Rbastid

A recap, an OVA bonus quest, and a typically worthless “beach type” episode all rolled in to one extra long film, and for once I didn’t completely hate it. 

Story - 4/10

So I think one reason I wasn’t so down on this extended extra feature was because it’s been quite some time since I watched the original series. Even though I’ve caught this way out of order, I think it works somewhat better now, as it reminds me of what I watched, before getting back in to the dozen other parts of the series. 

Instead of just doing a a typical recap, they bundled it together with the group getting ready to go out on a side quest in Alfheim Online. While the three female S.A.O. party members teach Suguha how to swim, as this will be an underwater quest, Kirito is debriefing the government official who oversees the virtual world, trying to give him a full picture on what happened and what might have been Akihiko Kayaba’s reasoning for locking the players in the game.  

They make sure to hit all the important parts of the first season, so it really helps you fill in any holes that you may have missed during the less than interesting storylines.  

The last twenty or so minutes of the film deals with a new quest the group has to go on, one that was inspired by Yui’s dream of getting to see a whale.  Unfortunately this quest turns in to more of what we’ve come to expect from the series, a promising adventure that becomes nothing more than a quick waste of time. 

Animation - 7/10

There isn’t much of a difference in the series and this film, especially since many of the scenes are from the first season itself. As you expect with these things there’s a fair bit of ecchi for those who value that over actual plot. 

Sound - 6/10

Like the animation, everything seems to be the same as the series itself, including all the music they play during in game scenes. I had forgotten how so much of the music resembled great RGP instrumentals and the work of Yuki Kajiura from other anime series.  

Characters - 4/10

The characters in the show were never really special, and I can’t say even the extra bits adding anything to those characters.  The first part was pretty much a way for them to talk up how awesome Kirito is, and the second section was, well more about how awesome he is.

Overall - 4/10

As a recap I think they did a good job of changing it up a bit so it’s more than just replaying scenes from the series. Like I said, my attitude towards it is probably enhanced by the fact it’s been a while since I saw the show, and actually was looking for a recap to remind me of everything that went on. If this came right in the middle of the show, maybe between the two arcs, I most likely would have hated this and just skipped right through it.  

Pacing was always a problem with this show, and even here it ruined something good. They really seemed like they could have put a show together that revolved around what it’s like to play an MMORPG, but instead episodes got bogged down with useless filler. Making this recap and OVA combination could have been much better if they shortened the recap part, and spent a bit more time on the quest the group went on, making us feel like we were going along on the adventure with them, instead of having one battle and an abrupt ending.