Sword Art Online Gif Sword Art Online Light Novels
Sword Art Online: A Serial of Retcons
by Kim Morrissy,Correct from the very first, Sword Art Online was a work of compromise. When Reki Kawahara get-go began writing the novel 20 years ago in the hopes of submitting it to the Dengeki Novel Prize, he struggled to make his ambitious concept fit the contest's folio limit. SAO was a story about escaping a death game VRMMORPG, merely it was as well a story virtually living life to the fullest inside the virtual world. To make these seemingly contradictory themes complement each other effectively, Kawahara fix out to portray every facet of his globe—the expert, the bad, the thrills, and the reanimation—but conveying all that within the scope of a 1-shot was a tall ask indeed for a beginning-fourth dimension writer.
Somewhen, Kawahara gave up on the competition and posted his manuscript online in the hopes that someone out in that location would observe some enjoyment in information technology. Fortunately for him, his work attracted a pocket-size post-obit. SAO had all the telltale signs of a compressed book—it was filled with underdeveloped side characters and narrative threads—but it was by no means a bad story at its cadre. The positive feedback inspired Kawahara to keep writing, this fourth dimension with the luxury of an unlimited word count.
This would exist the outset of Sword Art Online as a series that constantly revisits and reinvents itself. Information technology'south the source of SAO 's biggest storytelling flaws, but also its well-nigh interesting qualities.
Technically speaking, the story of "Sword Fine art Online" (the game) had already ended from the outset. And although Kawahara did settle on a direction to take the series into the futurity, ane of the first things he did was go dorsum to the earth of Aincrad and write side stories that take identify within the gaps in the original story. The story of "Sword Fine art Online" might take ended, only there was still a lot of unfinished concern for its characters and earth.
There are obvious downsides to writing side stories after the fact. They can innovate inconsistencies with the original story (which, as Kawahara bluntly admitted, has happened with SAO ). More than importantly, it can be hard to justify their beingness on a narrative level, because any original elements introduced in a side story can't be allowed to influence the existing plot in an overt mode. If that were to happen, it would become an "alternate universe" story rather than a matter of filling gaps in the original. For better or worse, attempts to refine an already-completed story draw attending to holes that ultimately weren't relevant to the goals of the original work.
Nevertheless, SAO 's side stories certainly are important to the overall plot because they introduce characters who get relevant in later arcs. The nearly significant case of this is Yui, who was introduced in a side story covering Kirito and Asuna'due south honeymoon and comes back to play a major supporting role in the Fairy Dance arc. Information technology's a rather patchwork approach to storytelling, but information technology's also one of the reasons backside the longevity of the series: By consistently referring back to events and characters from Aincrad, Kawahara ensures that the game of "Sword Art Online" never truly ends.
Adapting the series—first to impress lite novels and then to anime—gave the writer yet more opportunities to reevaluate SAO from the beginning and add more than to the story. He was faced with a selection: He could rewrite the Aincrad arc in a way that includes the later short stories as office of the original telling. Ultimately, nonetheless, he rejected that path considering it would have involved far too much piece of work. Instead, the early on side stories were compiled into volume 2. A 2d Aincrad side story book was released as book 8, which included a new story almost what Kirito did immediately after abandoning Klein on that fateful commencement day. The intent behind that volume was to represent the past and present of the series before diving into the impress version of the Alicization arc, which was the original final arc of the spider web novel telling.
When it came to the anime, however, the production team decided on arranging the story in a chronological order. Information technology might be relatively easier for a reader to adjust to a story that jumps around in time on a volume-to-volume level, but a Television receiver show had to be more than straightforward. It was nether that logic that Kawahara was asked to write the events of episode 2 as a fashion of bridging the opening of SAO's main story to the side stories.
The results at the fourth dimension were… mixed. Episode 2 tells the story of how the players conquered the game'south first floor; it ends with Kirito bearing the brunt of the players' ill volition and vowing to piece of work alone. However, the next episode immediately opens with him joining a guild. It's so revealed through the events of the episode that although his young man guild members are low-level, Kirito is already a high-level thespian himself, indicating that the time gap betwixt episodes 2 and 3 is even larger than you'd call back at beginning glance. In other words, a bridging episode did not resolve the key pacing problems acquired past the time skip.
On the other hand, the experience of writing the plot of episode 2 was what gave Kawahara the motivation to actually sit down and "reboot" SAO on a more than aggressive scale. The result is the Sword Art Online: Progressive calorie-free novel serial, which includes an expanded version of the events of episode 2 and sets out to tell the story of how each flooring was conquered in sequence.
Progressive is undoubtedly a fantastic novel series and one of the peaks of Sword Fine art Online equally a whole. Considering the first volume was published in 2012, a full decade after the original web novel started serialization, one could see information technology as the culmination of everything Kawahara learned equally a author. The more relaxed pacing allowed him to thoroughly explore the mechanics and social dynamics of the virtual world in particular, vividly bringing the world and characters of Aincrad to life like never before.
But Progressive isn't necessarily consistent with the original story. The plot of episode 2 of the anime was originally written to establish the negative perception of Kirito as a "Beater" that lingers even in the later on stages of the game, just in Progressive, the story moves on from the fallout. Not only do the other players soften their impression of Kirito within the form of the series, Kirito teams up with Asuna and goes on an extended series of adventures with her. So much for being a solo actor, correct?
The reason backside the inconsistencies is honestly quite understandable: An actually consistent telling would take involved volumes upon volumes of Kirito level-grinding and traveling alone, speedily devolving into tedium. Instead of defining him primarily as an overpowered lone wolf, Progressive'due south Kirito is oftentimes dragged exterior his comfort zone to grapple with people problems besides. Conflicts around side characters are necessary for building tension in a story where the ultimate consequence has been determined long ago.
Besides, bringing the story dorsum to Aincrad gave Kawahara the opportunity to recalibrate the narrative around Kirito and Asuna's courtship. The romance was always a big appeal of SAO , but in the original story, they went from afar acquaintances to lovers in record time. In Progressive, they have the opportunity to collaborate every bit friends and show a very unlike side of themselves to each other. It's appealing to existing fans considering they're already familiar with the relationship dynamic.
In that sense, you could say that the retcons ended up building on the pre-existing narrative rather than outright replacing it. The anime continues with that tradition equally well by incorporating the newer information into its adaptation. For example, a villain in the Alicization anime had his lines tweaked to make a passing reference to events from Progressive. In that location's likewise the anime-original film Ordinal Scale, which was afterward referenced directly in the TV anime. The events of Ordinal Scale were also mentioned in the post-Alicization light novel volumes every bit a way of bringing the volume and anime continuities together.
For fans who like to keep track of "canon," these retcons might exist a little infuriating. It's piece of cake enough to regard the video games separately because the game-original characters and scenarios never get referenced in the master story, but it'south notwithstanding hard to say what the definitive version of SAO 's story actually is. Personally, though, I don't really listen. It's a natural impulse for an author to want to continue refining their work, and I similar how this approach keeps the story fresh even so notwithstanding accessible in the long run. Y'all tin jump into the series from the commencement calorie-free novel volume or the anime and not lose anything, which is the most important matter.
The new Sword Art Online the Pic -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Nighttime anime motion picture represents yet some other serial of rewrites by introducing a new grapheme and reframing the story around Asuna's perspective. In terms of adaptation fidelity, it'south the most significant deviation the anime has introduced thus far, but when y'all take the long view about the series, information technology's entirely inside the spirit of things. I hope you can approach it with an open mind and try out the novels while you're at information technology—it's humbling to witness Reki Kawahara's growth as an author in real-time.
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Source: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2021-11-15/sword-art-online-a-series-of-retcons/.178875
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