198. Sword Art Online The Movie: Progressive Scherzo Of Deep Night; movie review

 

SWORD ART ONLINE THE MOVIE: PROGRESSIVE SCHERZO OF DEEP NIGHT

Cert 12A

101 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate threat, fantasy violence, brief sexual threat

I rarely read film reviews before writing my own but I felt compelled to after watching Sword Art Online The Movie: Progressive Sherzo Of Deep Night.

This is way out of my comfort zone, not being familiar with the source material from either the original stories or the anime series which have followed.

Interestingly, reaction to Ayako Kōno's film has been lukewarm with complaints that it didn't take the story on enough from Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night.

But, despite not having seen the previous film or knowing the characters, I found myself surprisingly engaged.

Others will able to describe the intricacy of the plot better than me but essentially it involves two young pals (voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Haruka Tomatsu).

They have both won on the 4th floor of a computer-style game which they play/fight in person.

So, they have to prepare themselves for a fifth floor and competing against two powerful guilds and some very fierce competitors.

And this is a film in which monsters have to be defeated, so they need to create a team to win the day and the consequent action is full-on.

The element I find a bit odd is the movie's sauciness.

Yep, the girls all have incredibly short skirts and there is even a scene in which two of them are naked and then put on some flimsy gear for a mock fight.

This seems startlingly out of place to me.

But what do I know? As said, this is not my specialist field although I quite enjoy the occasional diversion of an anime and, overall, I found this watchable if not riveting.

Reasons to watch: Plenty of action and pathos

Reasons to avoid: If you are synched into the series

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6/10

 

Did you know? Sword Art Online was first written for a novel competition called the ASCII Media Works Dengeki Game Novel Prize in 2001. 

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