Sword Art Online Abridged: A Love Letter
Sword Art Online was developed in July 2012 by Studio A-1 Pictures. It was adapted from its manga form created by Reki Kawahara. Sword Art Online Abridged was produced in March of 2013 by Something Witty Entertainment and is a fan-based parody of the original series. Why am I telling you this? Well, I won’t discuss how friendship prevails or how love transcends realities. I’m going to be telling you why Sword Art Online Abridged is Sword Art Online done right! That’s right ladies and gents! We’re doing a comparative review today! We’ve gone off the deep end WOOOOOOO!
Starting off let’s understand what SAO is as a whole. Sword Art Online follows the story of Kirito and his journey in the world of SAO. After realizing the logout button doesn’t work the players discover they cannot escape the game as they are trapped in a headset known as a full dive VR Headset. They cannot move in the real world and if they try to remove the headset the microwaves being pumped into the brain overload killing the player. Kirito and the rest of the thousands of players now live in the game attempting to beat it and free themselves.
This story has inspired so much anime to become what they are and is one of the biggest in the world. Not in terms of fanbase or episode count but because of its cultural impact. That is what has made this anime one of the greatest. Or it would if it wasn’t written like a trashy light novel with the forward-thinking of a toddler and the character depth of a shallow puddle. I’m harsh because I love this show.
I will make two things clear. I will refer to the plot and characters from the original anime as OG. When speaking about the story and characters from the abridged I will be using AB. This is just for my writing’s sake and for keeping things concise and clear, something Reki Kawahara fails to do throughout the OG series.
Starting with Kirito in the OG he’s exceedingly competent and this comes from his experience in Beta Testing SAO before its launch. He has a wealth of knowledge about the game that puts him leagues above the rest of the players. OG Kirito hides this knowledge until halfway through the second episode where he is caught by his fellow players. He then decides to take an almost villain-like personality on to push people away understanding he’s better as a solo player. Because if he doesn’t get close to people, he can’t be hurt by them.
AB Kirito is an insufferable narcist who looks down on everyone he sees as beneath him and challenges authority at every possible point. And I already love him more than OG Kirito. The reason for this is that AB Kirito does what many people do when they play video games that offer immersive and roleplay experiences. They forget about their character desires completely and end up playing as themselves within the game. Counterproductive I know.
But this works because we only see in the OG series in SEASON 2 that Kirito is more reserved. He’s been pushed around beaten, and bullied for what he loves and cares about. In episode one of the AB series, we see Kirito being told he “Must not have many friends” to which he replies, “Shut up, here I have power!” Immediately we are being told that Kirito wants to escape his real world to SAO because he feels he is powerless irl. They destroyed the nuance of character revelations in favor of having a witty one-line. It sums up the entire aspect of Kirito’s Insecurities. AND IT’S ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!
Kirito being a terrible person with his personal views makes him relatable. He is in an online game where no one knows where he is in the real world. When people know they won’t be responsible for the words they can say they tend to be more open and less filtered. And Kirito embodies this idea in a gaming environment. He can become insufferable because who is going to stop him? Who is going to bully him when he is the strongest?
The power doesn’t get to his head because he understands how this game works. He knows he can be overpowered so he works hard not to be. And in doing so he walls himself off from emotion, constantly dissing and antagonizing those around him.
I want to also talk about Asuna briefly as in the OG series she’s this incredible swords woman with the power to tackle anything that comes her way. Her and Kirito’s love story is cute, yes. But at the point they become lovers in the full sense they are practically married. AND behaving like a married couple. It’s too perfect. These kids are 16 at this point like why!? They are teens! They don’t know how to be adults. It’s really poor writing.
But in AB Asuna is just as cynical and narcissistic as Kirito. The only difference is she pretends to be nice to people to come off as approachable. Because if people like her, she can garner more favor. She’s manipulative that way, and it benefits her greatly. In the OG it’s never explained how she becomes Vice Captain of the Knights of the Blood Oath. But in AB it stands to reason she manipulated her way in, with her skill in the sword and tongue.
But when she’s with Kirito she doesn’t bother, she knows she can’t get anything from him by being nice. So, she lets her true colors show which helps them fall for each other in a far more cohesive way.
Asuna bares her true ugly self to Kirito, and he accepts her because he sees a lot of himself in her. So, he takes a chance and accepts her love. Even though her love is exceedingly possessive and borderline Yandere behaviour it only fits her more. Many see parodies of these types of shows as mocking. And while that’s true for the most part it’s also a creative love letter. Fixing some points we as the audience didn’t enjoy and creating a more comedic and fun time. While also making the series a lot quicker to watch.
Going back to AB Asuna and Kirito one of my favorite parts was their married life. We see very quickly that they panicked and got married way too quickly. They both know it, but their sheer pride and stubbornness won’t let them openly admit it. So, it becomes this game of chicken, trying to strongarm the other into caving and admitting it was a bad idea to get hitched so quickly.
And when Yui, their AI daughter, vanishes after their selfish desires to make the other cave they decide to sit down and talk to each other. They both agree wholeheartedly they went too fast but when presented with the opportunity to stay together anyway. They both take it. And then they comment on how stupid they were and how much time they could have saved if they just talked.
And this is the perfect microcosm for their relationship. They play these games to make the other buckle all while enjoying the time they spend doing so. It makes them feel like real teenagers. It makes them feel like people.
Yui puts it perfectly when talking about her “parents” telling them that they’re “less people, more a loose collection of character defects.” And she hits the nail on the head with this one. They are just character defects. It’s how they were written in the OG series. But AB points at this makes fun of it, and fixes it.
We see Kirito in the OG series beat everything he faces while learning to let people in slowly but surely. Which, yes, is fun. But in AB he is forced to care about people around him when he swore off ever caring about the human race as a whole. All because he got tired of seeing people die. He tried his hardest to ignore people but with Asuna and those closest to him, he couldn’t ignore that he too is human regardless if he hates people.
The growth here feels real because we see the effects it has on him in the final fight with Heathcliff. He cares enough to want to save everyone which pushes him to truly fight with passion. And speaking of the end they fixed the ending. Thank the Lord for that one! In the OG series Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of SAO is asked why he trapped everyone in the game. And he answers that he can’t even remember why he did it. DO YOU KNOW HOW UNSATISFYING THAT IS!? YOU DON’T REMEMBER!? HOW CONVENIENT!
This is why a lot of people mock Reki Kawahara for his writing skills because, like, what even is this ending!? In AB he explains that due to weeks of sleeplessness trying to make the game as perfect as possible Kayaba notices that a game-breaking glitch is killing players when they die in the game. But in his no-sleep-induced paranoia, he thinks that he is being watched and hunted down by the CIA or feds enough to, in his words, “double, triple and quadruple down” on the player dying aspect and hold everyone hostage. While he figures out how to solve this mess his game-breaking bug has created.
News flash he doesn’t come up with a plan.
This honestly feels far more cohesive than “I can’t remember” that the original series Sword Art Online came up with. I get it it’s meant to be left up for interpretation and theory crafting but honestly there’s nothing to theorize, no hidden aspects or anything that gives a hint as to why he did it. They have been trapped in that game for around 2 years when they finally get out. It’s a long time to be trapped.
And yet lessons were learned, real relationships were made and Kirito upon waking up wants to find Asuna immediately to make sure she’s alright. Only to have his catheter ripped out because of his utter stupidity screaming like a banshee woman in one of the funniest moments in the AB story.
I’ll only be covering this much in the series as the Alfheim Arc is incomplete in the AB series, much to the dismay of all the fans. And Alfheim is a bigger mess than Sword Art Online’s first half in terms of writing.
I hope you enjoyed this comparative review! Thoroughly enjoyed writing this one as this is my very own love letter to both OG Sword Art Online and Sword Art Online Abridged. I truly love these shows, some more than others, but one thing is very clear. Something Witty Entertainment poured their hearts into AB and it goes to show by the sheer quality of what they have made.
And with that, I shall see you all later! Go support the official anime and the Abridged version on YouTube. I promise you won’t be disappointed!