Fixing Alfheim - the WORST Part of SAO

Despite my best efforts, there are still people who like Sword Art Online. But even most of them can't stand the Fairy Dance Arc. What went wrong with this story... and how can we fix it?
Check out the new SAO Film Theory: • Film Theory: Is SAO th...
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In the depths of his Mother's Basement, Geoff Thew creates videos analyzing the storytelling techniques of anime and video games. He has been named the number one Worst KZbin Anime Reviewer by The Top Tens.

[@dubiousdeliquite6641]

What self-respecting parents would let their children go anywhere near a vr headset after one of them got locked inside a video game for two years?

[@robertedwards4510]

perhaps more importantly, what idiot would think that a headset using strong microwave radiation directly on the user's brain is a good and safe idea?

[@Daster1316]

@@robertedwards4510 well tbh how did it even get FCC approval in the first place

[@robertedwards4510]

@@Daster1316 let's face it, if we start thinking about this, it's just going to cause physical pain with how little sense it makes

[@Daster1316]

@@robertedwards4510 well the FCC would never approve the nerve gear unless they low the mircowave transducers to a safe level so.

[@robertedwards4510]

@@Daster1316 correct the show isn't aware of that though

[@theaimees]

Main character: I have a cousin that’s the opposite gender Me: well that’s called foreshadowing

[@cokebear1337]

Damn, why is real life incest nasty but anime incest so hot?

[@numatruehome100]

Only in anime... oedipus Rex.... and most Steven king novels and movies... he made a Mother and son make out scene that I wish I could forget

[@Demaad]

When Geoff said that Kirito and Leafa properly reconcile as family after the emotional revelation, how does that happen exactly? Like, what would they say?

[@dalmatiaball7687]

Ah good one

[@smittywerbenjagermanjensen9281]

* i T s F r E e R e A l I s T a T e *

[@marchi3955]

the sexualization of the female characters was truly excessive, unneccesary, and downright disgusting to the point that it was enough to ruin the whole thing

[@lucasjiang2167]

Might I suggest you Redo of Healer

[@CluelessCarter]

@@lucasjiang2167 I was less disgusted with redo of healer than sao. Redo had class

[@jtessler8956]

@@CluelessCarter yeah unlike sao redo didn't pretend it wasn't a hentai

[@2dollarchickenwings689]

@@CluelessCarter "Redo had class" you heard it here, folks

[@twinkiesmaster69]

@@2dollarchickenwings689 ahh yes class ....thats smashed on to the watchers head

[@Taygon45]

I love how Asuna is in Abridged. Yeah, she's captured but she escapes regularly to the point that all the guards are terrified of her. And Sugo's entire plan revolves around her being too badass to bend to his will. He has to use the Charisma factor to make him too irresistible to say no to. And I think that checks off the 'Be evil enough for the shock value'. He's literally stripping her of her free will.

[@uc4490]

I also like how the charisma thing is not just plot bullshit. It is an actual game mechanic used quite a few times in Aincrad.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

And even the shockingly evil thing being done is just the logical conclusion of something that was used as a silly, and very funny joke in the previous season. The premises of: “What if some clown had a hat that increased charisma and was actually able to change people’s minds because this is a full-dive VR game?” and: “What if some other clown had that hat, and used it to sexually assault people by overriding their consent?” ultimately aren’t all that far apart from each other in the grand scheme of things.

[@cadenmendy9950]

@@uc4490 “I hate that hat!”

[@anonymousfilipino3232]

you know shit's bad if the original is being seriously and unironically compared to the Abridged version

[@leotox6423]

@@anonymousfilipino3232 Abridged is fucking genius though.

[@vrez114]

Every female character here falls in love in like 2 seconds after being with Kirito. The first half I was loving it when I first watch SAO but after the first half, everything went down the sewer.

[@patrickstar3165]

V Rez yes I agree

[@KusogakiRenfir]

What kind of a harem anime would this be if MC-kun didn't get all the ladies?

[@jayive34]

@@KusogakiRenfir Apart from Asuna, that all appear in 1 episode each.

[@i.k5696]

I kinda liked the idea but everyone falling in love with him left a bad taste

[@vicky3365]

FR

[@invaldalia8421]

He sounds so broken when he says incest.

[@lagos4312]

Invaldalia He is broken. Like every single one of us.

[@mountainmoth]

He is

[@jacksonbuhler4513]

He sounds broken the entire time I just hate his version no matter what he says the original version is way better

[@estopheles0544]

@@jacksonbuhler4513 Honestly his version is so much better because (a. He makes Yui have some purpose other than replacing a possible tutorial npc (b. He gets rid of the rape and sexual assault scenes that were pointless and unnecessary (c. He has Kirito's sister get over Kirito later on (d. We finally get to see Asuna and Kirito fight for the first time and (e. He just tells the overall story so much better while making Jesus-kun finally bad at something (flying). Need I go on?

[@estopheles0544]

@@jacksonbuhler4513 I don't see anything his version has that is worse than the normal version.

[@skyefall_1223]

Something that bugged me especially is Kirito’s complete and total non reaction to killing other players in a game that’s almost exactly like the one he was just trapped in where if you die you’re dead, and that applies to everyone. So him saying “who’s next” after killing another player makes me irrationally angry. It is psychologically impossible for him to be so nonchalant about killing another player only two months after being trapped in a death game for so long that it became normal life. He would be TERRIFIED, at least for a second, that he just killed someone before remembering that he’s not in SAO anymore, and he nor anyone else can die.

[@coyolord8031]

The reason why he wasn't bugged in the first place is that Agil (who gave him the game in the first place) told him that it's just a normal game and so he can kill anyone to his heart's content

[@lewanbroski504]

​@coyolord8031 That shouldn't change anything? He's just been trapped in a death game where death mattered and saw friends die even murdered some people himself. For most people even if you know its safe it would be difficult to go back into a similar situation like that

[@takedown205productions6]

​@@coyolord8031I agree with OP. Yes, Agil told him death doesn't influence the real world outside of Alfheim, but it should've fucked with him like it did during the Phantom Bullet arc.

[@TsunayoshiSawada469]

​@coyolord8031 you should look up PTSD! Thats what we're talking about 😊

[@Blusheoom]

“Part III. Asuna.....what the hell did they do to you?” SENT ME SO HARD✋🏽😭

[@MGNew]

Asuna still solo lol

[@repulser93]

She's just been having some fun with Shoji.

[@kjdubs5877]

@@repulser93 He deserves it for stealing the wheelchair lady's yogurt

[@axain7784]

​@@MGNew Can you solo the hood of a silver-colored 2006 Honda Civic going at 126 miles per hour?

[@hahasamian8010]

​@@axain7784 Thank you for writing this, I will probably use it next time I hear "x solos y"

[@thebiggertoe]

STOP CRITICIZING SAO WHEN YOU COULD NEVER HOPE TO MAKE A BETTER ANIME THAN K... ...oh. .... ... Nvm, good job.

[@alleislazy6850]

XD LMAOOOOOO

[@alleislazy6850]

m8 I think it's funny .-.

[@BrickBuster2552]

See the difference is that when I can't make an anime, I don't. When A1 can't make an anime, they just do it anyway and try to take people's money through it.

[@alleislazy6850]

srry....

[@scuba3594]

Lol

[@brenthcl1021]

Asuna: .... Oberon: How's my little birdie today? Asuna: *spit at face* Oberon: ... >:( Much better.

[@rassberrypi]

SO much better

[@crow8173]

@@rassberrypi more like >:()

[@clearskiesmovieproject4685]

then rape

[@clearskiesmovieproject4685]

(joke btw)

[@crow8173]

@@clearskiesmovieproject4685 but was it really a joke🤔

[@dagamerking5215]

Honestly the show would have been bearable if they got rid of all the fan service sexual harassments scenes

[@pinkkorone7978]

Unnecessary sexual harassments And the fans don't criticize that at all, they just turn a blind eye

[@kaghetti96]

@@pinkkorone7978 I WAS 13 WHEN I WATCHED THIS AND I THOUGHT IT WAS GOOD 😭😭 i rewatched it (17 yrs old) and i just,,,, what the fuck

[@pzm9459]

@@pinkkorone7978 as a fan, one of the main things the fans criticize (they do exist) from what I see is actually the sexual harassment scenes (except the ones that weren't useless).

[@bluesquid7900]

@@pinkkorone7978 because that's just anime it's pretty much the norm

[@thesparduck117]

Same thing that happened to High School of the Dead, Cross Ange and numerous other franchises, its such a shame so many shows try to rip off Griffith and don’t get what made Griffith a good character.

[@DimaRakesah]

I really loved Asuna in the 1st season. Hell, I named my gaming PC after her. I was disheartened to how she was turned into a damsel in distress and rape fetish fan service for the entire 2nd season. Then for the 3rd seasons she's essentially useless. They nuked her character so hard it hurt. I was happy to see some of her agency return in the 4th series, and I loved the scene where Kirito arrived to hold off that other guild so Asuna and her friends could get in to beat the boss before them. When Kirito and Asna work together it's like magic.

[@okami-azz1492]

Honestly the only thing bad in sao was the sexual shit, fuck the studio, fuck the anime Watch bofuri

[@jeremymullens7167]

I didn’t like her 4th season arc the most because they put her backwards. She was a leader in a massive guild of the best players in SAO that had the goal of risking their life to clear levels. She gave up her position to follow her personal goals and also Pursue a relationship with Kirito. She would have learned to stick up for her beliefs in that position. A sick girl was not needed to teach her. Asuna is not a normal teenager. She had her innocence taken from her. Her trauma would make her problems different. Duty to a family is nothing next to the obligations she would have felt towards freeing thousands from a game as one of the strongest players. And yet, she was willing to break convention there and do her own thing. There’s a good plot with mother daughter reconciliation there but you shouldn’t do it by turning Asuna into a normal teenager. Asuna’s character arc here should have more been like distant father learning to connect with his family. Instead of crying Asuna should have gotten in a heated argument with her mother. That’s what she’s done in the past with ‘authority figures’. The resolution should be around resolving the mother/daughter conflict and mutual understanding but in a way that more matches Asuna’s character and experiences in SAO.

[@grinko1222]

She was damseled because Sugo took away her stats

[@landlockedcroat1554]

who names their pc

[@dynamicworlds1]

@@landlockedcroat1554 it's literally the first line of your device settings on your PC and has been part of Windows for a very long time to help distinguish computers when they're networked together. I guess being so busy trying to posture how superior you think you are that you can't notice how dumb what you're saying is, is at least on brand for you, though.

[@dsharkyo]

guys im starting to think he doesn't like sao

[@NOTZeroBlank]

*exasperates* i never would have even thought!

[@bradless8418]

*gapes mouth* this is so unexpected!

[@rngisfair._.1103]

the fuck

[@ninjabunny101]

wait wait wait wait.. *w h a t*

[@ashtm9141]

Lmao

[@DICEBOY22]

How to fix SAO: Have the characters function like normal people and not characature stereo types, let Klien have a girl friend and not every girl just blindly fall over Kirito.

[@calmrag6143]

This man speaking facts

[@mdv9831]

Stop SAO fans don't understand reason!

[@2dollarchickenwings689]

The first half is bullshit; if the characters acted like normal people then there wouldn't be an episode 2. However I do agree that they did my boy ballsdeep69 dirty.

[@sd-wc9ep]

@@2dollarchickenwings689 why though? They would still try to escape

[@RegressorJin]

@@mdv9831 actually I do

[@ameliebotha1565]

I was young when I started watching sao and it was my brother who introduced it to me but when I started it he got to this arc he asked me everyday which episode I was on and then when he knew I was getting close to this arc he refused to let me watch it when I got older he still told me not to watch it but I did anyway and when those scenes with asuna happened I was so uncomfortable and distressed I went crying to him . It's honestly disgusting that they put thos scenes in there

[@hksqc]

Welcome to the world of anime, I’m pretty sure there are much more worst stuff than that😂😭😭

[@jillwasalone8823]

when i watched tht scenes i almost forgot that im watching a anime

[@viveleshistoires4874]

Your brother is a gem.

[@elizabethpink721]

Oh my god literally the EXACT same thing happened to me. My brother introduced it to me when I was really young but told me not to watch those episodes! But then I watched them a couple years later anyway and was super grossed out. This is freaky

[@45memet]

i introduced sao to my wife recently and i didn't even started her to alfheim arc we finished when kirito awakes

[@johnniewoodard648]

The Asuna we knew from the 1st half of the series would have never "just took" being treated the way Sugo treats her. At the very least the writers should have had Sugo nerf her abilities and skills when he captured her. She would have still had her fighting spirit, but Sugo being terrified of her, adjusted her in game skills to make her weak. That is the type of person Sugo is, not being able to truly face Asuna, he had to artificially make her weaker than him.

[@beastunleashed657]

He DID nerf her. That's exactly what happened. By the point we see her in ALO, she has been there for like 2 months, all alone. And actively rebelling against him, would've done more harm than good, because there is no telling what Sugou could've done, like for example, erase her memories.

[@EatAnOctorok]

@@beastunleashed657 I think more what this tells me, is that Sugou made a "10th" inaccessible race that is just an empty, featureless slot. The standard "Fairy", no racial abilities, skills, magic, no advantages or disadvantages. Essentially something that can only ever gain equipment and items as a form of progression, rather than "learning" anything. This is the default for anyone who logs in, even newly-registered players who arrive at the chamber where they pick their race. Literally the only difference is that Asuna and the 300 other survivors were programmed to spawn at specific locations, whereas the default for all standard players, is to spawn in the registration chamber. They never got to pick a different race, so they don't change from the base default race, the Fairy. Hypothetically, if Asuna could have found and made it to a GM console, she could have found a way to access the registration chamber in order to pick a race. That chamber is the only function in the game that can change a player's race, and the default blank race might even have a lower priority in the metadata below the core nine. So no, he didn't nerf her. He just stopped her from receiving the registration prompt.

[@beastunleashed657]

@@EatAnOctorok perhaps, but either way, he squashed any chance of her having fighting capabilities

[@AteYourLiver]

Thats why SAO abridged did pretty much all of that aside from the nerfing part

[@beastunleashed657]

@@AteYourLiver Yes but that also made the threat completely pointless. There is no real reason why she can't just escape. This villain can't really be taken ssly in any way. Do note that I'm not praising OG Sugou either, but atleast he was somewhat competent.

[@nicetomeetyou3362]

this is why sometimes there are fanfics better than actual stories.

[@mgsgamer8340]

There’s that one comment where Asuna realizes the longer everyone stays in SAO, the more they die and expire anyways.

[@ileanabriannemari]

Lmao ikr

[@vanbrosko97]

watch saoa

[@nicetomeetyou3362]

@@vanbrosko97 been there, done that, loved it.

[@lucamorgante8620]

‘Cough’ RWBY ‘Cough’

[@angelaphsiao]

How to fix SAO: make Klein the main character and let Kirito be the background character who is pretty good but weirdly stubborn about being a loner.

[@mihard7788]

Sad thing is that this actually sounds like a great idea

[@TheOther-Dude]

No! That'd be... But Kirito... Damn, that's a pretty good idea.

[@phxer_]

Hell yeah. Not only is Klein less ridiculous OP than Kirito, but he's also more likeable.

[@kaziislam2785]

S. I. V. It sounds like a joke but it sounds like it would actually be true. Or that something THIS simple is ALL that it needed.

[@thomnasilikeswordfighting5506]

HECK YA

[@dracomurdock6349]

Sugou being murdered in real life would have really helped the ggo ptsd plot. He didn't just kill murderers in a virtual reality- he took that violent justice into the real world.

[@playerexe5101]

"Elephants in the room" thats gotta be a big ass room to fit multiple elephants.

[@rowletthejowlet6241]

It must be the same size as the ass Reki Kawahara is pulling plot points out of.

[@victorvirgili4447]

It’s a 4 season room

[@henriqueabreu9706]

SAO Fanboy: "You can't make a better history!" Jeff: "Hold my script"

[@darthralin]

Well, he can't make a better history though. That'd take a vast array of resources in just as vast amounts, even if he had the time machine necessary to even make the attempt at baby Hitler's life.

[@AshtonSnapp]

God Of Urging I think he meant to type “story” instead of “history”...

[@Tenshi6Tantou6Rei]

The joke => You

[@laughingmask3118]

HAHA YES

[@peytongorshavitzki6933]

5 comments and 1k likes. Nicu

[@mihara6647]

Part 1: Incest. Part 2: Everything else. Damn, you don't pull your punch, huh?

[@neitherlink6612]

Lucy Nguyen he saved the best for last “...part 2,5.... Jesus-kun...”

[@uncomfortablyclose8481]

She’s his cousin. It’s still incest

[@shuttlethefox6042]

Not if it is Kentucky

[@uncomfortablyclose8481]

Oh right, just gotta love those anime mmos from Kentucky.

[@wildcard9010]

They had to get viewers from Alabama somehow, right?

[@rodneythundercock]

As I watched the first arc, I was just WAITING for that Kirito-asuna fight. My body was so ready, only to be disappointed

[@yez9475]

Yeah, i was so disappointed when she got trapped, then gets abused, and being a hopeless side character

[@Boostlag]

@@yez9475 Well at least the progressive series are tying up loose ends

[@someyeeterontheblock2421]

I never thought they would fight because this is clearly not the type of anime where the main character is going to get showed up by his girlfriend. He's made to be Jesus-

[@secrettwin3254]

I wonder what's going through the creator of sao's mind when he see's how much people don't like his creation.

[@RonnieManTV]

Truth be told, a lot of people actually love his work. His Light novels are consistently number 1 in Japan so I think he doesn’t care. The anime isn’t his creation, its an adaptation of his creation. His light novels have better writing than the anime can provide.

[@thedoubting2290]

probably dont care as long as he get a royalty

[@4idenn]

Yeah, ofc he would care about some western normies screaming at his work on youtube and twitter. Nah man, his work is huge in Japan.

[@F14thunderhawk]

Royalty Checks.

[@uc4490]

To be fair, he does recognise how bad it is in a couple interviews like how the kill mechanism world for the nerve gear and how the women are essentially trophies; so he does recognise the fact.

[@ErutaniaRose]

One thing that pissed me off the most was that Asuna's trauma was NEVER fully acknowledged. Not to play a victim card or anything, but to show how it changes her view, and how she grows from it in her own way.

[@beastunleashed657]

It WAS actually. That's part of the reason why she was afraid of people in a powerful position in Mother's Rosario and Alicization.

[@scrublord9505]

@@beastunleashed657 People actually watched Alicization? Lol

[@beastunleashed657]

@@scrublord9505 Yes, it was watched by more people than you think. Although not as much as S1 thanks to the quite frankly ridiculous hate train.

[@sonfoku73]

@@beastunleashed657 ridiculous? Look I enjoy SAO, but not unironically, and you can't tell me the show is objectively good. It's horribly well written and AFAIK it's not because it's a bad adaptation of the novels either, it just is. I think it's fun, not good, and that's an important distinction. So tell me do you think it is good?

[@beastunleashed657]

@@sonfoku73 Yes I do think it is good for the most part with bad writing at times. If it was objectively bad, it would be a 4 on MAL, not 7+

[@ibthat1guy]

The Alfheim arc was so poorly paced to the point that you forgot that your still in season 1

[@Catsrnice_]

Seriously first time I watched the Alfheim Online arc I thought it was like season 2 so everytime I searched season 2 I would get GGO

[@DStecks]

I still can't get over the fact that in the anime called Sword Art Online, they escape Sword Art Online halfway through season 1.

[@alpacawithouthat987]

@@DStecks Reminds me of Once Upon a Time where they break the curse in the first season so they have to keep inventing new curses to give the characters something to do and keep the show going

[@bananasare_revolting]

@@alpacawithouthat987 yeah! I remember watching the show and wondering why there are 7 seasons if the main problem was already solved 6 seasons before that! I definitely can see a lot of similarities between how this played out and how sword art online is still playing out even though the series could have ended without the fairy dance arc and so on and so forth...

[@bilboswagins2429]

I thought the show ended when they escaped and asuna “died”. Lowkey thought it was a 10/10 anime for making me feel extremely sad that she died. Then i saw SAO 2 and was like “how the fuck is she still alive?” Then i went back to SAO 1 to find out there were many episodes and the show went to shit.

[@Jdog-tt8qe]

I knew Alfheim was bad but I didn’t know you could make the story so much better with just a few plot changes. Wish your version was reality

[@Densema]

Completely based. Felt the same way after the video

[@dangernoodledee111]

Maybe I just like writing characters who actually experience PTSD when traumatic things (that would totally cause PTSD) happen to them, but I think Alfheim would be interesting to show how SAO affected Kirito's mental health and mindset. Like, if I was trapped in a VR for 2 years with the threat of death looming over me and my friends/loved ones, I wouldn't go near a set ever again. I would definitely dive back in if some I loved was still trapped, but it would be hard. Kirito might instinctually think he's going to die whenever his health is in the red, or other things of that nature, like forgetting that he can just log out. I can think of more later. I think it would be neat to see the full extent of Yui's programming as well.

[@MadCartoonist]

I came in here expecting another glorified fanfiction, but was proven utterly wrong. Not only did your proposed version addressed every problem I had with Fairy Dance's plot, you took it up to 11 by not even removing things I felt are so bloody redundant (the faction meeting and the entire incest thing), and made them make sense. *applaud*

[@ianr.navahuber2195]

especially the elephan in the room: You can brainwash somebody yet, you never brainwash anyone.

[@sunmarie9070]

Exactly

[@Nuclearburrit0]

I was actually disappointed. Glorified FanFiction sounds appealing to me.

[@allanime01]

I wanna invent interdimensional travel just to find the universe where this is the SAO we actually got.

[@braxon]

Yeah, god this was great. I could definitely have dealt with that rendition. He didn't addressed all the skeveness I hated about this series and even though he didn't mention it, he answered a question the real plot never did. How can we be in suspense in a world where you can't die.

[@towersthetoad2161]

“I’d lIkE tO seE yOu mAke a BeTteR aNimE” Now, in all seriousness, I would actually like to see you write a light novel. Not in the same way people who comment what I said above want you to, but just for fun. You seem to recognise bad writing and bad character development, so I think you could actually write a good light novel. I’m serious.

[@EatAnOctorok]

xklnbx14 I’m actually working on something like this myself. I’ve separated my chapters into separate documents, though, as “episodes”, as I plan to instead turn them into PowerPoint animations for KZbin instead. Currently working on the end of Episode 3, which is really just the first scene of Progressive 1, and Episode 4 will be the anime’s Episode 2.

[@isthissomesortofmeme8932]

@@EatAnOctorok gl

[@guccilix7101]

Aaron Rayner id like to see it when it’s done. Please upload it to your KZbin channel or add me on some sort of social media so I could see it. You could write it in the comments but we both know *AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!*

[@jimmypratt]

I totally agree, I would buy that, DO IT MB

[@evandrofilipe1526]

can we get 666 likes

[@003dylan]

I know I'm really late to this video, but I just wanted to say that I love the idea to displaying shots of Suguha/Leafa to reflect how Kirito sees her. In real life she is not sexualized at all, even in scenes without Kirito because you want to influence how the audience thinks of her. She is just a character wearing normal clothes and not posing to the camera. Then we get to her persona Leafa. Suguha uses Leafa as a form of escapism and self discovery so she dresses is sexualized outfits and even consciously stands in more confident provocative ways. Kirito notices this immediately when they meet and you can have a gag moment about him staring a her chest or something, but he doesn't make any advances toward her because he's literally on a quest to save his wife. Then after they figure out their connection, the camera angles change to reflect her in real life and she even switches to a less revealing outfit when she partners up with Kirito again.

[@coffeewolfproductions9113]

I think that's a good idea except for the last part. I don't think its fair to expect a woman to change her appearance just so she wouldn't be appealing to a man. If she *wants* to be in less revealing clothing just for herself then thats fine, but she shouldn't need to wear less sexualized clothing just for other people's convenience (you hear this argument a lot with public school dress codes.) Having Leafa wear the same clothing but be framed in a less sexualized manner would be fine.

[@Shipstealer]

“Because, you know, it’s a raid, of course one person couldn’t beat it on their own. That would be stupid.” Best. Fucking. Line. Oh wow, guys. Thank you for all that likes! 😁

[@Atlasm2p]

Well, you can win some raids in games, but it takes a lot of gear, practice, knowledge and huge amounts of time to muscle memory everything

[@beastunleashed657]

You'd think with all the people calling him Jesus kun, he'd be able to beat the dungeon. Guess he isn't that OP then.

[@charisk2845]

I remember some youtube cinemasins knock off channel who made a video about sao (actually there's 2 of them) And one of them called leafa "Milk tits"

[@rehaan6428]

@@charisk2845 Anisins?

[@slevinchannel7589]

@@rehaan6428 0:40: MB roasting Butch Hartman so hard he becomes Fried wihtout even mentioning his Name.

[@draculila1498]

this is really good, but i feel like the PTSD and anxiety attacks could be sprinkled in so that they can show how yui has more of a purpose than originally described.

[@wyattgamble1369]

That would actually work really well. After all, wasn’t Yui supposed to be an emotional support AI. When she explained who she was after the whole grim reaper “fight” she said she was made to help the players cope with being trapped in a game. That would reference her original use and make her an extremely vital character Kirito needs in order to get over his trauma in the future story arch’s and defeat the big bad in ALO.

[@Brawler_1337]

They could, but that kinda goes beyond the scope of what Geoff is doing here. Geoff is pretty much making Alfheim better making as few changes as possible; he’s proving that he can use Kawahara’s own building blocks to make a much better story. Making Kirito’s PTSD more prevalent would go a long way to improving his character, but that would be adding in more scenes as opposed to tweaking existing scenes.

[@iisajudge5671]

I mean why didnt kirito just report sugou

[@genderenigma8276]

@@iisajudge5671 If somebody is reported, they could easily make another account. Also, he's kinda in charge of ALO...so yeah. Try reporting an admin.

[@iisajudge5671]

Borbs Birbs but why didn’t kirito just show the police the screen shots or post them on social media. That would easily solve the problem

[@Fredfredbug4]

SAO Fanboys: I'd like to see you make a better anime! Something Witty Entertainment: Done.

[@jge2319]

Very true it's a funnier, better written version of an anime that has so much potential

[@segghhs]

I never laughed harder and I love how asuna kirito are psychopath to the point yui thought one would each other

[@kingturboturtlednoc5722]

@@segghhs I'm assuming you meant to put kill in there?

[@justasentientmclarenp1879]

you know you suck at writing when everybody does your story a billion times better than you

[@snivyfrpresident509]

I chocked so many times to SAOA

[@stubbornspaceman7201]

Mother’s basement: it’s a raid, of course one person couldn’t beat it on their own. Destiny players: are you challenging me.

[@thehammer4607]

Destiny is a bitch, the old VoG had these little things you had to stand on to open a door, and adds kept spawning to recapture them, unfortunately I can only do one at a time, so I spent three hours bouncing back and forth and never got in

[@1022Ping]

😂

[@dyinginside821]

as a younger woman, the scenes with asuna were genuinely terrifying to watch, I stopped watching before I got to the scene with that one creepy guy and asuna and I genuinely had to skip it in the video, literally so triggering. wtf is wrong with this show, how can people even remotely say this is their favorite anime. disgusting.

[@eddieboston6540]

The bad guy doing a bad thing and getting his face dropped onto a sword is a good thing. The show never shows that scene as sexy it is supposed to make you uncomfortable.

[@PlatinumKrown]

@@eddieboston6540 Exactly, it isn't supposed to be fanservice, it's supposed to be uncomfortable and disgusting, except for the parts with Kirito's sister, those are sadly supposed to be sexy.

[@eddieboston6540]

@@PlatinumKrown what moments with his sister

[@PlatinumKrown]

@@eddieboston6540 I was pointing out that Suguha generally seemed to be fanservice compared to asuna during the alfhiem arc. But that's just me going off of memory, nothing serious.

[@nanahuatli2144]

@@PlatinumKrown Look at it this way: if A is assaulting B, and you're looking at B's boobs and crotch, whose point of view are you inhabiting? The victims or the perpetrator's? The language of film isn't something that just happens, the choices made have meanings. If they wanted to make you feel Asuna's pain and empathize with her, experience this horrible thing with her, they camera would be done from her point of view. They wouldn't be focusing on her body parts (which, by the way, is a choice that dehumanizes her further). You'd see only the villain and his actions, and they'd switch from time to time to showing her expression, so you could keep track of her feelings as well as her experiences. The POV they actually used is voyeuristic, therefore if their intention wasn't to titillate, they chose the wrong way about it. My discomfort doesn't come from watching a sexual assault and feeling the victim's pain, it comes from watching animators sexually assault a character.

[@travm.6013]

The "I like to see you do better" argument is silly, but I am kind of glad people used it, because I really enjoyed your re-imagining of this SAO arc.

[@ShoutmonXW]

Ikr? This re-imagining of SAO makes it seem smarter than what we were originally given. In fact I'm quite bummed out this isn't real.

[@markderuijter2346]

Saaame!!

[@CompletelyNewguy]

Whenever I see the whole, "I like to see you do better!" My response is: "You don't need to be a good chef to say the food sucks." If it tastes like shit it tastes like shit.

[@ultimatesarico4581]

Ikr

[@Yaboi27]

CompletelyNewguy exactly

[@skulldotjpeg]

The incest made me viscerally uncomfortable -- my adopted older brother is my cousin IRL. I actually stopped watching the series because it was so gross.

[@Cheetahgirl_Studios]

There were... SO many ways they could’ve done it instead of resorting to... that. They could’ve had Leafa be his best friend. Maybe he was staying with her and her family while he recovered from being trapped in VR for so long. God, the cousin thing just made me want to hurl.

[@Canido19]

@@Cheetahgirl_Studios Yeah. The series had already been running the unrequited harem trope into the ground by the point Suguha had been introduced. Having the plot string along ANOTHER faux love interest was getting not just tired, but kind of insulting.

[@Canido19]

@@ifuckinghatebarking Well it doesn't GO anywhere, so any logistical issues are kind of moot.

[@zeeblock22]

Sexual assault online

[@shloprop4751]

Sao abridged genuinely made every character better, especially Asuna in the second season, in the second season of the main show she was just a damsel, but in abridged she mentally torchers the people working for the king, and then says "Now that I have caused the staff to go mentally insane, its time for plan A, actually escaping" or something on those lines, genuinely hilarious

[@MD.Akib_Al_Azad]

Plan B

[@nourmuhsen]

19:08 As an SAO fan what they've done to Asuna has seriously pissed me off.

[@gamu1651]

W

[@MGNew]

No lol

[@MGNew]

@@gamu1651 L

[@robertlewis6915]

the fanservice angle/ incest plot was extremely irritating I said "irritating?" I meant "Enraging."

[@istan9682]

The incest was.... Idk. I just kept screaming no

[@elvingearmasterirma7241]

That was the scene that almost made me and my brother toss his computer out of the window. A visceral reaction I know. Thankfully, the story wasnt like Yay! Incest! But oh that framing...

[@josephoyek6574]

*engaging

[@CABRALFAN27]

I don't even care about the incest part. It's just so poorly written.

[@6ixlxrd]

@@scamin441 Creator didn't think so. Dude cried in the corner because the directors didn't let him go with "his" ending. But eh, I've never watched that anime. Only heard about it.

[@lambs5258]

"...which is almost the default practice for presenting any woman in anime, but let's not crack open that industrial barrel of worms today" looooool The gross sexualization of Asuna is what killed it most of all for me. It was just wrong on so many levels. They give a truly strong female character in anime and then just totally turn her into another fanservice doll during the next arc. It's insulting.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

lambs Fittingly enough, a "sexy" torture scene was also the final nail in Fairy Tail's coffin.

[@spartan1839]

I believe that is the killing thing for most everyone for ALO

[@spartan1839]

@TtR / JaRa pretty sure that's one part people would like to forget....the whole almost rape and violation of asuna is the one of the main reasons ALO was the worst part of the SAO series

[@Ripjaw5]

Thank god for the Mother's Rosario arc

[@violet4794]

Omar Jafry ikr the only good part

[@meirthecreator9677]

Sao fanboys: Well I’d like to see you make something better Mother’s Basement: Ask and you shall receive

[@frostyguy1989]

Something Witty is way ahead of you.

[@PenumbraMineMMWard]

Found this video after rewatching all of SAO with the youngest teen. 1. I completely agree with the ideas for Yui. 2. I hate Suguha's crush. I always wondered why they never used the "Lonely Little Sister" trying to reconnect with her older "Brother" Arc instead of the creepy incest one. Because Suguha would have been a child/pre-teen when he went in and a teen when he woke, but he would still see her as a child. Maybe they were very close after she came to live with his family, and he was always the mentor/protector, but then after he woke, he was distant. A whole arc could be Suguha just trying to get back what was lost. Kirito, like many trauma victims or war survivors, probably has many attachment issues and may have lost the ability to remember the happy times before SAO in the struggle to survive it. Like a child watching a family member dying of cancer, who only remembers the horrifying end. On the quest to save Asuna and the others, as Leefa, Suguha takes the role of mentor in the new world. Leefa has to be break through Kirito's walls and due to Kirito's PTSD, he does dumb things to protect her above all like a big brother. I also thing there should be out-world scenes of the family in therapy and Kirito just staring out the window until Suguha breaks and either slaps him or hug-mauls him in a crying fit. She could be sneaking into Alfheim because he is now so terrified of the tech and when he sees her using it, he goes in after her. 3. General Eugene would be better as a trapped player or AI who guards the tree's secrets and is part of the group keeping the trapped players prisoner. It would have stretched his arc and made the designers of Alfheim more insideous through out the series instead of the popup bad guy pervert Sugo. (Same - they could leave that out.) They would have sent Eugene after Kirito and by proxy, Leefa, after what Kirito did in SAO. 4. I like the memory-washed Asuna fighting Kirito, and perhaps all of Eugene's Army could be the other player who don't know who they are or what is really going on. In which Leefa leads the Alliance against the 300 until Yui frees them.

[@realcryptc]

Asuna vs. Kirito would've been such a cool fight

[@milkbread1640]

Kirito would obviously win because the creators make him too overpowered

[@Limit639]

@@milkbread1640 But he doesn't want to hurt Asuna soooo

[@milkbread1640]

Yeabes das true😳😳

[@m0rkmuzzl]

Milk Bread you mean Jesus-kun

[@samuelportengen9217]

no seriously not

[@TheTsugnawmi2010]

"Part 1: The Incest" Wow! We're just diving in head-first aren't we?

[@sanfransiscon]

If you know what I mean

[@ehkoin]

And copying Digibro to boot. Good video though.

[@sanfransiscon]

I don't ship Kirito and Suguha because HE'S MARRIED. Are there ANY good sibling romances? I'm not even asking for anime, I mean literally any work of fiction.

[@drakan4769]

+LOL Icon well there's eroman- ok no

[@sanfransiscon]

But I hear that one's cute... Dammit industry, don't make me come over there and make it myself!

[@elvisgazaway]

Honestly it's so upsetting. SAO had so much potential. Especially the Aincrad arc. They could've expanded it to like 50-60 episodes like some of the arcs in Hunter x Hunter so you could actually see Kirito's changes, levelups, moving floors, and it would also give more room for the PTSD to actually be present like they kind of tried.

[@stitches768]

At least we got SAO abridged, thankfully

[@noahhager1187]

I love how modern day "Sao clones" tend to just poke fun at the overpowered protagonist

[@0hvist]

_"We may never be able to stop people from doing stupid shit. But with your help, I will always be there to call them on it afterwards. And really, isn't that what truly matters?"_

[@markt.3300]

When the fanfic is better than the original thing

[@user-rj3vf7hk7x]

mark t. When its not a fanfic

[@notproductiveproductions3504]

mark t. And he’s not even a fan

[@krvys7226]

It's an AU fanfic where its compitantly written

[@kolby_jack_cheese8053]

@saoabridged

[@MGNew]

You are hater with pfp

[@quantumjoss]

Get this guy on a storyboard team

[@Barrobroadcastmaster]

Get this guy his own storyboard team. Heck, give him a show. Heaven knows they're doing dumber shit with other shows these days, anime and otherwise.

[@housinengi9512]

same

[@catswag16]

Make him the editor

[@DCNRS90YT]

Barro 45 is greater than 44 Yeah, good point.

[@tdfern1]

Barro 45 is greater than 44 He be a actual movie star.

[@avalonvt]

My biggest complaint is that Alfheim is entirely filled with people who roleplay their characters. Unless this is an RP server that would never happen and literally all you'd have to do is say "my name is Kazuto Kirigaia, savior of Aincrad I'm looking for evidence of the coma patients being in Alfheim." and even if you're lying 80% of MMO players would be like hey that's a fun diversion in a game where I'm not going to die and spend most of my time logged in in skimpy outfits draped across the strongest player's lap.

[@klusher5556]

Back when i was 16 I cried so hard when I saw "that" scene. Now I understand why. They indeed fucked up the show a little bit. Edit: at first I thought: well thats just how it is then. But if you think about what they could've done..

[@hobberteevee7309]

Great, except for one thing. The one to destroy sugo shouldn't be kirito, it should be asuna. This whole time he did terrible things to her, objectified her and dominated her, now she has the chance to fight back and give him what he deserves. Seeing him beg for mercy from her would be great. Flipping those roles

[@fishworshipper]

Why not Asuna and Kirito kicking his ass together? It is, at its core, a love story after all.

[@storm___]

Hobbert Eevee I don't care which is it. Bastard deserved death be it from Kirito or asuna

[@nishankkankas7195]

Dame Desu hmmm.... can it be kayaba and yui (lol)

[@storm___]

Nishank Raj yui is an ai who can't kill or do anything in the real world like that. And kayaba didn't really witness it

[@nishankkankas7195]

Well i was kidding why are you serious. I was just saying what could have make sao more bad. Well in that case also, i am talking about in game (not real life). Just suppose, yui find out admin account. From admin account, then she made herself an in-game monster and killed that ........whatsoever name (i didnt tried to remember his name). Or she find out kayaba data and then using admin power she created a npc like kayaba but whoes aim is to kill that ....again whatsoever person. Dont be serious. My writting in this comment is worst then the sao author as i didnt put any mind in it(just like author). Just take it as fun and again i was only think what the author should do (to make more bad).

[@GenJotsu]

How to fix: treat audience like they're not idiots. It'll make the smart critics happy, and the beauty of the stupid critics is that they won't know the difference.

[@DTux5249]

Jo King truth

[@simplysolus8916]

+Jo King Unfortunately, the audience that disliked SAO often proved they were dim. While there are plenty of problems with the show, often the complaints were about issues that didn't exist, wherein people failed to understand the in game 'politics' and/or the time skips.

[@Nico-zt5jl]

Simply Solus But do people who complain about issues in SAO that weren't issues at all. Complain about fake issues because they are dim or because the in-game 'politics' and/or the time skips might have been handled poorly?

[@RecklessFire29]

+Jo King Did anyone actually watch SAO for the story? I always thought it was more of a tech demo with some decent writing. I say decent because I really stopped caring after Kirito and Asuna started a frelling family up in a few episodes. That's some pretty aggressive growth. I thought this was supposed to be a romance, not an STD.

[@simplysolus8916]

+Nico #1325 While I do think it could have been done better, a lot of the complaints fall purely on the viewer rather than the show. Take Digibro's 1 hour long hate video about SAO wherein he fails to understand basic things like why Kirito acted as the 'villain' and became a 'beater' in the second or so episode despite the reasons for this being spoon fed to the viewer multiple times with additional details being dropped throughout the episodes, or how he assumes that because someone waited in line to buy a game, that they would therefore be a good player because they waited in line despite their being no logical backing for this conclusion.

[@anomisybby6198]

The PTSD would prevent Kirito from ever doing any thing like going back into a video game like this again. The fact that there is a second third extender makes absolutely no sense. The government would have stepped in and prevented this from being developed.

[@gandalfthewhite3123]

I would love a Kirito and Asuna fight, but only if Asuna wins. If Kirito wins, it's too BLATANTLY OBVIOUS.

[@theemeraldpickaxe2325]

"A Suguto ship or whatever you degenerates call it." The single best sentence on youtube.

[@theredstonesword984]

...

[@killerkrow7397]

replace Suguto with Quinter.

[@himanshu7361]

Suguha and kabuto

[@helpbricks3742]

Jk

[@arin7092]

"asuna, what the hell did they do to you?" Yes.. they distroyed any role she had, made her a cute useless princess.

[@siahayezz3307]

Excatly what I thought! In sao she was a very powerful character and an amazing fighter. Then in alfheim all of a sudden she is COMPLETELY helpless?? I love sword art online but that character arc change was total crap.

[@danielantony1882]

@Ben Layers That's true. People fail to realize that.

[@danielantony1882]

@@siahayezz3307 What was she supposed to do anyway? Your point has no foundation to stand on. You fail to notice that Asuna couldn't do anything no matter how much you wanted her to.

[@siahayezz3307]

Daniel Antony when she escaped from the cage and got to the control room, she could have easily hurried up and got herself out, but no she had to sit there and get distracted by the mind controlled brains, had she hurried up and not taken her time she could have easily escaped, but well knowing there were people after her she still took her time instead of left immediately, made no sense

[@danielantony1882]

@@siahayezz3307 How was she supposed to leave? You're just assuming some nonsense here. How would she leave if there is no way to leave?

[@connorv5482]

For the fetish monster assault I’ll get rid of all sexual moments and just have the guy holding asuna like that because he’s terrified of her. This makes it less creepy as all the sexual stuff is up to the viewers and it won’t show a fan favourite character being assaulted to kids.

[@ADsaGenius]

Agreed. And to Quote the author of this video.... "JUST DON'T FUCKING DO IT!!!!"

[@mastern1825]

The Abridged does just that, actually.

[@imakebaddecisions]

Clocks ticking nom nom

[@nanahuatli2144]

Oh, and for those that use the "it's meant to be uncomfortable, not titillating" argument, there's figma of this. There's figma of Asuna tied up, half-naked and dressed like in this arc, looking upset.

[@Chameleonred5]

If I ask you what figma is, are you going to say "figma balls"?

[@nanahuatli2144]

@@Chameleonred5 Absolutely, but also it's the weeb name for a figure or miniature.

[@Chameleonred5]

@@nanahuatli2144 I have learned two things today: That figma means "figurine" and that SAO merch went in some rather unpleasant directions.

[@KingsNerdCave]

That near rape scene made me sooooo uncomfortable, like you said, just don't do it. I prefer the brainwashed idea.

[@koloth5139]

Yea, I think that really was the point where I went from "this is ok" to "Oh, hell no!"

[@mistwolf]

Rape is always a touchy subject. Playing rape for fanservice is sadly endemic in anime, and this was just a more graphic version. UGH.

[@darkfeeling97]

yeah, but the few times rape is used not for fanservice but for story purposes, like for example in Berserk or Wolf Guy (even though not all scenes like that are truly necessary in those 2, they are the first two examples of 'rape done right' in Manga/Anime), it can be done very well especially if the psychological effects on the person that got violated are done right. But yeah, there are way to many glorified "romantical moves" that are actually pretty close to sexual assault and authors that are like "let's throw rape in there" to attract more people to their Ip

[@mistwolf]

Like I said, it takes a thoughtful touch and you need to know exactly why you are going there and what it will accomplish. Berserk is, honestly, a bit iffy for me as it goes way too close to the overused trope of using rape to anger/motivate the main male character. But I am not 100% on it. It was extremely impactful and, for what it was, well executed. So, iffy. Once we have a good long break from women being raped as motivation, it will be easier to accept scenes where it does happen. However, Berserk is also quite old at this point, from well before .any. pressure to reduce rape content was taken seriously, let alone in anime. And it did feel very apt for what happened. I think it would be harder to do now, and certainly SAO treated it with absolutely no nuance or thought beyond 'hehehe boobies'.

[@uroborous01]

KingofTerror on the whole "brainwashed" idea. I dont like it. Becauese it nearly demands the lazy trope of "if i just try hard enough to remind her of who she really is then she will remember and be herself again" or the "if i kiss the love interest (because i was her rral love interest) then the person will instantly regain their true self and be instantly ok" i prefer the much darker: "crap now i have to hope that the bad guy kept a backup of my love interests memories aso that i can cause more braindamage and re rewrite the persons memories and hope that i dont reduce them to the menta state and ability of a brick." But then the backup turns out to be. A different build of the corrupted memories and the end result is even worse than the initial result turning the love interest into a "full throttle" sycophantic psycho bad guy that is so in love with the prime bad guy that they are more than happy and willing to go all in on badguy stuff (Full corruption). So now the good guy has to rescue the love interest by capturing and re rewriting their memories to turn them back to who they were but at the moment of truth the love interest beggs to not be "murdered" like this now forcing the hero to face their own dark side and the implications of their actions and thus they choose to not rewrite the person but instead notice that the person seems to be developing a split personality. Wherein the original person begins to surface at seemingly random times. But the evil personality always plays it off like they were play acting. Eventually the corrupted love interest has an internal struggle (and because this is a vr videogame) they split physically within the game into two sepperate people and as things get revealed it gets found out that whichever personslity manages to log out first, that one will become the permanent version of said person. And the other will be deleted as "old data from a previous save" but becauee we need a potentially tragic ending from the dark side. Corrupted version is given log out privaleges and is able to log out first. However hero character was expecting this and had nav pixie prep a script (which ultimately deletes her) to save love interest as an item to the nerv gear itself and now hero has to wait for corrupted girl to log back in so that he can enact his master plan to re enstate the true love interest back into themself. Once this has been done original love interest takes root but retsins all memories of the evil personality and is fundamentally changed by those memories. While still being themself.

[@andys6967]

Why was Kirito the only Spriggan we saw for the whole arc.... still baffles me to this day

[@thatoneannoyingguy6619]

Andy S *me hoping people actually use illusions in their fighting styles and not just bullshit out everything like Kirito*. And yea Kirito used Ilusion magic , but he simply created some smoke. I was honestly hoping for him to use something more distracting but nope smoke here it comes and the salamanders are the fire team , which is let’s see fire can produce smoke so in a normal setting they would be trained to be able to see past smoke.

[@fionatamo]

yes! everyone was so freaked out by the fact that he was a spriggan and then there wasn't even conflict or a real reason they didn't like the spriggans.

[@Riwillion]

@@thatoneannoyingguy6619 They would be TRAINED to SEE PAST SMOKE? What the actual fuck did you just write there, buddy? That is the equivalent of saying that modern soldiers use guns so they are trained in not dying of gunshot wounds in case they shoot themselves on accident. AKA, anime logic.

[@SylentVoidkeeper]

Riwillion Actually, it’s more along the lines of a corrections officer being trained to see past and resist the Riot Spray that they have to stop prisoners. Which, shocker, they do. How is conflating it with gunshots at all the same type of comparison?

[@Riwillion]

@@SylentVoidkeeper In the same way that you cannot "be trained" to not die of gunshot wounds, you cannot "be trained" to see through smoke. There is nothing to train or be learned there. You either are able to see through the smoke or you are not, but that 100% depends on factors that are outside your control, mostly, how thick the smoke screen is.

[@wild5851]

Honestly when I first watched SAO I was mainly in love with the idea of being INSIDE a game and I still do I sometimes rewatch clips and want to play the SAO games to go thru the world that is SAO I never really payed much attention to the fan service or stuff going on until the asuna scene which just made me really uncomfortable

[@KingsNerdCave]

Now THIS, I' watch. That assult of Asuna is awful. She is a strong but still pretty female character who should be able to hold her own and it is unforgivable she was written as this useless sex-object.

[@NZPSthao]

Damn. I'd actually pay money to watch your version of SAO lol

[@TryingIGuess]

I wouldn't pay for it but I'd sit through the crunchy roll ads

[@bittersweetti3351]

I couldn’t pay for it :l but I would find a way to find it!

[@yuuri_]

Ikr

[@edacityescalus7305]

NZPS T tbh he SHOULD make an abridged version of SAO with this plot In the future

[@scarlettskipper9352]

I agree!

[@KirbyKips]

I love how in the abridged series so far, the incest subject doesn’t exist. In fact, Suguha just flat out hates Kirito and takes a lot of pride in making fun of him to his face. She even finds out who Kirito is in the first episode they met, rather than half of the season.

[@adamziadn]

@@triaz2662 i think it's from the channel Something Witty entertainment

[@WanukeX]

KirbyKips episode 15 Preview Update, and she has massive insecurities about what Kirito thinks about her because he saw her roleplaying, actual Character development setup there.

[@kingturboturtlednoc5722]

@@WanukeX especially since we know that Kasuto hates dealing with roleplayers and can barely put up with it. That could also have Him get some growth since as shown when he gives her the juice in ep 13, he genuinely does care about her as a family member

[@prower9494]

@@mystorage894 They are, they're real cousins.

[@ravenaldimier3950]

@@prower9494 Yeah it was weird that at first they tried to make it seem that they weren't

[@vfsberry7491]

I feel like they’ve should have done more with asuna during her scenes. For starters they could have had her try to use a weapon or maybe open her inventory to look for stuff that could help her escape If they did that then maybe Sugo might’ve been the one to catch her instead of the guards maybe he would have hurt her to try to make her stay. Little conflict like that means a lot in the long run

[@slevinchannel7589]

0:40: MB roasting Butch Hartman so hard he becomes Fried wihtout even mentioning his Name.

[@smeagol-chan1792]

How to fix SAO with only two words: SAO Abridged

[@lukesolo20]

This video makes me realize how decent SAO could have been and it makes me sad.

[@Shadowzdota]

BronyTran it's fine we have Sao abridged

[@d4s0n282]

mind explaining what this sao abridge is?

[@unwritten_zephyr]

d4s0n yo An abridged series of SAO made by Something Witty Entertainment, and its pretty fucking good.

[@DanQZ]

It's better in every way than the original

[@liamnigenda2849]

d4s0n yo you should watch it

[@natearthur6698]

Being in the small percentage of sao fans I watched this whole video and thought "he’s right this is a much better story" made me rethink sao as whole. This was hands down a great video

[@garrusvakarian4816]

Welcome to the small percentage of people who like SAO but acknowledge its' flaws

[@catsandcrap2937]

same bro same

[@panicatthecringethatfrank1390]

im in that percentage too.

[@Bamboo_bazooka]

wow it's almost like the nonvocal majority of any fanbase is able to enjoy something but see where it is bad

[@Keptbloom]

Im in that percentage as well

[@moshimoshi400]

I feel like rape is used a lot in this series, which is really off putting to say the least (I really, REALLY hate them and find it disgusting it was even approved). But there are only two times across the entire series where I find the scenes to actually be powerful and dramatic and didn't feel like a disgusting "fan-service" as many people put it. Those two instances are: 1. The attempted rape of Asada in her apartment in season 2 (wow, I did not see that coming!), and 2. Alicization season 1 episode 10. This episode was horrific, and also had to be censored and cut in the American airing a great deal, but you as the audience can actually feel the horror of what is taking place and are rooting for Eugeo to take action, which is an incredible growth moment for him. The beginning leading up to that scene makes you immediately uncomfortable as it builds up to that evil moment, but once our two heros step in and save the girls, it is so satisfying and really impactful for their character. It also really footstamps how the Taboo index is wrong and that there is more to morality than following certain rules established by society. It's like, yeah murder is wrong, but killing someone out of self defense or the defense of someone else (BECAUSE THEY WERE ABOUT TO FREAKING RAPE INNOCENT HELPLESS GIRLS) doesn't make it murder by that point imo. And that's why we all feel the same way towards that evil scum the way Kirito does as he bleeds out on the floor and doesn't try to stop it. But yeah, back to my point. All the other rape/attempted rape scenes: Asuna ×2 in season 1, as well as whatever the hell that was with Administrator and that ugly Joker piece of crap as they were leaving towards the end of Alicization season 1 (EDIT: oh, and apparently Leafa and that witch-bitch in the war of the underworld season... I am currently rewatching the series.) can all go to hell where they belong. Also just all the nudity with Administator along with these was totally unnecessary and overkill for me.

[@janisir4529]

"my goal is to transfrom SAO from a bad drama into a good drama" That's literally what SAO Abridged does.

[@GypsyxDarling]

This was a really good treatment. You gave it, like... stakes? And tension??? And the kind of stuff stories need to be compelling??? Madness.

[@kabokoloi5484]

Kattywompus well at least he removed the sexual parts

[@verdethestarwarrior1088]

Fairy Dance can be best summarized as this: Random person says "this technique/weapon is useless in battle" or "this guy is super duper unbeatable" Kirito responds with "hold my beer"

[@bennyboiblu3961]

That's everything.

[@ShadowFox10587O]

Verde the Star Warrior this entire series could be summed up as Gordon Ramsay screaming "YOU FUCKED IT UP"

[@waterishcrown85]

@@ShadowFox10587O he would also shout WHERE'S THE LAMB SAUCE

[@Da_Swifta]

Same shit goes for GGO

[@amiablereaper]

Kirito: "hold my daughter"

[@ImDaRealBoi]

Coming back here a little while after seeing the most recent episode of SAOA, and my god I wish what happened there between suguha and kirito was part of the normal series

[@DarthZ01]

sao abridged's best change to alo was probably reframing the entire incest plot into a 'siblings used to be friends but grew apart' plot. that or changing the stupid 9 class pvp war system into a bunch of roleplayers creating virtual racism but not being part of the actual game.

[@heyfaiffy3007]

Thank you so much for criticising when animes sexualize rape or sexual assault.

[@typhoonzebra]

HeyFaiffy #notallanime some of them show it as horrifying and emotionally distressing.

[@KheinaMelon]

TyphoonZebra HeyFaiffy didnt even say all animes are like that, and the focus isnt *all* animes~ The focus is the ones that sexualize rape and sexual assault~

[@typhoonzebra]

Khennie Melon I know, bro, I was making a facetious social commentary, making reference to sweeping claims and their "not all" rebuttals. Why you gotta be like dat?

[@spam_1224]

ok

[@shayusu8317]

The Anarchist Otaku I think you did get the point. First of all she wasn't generalizing all anime, just anime who blatantly oversexualizes rape. You do notice almost EVERYONE has a problem with that specific scene? Second of all what makes you think she likes those TV shows in the first place? Did you just assume that she didn't like anime and this assumed that's she must like all Western media? Don't assume things. Third, why are you insulting her intelligence as if she didn't know that Western​ media do exhibit sexual content (especially game of thrones) who usually showcase the exploitation of minor? I feel like your making this arguement to the wrong person for the wrong reasons.

[@Luchux177]

I know this is a late, but hear me out. A way to have Suguha get an arc with as little incest as possible is to do the thing you did with the rest of the arc, use the same building blocks. So, what could be an alternative arc for Sugu? Simple, dealing with the abandonment issues her brother caused her. Let's list everything Kirito did that could've hurt Sugu (all of this is mentioned in some way or another in the anime): 1- At age 10/12 Kirito discovered that his parents were actually his uncle and aunt. After this, he started distancing himself from his sister, who was close to him if I remember correctly. So that's having someone you knew for basically your whole life begin to treat you distantly for at least 2 years. 2- Kirito disappearing into SAO for 2 years. While the distancing would've been bad, Suguha still had her brother around, but now he just isn't. Negative space in a household can be quite devastating, plus the uncertainty of wether or nit he was going to make it out alive, the regrets, and the what ifs must've taken quite the toll on her constantly. 3- Kendo. This part had a lot of potential for conflict between these two. Sugu's grandfather was said to be an strict man that would get angry at kirito for not taking Kendo seriously. Which lead to Sugu picking up her brother's slack and possibly losing the one thing that they still did together. This could give her a grudge against him, no matter how much she wants to push it down. 4- Kirito hiding the fact that he went into ALO and used the Nerve Gear again. This could be the point where any trust that he managed to build back with Sugu would be broken and lead to the breakdown we see her having after the Kirito=Kazuto reveal. If you really want to keep that incest element you could add Leafa developing a crush on Kirito only for it to fade off completely when her whole image of him comes crashing down. Then the next step would be have her completely lose her shit at him after they get the alliance they need for the tree raid. Just verbally thrash him with all her anger and sadness that was caused by him. Then the duel and the rest of the season would play off the same. But this is just an idea. And I would like to her what everyone else thinks. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[@VK-pn6rg]

This is great and I wish we'd had this in the show thank you!!!

[@chelsey45]

That’s actually really amazing! The situation about how you can distance yourself from those you love is a very relatable theme to go on, and your plot makes it more emphasized than it is in the actual plot, which is nice. It also just gives Kirito more flaws, which he desperately needs.

[@beastunleashed657]

A lot of that does happen in the original story tbh. It's even better explained in the light novels.

[@blinded1555]

Damn both the video and your comment makes total sense and I can actually see it play out. This whole arc could be done in like 24 eps or a 2nd cour like alicization did???.Heck it can even be a whole season I guess by combining your idea with Mother's Basement. With this content I think it will make the alfeim arc better

[@beastunleashed657]

@@blinded1555 You know what would be even cooler? If they changed ALO and made it have all 9 realms of Norse mythology. Then make it so that Kirito has to beat 8 realms and then he reaches the 9th realm (Asgard) where Asuna is and then the fight (the one that MB mentioned) happens. Can keep the Suguha stuff and also have Kirito's other friends help him.

[@weirdens5452]

To be honest I like SAO since it is one of the reasons why I started watching isekai animes. Sadly because of the fairy dance ark I never manage to continue watching the entire SAO series. Love your video☺️❤️.

[@Devin-qq6fd]

The second arc in season 2 is just filler.

[@clementineshetheyfae8312]

I genuinely don’t understand what people see in SAO watching the first like 8 episodes in Netflix it feels like more than half of the show is just not there??? It keeps trying to make emotional moments from characters I just met and have no connection to and jumps time so much that it feels like a disconnected mess more like a bad anthology than a linear show

[@Nick-mp1zh]

Your version on SAO is definitely much better, and I'd definitely like to see you make a "Fixing Gungale Online" video

[@layerp]

He did an awesome job with Fairy Dance arc, but fix Gun Gale online? It's impossible

[@Benny-pz6zw]

Krono I enjoyed gun Gale online

[@YohSou]

You can easily make it better by shortening the cave arc in ggo.

[@Benny-pz6zw]

YohSou He can't make an entire episode on " shorten the cave arc"

[@Nick-mp1zh]

There are probably tons of things he can do for Gungale Online. A big example, fixing the actual game's balance because it is _horrid_

[@dysanti2618]

“I haven’t turned fairy dance into a masterpiece” dude you did just that

[@danielantony1882]

In my opinion the Asuna VS Kirito was a trash, cliche and simple decision.

[@Sabrina-ys3qv]

So (kinda) true

[@bebol121]

@@danielantony1882 still a milion times better than the original version

[@danielantony1882]

@@bebol121 Sounds like you hate SAO a lot.

[@bebol121]

@@danielantony1882 I don't know how such conclusion could ever cross ones mind...

[@cuteykitsune]

This is a much better way to write the arc and certainly better for character development too. Plus I love the "i know you're in there somewhere fight" trope. It would've totally worked for this

[@brycecoyle7288]

You definitely would have to keep kayaba in the end of the arc. Making the audience sort of like him in a way makes him a great villain because the key to a great villain is to like understand their purpose and sort of like them. Also you could definitely make Asuna think Kirito is Heathcliff because sometimes the story like draws similarities between the two and during their fight you could make Kirito question whether they really are the same person and yui coming could be what brings not just asuna back to reality but also Kirito himself. I agree with you on the fan service for sure though lol I get anime like “has” to do that but I wish for this one that there were like specific characters who were the only ones they sexualized in any form or fashion so that the story wouldn’t be messed up. This anime was already huge but I think it had the potential to bring in all viewers not just weebs. It could’ve been worldwide popular in all areas of film not just as an anime but it was thrown away by the fan service, grotesque rape scenes, and the poor attention to detail in the plot. Really wish there was a second chance at this :(

[@mburks3748]

Easy Fix. 1) Kline as the Protagonist 2) Agil and Asuna as main characters 3) Kirito could still be the loner angst dude in the corner calling himself a "beater" 4) Erase all that insta-love BS. 5) Give female characters actual _character_ 6) Strong focus on puzzle solving, death round any corner type of business. 7)Actual fight scenes that aren't like some edgy 8-year-old kid came up with them.

[@christopheralvarado4544]

Personally I thought some of the fight acenes were SAOs saving grace

[@crusader5644]

And rename agil Tiffany

[@michaelepica3564]

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[@robertwynn5264]

@@christopheralvarado4544 Same. the fighting scenes were brilliant imo, the only thing I would change is if they had some sort of major setback from some of the fights. For example, when Kirito's hand gets cut off (by the guy who used Asuna's bodyguard turned evil) and they have to find some sort of potion or whatever to heal it. What was the point of showing Kirito's hand getting cut off like that if it didn't mean anything?

[@ferrin6326]

Like, the characters in SAO are so easy to read. Once a drama scene starts, you know how it ends.

[@PlagueBunny]

Your cat is absolutely fucking beautiful. I’ll have to take him/her. I’m sorry.

[@jammer523691aj]

Satou Tatsuhiro Look, I know you're a troll and all but that's a really horrible thing to say. Please consider the feelings of others before writing something so heartless and cruel.

[@thunderflare59]

That's "kitty-sensei" to you.

[@vinnycecere1846]

Satou is a pussy *budum tst*

[@herbyfox6993]

Peeny weeny

[@swedishmeatball705]

XD

[@gabethepaper3916]

Mother's Basement: My goal isn't to create a well plotted comedy, it's to transform SAO from a bad drama into a good one. SAOA Episode 17: Well-ity, well-ity, well-ity...

[@ForestsAndSunsets]

The missed opportunity of the whole Asuna/Kirito fight is especially upsetting because Alicization showed that they aren’t scared of having lovers fight, nor tapping into the horrors of mind control. No, the only reason they didn’t have the Asuna/Kirito fight is because ~ Misogyny ~

[@Pirated89]

Man... thank you for standing up against gross anime tropes. It's so refreshing to hear someone not take it at face value just because it's "common". Seriously. This video was awesome. Thank you.

[@Doom_Hawk]

Same here. AoT is my favourite manga, and in fact piece of non-interactive media, of all time. It’s story and characters are well written, and that’s the biggest point, but the lack of fan service (apart from abs) is refreshing. The female characters in AoT aren’t loved because their assets, but because they are written like genuine and believable humans. Additionally, the only near rape scene in AoT happens to a boy and it isn’t played off for laughs, although I have seen more than a few reactors treating it that way, but it is a genuinely traumatising moment for the character and other characters in the series treat it that way and try to comfort him.

[@theegyptiangamer2530]

@@Doom_Hawk All the great anime don`t have much fanservice

[@coltrick4974]

I saw a fanfic post on tumblr about Kirito x Leafa called “Forbidden but Real” and I took a good hard look at that rope.

[@7AM_Tzar]

bryan diaz varela don’t

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Guess its for "research"

[@nou3188]

You mind lendinge the rope if your not gonna use it? (For a school project)

[@jacobkoch3189]

Gud

[@Matt-uc8dd]

This is why I don’t look at anime art.

[@Shipstealer]

I like how each time he says the part titles like he’s dying on the inside

[@The_Asylum]

The correct way to fix SAO is to make it SAO abridged, that was gold

[@JSinfiniti]

Holy shit Klein would be a great fucking main character.

[@cestlavie5063]

1, not as powerful as Mr OP meaning much more relatable 2, plays an MMO like an MMO 3, with all his raid buddies means quite a load of more personal stories and impactful losses Seriously how could they miss such a good deposit and send it to the sidelines

[@TheAzureNightmare]

Just another Internet user Dude. Gary Stu's are a lot more profitable as disenfranchised Schoolboys in the Japanese Education System would rather lose themselves in such drivel as opposed to what MMO's are REALLY like.

[@Ilikebats123]

Yeah. Kirito could posibly still be there, but as only a side character/ mentor who comes and goes.

[@bubbaclark01]

Shut up Klein, come back when you’re a main character.

[@Ilikebats123]

RIP Klein Screentime

[@faceless8424]

The Problem with sao? It started with a great idea but then ruined everything with lack of story and events. So instead of story, they put in harem, incest and alfheim online. Honestly even i could do a better job at writing it.

[@bismuth7398]

At this point, SAO Abridged is a better drama than SAO vanilla.

[@user-ww7xp4bb8z]

+

[@VJ-fr2zd]

I think what would also be interesting is us having a scene where kirto being taught by his leefa and perhaps seeing his frustration and distress struggling to grapple with the new game, could be a nice way to see his slow progression to getting through his trauma, information about the game mechanics and good opportunity for dialogue

[@thetruetradic5859]

*"iD lIkE tO sEe YoU mAkE a Better AnImE"* Jeffery: hold my blended yui juice.

[@jamfingers55]

With chunks of kirito's hacker brain floating around inside

[@youtubehat5780]

XD

[@gangrenousgandalf2102]

@@jamfingers55 And a bit of tentacle extract

[@der_saftmon]

@@gangrenousgandalf2102 and a bit of witty-ness

[@a123b123c123d123c123]

The sades and creepiest part of the female character writing in SAO is how threatened the author seems when a female character shows any ability to think for them selves or solve there own problems without Kirito saving them.

[@Demaad]

a123b123c123d123c123 You mean Yuuki?

[@fireball111121]

Wait, but how can an author feel threatened by his own creations. He literally created them that way. I think its all just fetish bull shit and lazy writing on his part.

[@cindybenforever7647]

Or it's just twelve year old girl who was drowned with Snow White and Cinderella. Actually a twelve year old girl, drowned in fairy tales whould have made a much more compelling story then the monstrosity that is SAO.

[@SylentVoidkeeper]

fireball111121 it’s a pretty common occurrence to have a character you’re writing do something you don’t expect. Obviously, it's not a literal thing, but it's an odd phenomena that happens if a character is deep enough

[@tangerinetech5300]

What? So the writer writes what happens and what the female character does and then he feels threatened with what he himself came up with? Yup the obvious conclusion

[@nanahuatli2144]

"It's easier to improve the story in retrospective than when you're in the middle of writing it". For sure, for sure. Once you're done writing the story, though, you can read it from the beginning and check if it makes sense. Revision goes a long way.

[@misterOrca4]

Who's here after that scene with Sugo in Episode 17?