review - Sword Art Online - Ordinal Scale

Technical sheet :

Other titles 劇場版 ソ ン ン ン ン ン ル ル ル ル ル ル ル ル ル ル -
film Format
Studio A-1
Genre Science Fiction / Martial arts / Romance / Fantasy
period 2017
Duration: 119 min
Global interest help heart1.gif
Staff Author: Reki Kawahara
Directed by: Tomohiko Ito
Screenplay: Reki Kawahara, Tomohiko Ito
Character design: Shingo Adachi
Art Direction: Takayuki Nagashima
Music: Yuki Kajiura
Character original design: abec
Direction of animation: Shingo Adachi

summary :

After the fashion of virtual worlds, augmented reality has taken over with portable equipment that is lighter and less intrusive than headphones. The concept goes far beyond the field of games and has concrete applications in everyday life with the involvement of many sponsors who use this new channel for their marketing campaigns. Kazuto Kirigaya, alias Kirito, is not particularly interested but his girlfriend Asuna Yûki and his other acquaintances have gotten into the game with a practical aspect such as winning coupons by winning a game with this new system.

In parallel to the tool for daily life, Ordinal Scale has established itself as a life-size game where Tokyo areas are transformed into combat areas for registered users with their reality device increased. Its success is well orchestrated with the appearance of a virtual idol, Yûna, with its batch of successful songs, a part of mystery about its true nature and a great concert to come. Keiko Ayano (Silica), Rika Shinozaki (Lisbeth) and Ryôtarô Tsuboi (Klein) are totally fans and they are not the only ones.

Ryôtarô Tsuboi is at ease in Ordinal Scale with his group that speaks the experience gained during their captivity in Sword Art Online. Again, Kazuto is rather indifferent to this new game and remains faithful to his habits of diving into the virtual worlds to chat with his friends. He nevertheless tends an attentive ear when he learns that the monsters in Ordinal Scale are the same when in Sword Art Online. With Asuna accompanying him to motivate him, he finally decides to participate in one of these parties in the city and he actually recognizes a boss of Sword Art Online.

If weapons, armor and monsters are also virtual in augmented reality, you still have to move and jump with your real body, which is less easy than in a total virtual mode where the laws of physics do not really matter . Although Kazuto knows the tactics to overcome the boss, he does not have the physique to fight in truth, unlike his companions already accustomed to the game.

Apart from the appearance of the former monsters of Sword Art Online, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary in Ordinal Scale, but other indications and events are gradually leading to the opposite.

Comment :

Two series have already been produced from the novels of Sword Art Online, themselves consisting of several arcs that happen in several virtual worlds, with a multitude of characters who have either joined the sphere of close friends of two heroes Asuna and Kazuto, or were simply crossed and forgotten. After the second series, it took two years to produce a fairly ambitious film, which lasts two hours and is in continuity.

The relevant approach was to opt for augmented reality by contrasting it with virtual worlds. The concept is approached from various angles, with its practical aspect more than its playful side or the fall in popularity and frequentation of the Alfheim Online or Gun Gale Online worlds, which were the attractions in the arcs of both series. Kazuto had an all-powerful warrior position where he was going, only blocked by the masters of the game and it is not unpleasant to see him return to his fundamentals and another type of challenge.

Like many feature films that arrive after the series, the Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale film takes care of the fans. This involves a few bare Asuna plans and Yûna's repertoire of songs for the sale of a new album, as well as the need to show as many characters as possible in the script. This brings with it a few strong images but also a feeling of clutter and dispersion by dint of overdoing it. As a result, it is impossible to give a time of appearance and the same degree of involvement to everyone. Otherwise, there is a fairly adequate place and Silica and Lisbeth have almost more important roles than expected, while Suguha Kirigaya (Leafa) is particularly set back and it is a pity because among the "nice" is the protagonist The most able to fight in truth as an assiduous practitioner of kendo. Other stories in the story are also overflown: A problem is solved but without really seeing that the spectator realizes that there was really a before, except for a few remarks about it here and there.

The other disadvantage of having a crowd of actors is that you have no benchmarks when you do not know who is who, or if you have just forgotten which character has such an avatar in a virtual world. This is a bit confusing and someone who is unaware of the previous series must miss several details, such as the nature of contacts that Kazuto is calling for to advance in his investigation, or such as the characters that arise from beyond falls. The few pseudo scientific divagations must also be more complicated to assimilate, when you ignore everything from Sword Art Online.

For the need of history, new protagonists appear, but here too, their motivations have gone a little quickly, the feature-length feature of action scenes. They might have deserved a little more attention and more subtle portraits, rather than retaining only their attitudes of mad blinded, ready to do anything. Same remark for Yûna who has his share of secret but whose portrait is short and insufficient whereas it is a character who could have become more endearing ecnore.

On the other hand, we find a much more charismatic Asuna than in her role as princess to save or reduced to compassion. She finally regains her stature as a combatant through this film, although she always has a moment when she poses as a victim. The journey is a little boat but at least it is moving in the right direction. Similarly, his relationship with Kazuto also evolves in a velvety pace, but their attitude is far less platonic than what we have used all episodes after the first arc of Sword Art Online and they appear almost like a usual couple of high school students who Think more and more seriously about their future together.

Action scenes have an important part when you accumulate their time, without limiting the plot to a succession of fights. The staging is very effective with a beautiful mix of colors and beautiful movements. These moments offer a very nice effect on the visual level and they punctuate the history in parallel of the investigation mainly conducted by Kazuto which adopts a approach closer to police investigations.

In conclusion, one should not seek a very great originality in Sword Art Online Ordinal Scale and the scenario is a melting pot of classical elements, but balanced between scenes fighting, moments of reflection and romantic tables that make wealth Of this film, which will leave at least its mark via its final fireworks, even if you are not totally convinced by the scenario and its characters.

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