Sword art Online: Ordinal Scale, a return to form for the sword art franchise.
It is no secret that the Sword Art Online phenomenon is a huge driving force inside of Anime fan culture these days, the simple yet engaging story captures the imagination of almost everyone who watches it.
Despite its many, many flaws. Maybe even because of them.
After all, science fiction stops being as much fun when you add in science fact.
Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale, the original movie co written by the light novels author Reki Kawahara and writer and director Tomohiko Ito, brings the SAO franchise back into a place that feels more engaging than almost any of the arcs portrayed in the shows second season, excepting the Mothers Rosario arc, those episodes can make a stone cry.
The movie sets its pace and its plot up through the standard method of news clips and general engagement via the main characters, introducing new concepts to the world in an organic way, with enough speed to not make the exposition feel prolonged or forced. Once that is all complete, within a handful of minutes from the opening credits, we are reintroduced to the main cast who are playing with the new technology and they help us to learn more about how things now work for the cast.
The emotional trip for the characters is something that has been missing from a lot of the other story arcs they have all been involved in. It’s with some skill that the writers manage to place an emotional significance upon the events, giving the plot some much needed depth.
While the emotional story beats are all being hit with a decent amount of accuracy, the animation team have stepped up their game to a whole new level. The action sequences throughout the movie are some of the best animated fight scene’s that I have seen on such a large scale. It’s a bit obvious that the animation is lacking in other less hectic moments of the story but when the fighting starts, the production value kicks up to a level that the show could never reach.
For those who have read the light novels, past the currently translated ones, then after the credits, a little gift awaits you.
Overall, SAO: Ordinal Scale is a great movie and a good indicator that the Sword Art Online franchise is alive and well. I look forward to the next chapter eagerly.
