Literally means Sword Art Online.
The anime is based on the light novel series by Reki Kawahara, who is also the author for Accel World. As the title might suggest, the story involves some sort of online gaming. To be exact, it's Virtual Reality MMORPGs.
Cool isn't it? Imagine how it would feel if we can enjoy life in different worlds - an escape from today's hustle and bustle and play the different roles offered in these virtual worlds. Unfortunately, the story sets in year 2022, so I guess I'll have to wait another 9 years or so before knowing if the idea becomes just another fantasy ;)
Anyway, back to Sword Art Online, or better known as SAO. I have Google-d around and fount that it's quite a popular series with viewers - a few sites even voted it as the best anime in 2012. "Best" can be quite subjective, but SAO can easily be among my top 3 for 2012.
The story is captivating and if you have played MMORPGs before, you will find some parts quite amusing - think 'farming for gold', 'completing specific quests to fight bosses', 'leveling up cooking or fishing skills'. The difference in SAO is you are actually in the game, virtually of course and everything is as real as it can be to real life.
The protagonist in SAO is a player who calls himself "Kirito" (no one uses their real names online, right?), who jacked himself into the game with thousands of other players on the day of the launch only to find themselves unable to log out from the game. The rule, it will become evident, is that they are only allowed to leave the game if a player can win the game, which by virtue means beating the last Boss on the final level (there 100 Levels altogether o_O).
So here's the catch. If your avatar dies in the game, you die in real life as well - the virtual reality head gear will fry your brain. And if someone (maybe a family member) try to forcibly remove the head gear, your brain gets fried as well. Basically, there is no way out apart from playing and winning it.
Sounds a bit unrealistic? Not really. The plot is easy to follow, with several unexpected twist and I find that the writer has managed to make most parts plausible. Of course, this happens in the future, so the writer gets quite a bit of leeway ;)
Anyway, I would highly recommend SAO to anyone looking for a short anime series to watch (25 episodes) - you won't be disappointed :)
The anime is based on the light novel series by Reki Kawahara, who is also the author for Accel World. As the title might suggest, the story involves some sort of online gaming. To be exact, it's Virtual Reality MMORPGs.
Cool isn't it? Imagine how it would feel if we can enjoy life in different worlds - an escape from today's hustle and bustle and play the different roles offered in these virtual worlds. Unfortunately, the story sets in year 2022, so I guess I'll have to wait another 9 years or so before knowing if the idea becomes just another fantasy ;)
Anyway, back to Sword Art Online, or better known as SAO. I have Google-d around and fount that it's quite a popular series with viewers - a few sites even voted it as the best anime in 2012. "Best" can be quite subjective, but SAO can easily be among my top 3 for 2012.
The story is captivating and if you have played MMORPGs before, you will find some parts quite amusing - think 'farming for gold', 'completing specific quests to fight bosses', 'leveling up cooking or fishing skills'. The difference in SAO is you are actually in the game, virtually of course and everything is as real as it can be to real life.
The protagonist in SAO is a player who calls himself "Kirito" (no one uses their real names online, right?), who jacked himself into the game with thousands of other players on the day of the launch only to find themselves unable to log out from the game. The rule, it will become evident, is that they are only allowed to leave the game if a player can win the game, which by virtue means beating the last Boss on the final level (there 100 Levels altogether o_O).
So here's the catch. If your avatar dies in the game, you die in real life as well - the virtual reality head gear will fry your brain. And if someone (maybe a family member) try to forcibly remove the head gear, your brain gets fried as well. Basically, there is no way out apart from playing and winning it.
Sounds a bit unrealistic? Not really. The plot is easy to follow, with several unexpected twist and I find that the writer has managed to make most parts plausible. Of course, this happens in the future, so the writer gets quite a bit of leeway ;)
Anyway, I would highly recommend SAO to anyone looking for a short anime series to watch (25 episodes) - you won't be disappointed :)
