and ofc Mothers Rosario, in ALO and GGO the fight parts are imo at least as long as the slice-of-life parts, so maybe the battle maniacs will be pleased more after we reach ALO

EDIT: I have also read that ppl wanted to see every floor of SAO covered in the anime. Apart from the crucial point that most floors would be anime-only, let's be honest that would be boring like hell. If I want that I play a MMO for myself xD

well, I don't want to get into GGO yet, but considering SAO will at least last up to episode 14 and we have a 26 episode season, that'll leave at most 12 episodes for ALO. Even though you're right that the fight parts are a significant part of the ALO arc, the plot is almost entirely driven by the slice-of-life parts. even the fight scenes often result in character introspection that ultimately serves to change/improve character interactions. Given the short length the anime arc will be, I feel most of the fights in ALO will be cut

speaking of which, are we allowed to openly discuss episode 14 predictions here (with LN background in mind?)

Spoiler for all of LN ALO arc text-anime episode 14 prediction:

I believe that the skull reaper fight will be skipped almost entirely, perhaps only spanning the beginning of the episode for 1-2 minutes, then cut to opening theme. most of the episode will focus on what's going on in Kirito's head, as SAO reaches an end. I believe the episode will end not when Kirito wakes up from his bed, but when he receives the picture of Asuna form Agil, or the moment he puts on his Amusphere to log in to ALO. (at least I think that would be an interesting note to end on)

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Vmem

but considering SAO will at least last up to episode 14 and we have a 26 episode season, that'll leave at most 12 episodes for ALO.

The series is confirmed for 25 episodes, so it's 11 episode for ALO.

[Vmem]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

^ The series is confirmed for 25 episodes, so it's 11 episode for ALO.

ops, my mistake... all the more reason to cut out the fight scenes and make the anime fans rage then

[NoirX]

Originally Posted by Vmem

well, I don't want to get into GGO yet, but considering SAO will at least last up to episode 14 and we have a 26 episode season, that'll leave at most 12 episodes for ALO. Even though you're right that the fight parts are a significant part of the ALO arc, the plot is almost entirely driven by the slice-of-life parts. even the fight scenes often result in character introspection that ultimately serves to change/improve character interactions. Given the short length the anime arc will be, I feel most of the fights in ALO will be cut

speaking of which, are we allowed to openly discuss episode 14 predictions here (with LN background in mind?)

Spoiler for all of LN ALO arc text-anime episode 14 prediction:

I believe that the skull reaper fight will be skipped almost entirely, perhaps only spanning the beginning of the episode for 1-2 minutes, then cut to opening theme. most of the episode will focus on what's going on in Kirito's head, as SAO reaches an end. I believe the episode will end not when Kirito wakes up from his bed, but when he receives the picture of Asuna form Agil, or the moment he puts on his Amusphere to log in to ALO. (at least I think that would be an interesting note to end on)

Answering your question about discussing anime predictions, yes it's free to discuss it openly here. And as for your predictions, you forgot to include Heathcliff vs Kirito's fight there. The fight will take half of the episode(like the one in Kirito's first duel with Heathcliff). Also there's the afterwards of the fight which take abit of time as Kayaba is having talk with Kirito. So Kirito recieving Asuna's being a captive picture will most likely shown early to the half part on episode 15 which also includes he dives in to ALO world. making Kirito get the picture at episode 14 will ruin the sign of an ending arc and a start of a new arc because the episode tittle itself is already quite clear it signifies the end of something.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Vmem

ops, my mistake... all the more reason to cut out the fight scenes and make the anime fans rage then

I think you're forgetting the fans pay the bills.

[RDF2050]

I can't wait for the upcoming rage. Rage from:

1. Shonen fans (Boss fight skipped)
2. Plot hole with the revival item in 10 seconds (forgetting Klein can't move)
3. Kirito Gary Stun (how he move even thought he was dead)
4. Asuna breaking the paralysis status to save Kirito (power of love?)
5. Not covering floors 76 to 100 (Forgetting Heathcliff is the final Boss)
6. Kirito and Asuna are dead (only if they don't include any details of Kirito waking up in the real world)
7. and many more I can't think of now xD

[Vmem]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

I think you're forgetting the fans pay the bills.

to make the fans pay, you engage them emotionally. you don't necessarily have to give them what they expect besides, this is only the middle of the series, not the ending. plenty more can be done to boost DVD sales etc

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by RDF2050

I can't wait for the upcoming rage. Rage from:

1. Kirito Gary Stun (how he move even thought he was dead)
2. Asuna breaking the paralysis status to save Kirito (power of love?)

Well, these two at least are fair criticism. Heck, the fact the Kirito already proved he's stronger than Heathcliff in their previous fight since the latter had to use admin hax to win already gives plenty of ground to complain about Kirito being a Gary Stu.

And as for the Boss fight being skipped,... well, considering it's the best fight of the whole arc, and probably of the whole series (specially because Kirito and Asuna are fighting together) I think the complaints would be understandable.

[Ray]

The Gary Stu label really has become a buzzword that everyone and their dog is using, eh?

[Kazu-kun]

Anime fandom in general is build on buzzwords, memes, and stuff like. I see nothing wrong with it.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Anime fandom in general is build on buzzwords, memes, and stuff like. I see nothing wrong with it.

Indeed. I don't see anything wrong with it either.. but it does say some things about a particular part of the fandom that I bear quite a bit of animosity towards. Thankfully, they're in the minority here.

[Znail]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Well, these two at least are fair criticism. Heck, the fact the Kirito already proved he's stronger than Heathcliff in their previous fight since the latter had to use admin hax to win already gives plenty of ground to complain about Kirito being a Gary Stu.

And as for the Boss fight being skipped,... well, considering it's the best fight of the whole arc, and probably of the whole series (specially because Kirito and Asuna are fighting together) I think the complaints would be understandable.

Gary Stu means that you are good at every single thing in the universe, being good at one specific type of video game hardly makes you a Gary Stu.

He is not an Everman either though as he is really good at something.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Znail

Gary Stu means that you are good at every single thing in the universe.

That's not what Gary Stu means.

Whether you use that term or not though, I think the criticism on Kirito's character is understandable.

[NoirX]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

That's not what Gary Stu means.

Whether you use that term or not though, I think the criticism on Kirito's character is understandable.

In every sense of manner, Kirito's last hit on Heathcliff is called cheating!

[Krono]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

That's not what Gary Stu means.

Whether you use that term or not though, I think the criticism on Kirito's character is understandable.

Actually yes it pretty much is what it means, unless you're using the definition of "blatant self insert character". People have simply abused the term to the point where it gets applied to any strong, competent, intelligent character that doesn't have horribly crippling flaws to compensate for their competence.

Not the first term abused to the point of losing all useful meaning, nor will it be the last. That doesn't however make it valid criticism, it just leaves it as nothing more than a slur hurled at a disliked character.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Krono

Not the first term abused to the point of losing all useful meaning, nor will it be the last. That doesn't however make it valid criticism, it just leaves it as nothing more than a slur hurled at a disliked character.

This isn't a formal word/term. There's no "official" meaning. Besides the word is not important. You said it yourself, the criticisms is on the character being too strong, competent, intelligent and lacking on flaws to compensate for their competence. That's what matter, no the term.

If you don't like the term being used with that meaning, go complain on a board about semantics. This isn't the place for that.

[NoirX]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

This isn't a formal word/term. There's no "official" meaning. Besides the word is not important. You said it yourself, the criticisms is on the character being too strong, competent, intelligent and lacking on flaws to compensate for their competence. That's what matter, no the term.

If you don't like the term being used with that meaning, go complain on a board about semantics. This isn't the place for that.

Rather than Gary Stu(which the term itself sound disgusting to me personally), it's better to call it hax.

Self note, Kirito could just be lagging so the last hit took awhile before it really kills him

[ronelm2000]

Originally Posted by NoirX

Rather than Gary Stu(which the term itself sound disgusting to me personally), it's better to call it hax.

Self note, Kirito could just be lagging so the last hit took awhile before it really kills him

This. IMO being hax is really different from being a Gary Stu.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by NoirX

Rather than Gary Stu(which the term itself sound disgusting to me personally), it's better to call it hax.

But most people call him Gary and I like to be mainstream.

No, seriously, I don't care about the freaking word. It's not the point, and I don't even use it myself that much. Still, that's not reason to turn this into a discussion about semantics. That's not the point and, like I said before, this isn't even the proper forum for that kind of discussion anyway.

And btw, I don't think hax covers all of what people usually mean when they call him GT. There's more to those complains.

[ronelm2000]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

But most people call him Gary and I like to be mainstream.

No, seriously, I don't care about the freaking word. It's not the point, and I don't even use it myself that much. Still, that's not reason to turn this into a discussion about semantics. That's not the point and, like I said before, this isn't even the proper forum for that kind of discussion anyway.

And btw, I don't think hax covers all of what people usually mean when they call him GT. There's more to those complains.

New prediction for the Episode thread: it's gonna turn into a discussion about the semantics of Gary Stu and hax.