Sword Art Online: Aincrad

First of all, in advance, I do love Sword Art Online. I read this as a fan, not as someone new to it, or as someone looking to bash it. I was super excited to read this, as I loved SAO so much. I was glad to see it was an omnibus, since it means I'd be spending less, but that's where the warning should have come. This adaptation of SAO was horrible. So horrible to the point where I fear anime to manga adaptations now. The art was lousy. The faces were drawn strangely, Klein was aged like 5-10 years, and the art lacked detail.The only thing that was OK were the backgrounds, and even then I recall them only being basic. The story was.. well, unfortunately, totally butchered. The plot was rushed, and character development was thrown out the window in favor of getting the story done in two volumes. We don't get to see Kirito go from Mr. Loner into someone who readily joins in with parties and realizes it's more fun to be with others than by yourself. He's just instantly Mr. Nice Guy who likes being in a group. I think the Beater thing was only brushed on in here, and I don't recall the battle with Kuradeel being there (though it may have been, but I forgot). It may have been, but if it was, it was rushed. Actually, I think Laughing Coffin as a whole was almost ditched. Additionally, Lisbeth and Silica do not appear at all here. Kirito just pulls his second sword from thin air here. Finally, Asuna and Kirito's relationship is almost nonexistent here. I think they just instantly know each other, like each other after the cooking thing, meet Yui, and fight at the end. They skip all of the early Kirito/Asuna scenes, which leaves their relationship feeling even more rushed than usual. Overall, this was a horrible adaptation of a good anime. If you've seen the anime and want to revisit the world of Aincrad, read the light novel, or the Progressive series. If you are interested in SAO, but want to start with a manga (I do recommend just streaming the anime through Crunchyroll or Netflix, but if you really want to start with a manga..), read the adaptation of Sword Art Online: Progressive. It doesn't follow the anime exactly (it goes more into Kirito and Asuna as characters and the dungeons, though), but it's at least not rushed feeling.

The beginning was pretty good! I was enjoying it until... Asuna happened... Asuna is the most generic, poorly written love interest that I have ever witnessed! Kirito and Asuna's relationship was just flat out boring and it dragged out for WAY too long! It was like I was reading a love story instead of a shounen manga! **Ending of volume 1 Spoiler** The ending of volume 1 was the best example of how NOT to do an ending! It was a word for word Deus Ex Machina! Heathcliff (who was one of their allies) turned out to be the creator of SAO. Kirito wishes for Asuna tonot commit suicide if he died, Asuna gets stabbed by Heathcliff and he also stabs Kirito. Kirito uses his last bit of strength to stab Heathcliff, killing him. Now this ALONE would've been fine! I liked the end up to that point, but then both Kirito and Asuna end up surviving because Deus Ex Machina, and they wake up in the real world.

I decided to give the Aincard manga a read after finishing the two light novel volumes that made up this arc. While for the light novels I'd give this arc a 6/10 (Have yet to read Progressive), the manga adaptation on the other hand is brought down by the horrendous art. The story itself there's not much for me to say, it's an adaptation of Vol. 1 of the light novels with a side story from Vol. 2 (Yui's chapter) as well. This is why characters like Lisbeth and Silca don't appear, Sachi's backstory isn't expanded upon, nor do we see any of the other floorsexpanded upon before floor 74. Not much for me to say here as that would turn this review into a review of the arc itself which is not what I want to focus on. The art is the main problem here. It feels very amateur and doesn't fit the tone at all. Kirito and Asuna look like they came out a 'How to Draw Shoujo Manga" book and other characters range from ok (Heathcliff and Agil) to horrible (Klein and Yui), backgrounds are meh, and the action scenes are 'ok?' I guess, but could be way better. The quality of the art when compared to the LN's art is a huge downgrade and make it really hard to enjoy this manga. In fact, when compared to the art of the later arcs' manga adaptations, the poor quality of the art here really stands out. In conclusion, the art is the main problem here. Story-wise it adapts Vol. 1 accurately, but the art makes it a hard read, if you wanted my opinion I'd say go read the novels or watch the anime (Though the quality of the anime I have no opinion of as of yet since I have yet to watch it).