Accel World - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[judasmartel]

If anyone has been that deep into online gaming, you might know some really good players (I mean at the very high level of competition) who are much less than attractive in real life. It's really like that.

[Vmem]

Originally Posted by judasmartel

If anyone has been that deep into online gaming, you might know some really good players (I mean at the very high level of competition) who are much less than attractive in real life. It's really like that.

like I've said, I don't have a problem with people being nice about haru. I'm a competitive PvPer in a few MMOs myself, and I've always respected the top players, I would respect them if I met them in RL regardless of what they may look like. however, I do not think I would idolize them...

Then again, I don't idolize football quarterbacks, popstars, or anything of the sort either... maybe It's just me lol... anyway, my rating of the show stands. and of course, I'm not here to try to change anyone else's opinions

[Hasumi]

Guess who's late to the party again.

So I had a lot to say about this just a second ago but after reading this thread most of it went to a far away land I cannot reach.

Here's what I still remember. I liked the series overall though it did disappoint me a bit, I never quite liked anything more than Cyan Pile vs. Silver Crow here. It was a combination of many good things that couldn't be done at any point other than the beginning so I understand but still.

Now one last thing I remember is that I thought more than once about how Bios would fit so well into all this, Shu needs his background music.

[Sansker]

Well if that is coming late to the party then I guess this is not going at all, right?

I still want to say something.

Overall I give the series a: 7/10

It is a very good series. Even when, if I come down to it, could be consider just another shonen. There is something on Accel World that made me like it even when the story is something I am sure I have seen already and the characters, while not bad, weren’t that interesting. Even the looks of the anime while really clean, nice and a very interesting take on the future I may add, wasn’t all that impressive or new. So, in short, I am not sure why I ended up liking the series as I did to the point I can’t compare it to others I have seen and forget rather fast. There has to be something.

So I love it. The fights, the setting, the game, the over the top and yet somehow fitting dialogue, etc. Is just made everything right to aim for an enjoyable and simple story with some interesting things to add some flavor on it. The Brain Buster program and its obvious benefits make it really easy to understand why anyone will always want to keep such power and even the Accel World itself was addicted enough to make us all see what is so appealing, for the characters, to have such things.

And that being say I do think the characters are nice. Most people seem to mind Haru because of his odd and deform looks; I mean the guy has the body of a fat garden gnome, but aside from that he does fit his role. Is strange to see how he gets so many cute and beautiful ladies around him but to be fair there is something about his natural kindness and simple attitude that some girls could find interesting enough to at least like him a bit when they get to know him. Of course Kuroyukihime is really something and every single moment she was on screen I could not help it but like her. So really there is that.

About the other two I don’t have that much to say since even when Taku does participates more than Chiyu, his actions overall never quite get me interest until Nomi came to play and by that point we reach what many consider the worse part of the series. While I still enjoy some of it and the ending was just so neat that I am glad it happen, the part when Nomi is the antagonist is may less favorite part of all the story. And it comes down to the fact that is drag too long about Nomi and no about the real problem: the new Burst Linkers that we don’t see on the list of players. There was where the story really rest and no so much on Dust Taker.

Then again the show isn’t without flaws, many of them forgivable because it does keeps you entertain, and to me that is an anime main purpose. But it does keep it from being perfect or to deliver in a consistent quality. Most of my complains come to the setting and dialogue, because the last one really gets on the whole hero-knightly theme and the setting is not up for such strong words, the fact that Haru looks the way he does isn’t helping it by the way.

So in the end falls down to the fact I have such a good time watching it and is so easy to get in to the series that I can recommend it to any fan of the shonen anime. I mean I almost watch it half of it on one day, that is how well it entertain me.

[Ledgem]

I give it a 10/10. My wife decided on 8.5/10.

People complained a lot about Haruyuki, from his character designs to the way that his character was written. Yet I'm in total agreement with Solace, that it wouldn't have come together if Haru were a more typical anime character. His appearance made his circumstances (bullying, social isolation) perfectly believable, and I had immediate sympathy for him. The self-doubt and wavering self-esteem that he had throughout the series was very believable and I found it all to be very well-written.

As for the rest of the characters, this was exceptional. Kuroyukihime may very well be my favorite anime character of all time, but all of the rest were incredibly entertaining to watch. The series worked the romantic drama and sexual tension angle very well, and didn't become excessive in its usage of perverted humor scenes.

The only character that I truly disliked was Noumi, which is fitting for a villain. The entire Noumi arc almost caused me to downgrade my rating for the series. I disliked that so much negativity occurred around that time, and that Kuroyukihime was largely removed from the events at that point. Much of the romantic drama and light-hearted social entanglements also disappeared around that time point. Yet I maintain the 10/10 because the series evoked such strong feelings against Noumi, which is a good indicator of impressive script-writing and voice acting. In addition, I had a feeling that the series would try to reveal something that would evoke sympathy in the viewer for Noumi, but I could not imagine that I would feel moved by it. Mission accomplished, Accel World: the big reveal was in fact moving, and I had sympathy for him. It was the perfect level of sympathy, however; enough to feel it, yet not enough to be unable to appreciate all of the ending events.

Lastly, I thought that the science fictional basis for this world was fantastic. The neurolinker aspect was incredibly neat, and the whole culture behind it ("cabling," seeing people typing and motioning in mid-air and not thinking anything of it) was also neat to consider. While I was initially disappointed in the "virtual reality" world of Accel World compared to Sword Art Online (which I viewed first), the introduction of the Unlimited Field and the idea of "accelerated time" make Accel World the more interesting of the two to consider.

I ranked both Accel World and Sword Art Online as 10/10, yet between the two I think that I prefer Accel World (although this could be due to having just finished Accel World). Even though I really liked the characters in Sword Art Online, the characters here seemed more colorful to me, and the relationships were more interesting. While the virtual worlds presented in Accel World were initially a let-down compared to those in Sword Art Online, the introduction of the Unlimited Field, the concept of Legions, and "accelerated time" all made the virtual aspects of Accel World even more compelling to me.

There are rumors that both Accel World and Sword Art Online might receive second seasons. I'd be delighted if both rumors were true, but if only one series gets a continuation then I hope it's Accel World.