The opening studio crawl ofSword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night, implicitly set expectations high at the reminder that this film’s release in Japan marked the 10th Anniversary of the anime. Unfortunately, it’s hard to say if this film truly is the kind of cinematic event best suited to celebrating this series and how far it has come, especially to those who were with it at the start.
Sword Art Onlinehas certainly had a divisive reputationamong the anime community for years, with many criticizing its writing, and the arguably unnecessary longevity of the series. It seems that even writer Reki Kawahara recognized that it had room for improvement, and thus beganProgressivein an effort to fix certain problems. The first film,Aria of a Starless Night, was a bold beginning to this retelling that already deviated from even the new novels by focusing primarily on Asuna, which wasn’t a bad idea. She’s a fan-favorite and some consider her a better protagonist than leading man Kirito. It was received fairly well, and the prospect of an ongoing Progressive film series was intriguing.
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A Rocky Start
For as rocky as the animation quality could occasionally be throughout the run of the TV series, the films -like with a lot of anime movies- tended to shine the brightest. BeforeProgressive, 2017’sOrdinal Scalewas a cinematic event that raised the bar for what fans expected from the series on a visual scale.
In the past, the cinema experience of watching anSAOmovie was akin to watching one of theFatemovies in a theater, which is to say the audio experience was incredible. Anime got really into bass-boosted effects for action and although some series went too far,SAOknew exactly how to make the most of a cinematic event. But unfortunately, the beginning of this new film felt rather dull in comparison.
While it could be a consequence of the theater’s setup itself, this film was reviewed in a fairly popular and well-kept theater, and there was more than sound that felt lacking. The animation felt sluggish for what should bethe sequence that grabs the viewer’s attention. And it takes a long time to pick up.
A lengthy and dull dinner scene is followed up by a rather boring side-quest, where Yuki Kajiura’s score strains to make what is happening on screen entertaining. Asuna ends up being lost and gets her sword stolen by an equipment-stealing monster, the first visual gag that coaxed a genuine emotion from the audience.
Feeling like a Film
The first time thatScherzofelt like it was truly trying to present itself like a film was during a mock duel between Asuna and Argo in a hot spring resort. So clearly, the filmmakers had their priorities perfectly in order. Joking aside, the fight is legitimately well-animated, but it only further begs the question of why the first 20 minutes were so unbelievably dull.
In fact, the strangest thing about this movie is that it feels like the entire midsection was constructed with the care befittinga major cinematic event in theSAOseries. Meanwhile, the opening and conclusion show the inconsistency present in this film’s construction, if not the strain of trying to tell this ongoing novel series effectively in film.
The story doesn’t feel like a self-contained chapter so much as a wrap-up of plot threads from the first film and the inciting tensions of future films. This film feels like the first quarter of an adventure novel where the characters might go on a smaller adventure before the actual quest of the story.
This is likely a consequence ofcreating a character like Mito in the first film, who wasn’t in the light novels and contributed to an arc of Asuna’s thatalsowasn’t in the novels. By no means is this a dig at Mito’s inclusion as - funnily enough - she might be one of the best additions to this series, which is a shame considering this film seemingly ties off her arc with a nice bow.
Between the Alicization Arc and now this, both Asuna and Kirito have had same-sex friends who almost make better picks for romance options than each other. Fearing that the main couple of this series might start to feel like a throuple, the writers likely figured it was good to give Mito closure, and it only feels slightly disappointing that it had to come from a film that feels so confused.
For The Guild
The main conflict of the film involves two separate guilds that have had tensions brewing between them, and Kirito and Asuna’s efforts to try and stop their fighting. When they discover a plan that might cause war between them, they team up with their friends to beat the Fifth Floor Boss themselves, so the guilds don’tfight over the powerful item that drops.
It’s a neat premise set in motion by Asuna overhearing Player Killers plotting to tear the guilds apart. Since the leader of one of the guilds is already planning to betray the other, they can’t exactly tell the guilds that they are being manipulated, so they have no choice but to fight the floor boss with even fewer numbers.
The coolest part of the film is the floor boss itself, which establishes that not everything in the game is the same as it was in the beta, challenging Kirito’s advantage as a Beta tester. From the techno music to the intentionally odd-looking CGI, it creates a tense and creepy atmosphere for a battle, with lots of fittingly gamey tricks that the players need to overcome. But once the battle is over, things go downhill again.
Wait, What Did You Just Call Me?
Critics and fans alike tend to agreethat one ofSAO’s silliest writing choices was the insult “Beater” which is hurled at Beta testers like Kirito because of their advantage in the game. Of all the things that changed for these films, that name sure didn’t. However, credit to Kawahara and the team at A1 Pictures, they managed to replace it with something that is absolutely worse.
Kirito is referred to inSAOas the Black Swordsman, which always madeBerserkfans/SAOhaters very upset, and this film straight up has guild members call Kirito “Blackie.” The author of this review wants to make it clear that this review was written having watched the original Japanese version, so it’s not clear how the dub translated this but… curiosity abounds.
And honestly, that simply bizarre creative decision sums up how this film leaves the viewer: entertained but underwhelmed and maybe even off-put. They hadn’t called Kirito that name the entire film and then said it three times in the last 15 minutes.For a 10th-anniversary film,Scherzo of Deep Nightfeels disappointing but oddly symbolic of this franchise’s fluctuating quality.
For all the fun fights, great music, and general nostalgia,Sword Art Onlineremains quite messy. In the hands of the right directors, the series has the potential to overcome some of that messiness, but it’s never quite exceeded those low points. It’s a shame the anniversary couldn’t have been celebrated with a stronger film.
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