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Sword Art Online
ソードアート・オンライン
2012 · TV series · 24 min episodes · 4 seasons
AnimationScience FictionFantasyActionAdventure
In the near future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online has been released where players control their avatars with their bodies using a piece of technology called Nerve Gear. One day, players discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive unless they reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However, if they die in the game, they die in real life. Their struggle for survival starts now...
4 positive1 mixed1 neutralfrom 6 commenters
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6 comments on Hacker News
I saw a few scenes from the RP1 movie that enticed me to watch the whole thing and liked the movie better than I expected to.
As a real hater of the postmodern I thought the nostalgia for the 1980s was a dangerous theme but it Spielberg was able to pull it off because he was a cultural force in that time. Also Spielberg had avoided his own bad habit of showing you something and then showing it to you again and again in a heavy handed way that shows a lack of trust in the audience.
(... am I really a postmodern hater if I use Baudrillard books for self-help?)
My son was skeptical about the movie and calling it Ready Player Two and I was amused to see that the book had already been written. In the end my son watched RP1 with me and liked it.
In my mind RP1 is also eclipsed by Sword Art Online, particularly the arcs after they escape the death game. (It is like the commercial version of The Matrix and quite shocking that the kids go back into VR after the death game.)
Children getting whisked away by a handsome protagonist and his magical sidekick to fight against "cool things" like pirates and mermaids in a world unlike our own?
Its an Isekai.
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Isekai is this modern trend in anime (and US movies sometimes!! Like Ready Player One), where characters are sent to another world. Sometimes due to death explicitly ("Reincarnated in a New World" plotline: like "I'm a Spider So What"), sometimes just "temporarily" transported (Sword Art Online / Ready Player One, they are "just" playing a video game).
From an "Isekai" perspective: people want two things.
1. A world very different from our own. Completely different "physics" or rules. So magic systems, history, culture, etc. etc. that's nothing like our world. Neverland easily qualifies.
2. A character who explores the new world from our perspective. The main character is always someone "like the audience", who can be ignorant about the new world. (The various characters the protagonist meets are therefore given an opportunity to explain the world to the newcomer, allowing the audience to learn about the world in a natural manner). In Peter Pan, Wendy is the Isekai protagonist.
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Alice in Wonderland, Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Wizard of Oz, A Lion, A Witch, and the Wardrobe. The concept happens again and again as a pattern, because its a good framing device. I'm not sure if Peter Pan can be seen as an allegory of death necessarily, any more than "I'm a Spider, so What?" (2021 Anime) could be.
The children are... children... because the main character often should match the profile of the target audience. Not always, but its a good rule of thumb to keep. Children stories will therefore have child-protagonists more often than not (Polar Express, Lion Witch Wardrobe, Harry Potter). There are exceptions (Peanuts has child protagonists but is largely written for an adult audience), but its just the rule of thumb authors seem to use.
Code Geass, Death Note, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Shingeki no Kyojin, No Game No Life, Steins; Gate (these are top notch) Boku no Hero Academia (Season 1 and 2), Sword Art Online (first 13 episodes, maybe 25, but after that is terrible), Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Full Metal Panic (season 1, FUMOFFU, Season 2). Psycho-Pass, Made in Abyss, Accel World, Ga-Rei Zero (these are just amazing, but not top)
Be careful with FUMOFFU, leads to death due to laughter
They cover a wide variety of range, not all of them might be of your taste. You also need to get used to some things that are Japanese culture in animes (their way of being fun, their way of being embarassed by stuff that is not in your culture and so on).
Insane plot (like REALLY incredible): - Code Geass - Death Note - Steins; Gate - Shingeki no Kyojin (not completed, season 4 coming soon) - Made in Abyss (not completed, season 2 coming soon)
Epic (you feel hyped): - Sword Art Online - Full Metal Panic - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (this anime is amazing, but I recommend watching it only after you've watched quite a few animes. Rewatching it leads to improvement. It's like when you try wine for the first time and it sucks, then it turns great) - No Game No Life - Boku No Hero Academia - Accel World
Laugh: - Full Metal Panic FUMOFFU (requires watching the season 1 first)
This list is purely based on my taste, but I watched over 200 animes (lot of bad stuff too, sadly), so for a beginner it's a good baseline.
Good plot (not like the insane ones, still good): - Psycho-Pass (AMAZING soundtrack) - Ga-Rei Zero - Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
> Second Life
Yeah, I've been surprised to learn recently that it's still alive and kicking. I'll check it out eventually, I'm gearing myself to do it for more than 10 years now :).
> I'm pretty sure Sword Art Online was about how VR could be a... bad idea. Just saying. :-)
Yeah, well, one of the reason I like it is that, despite every single VR and AR system presented being abused by some villain to do evil things, including just straight imprisoning and killing people thanks to mentioned microwave death-triggers, the anime series and the movie still manage to present a lot of positive sides too, and do a decent discussion of the social impact of such technologies.
I guess it's like with all anime - focused on both extremes, at the exclusion of the mundane :).
I hadn't thought of that aspect as being AR, but I suppose that's true. It's just very limited.
The recent Sword Art Online movie spends quite a bit of time imagining what a world with ubiquitous, sophisticated AR could be like. While obviously unrealistic, that movie felt inspiring.
I highly suggest everyone go watch the first season (or even first few episodes) of an anime called Sword Art Online. It's about what will likely be a future iteration of this hardware applied to an MMO. Addiction to being plugged in, death within the game, and which is the true reality are all themes covered.
I never thought I'd suggest watching anime on Hacker News, but this topic proved to be the exception.