Honestly I just go around calling Sinon and Kirito trauma besties. It’s obviously more complex than that but it’s a fun little name I like to give them. Also maybe it’s just me but if anything you really have to say that Alice “loves” Kirito (which I don’t think) I’d say she’s more like an overprotective big sister. At least that’s the kinda vibe I get from her
iirc, the LN actually DOES make it sound like Alice has SOME level of romantic feelings towards Kirito, it's one of those read between the lines things, so I don't think the anime made any changes regarding that... Suguha, Lizbeth and Alice all did have romantic affection towards him, the other girls are the ones who are 100% platonic @@codyknight3580 edit: btw, I meant Alice HAD at ONE POINT developed some romantic feelings towards Kirito, which she probably moved on eventually
SAO falls very much into the supporting harem territory where the main character has a clear and designated love interest, but still interacts with a bunch of other cute girls in ways that can read as romantic (especially for anime only viewers) but don't seriously threaten the main relationship. Reki Kawahara has even stated that he tends to write all his female characters as love interests, so it's reasonable for viewers or readers to notice this. Another example of this is the Monogatari series, where the main character Araragi gets together with Senjougahara early and, even though he flirts with the other girls a lot more than Kirito ever would, you can tell that there's a line he'd never cross.
Thank you for making that video explaining suguha and her character. I was always confused by it but didn't want to truly judge it so I overlooked it for a while and disregarded it. Now that I watched your analysis I understand it now and it makes a lot of sense. The fairy dance arc was an arc I enjoyed and I now I enjoy it even more thanks to your explanation. 🙏
@@BoiPersonI dunno why she chose to ship herself to him nude, but she used the mail system to ensure she got there anonymously, as the government didn't expect her to use the mail as transportation.
I think Alice does have romantic feelings for Kirito otherwise she wouldn't be jealous about his relationship with Asuna. I agree with everything else you said though and I can't thank you enough for clearing things up with Sugu!
To that I can use an example from my own life. I am jealous of my brother's relationship with his friends, and maybe even his girlfriend. So much so it makes me feel pretty depressed at times. Does that mean I love him romantically ? Hell nah. There's many different reasons and different ways someone might be jealous. I'm jealous because I'm real fucking lonely, personally. There's nuance there !
Asuna: of course, official Girlfriend and most of the story with Kirito, but in Moon Cradle, she knows that Sillica, Liz, Leafa and Sinon that they have their own unique relationship with Kirito, which she herself also supports them, but by staying at the Underworld, she thinks she did out of selfishness, but that kind of self reflection of Asuna makes her a greater girlfriend character Sillica: at first I thought it was more of a brother/sister relationship since Kirito point out she looks like Suguha and that kirito often gives her headpats, and she even refer him to Pina as her as a Big brother, but admiration also makes sense since she says his name with -san but she does that to everyone since she is the youngest of them all Lizbeth: of course she has feelings for him, but after finding out, she will move on, she will support their relationship with Asuna and Kirito, Even teases both of them, like in the Extra Edition, teases Kirito going to the Nurse’s office which she refers the nurse is pretty, and Asuna teasing her of her Swimsuit choice Leafa: conflicting of what kind of bond they have, the Brother/sister relationship will be the best for them, since it’s the closest and best relationship of all, and I am happy for her Sinon: I never saw them as lovers, even with the “kiss” on the cheek in WoU, but I saw them as both victims of murder events and helping eachother as they get over it. I also see them as best friends, giving each other a fistbumb several times, teasing eachother, Kirito being nice enough not to slash her when they dueled or the Excalibur scene Yuuki: not much interaction, but in the games, she has more interaction, but he and Asuna see both her as a little sister, which is very hearthwarming Alice: I saw first her as actual love for Kirito, but Alice thinks her think is fake and ephemeral since she knows she is not the real Alice Zuberg, and the “kiss attempt” was more like a feelings transfer, like sending her incarnation to him so that maybe she can repair him, but even if she does have romantic feelings for him, it would’ve been normal since from Alice point of view, Kirito is single, no knowledge of the Real World and what his relationships are there, brave swordsman, so her feelings are more justified
Btw It wasn't that Alice was triyng to kiss kirito She was triyng to use incarnati on on him but since She wasn't good at It She was getting closer to achieve the strongest effect and to get the biggest responce from kirito as she possibly could
I thank you for explaining this to misunderstood viewers there was also a couple of scene’s where when Kirito and Asuna are together and the rest of the female characters are sighing when looking at them, But was not a sigh of jealousy, more like uncomfortable IRL, when you sit next to a (friendgroup) couple, you mostly like leave them for your own good
I think the reason people mistake the situation with these girls is because SAO Has some similarities with Infinite Stratus and Date A Live where in those animes The mc is still single and the girls are actually competing for their affection.
@@michaelmurray8134 Date a live isn’t much competing for affection, all the girls have their own unique relationship with the mc and they know he willingly to help all of them just to keep them happy, Date a live is pretty wholesome Infinite stratos however was a bit too much fighting which has become a bit more annoying and mc is dense as a black hole, but there is a reason for it
@@jackychen8143 Well the similarities I was trying to make with those three shows was that the girls including the main boy are bad ass fighters with their own unique characteristics. In SAO From a non observant point of view it looks like a harem but it's not, in Infinite Stratus it again looks like a harem but it's just some girls trying to compete for the same guy who's too dumb to realize it, and lastly Date a live Is a harem as Shido and the Sprite girls are all happy living under the same roof.
When it comes to the relationship between yuuki and kirito I am reminded of the SAO fatal bullet video game and a scene between the two. Long story short if memory serves kirito and yuuki go out into the wild area showing off new swords and sword skills to eachother for hours until yuuki gets too tired to make the journey to a safe zone so kirito proposes to piggy back her to one. First she compares herself to yui and augus’s then asks if wether or not asuna may get mad about this where kirito responds that asuna would likely get more mad if he left yuuki alone. After this yuuki then asks if this is what it feels like to have a big brother which kirito responds that he could be her big brother if needed. In short the relationship between kirito and yuuki if one was able to develop if she didn’t die so suddenly would be that of older brother little sister with a shared passion for fighting and video games.
I seriously wished she didn't just die so fast in the anime, she genuinely is my favorite by personality out of the anime's cast in the multiple games she's in such as Hollow Fragment, Lost Song, Hollow Realization, and Fatal Bullet. Despite this, Rain still best girl
I was actually reading some of the novels earlier. I think there was a paragraph that said that Suguha wasn’t all too familiar with the concept of a “cousin”, mainly due to both of her parents not having any siblings, besides her mother’s sister who died. In a way, this all seemed to add up to her confused feelings. Or maybe I misread it, I’m not sure. Great video btw. I shall save this for whenever I cross paths with a certain group of individuals 😂
The author admitted in an afterword, idk which, that they write the other females with a connection to the MC. They at first said it was how they knew to tie together the multiple viewpoints, but then added that they like such stories. Regardless. While Kirito is supposed to very kind and willing to help others, mostly ending up helping girls, it's supposed to be very clear that he only has eyes for Asuna.
THANK YOU so much for making this video. I wish something like this existed during the height of the SAO hate. I also was aware of many of the points made in this video but whenever I'd try to make them, it was just ignored or went over everyones head.
Personally, I think the part where Sinon teases Kirito with Excalibur, the english dub did a better job in that scene in making her seem more teasing. Michelle Ruff's delivery of "think of me, okay?" actually sounded more like she was having fun at his expense and more along the lines of saying, "you owe me one, buddy." Though that's my two cents on it.
@@s.bs.b5834 I can't really blame the other languages since they have a certain influx in their voice that makes it sound more romantic in a sense than they lead on.
LOVE how you point it out it's not reki's fault as most of his writing isn't even bad, it's mainy due to how it's displayed by A-1 and how people just automatically assume everything they hear about an anime. Istg most of these new anime watchers act like sheep.🤦♂️
Ye, I have such a love-hate relationship with A-1 when it comes to the anime lol. They do make really stunning visuals, it's just their decision-making at times is really perplexing. Even minor things that should be kind of obvious they seem to blunder at times. For example, in the fight against Chudelkin/Quinella when Kirito uses Incarnation, they play the new variant of swordland "Find your sword in this land". But the sentiment of the scene is Kirito mentally recalling what he perceives to be the strongest version of himself in order to bring him back to that state of mind. As in the Underworld, how you perceive your own strength has a big impact on your actual strength. So in that theme of recalling the black swordsmen from Aincrad, it would make way more sense to play the classic original variant of Swordland in this scene. That's what I was expecting going in, but instead, they play the new alicezation variant of the song again. Which was nowhere near as thematically fitting and a missed opportunity for continuity. With a franchise as big as Sword Art Online, I feel like they should really aim to make it perfect. As it's guaranteed to be a hit and thus you don't need to spare expenses with it. I mean I personally have easily spent thousands of pounds on SAO merchandise lol. So when they cut really pivotal content or ruin scenes with fanservice it's really disappointing. It's a big part of the reason I still have not watched the War of the Underworld anime adaptation. I'm just perfectly content with the light novels at this point.
Actually, I was surprised when I was reading through the Progressive books. Granted, it’s not the best; but, it’s definitely not as bad as people were making it out to be. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say it captures the original sense of wonder you feel when you learn about SAO’s premise. It’s well on the path to giving people everything they could’ve wanted out of the shows.
Dude, the level of bad writing of SAO's first books is insane. Kawahara gets a little better over time, but to be fair there's only a few japanese LN that have good writing. Most are very shallow as they are intended to be read by teens. In the end, this should NOT affect your enjoyment of the source material. It's ok to like something that isn't good, but you shouldn't try to convince yourself or others that it's great 😅
I think Liz is still suffering, unfortunately. The way she explained herself when Kirito went looking for her was very heartbreaking; she admits to being fragile, and although quick, their adventure together shook her up. Kirito seems to have crossed paths with her at the exact time she was LONGING to be with someone. Before Asuna showed up too, she was saying how she wanted Kirito to pick her as his personal smith, and come back to her store everyday. It was clear she envisioned a whole way to integrate him in her life, maybe she'd even join the frontlines to be with him too, eventually. Of course, she is a loyal friend and also doesn't want to be on Asuna's way, but she didn't get over it either.
I think the problem with the word love is the English language and its cultural context. In English there is just no other word but love. While in other languages and much different cultural contexts, there are more words for love.
THANK YOU for explaining. Sao will gorever be a good anime but the things that make people hate it can easily be countered.Also, if suguha did catch feelings for her "cousin" it would be normal because i dont know if its true but apparently dating/marrying your cousin is normal in japan.
lol notice how videos like these don’t have as many views as the dumb hate ones? it’s comical atp how people try to bash SAO for its lows while ignoring the countless amount of highs it has another one of the dumbest criticisms/straight up lies i’ve seen especially about kiritos character is that he’s “OP” or “OP done wrong” when that’s simply not the case, even if the anime butchered some scenes and explanations about his powers and character as a whole there’s no way people who’ve actually watched SAO think that’s he’s unbeatable when - he’s lost multiple fights - nearly died on multiple occasions - eugeo died because kirito was too weak to have his back - went into a coma after eugeo died - nearly lost the love of his life because he was too weak - many people in underworld died because of kirito not being able to save them it’s one of the incredibly stupid takes I’ve seen from people who claim they’ve “watched” SAO
Might have to do with scenes where he literally takes so little damage from 7 mid level players all attacking at once that he heals faster than their damage. Taking on a boss damn near by himself. He is able to get as powerful as he is soloing even though the show and him acknowledge that it's inefficient. Able to reach number 1 status on a game he sucks at in a couple of days. Able to defeat multiple seasoned players in a game that he should not better in. Able to get to the top 2 in a hyper-competitive tournament. These are just off the top of my head. The argument from being OP is how frequently he's allowed to win when logically he shouldn't be able to. Though ultimately, this comes from a complete lack of understanding about video games and the cultures that would be formed around these types of games. Like GGO is probably the biggest example of this.
On a unrelated note, is annoys me so much when I see Demon Skayer fans complain about the hate the anime gets. Like, they have NO IDEA what it was like being an SAO fan in the early to mid 2010's. And what's worse, Demon Slayer has WAY more things to justify it getting the same amount of hate SAO got, yet doesn't because of its animation and low barrier of entry.
The way I see it the hate directed towards the most popular animes is virtually always a vocal minority with almost all viewers enjoying the series. You will always get some group of people and they may be contrarians by nature or just dislike an anime they watch, but most will really like the anime. SAO and DS are obvious examples because SAO is one of the most popular IP's of the 2010's and is still popular with people wanting more. DS in the same boat, but a lot younger.
I started SAO back in July 2023 and honestly I've been seeing lots of hate towards the anime even now, litteraly in the comment sections of SAO-related videos even when it only concerns all sorts of OSTs from the anime. I don't even want to think about what you all endured, but one thing I hate is SAOA fans praising SAOA and calling SAO mid when 99% of them failed to understand 70 to 80% of the whole show. In any case, ever since I watched SAO, it's become my favourite anime.
@@RJLiams Violence causes violence. Now I'm not pretending to know as I wasn't playing enough attention to witness the whole situation but I've yet to meet a single SAO fan that is just trying to be toxic for no reason. I honestly think that it went this way : 1. People watch SAO 2. 99% of people hate on it when they couldn't process some of the few simple things that by the way were explained in the video. 3. Pressure causes SAO fans to launch what's mostly known as a self-defense mechanism : in psychology, whenever people are pressured a LOT (looking at the so-called "incest" in SAO), sudden surges of aggressiveness in both their ways of talking and behaving can be observed, as the common way of responding to threats is by other threats (like I said, violence causes violence). 4. Cycle kept going on until it calmed down and here we are.
@@huje4539 OK, so you personally haven't met someone like that. Guess that means every account people have mentioned of toxic fans just didn't happen, I guess. You're also assuming the hate was day one. It wasn't. For the most part, the general opinion from those who didn't like it was boring anime that wastes its potential. Even benign comments critical of the show got you swarmed by fans wanting to protect it. It wasn't until bigger youtubers who had the voice and fans to withstand the backlash began criticizing the show much more openly that opinions began to change. Let's stop acting like the fans of the show were never toxic and are only reactive. If you weren't paying attention to what was happening, then it's strange that you're hypothesising like you were.
Why tho? Sure they can but why do that after so many years lol that's just like saying he should start unnecessary beef over those old asf videos and from what I remember for the very least mother's basement's videos on Sao were spot on and really good for the time don't remember anything about digibro tho but still pointless
@@fable2830 Definitely Pointless, but Mother's Basements videos on SAO where the definition of brain dead SAO hate. Remember, the man went on a whole ass rant about a single frame where you can see Leafa's butt in one of openings. He just hated on it for attention. Not because he had anything constructive to say.
@@lincolnbeckett8791 the made like 4 Sao videos sure some of them were definitely salty and over exaggerated but when he settles down his takes are constructive and made a lot sense and exposed a lot of the narrative and storytelling flaws present in Sao at the time you can make a video calling out his nitpicking but what else, are you say his objectively right takes are wrong?
@@fable2830 mother's basement videos were BS because his vids are always BS anyway Also " unnecessary beef " eh I'm not asking him to debate them lol just respond to the videos
Tbh I thought Alice had feelings for kirito because I was comparing her situation to Asuna's and I saw how similar they were. (Yet also different as well) Kirito was able to inspire Asuna and Alice to try and make their own choices and try to figure out who they are and be the people they wanted to be. Which made me think that Alice did possibly did have feelings for kirito, but now that you explained it I see it in a way with the others who liked him due to their respect and admiration of him. Which isn't romantic.
THANK YOU. Kirito has only had eyes for Asuna. He had no idea Suguha was Leafa and she had even less idea that Kazuto and Kirito were one and the same. Yes, she struggles with romantic feelings toward Kazuto, but she did eventually overcome them and reconcile with her brother. Sinon was a rival who became a friend, Silica outright reminds him of his sister and is treated in a sibling-like fashion, Liz voluntarily put aside her feelings to encourage Asuna to pursue him, and to be honest he just didn’t seem particularly close to Yuuki outside of the non canonical games, at least compared to Asuna and her. That leaves Alice as the outlier, and she and Asuna seem to have developed respect for one another. I’m sick of haters saying that Kirito goes around seducing most of the cast. He’s been very good about remaining loyal to his girlfriend.
Thank you. While SAO definitely has it's share of harem-like moments (whether they did it out if fanservice or comic relief is up to your interpertation) the series as a whole isn't a full of entry to the harem genre. It's an adventure isekai that just so happens to have a lopsided cast ratio Sure one could argue it's leaning INTO harem traits but let's be real here: if it WERE a harem that would imply more than half of the ships were even viable (which they aren't in SAO since they practically wifed Kirito and Asuna in the first arc) so alot of that shipping stuff is completely secondary. I care more about the world building, action, and character psychology in SAO. And while I know the series has a reputation I throughly enjoy and defend SAO. Alicization best arc :)
A harem means 3 or more girls have romantic feelings to them so Asuna , Alice Elizabeth or Sinon so it technically is a harem but not the dumb harem most anime have. But to be fair I understand Pierrot messed up Sakura royally.
i've been wondering how best to dispute this criticism since its not made complete sense to me that people think this way, now i see why some do however its all easy to dispute at the same time, great video on this!
Too bad the situations and relationships with Bercouli and Fantio, Tiese and Renly, Liten and Shivata, Sheyta and Iskahn are mostly all written on paper through plenty of detailed page time in the light novels Sword Art Online Progressive Volume 4, Alicization Invading, Alicization Awakening, Alicization Exploding, Alicization Lasting, Moon Cradle and even Unital Ring, Reki Kawahara just kudos for all this fantastic writing I've had to read through from several books united in the past. Though the anime half hour episodic adaptations and the Mobile phone game Alicization Unleashed Blading mobile phone game hinted to their situations and relationships briefly I guess. I watched those SAO AUB phone game cutscenes on other RUclipsr channels here irl, I don't play mobile phone games. I read all the pages in my head many years ago throughout all those books at home in my spare time. Many of those Books are of past Christmas and birthday presents from family tbh here being bought from Amazon, Though Some I also purchased myself WHSmith and Waterstones in the past too. GamerTurk, AirSpeed Prime and Justus R Stone have been great motivators
Why would they do that if it’s not a harem that right there causes confusion because you have the game doing something different and the Anime doing something else, so I can see why some would think it’s a harem if one was to only play the game
I love how you delve into each of the character's arcs and relationships with Kiritio. I hate how it needed to be made, though. A harem anime doesn't necessarily mean that all of the female love the male or want to bang him. It simply means that they follow him around or otherwise make up the majority of secondary characters. Unless we're talking about hentai, there aren't many, where that isn't true. When folks nowadays ask what the first harem anime was, Tenchi Muyo tends to come up. Although it wasn't the first, it was the most popular in recent memory. Even there, there weren't any romantic feelings between any of the character.
Good points for most of em but still questionable with what Klein said in that scene with sinon. And also the fact that besides asuna two other girls showed almost blatant jealousy. I still view Sao as a mini harem. But at one point they all had a thing for kirito.
Sao is clearly a wish fulfillment story from the creator and author. It inspired and reignited my love for VR and technology, as well as whole... Actually.
Yeah thats what I like on SAO despite Kirito meets new girl in every story arc he is still loyal to Asuna and I don't see any deep progress to other girls interms of their relationship to Kirito. I only see it as respect and admiration on someone, you may call it crush but it doesn't mean it in a romantic way. And this show completely show who he likes unlike other harem anime male protagonist who seems he like everyone or cannot choose one so it end up to all the girls having high hope. I mean just pick one so that the others can easily move on and if you don't like anyone then just say it to them period. Plus I'm more focus to the plot than on the romantic side in this case unless its a romance anime (which is not)
2 things about the anime Sinon the best girl of this anime And yuki wasn't that good of a player kirito or let yuki win or wasn't fighting like before in sao where he went all out not to die in the game
You can't really call SAO a harem anymore if Kirito goes out of his way to save Asuna in another game during the 2nd arc after falling for her since the beginning & then put a ring on her later on in the Ordinal Scale movie, teasing that they'll get married irl in the future. Some will argue with Sinon or Alice, but the 2 know how close Kirito is to Asuna. Yeah, Sinon kissed Kirito on the cheek in front of Asuna during WoU, but she was trying to help Kirito regain his senses. Plus, they're more like best friends & comrades. Same with Alice, but I'd say A-1 really overdid it with her. Yeah, she has developed some romantic feelings for Kirito during WoU & she got jealous at Asuna at first, but I heard she gets better towards her during Unital Ring.
Basically it's not a proper harem but the show makes it clear that this is one and the voice actors are sure of this too the real argument is this is a harem and that does not in any way make a show bad and anyone saying that is simply a media fool
I mean SAO def has the aspect where a lot of the girls want to be with the guy, but they keep it mild for the most part; Asuna is the top G and the rest of the squad are nothing more than friends and family
Man thanks you cleared my doubt a lot I always thought it was a harem but actually it wasn't just bad to look at it and you helped me to see it from another point of view thank you for that.
😢 Dude 😢 10 months ago?? You made this 10 freaking months Where was this video when i needed this explanation years ago. I literally hated the entire series because of the harem tag. Thank you for the explanations. I think i can rewatch the entire show again without the annoying harem arc being constantly nagging me. Dumb animators making something that should be there.
😁its always good to see a fellow fan of sword art online, and someone who read the novels and not just watch the anime and claimed that it's a harem lol, for me I always saw that kirito is literally fateful to asuna, heck after he wakes up from his stupor, and flies to alice he kisses asuna like three times back to back in the novels and tells her how much she means to him. The anime leaves this exchange out for some weird reason, but it not the first time the anime cuts moments from the anime, heck sugaha, shino, and alice all get scene cut in the anime that was in the novel which gives them more time to express their thoughts, but I did like the video it gives people a sense of how the characters feel about kirito, plus for me when it came to the girls I felt shino and kirito relationship is one based on a fun rivalry, and one which they love to tease each other like when kirito pulls shino tails and when she teases him back with the sword, yes I believe she does love him, but more like as a friend who helped her overcome hardship and gave her a some closer from her past since he reach out to the lady at the post office that shino saved and her unborn child. Alice it's very simply she is basically loyal to him and respect him as a warrior and wants to protect him, like he protected her in the past plus I love her rivalry with asuna over protecting kirito it's so funny lol.
That's half the reason I still watch SAO, Kirito's faithfulness to Asuna. It makes the anime's exaggerated simping tolerable, even though Kirito's inadvertent flirting is painful to watch sometimes.
I feel as though Vassago is a different case and he wants to make Kirito suffer and get revenge on him and probably kill him for what he did to him and his laughing coffin group in the aincrad and Phantom Bullet arcs and probably because he hates the Japanese due to his messed up family upbringing, No one ever loved him and it is how badly that he was treated by his family. I see Vassago loving Kirito in a more sick and twisted way of battling a worthy adversary and yes he views him a hero when everyone is in danger.
Kinda is a harem tbf its light most women simp for the dude Alicization his teacher The the women he had to fight who looked 30 years old And alice i dont really count it since she never really looled at him ina different way Suguha liked him, lisbeth liked him The girls from alpheim started getting weird on him the sakuya and the beast fairy literally rubbing up against him.
I have to rewatch the anime but I feel like the games imply more they're romantic than the anime did. I think Silica did like Kirito personally based on what I remember it did seem that way, Lisbeth definitely did like him at the time originally, leafa did fall for Kirito she said she fell for Kirito in Alo herself, I don't know much about Sinon as I haven't watched that far yet I just finished I think season 1 but the games do seem to imply she had romantic feelings. I don't know anything about Alice really. Anyways I don't think he has a harem since none of them pursue a relationship with him due to Asuna. The point about Alice and love makes me rethink if it's romantic or not with the ones I named tho.
Theres a reason the games are non canon... Silica sees him as a father figure, just like Sachi. Leafa fell for Kirito, due to pushing her confused feelings for Kazuto aside. Realizing those people were one in the same was devastating as she had to realize how she never loved Kazuto romantically, she just confused her feelings due to their estrangement for most of their life. Shino thinks of him as her guardian, as the one with the answer to her quest for strength. This is further emphasized in War of Underworld. Alice has a similar relationship witb him to Shino. Her world was flipped upside down by him, and she expects him to help her navigate and give her the answers and meaning she needed. The only women who actually loved him romantically at any point are: Asuna(obviously) Lizbeth/Rika(for a short time) Ronie(more of a massive crush. But close enough)
That makes sense, but the animator or studio show owns the show and wants to mislead the people with these scenes to think Kirito has a harem? Is this what you want to say, because that's how marketing people will think or try to market the show
This is a very well done explained video and I've been taught similar things by gamerturk, my light novel copies that I've read many times over about Suguha, Sinon, Kirito, Asuna, Alice, Ronye, Sachi, Sorteliena and I think these are all the girls who have close sympathy for Kirito and had friendships with him. When the series was about Eugeo who is wasted potential in my opinion it felt less of a mostly about girls series.
I respect you sticking up for the show as it’s my favorite but imo I definitely do think there are some “romantic feelings” for some of the characters, I mean there’s no way there absolutely 0 given how much he’s gone through with some of them, but I don’t think it’s NEARLY enough to say it’s a harem. And I don’t think the girls think too much of it because they obviously know that Kirito loves Asuna.
Great analyisis but you seem to forgot 3 more things and they happen around same time Sinon Liz and even Silica say outright they love him her earlier when meeting Alice and those 2 during Night sky sword sequence and this isnt anime only it is in novel 18
Yes, I'd say the shinkawa brothers using the BlackStar gun was definitely intentional. I don't remember if it was explicitly explained in the anime but Kyojji thinks she's the coolest since she actually killed someone IRL, so its safe to say he picked that gun as an homage to Shino's past.
My dude, you got yourself another subscriber! You are a breath of FRESH AIR and a diamond in the rough! Or I guess better put, a David of SAO against the Goliath of Anti-SAO/SAO Disinformation channels! ❤❤
@@RJLiams Flawed in a couple places, perhaps. *Extremely* is certainly a hyperbole for one actively hoping he isn’t wrong about the show he’s actively misconstruing, misunderstanding and blatantly butchering the story & characters to fit his warped/poor understanding of it all. [In case you need help understanding my meaning… you. I’m talking about you and others like you over the past 10+ years.] “Seen the show”, my ass… Remove the blinders next time, bro.
@@skyguysreactions Extremely is a perfect word. Especially in it's complete misunderstanding of video games, gamers, the culture surrounding gaming, and what makes certain games popular. They base so much of the story, characters, and plot around this yet it falls apart because they don't understand anything about video games. GGO being the biggest example of their lack of understanding hurting whatever story they were trying to tell, and harming Kirito's development as a character. Is it any wonder that when they got away from video games it's reception gets better? So yes, I've seen it. Just because I don't agree with the show being good doesn't mean anything is being twisted. Just because you see very little flaws and act like this show is damn near perfect doesn't mean I'm butchering anything.
Yea it's not a harem but let's be real if they wasn't in a relationship it would be a harem an thats the problem cuz they made sao have Elements that shows that it could be a harem thats the point
I agree with your analysis, but the anime does a pretty bad job at displaying this. One example is Silica sort of frowns when Kirito pulls on Sinon’s tail. She looks at her tail and to me, it looks like she wished it was her. Maybe im wrong, but i do think the anime does a terrible job in general.
8:30 This whole scene confused me. I had to rewatch it several times and still didn't get it. He just throws the sword and it stays stuck in the air? Then she pulls it back for him?
I think the misconception kinda reinforced due to SAO game series, as the alternate story does lead to some flandarization, such as more girls has a crush on Kirito, fan services, heroine endings and infamous bed scenes in few games, Kirito being clueless, etc. 2:15 She did said that she still love Kirito in War of Underworld.
Because people think of them as blood relatives so they think of it as incest. Though if you have a child with a cousin the chances are quite low for issues caused by inbreeding and if it's a 2nd cousin or 3rd cousin it's basically irrelevant and the same as a stranger. Never mind that Kirito has only ever been interested in Asuna romantically so Suguha is irrelevant in that regard.
I havn't actually had the pleasure of playing the games yet. I do own them, I am just bad at getting myself to play singleplayer games lol. I thought perhaps it would be fun to show my first experience playing them at 1000 or 2000 subscribers.
Btw Andrew's wife is named Trish in the light novels I've read i think Agil may of mentioned her to Kirito when the 2 of them were in aincrad and also in Alicization Beginning in the dicey cafe there's a mention of his wife's baked beans and in Unital Ring books volumes 24 and 25 Trish has a mantis insect avatar under the name of Hyme and nicknames her husband "Andy" and his friend Kirito "Kiri"
On the subject of Shinon and her flirting with Kirito, my best friend and I openly flirt ALL THE TIME. Do we have feelings for each other? No! Not sure why this is concept hard to grasp for some people.
Honestly I just go around calling Sinon and Kirito trauma besties. It’s obviously more complex than that but it’s a fun little name I like to give them.
Also maybe it’s just me but if anything you really have to say that Alice “loves” Kirito (which I don’t think) I’d say she’s more like an overprotective big sister. At least that’s the kinda vibe I get from her
The anime portrays it differently than the LN, but I think that's the gist of it. What love she has isn't romantic lol
iirc, the LN actually DOES make it sound like Alice has SOME level of romantic feelings towards Kirito, it's one of those read between the lines things, so I don't think the anime made any changes regarding that... Suguha, Lizbeth and Alice all did have romantic affection towards him, the other girls are the ones who are 100% platonic @@codyknight3580
edit: btw, I meant Alice HAD at ONE POINT developed some romantic feelings towards Kirito, which she probably moved on eventually
SAO falls very much into the supporting harem territory where the main character has a clear and designated love interest, but still interacts with a bunch of other cute girls in ways that can read as romantic (especially for anime only viewers) but don't seriously threaten the main relationship. Reki Kawahara has even stated that he tends to write all his female characters as love interests, so it's reasonable for viewers or readers to notice this. Another example of this is the Monogatari series, where the main character Araragi gets together with Senjougahara early and, even though he flirts with the other girls a lot more than Kirito ever would, you can tell that there's a line he'd never cross.
Thank you for making that video explaining suguha and her character. I was always confused by it but didn't want to truly judge it so I overlooked it for a while and disregarded it. Now that I watched your analysis I understand it now and it makes a lot of sense. The fairy dance arc was an arc I enjoyed and I now I enjoy it even more thanks to your explanation. 🙏
That's great to hear man. I'm glad I managed to elevate your enjoyment of this wonderful series 😊
@CallMeCJ Could you explain the seane where Alice ships herself naked I'm a box to his house
@@BoiPersonI dunno why she chose to ship herself to him nude, but she used the mail system to ensure she got there anonymously, as the government didn't expect her to use the mail as transportation.
@@BoiPersonthat's totally normal. Cuz they obviously didn't make any unnecessary organs for her. You know like breast, clitoris and anus
I think Alice does have romantic feelings for Kirito otherwise she wouldn't be jealous about his relationship with Asuna. I agree with everything else you said though and I can't thank you enough for clearing things up with Sugu!
That's anime only, A1 Pictures takes some liberties with the anime adaptation of the LN...
To that I can use an example from my own life. I am jealous of my brother's relationship with his friends, and maybe even his girlfriend. So much so it makes me feel pretty depressed at times. Does that mean I love him romantically ? Hell nah.
There's many different reasons and different ways someone might be jealous. I'm jealous because I'm real fucking lonely, personally. There's nuance there !
It's not really jealousy. It's a rivalry between Alice and Asuna. Read the light novels. Alice doesn't have romantic feelings for Kirito. 😮💨
@@codyknight3580 The games also support Alice being extremely jealous of Asuna and constantly trying to get Kiritos attention!
Asuna: of course, official Girlfriend and most of the story with Kirito, but in Moon Cradle, she knows that Sillica, Liz, Leafa and Sinon that they have their own unique relationship with Kirito, which she herself also supports them, but by staying at the Underworld, she thinks she did out of selfishness, but that kind of self reflection of Asuna makes her a greater girlfriend character
Sillica: at first I thought it was more of a brother/sister relationship since Kirito point out she looks like Suguha and that kirito often gives her headpats, and she even refer him to Pina as her as a Big brother, but admiration also makes sense since she says his name with -san but she does that to everyone since she is the youngest of them all
Lizbeth: of course she has feelings for him, but after finding out, she will move on, she will support their relationship with Asuna and Kirito,
Even teases both of them, like in the Extra Edition, teases Kirito going to the Nurse’s office which she refers the nurse is pretty, and Asuna teasing her of her Swimsuit choice
Leafa: conflicting of what kind of bond they have, the Brother/sister relationship will be the best for them, since it’s the closest and best relationship of all, and I am happy for her
Sinon: I never saw them as lovers, even with the “kiss” on the cheek in WoU, but I saw them as both victims of murder events and helping eachother as they get over it. I also see them as best friends, giving each other a fistbumb several times, teasing eachother, Kirito being nice enough not to slash her when they dueled or the Excalibur scene
Yuuki: not much interaction, but in the games, she has more interaction, but he and Asuna see both her as a little sister, which is very hearthwarming
Alice: I saw first her as actual love for Kirito, but Alice thinks her think is fake and ephemeral since she knows she is not the real Alice Zuberg, and the “kiss attempt” was more like a feelings transfer, like sending her incarnation to him so that maybe she can repair him, but even if she does have romantic feelings for him, it would’ve been normal since from Alice point of view, Kirito is single, no knowledge of the Real World and what his relationships are there, brave swordsman, so her feelings are more justified
Btw It wasn't that Alice was triyng to kiss kirito She was triyng to use incarnati on on him but since She wasn't good at It She was getting closer to achieve the strongest effect and to get the biggest responce from kirito as she possibly could
F*****g auto corrector
in the games kirito and yuuki had a brother and sister bond and i love it
@@enrikdaka2183 just turn it off lol
@@nekofand5406 nice
Even as someone who only watches the anime. I thought the whole harem criticism was stupid.
“Don’t listen to us SAO fans we don’t watch our own show”
I thank you for explaining this to misunderstood viewers
there was also a couple of scene’s where when Kirito and Asuna are together and the rest of the female characters are sighing when looking at them,
But was not a sigh of jealousy, more like uncomfortable
IRL, when you sit next to a (friendgroup) couple, you mostly like leave them for your own good
I think the reason people mistake the situation with these girls is because SAO Has some similarities with Infinite Stratus and Date A Live where in those animes The mc is still single and the girls are actually competing for their affection.
@@michaelmurray8134 Date a live isn’t much competing for affection, all the girls have their own unique relationship with the mc and they know he willingly to help all of them just to keep them happy, Date a live is pretty wholesome
Infinite stratos however was a bit too much fighting which has become a bit more annoying and mc is dense as a black hole, but there is a reason for it
@@jackychen8143 Well the similarities I was trying to make with those three shows was that the girls including the main boy are bad ass fighters with their own unique characteristics. In SAO From a non observant point of view it looks like a harem but it's not, in Infinite Stratus it again looks like a harem but it's just some girls trying to compete for the same guy who's too dumb to realize it, and lastly Date a live Is a harem as Shido and the Sprite girls are all happy living under the same roof.
When it comes to the relationship between yuuki and kirito I am reminded of the SAO fatal bullet video game and a scene between the two.
Long story short if memory serves kirito and yuuki go out into the wild area showing off new swords and sword skills to eachother for hours until yuuki gets too tired to make the journey to a safe zone so kirito proposes to piggy back her to one.
First she compares herself to yui and augus’s then asks if wether or not asuna may get mad about this where kirito responds that asuna would likely get more mad if he left yuuki alone. After this yuuki then asks if this is what it feels like to have a big brother which kirito responds that he could be her big brother if needed.
In short the relationship between kirito and yuuki if one was able to develop if she didn’t die so suddenly would be that of older brother little sister with a shared passion for fighting and video games.
I seriously wished she didn't just die so fast in the anime, she genuinely is my favorite by personality out of the anime's cast in the multiple games she's in such as Hollow Fragment, Lost Song, Hollow Realization, and Fatal Bullet. Despite this, Rain still best girl
I always had this amusing idea that if yuuki found herself in any kind of relationship she would go to kirito and asuna for advice.
I was actually reading some of the novels earlier. I think there was a paragraph that said that Suguha wasn’t all too familiar with the concept of a “cousin”, mainly due to both of her parents not having any siblings, besides her mother’s sister who died. In a way, this all seemed to add up to her confused feelings. Or maybe I misread it, I’m not sure.
Great video btw. I shall save this for whenever I cross paths with a certain group of individuals 😂
Some game devs: What this dude said? **Proceeds to add in Hollow Fragment a scene for each of the characters in this video giving a kiss to Kirito*
Remember The Games are not Canon
@@Dustin017. Ik,just wanted point that out,tho the story from games was still wrotten by Reki i think.
Honestly I feel like my views of each character in the anime are somewhat tainted by how they're written in the games that I play often
The author admitted in an afterword, idk which, that they write the other females with a connection to the MC. They at first said it was how they knew to tie together the multiple viewpoints, but then added that they like such stories. Regardless. While Kirito is supposed to very kind and willing to help others, mostly ending up helping girls, it's supposed to be very clear that he only has eyes for Asuna.
THANK YOU so much for making this video. I wish something like this existed during the height of the SAO hate. I also was aware of many of the points made in this video but whenever I'd try to make them, it was just ignored or went over everyones head.
Personally, I think the part where Sinon teases Kirito with Excalibur, the english dub did a better job in that scene in making her seem more teasing. Michelle Ruff's delivery of "think of me, okay?" actually sounded more like she was having fun at his expense and more along the lines of saying, "you owe me one, buddy." Though that's my two cents on it.
French dub or sub really try to make it sound romantic sadly
@@s.bs.b5834 I can't really blame the other languages since they have a certain influx in their voice that makes it sound more romantic in a sense than they lead on.
@@Yusei5DSynchro oh i mean french dub is horrible
By how they translatr or who voice the chac
Sinon sound like a granny
@@s.bs.b5834 Ah I see
@@Yusei5DSynchro yeah
LOVE how you point it out it's not reki's fault as most of his writing isn't even bad, it's mainy due to how it's displayed by A-1 and how people just automatically assume everything they hear about an anime. Istg most of these new anime watchers act like sheep.🤦♂️
Ye, I have such a love-hate relationship with A-1 when it comes to the anime lol. They do make really stunning visuals, it's just their decision-making at times is really perplexing. Even minor things that should be kind of obvious they seem to blunder at times. For example, in the fight against Chudelkin/Quinella when Kirito uses Incarnation, they play the new variant of swordland "Find your sword in this land". But the sentiment of the scene is Kirito mentally recalling what he perceives to be the strongest version of himself in order to bring him back to that state of mind. As in the Underworld, how you perceive your own strength has a big impact on your actual strength. So in that theme of recalling the black swordsmen from Aincrad, it would make way more sense to play the classic original variant of Swordland in this scene. That's what I was expecting going in, but instead, they play the new alicezation variant of the song again. Which was nowhere near as thematically fitting and a missed opportunity for continuity. With a franchise as big as Sword Art Online, I feel like they should really aim to make it perfect. As it's guaranteed to be a hit and thus you don't need to spare expenses with it. I mean I personally have easily spent thousands of pounds on SAO merchandise lol. So when they cut really pivotal content or ruin scenes with fanservice it's really disappointing. It's a big part of the reason I still have not watched the War of the Underworld anime adaptation. I'm just perfectly content with the light novels at this point.
Actually, I was surprised when I was reading through the Progressive books. Granted, it’s not the best; but, it’s definitely not as bad as people were making it out to be. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say it captures the original sense of wonder you feel when you learn about SAO’s premise. It’s well on the path to giving people everything they could’ve wanted out of the shows.
Dude, the level of bad writing of SAO's first books is insane. Kawahara gets a little better over time, but to be fair there's only a few japanese LN that have good writing. Most are very shallow as they are intended to be read by teens.
In the end, this should NOT affect your enjoyment of the source material. It's ok to like something that isn't good, but you shouldn't try to convince yourself or others that it's great 😅
@@Nico-nc5qb i read volume 1 and feel that the novel is better at explaining things and conveying feelings than the anime.
A-1 studio removed some if not most of Kirisuna moment😭
I think Liz is still suffering, unfortunately. The way she explained herself when Kirito went looking for her was very heartbreaking; she admits to being fragile, and although quick, their adventure together shook her up. Kirito seems to have crossed paths with her at the exact time she was LONGING to be with someone. Before Asuna showed up too, she was saying how she wanted Kirito to pick her as his personal smith, and come back to her store everyday. It was clear she envisioned a whole way to integrate him in her life, maybe she'd even join the frontlines to be with him too, eventually.
Of course, she is a loyal friend and also doesn't want to be on Asuna's way, but she didn't get over it either.
I think the problem with the word love is the English language and its cultural context.
In English there is just no other word but love. While in other languages and much different cultural contexts, there are more words for love.
Thank you bro, so god damn much. It's so f'ing refreshing to hear something other than hate being hurled at SAO.
THANK YOU for explaining. Sao will gorever be a good anime but the things that make people hate it can easily be countered.Also, if suguha did catch feelings for her "cousin" it would be normal because i dont know if its true but apparently dating/marrying your cousin is normal in japan.
Thanks for this video, I'm really happy that someone explaned sao like this
lol notice how videos like these don’t have as many views as the dumb hate ones? it’s comical atp how people try to bash SAO for its lows while ignoring the countless amount of highs it has
another one of the dumbest criticisms/straight up lies i’ve seen especially about kiritos character is that he’s “OP” or “OP done wrong” when that’s simply not the case, even if the anime butchered some scenes and explanations about his powers and character as a whole there’s no way people who’ve actually watched SAO think that’s he’s unbeatable when
- he’s lost multiple fights
- nearly died on multiple occasions
- eugeo died because kirito was too weak to have his back
- went into a coma after eugeo died
- nearly lost the love of his life because he was too weak
- many people in underworld died because of kirito not being able to save them
it’s one of the incredibly stupid takes I’ve seen from people who claim they’ve “watched” SAO
Might have to do with scenes where he literally takes so little damage from 7 mid level players all attacking at once that he heals faster than their damage.
Taking on a boss damn near by himself.
He is able to get as powerful as he is soloing even though the show and him acknowledge that it's inefficient.
Able to reach number 1 status on a game he sucks at in a couple of days.
Able to defeat multiple seasoned players in a game that he should not better in. Able to get to the top 2 in a hyper-competitive tournament.
These are just off the top of my head. The argument from being OP is how frequently he's allowed to win when logically he shouldn't be able to.
Though ultimately, this comes from a complete lack of understanding about video games and the cultures that would be formed around these types of games. Like GGO is probably the biggest example of this.
This was a really good argument
I was just wondering when there was going to be another SAO video, great work!
It's a harem
On a unrelated note, is annoys me so much when I see Demon Skayer fans complain about the hate the anime gets. Like, they have NO IDEA what it was like being an SAO fan in the early to mid 2010's. And what's worse, Demon Slayer has WAY more things to justify it getting the same amount of hate SAO got, yet doesn't because of its animation and low barrier of entry.
The way I see it the hate directed towards the most popular animes is virtually always a vocal minority with almost all viewers enjoying the series. You will always get some group of people and they may be contrarians by nature or just dislike an anime they watch, but most will really like the anime. SAO and DS are obvious examples because SAO is one of the most popular IP's of the 2010's and is still popular with people wanting more. DS in the same boat, but a lot younger.
I remember getting death threats from SAO fans. Let's stop pretending like there wasn't just as many crazed fanboys as there were haters.
I started SAO back in July 2023 and honestly I've been seeing lots of hate towards the anime even now, litteraly in the comment sections of SAO-related videos even when it only concerns all sorts of OSTs from the anime. I don't even want to think about what you all endured, but one thing I hate is SAOA fans praising SAOA and calling SAO mid when 99% of them failed to understand 70 to 80% of the whole show. In any case, ever since I watched SAO, it's become my favourite anime.
@@RJLiams Violence causes violence. Now I'm not pretending to know as I wasn't playing enough attention to witness the whole situation but I've yet to meet a single SAO fan that is just trying to be toxic for no reason. I honestly think that it went this way :
1. People watch SAO
2. 99% of people hate on it when they couldn't process some of the few simple things that by the way were explained in the video.
3. Pressure causes SAO fans to launch what's mostly known as a self-defense mechanism : in psychology, whenever people are pressured a LOT (looking at the so-called "incest" in SAO), sudden surges of aggressiveness in both their ways of talking and behaving can be observed, as the common way of responding to threats is by other threats (like I said, violence causes violence).
4. Cycle kept going on until it calmed down and here we are.
@@huje4539
OK, so you personally haven't met someone like that. Guess that means every account people have mentioned of toxic fans just didn't happen, I guess.
You're also assuming the hate was day one. It wasn't. For the most part, the general opinion from those who didn't like it was boring anime that wastes its potential. Even benign comments critical of the show got you swarmed by fans wanting to protect it.
It wasn't until bigger youtubers who had the voice and fans to withstand the backlash began criticizing the show much more openly that opinions began to change.
Let's stop acting like the fans of the show were never toxic and are only reactive. If you weren't paying attention to what was happening, then it's strange that you're hypothesising like you were.
I'm waiting until you make video responding to mother's basement, Digibro and other anitubers BS!!
Why tho? Sure they can but why do that after so many years lol that's just like saying he should start unnecessary beef over those old asf videos and from what I remember for the very least mother's basement's videos on Sao were spot on and really good for the time don't remember anything about digibro tho but still pointless
@@fable2830 Definitely Pointless, but Mother's Basements videos on SAO where the definition of brain dead SAO hate. Remember, the man went on a whole ass rant about a single frame where you can see Leafa's butt in one of openings. He just hated on it for attention. Not because he had anything constructive to say.
@@lincolnbeckett8791 the made like 4 Sao videos sure some of them were definitely salty and over exaggerated but when he settles down his takes are constructive and made a lot sense and exposed a lot of the narrative and storytelling flaws present in Sao at the time you can make a video calling out his nitpicking but what else, are you say his objectively right takes are wrong?
@@fable2830 mother's basement videos were BS because his vids are always BS anyway
Also " unnecessary beef " eh I'm not asking him to debate them lol just respond to the videos
@@lincolnbeckett8791 yeah lol
His videos are pure garbage
Tbh I thought Alice had feelings for kirito because I was comparing her situation to Asuna's and I saw how similar they were. (Yet also different as well) Kirito was able to inspire Asuna and Alice to try and make their own choices and try to figure out who they are and be the people they wanted to be. Which made me think that Alice did possibly did have feelings for kirito, but now that you explained it I see it in a way with the others who liked him due to their respect and admiration of him. Which isn't romantic.
THANK YOU. Kirito has only had eyes for Asuna. He had no idea Suguha was Leafa and she had even less idea that Kazuto and Kirito were one and the same. Yes, she struggles with romantic feelings toward Kazuto, but she did eventually overcome them and reconcile with her brother.
Sinon was a rival who became a friend, Silica outright reminds him of his sister and is treated in a sibling-like fashion, Liz voluntarily put aside her feelings to encourage Asuna to pursue him, and to be honest he just didn’t seem particularly close to Yuuki outside of the non canonical games, at least compared to Asuna and her. That leaves Alice as the outlier, and she and Asuna seem to have developed respect for one another.
I’m sick of haters saying that Kirito goes around seducing most of the cast. He’s been very good about remaining loyal to his girlfriend.
God, I love this series so much! I simp for this series! 10/10 anime, would recommend!❤
Good video, but I disagree with the title. The most braindead SAO criticism is accusations of Kirito hacking the game in episode 12.
ayyy at the start thats an og 2006 doctor who ost in the S2 doomsday episode where rose and the 10th doctor are seperated nice
Ayy, nice to see fellow doctor who fans. Love that show.
Thank you. While SAO definitely has it's share of harem-like moments (whether they did it out if fanservice or comic relief is up to your interpertation) the series as a whole isn't a full of entry to the harem genre. It's an adventure isekai that just so happens to have a lopsided cast ratio
Sure one could argue it's leaning INTO harem traits but let's be real here: if it WERE a harem that would imply more than half of the ships were even viable (which they aren't in SAO since they practically wifed Kirito and Asuna in the first arc) so alot of that shipping stuff is completely secondary. I care more about the world building, action, and character psychology in SAO.
And while I know the series has a reputation I throughly enjoy and defend SAO. Alicization best arc :)
A harem means 3 or more girls have romantic feelings to them so Asuna , Alice Elizabeth or Sinon so it technically is a harem but not the dumb harem most anime have. But to be fair I understand Pierrot messed up Sakura royally.
CJ: "I personally don't think anyone can hold on to unrequited feelings for 12 years."
Phèdre: "Challenge Accepted."
(It's from a Greek tragedy)
i've been wondering how best to dispute this criticism since its not made complete sense to me that people think this way, now i see why some do however its all easy to dispute at the same time, great video on this!
Too bad the situations and relationships with Bercouli and Fantio, Tiese and Renly, Liten and Shivata, Sheyta and Iskahn are mostly all written on paper through plenty of detailed page time in the light novels Sword Art Online Progressive Volume 4, Alicization Invading, Alicization Awakening, Alicization Exploding, Alicization Lasting, Moon Cradle and even Unital Ring, Reki Kawahara just kudos for all this fantastic writing I've had to read through from several books united in the past. Though the anime half hour episodic adaptations and the Mobile phone game Alicization Unleashed Blading mobile phone game hinted to their situations and relationships briefly I guess. I watched those SAO AUB phone game cutscenes on other RUclipsr channels here irl, I don't play mobile phone games. I read all the pages in my head many years ago throughout all those books at home in my spare time. Many of those Books are of past Christmas and birthday presents from family tbh here being bought from Amazon, Though Some I also purchased myself WHSmith and Waterstones in the past too. GamerTurk, AirSpeed Prime and Justus R Stone have been great motivators
Honestly still not as bad as what the games did, They REALLY took the harem route. Either way, well said and good video
Why would they do that if it’s not a harem that right there causes confusion because you have the game doing something different and the Anime doing something else, so I can see why some would think it’s a harem if one was to only play the game
@@Skye2993I think it's for the players who like the other girls than Asuna while playing as character
I cant unhear "ass una"
I love how you delve into each of the character's arcs and relationships with Kiritio. I hate how it needed to be made, though. A harem anime doesn't necessarily mean that all of the female love the male or want to bang him. It simply means that they follow him around or otherwise make up the majority of secondary characters. Unless we're talking about hentai, there aren't many, where that isn't true.
When folks nowadays ask what the first harem anime was, Tenchi Muyo tends to come up. Although it wasn't the first, it was the most popular in recent memory. Even there, there weren't any romantic feelings between any of the character.
Good points for most of em but still questionable with what Klein said in that scene with sinon. And also the fact that besides asuna two other girls showed almost blatant jealousy. I still view Sao as a mini harem. But at one point they all had a thing for kirito.
Sao is clearly a wish fulfillment story from the creator and author. It inspired and reignited my love for VR and technology, as well as whole... Actually.
Yeah thats what I like on SAO despite Kirito meets new girl in every story arc he is still loyal to Asuna and I don't see any deep progress to other girls interms of their relationship to Kirito. I only see it as respect and admiration on someone, you may call it crush but it doesn't mean it in a romantic way. And this show completely show who he likes unlike other harem anime male protagonist who seems he like everyone or cannot choose one so it end up to all the girls having high hope. I mean just pick one so that the others can easily move on and if you don't like anyone then just say it to them period. Plus I'm more focus to the plot than on the romantic side in this case unless its a romance anime (which is not)
Watch the mothers rossario arc. Even his cousin/sister grimace when kirito and asuna speak to each other
The Alicization director HATES Asuna for some reason, that's why all of her parts got cut or botched in that arc.
The first person to not shit on Sao
2 things about the anime
Sinon the best girl of this anime
And yuki wasn't that good of a player kirito or let yuki win or wasn't fighting like before in sao where he went all out not to die in the game
forgot to mention yui !
-someone proably
People complain about this a lot, but there's they turn their backs in something like a Persona game with 3-5.
but alice was visibly annoyed when kirito said to invite asuna in the last episode bro
You can't really call SAO a harem anymore if Kirito goes out of his way to save Asuna in another game during the 2nd arc after falling for her since the beginning & then put a ring on her later on in the Ordinal Scale movie, teasing that they'll get married irl in the future.
Some will argue with Sinon or Alice, but the 2 know how close Kirito is to Asuna. Yeah, Sinon kissed Kirito on the cheek in front of Asuna during WoU, but she was trying to help Kirito regain his senses. Plus, they're more like best friends & comrades. Same with Alice, but I'd say A-1 really overdid it with her. Yeah, she has developed some romantic feelings for Kirito during WoU & she got jealous at Asuna at first, but I heard she gets better towards her during Unital Ring.
Basically it's not a proper harem but the show makes it clear that this is one and the voice actors are sure of this too
the real argument is this is a harem and that does not in any way make a show bad and anyone saying that is simply a media fool
I mean SAO def has the aspect where a lot of the girls want to be with the guy, but they keep it mild for the most part; Asuna is the top G and the rest of the squad are nothing more than friends and family
Group of girls that are friends does not equal harem
bro was like "surly you will not hold on to one stupid love for 3 years,, are you good were watching anime like tf
Man thanks you cleared my doubt a lot I always thought it was a harem but actually it wasn't just bad to look at it and you helped me to see it from another point of view thank you for that.
Doesn't help that the games definately want to focus on the Harem angle.
And it would be cool to create a character based on me to feel happy
Finally, someone made this video.
😢 Dude 😢
10 months ago?? You made this 10 freaking months
Where was this video when i needed this explanation years ago. I literally hated the entire series because of the harem tag. Thank you for the explanations. I think i can rewatch the entire show again without the annoying harem arc being constantly nagging me. Dumb animators making something that should be there.
😁its always good to see a fellow fan of sword art online, and someone who read the novels and not just watch the anime and claimed that it's a harem lol, for me I always saw that kirito is literally fateful to asuna, heck after he wakes up from his stupor, and flies to alice he kisses asuna like three times back to back in the novels and tells her how much she means to him. The anime leaves this exchange out for some weird reason, but it not the first time the anime cuts moments from the anime, heck sugaha, shino, and alice all get scene cut in the anime that was in the novel which gives them more time to express their thoughts, but I did like the video it gives people a sense of how the characters feel about kirito, plus for me when it came to the girls I felt shino and kirito relationship is one based on a fun rivalry, and one which they love to tease each other like when kirito pulls shino tails and when she teases him back with the sword, yes I believe she does love him, but more like as a friend who helped her overcome hardship and gave her a some closer from her past since he reach out to the lady at the post office that shino saved and her unborn child. Alice it's very simply she is basically loyal to him and respect him as a warrior and wants to protect him, like he protected her in the past plus I love her rivalry with asuna over protecting kirito it's so funny lol.
That's half the reason I still watch SAO, Kirito's faithfulness to Asuna. It makes the anime's exaggerated simping tolerable, even though Kirito's inadvertent flirting is painful to watch sometimes.
@@EthanKironus8067 it one sided, he doesn't flirt back he gets flustered but doesn't flirt back
@@hxntaiguy3318 It looked like inadvertent flirting to me, sometimes. Not that it makes a difference to the outcome, aka Kirisuna forever.
I feel as though Vassago is a different case and he wants to make Kirito suffer and get revenge on him and probably kill him for what he did to him and his laughing coffin group in the aincrad and Phantom Bullet arcs and probably because he hates the Japanese due to his messed up family upbringing, No one ever loved him and it is how badly that he was treated by his family. I see Vassago loving Kirito in a more sick and twisted way of battling a worthy adversary and yes he views him a hero when everyone is in danger.
Kinda is a harem tbf its light most women simp for the dude
Alicization his teacher
The the women he had to fight who looked 30 years old
And alice i dont really count it since she never really looled at him ina different way
Suguha liked him, lisbeth liked him
The girls from alpheim started getting weird on him the sakuya and the beast fairy literally rubbing up against him.
Finally you speak about it
And etablish the truth
I have to rewatch the anime but I feel like the games imply more they're romantic than the anime did. I think Silica did like Kirito personally based on what I remember it did seem that way, Lisbeth definitely did like him at the time originally, leafa did fall for Kirito she said she fell for Kirito in Alo herself, I don't know much about Sinon as I haven't watched that far yet I just finished I think season 1 but the games do seem to imply she had romantic feelings. I don't know anything about Alice really. Anyways I don't think he has a harem since none of them pursue a relationship with him due to Asuna. The point about Alice and love makes me rethink if it's romantic or not with the ones I named tho.
Theres a reason the games are non canon...
Silica sees him as a father figure, just like Sachi.
Leafa fell for Kirito, due to pushing her confused feelings for Kazuto aside. Realizing those people were one in the same was devastating as she had to realize how she never loved Kazuto romantically, she just confused her feelings due to their estrangement for most of their life.
Shino thinks of him as her guardian, as the one with the answer to her quest for strength. This is further emphasized in War of Underworld.
Alice has a similar relationship witb him to Shino. Her world was flipped upside down by him, and she expects him to help her navigate and give her the answers and meaning she needed.
The only women who actually loved him romantically at any point are:
Asuna(obviously)
Lizbeth/Rika(for a short time)
Ronie(more of a massive crush. But close enough)
I think its just the anime making it look like they love kirito. and that the people my age who watch it are teenagers.
And what about EUGEO?????????
That makes sense, but the animator or studio show owns the show and wants to mislead the people with these scenes to think Kirito has a harem?
Is this what you want to say, because that's how marketing people will think or try to market the show
I believe the only other ship, besides AsunaxKirito, that we can agree on, is KiritoxFood.
The games point that out but upon looking back yea he does like food a lot lol
This is a very well done explained video and I've been taught similar things by gamerturk, my light novel copies that I've read many times over about Suguha, Sinon, Kirito, Asuna, Alice, Ronye, Sachi, Sorteliena and I think these are all the girls who have close sympathy for Kirito and had friendships with him. When the series was about Eugeo who is wasted potential in my opinion it felt less of a mostly about girls series.
i just found your channel and wanted to tell you that you make great videos
Thank you so much man, that's made my day 😀
0:40 even better!
I respect you sticking up for the show as it’s my favorite but imo I definitely do think there are some “romantic feelings” for some of the characters, I mean there’s no way there absolutely 0 given how much he’s gone through with some of them, but I don’t think it’s NEARLY enough to say it’s a harem. And I don’t think the girls think too much of it because they obviously know that Kirito loves Asuna.
Great analyisis but you seem to forgot 3 more things and they happen around same time
Sinon Liz and even Silica say outright they love him her earlier when meeting Alice and those 2 during Night sky sword sequence and this isnt anime only it is in novel 18
I never understood this criticism when most of the other Isekai amines are degenerate harems, and they are praised to high heavens.
Bro! Who is Krito
Was the brothers' use of the Black Star gun for the "fatal" shots intentional with regards to Sinon's trauma? Or was that just a coincidence?
Yes, I'd say the shinkawa brothers using the BlackStar gun was definitely intentional. I don't remember if it was explicitly explained in the anime but Kyojji thinks she's the coolest since she actually killed someone IRL, so its safe to say he picked that gun as an homage to Shino's past.
My dude, you got yourself another subscriber! You are a breath of FRESH AIR and a diamond in the rough! Or I guess better put, a David of SAO against the Goliath of Anti-SAO/SAO Disinformation channels! ❤❤
So someone who confirms your bias.
@@RJLiams No. Because someone with common sense actually WATCHES THE SHOW, unlike you it seems.
@@skyguysreactions Oh I've seen the show, and to act like it's not extremely flawed isn't someone with common sense.
@@RJLiams Flawed in a couple places, perhaps. *Extremely* is certainly a hyperbole for one actively hoping he isn’t wrong about the show he’s actively misconstruing, misunderstanding and blatantly butchering the story & characters to fit his warped/poor understanding of it all. [In case you need help understanding my meaning… you. I’m talking about you and others like you over the past 10+ years.]
“Seen the show”, my ass…
Remove the blinders next time, bro.
@@skyguysreactions Extremely is a perfect word. Especially in it's complete misunderstanding of video games, gamers, the culture surrounding gaming, and what makes certain games popular. They base so much of the story, characters, and plot around this yet it falls apart because they don't understand anything about video games. GGO being the biggest example of their lack of understanding hurting whatever story they were trying to tell, and harming Kirito's development as a character.
Is it any wonder that when they got away from video games it's reception gets better?
So yes, I've seen it. Just because I don't agree with the show being good doesn't mean anything is being twisted. Just because you see very little flaws and act like this show is damn near perfect doesn't mean I'm butchering anything.
Yea it's not a harem but let's be real if they wasn't in a relationship it would be a harem an thats the problem cuz they made sao have Elements that shows that it could be a harem thats the point
My man out here doing Gods work lol
Let me disprove it's a harem by confirming it's a harem.
I agree with your analysis, but the anime does a pretty bad job at displaying this. One example is Silica sort of frowns when Kirito pulls on Sinon’s tail. She looks at her tail and to me, it looks like she wished it was her. Maybe im wrong, but i do think the anime does a terrible job in general.
Sachi was left out
8:30 This whole scene confused me. I had to rewatch it several times and still didn't get it. He just throws the sword and it stays stuck in the air? Then she pulls it back for him?
maybe i'm deaf or missed it but did you go over WoU when liz and silica talked about their feelings for Kirito?
11:57 - 12:14 - same applies :)
I think the misconception kinda reinforced due to SAO game series, as the alternate story does lead to some flandarization, such as more girls has a crush on Kirito, fan services, heroine endings and infamous bed scenes in few games, Kirito being clueless, etc.
2:15 She did said that she still love Kirito in War of Underworld.
Hi Mr cj happy New Years n sinon n kirito r my favorite characters
Why is Suguha controversial anyway?
Because people think of them as blood relatives so they think of it as incest. Though if you have a child with a cousin the chances are quite low for issues caused by inbreeding and if it's a 2nd cousin or 3rd cousin it's basically irrelevant and the same as a stranger. Never mind that Kirito has only ever been interested in Asuna romantically so Suguha is irrelevant in that regard.
Can you cover there game counterparts?
I havn't actually had the pleasure of playing the games yet. I do own them, I am just bad at getting myself to play singleplayer games lol. I thought perhaps it would be fun to show my first experience playing them at 1000 or 2000 subscribers.
ok
I would still say it's a harem anime :v in the sense of it being within the genre but not necessarily with the tag itself
fr sao is good minus the sexual assault
ok but did Eugeo...?
Agree to disagree
I think you are wrong about silica I see it more as she thinks of kirito is her big brother
Great video bro‼️
Btw Andrew's wife is named Trish in the light novels I've read i think Agil may of mentioned her to Kirito when the 2 of them were in aincrad and also in Alicization Beginning in the dicey cafe there's a mention of his wife's baked beans and in Unital Ring books volumes 24 and 25 Trish has a mantis insect avatar under the name of Hyme and nicknames her husband "Andy" and his friend Kirito "Kiri"
Genuinely sao is not for me after the first season. But you like what you like. Youa re spitting facts tho about the harem t hing.
Dude have you watched Alice zation war of the underworld
great video!
On the subject of Shinon and her flirting with Kirito, my best friend and I openly flirt ALL THE TIME. Do we have feelings for each other? No! Not sure why this is concept hard to grasp for some people.
huh
LOVE