Sword Art Online and Unnecessary Hate

Everyone has something that they hate. Live long enough and you’re bound to find something that you just can’t stand. However, it’s not often that people universally agree on something being bad. In those instances it is usually because that something has so many faults that people can’t help but criticize it. At the same time though, there are cases where the hate for something just seems to be much greater than the source deserves. And in the anime community, Sword Art Online is the perfect example of this.

 

On paper, SAO doesn’t seem like an anime that should get as much hate as it does. The main plot is about people trapped inside a video game who are struggling to survive and hopefully escape it. Throughout the series we see their lives and how they’re managing in the game. This is a plot that many shows have had since SAO, and yet they have never gotten the kind of criticism that it has. So what makes SAO different from these shows?

Some of the main criticisms that SAO faces is the fact that people feel that the protagonist of the show, Kirirto, just has girls falling in love with him for no reason. They feel that he is a bland character and doesn’t deserve the attention that he is given. However, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. For one thing, the characters who fall in love with him actually spend time and bond with him. This naturally evolves into them falling in love with him rather than seemingly coming out of nowhere.

Kirito himself is also far less bland than people give him credit for. He is not the most exciting character, however, he is still fairly complex. Throughout the series we see his struggle to survive and achieve his goals as well as how the events of the show have impacted him. At one point, he actually breaks down due to him seeing members of his party die in front of him. We even see how because of his experiences in the game he feels more comfortable in that world than he does in the real world. When people call him bland they’re often looking at the surface instead of actually looking at him as a whole. This still brings us to the main question: why all of the hate? Well, it’s really very simple; people hate the shift in tone. While it is true that SAO as a whole is hated, when these same people are asked what their favorite part is, they’ll usually say that it was the first half of season 1. To them this part of SAO packed full of action was the best and everything after was bad. And I think this is where the trouble lies. People came into SAO prepared to watch a show about surviving in another world where everything they do is life or death. Once that stopped being the case though, people started to lose interest.

 

To these people they felt almost ‘tricked’ as they were now watching a more slice of life anime than an action anime. This in turn caused them to feel hatred towards what happened and thus have them start nitpicking, despite there being plenty of anime like it. Had it not been for this sudden shift, there is a good chance that SAO wouldn’t receive as much hate as it does. In fact, I can even see people praising it if it were released today. However, it being released when it was in combination with people echoing the sentiment has led to SAO being known as a horrible anime, showing that sometimes people want less.

 

 

 

Logan Floyd-Mcgee | Writer
POP-COOLEDTURED SPECIALIST
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