Sword Art Online First Impressions--Let the Game Begin

Regardless of where Sword Art Online goes from here, that was a fantastic first episode.

 
After seeing Accel World, which has been steadily improving since its premiere but is still only "okay," I toned down my expectations for Sword Art Online. The premise still sounded interesting, and since I've never seen any part of the .Hack franchise, I had nothing to compare it to. For me, the make or break moment would be how the show executed its premise in the first episode, and it did so with flying colors.

 
I am not an avid MMO player (I prefer one-player RPGs and JRPGs), but I am aware of the little details and strategies that gamers have to employ to succeed in this genre of gaming. That same attention to detail with the game was one of the initial things that impressed me about Sword Art Online, with the conversation about beta releases and dungeon runs as well as the more experienced player taking the newbie out to fight some level 1 boars. At the end of the episode, the main character rightfully assumes that the starting town will soon be at a loss for experience points, which are finite, and chooses to move on. There was an emphasis on the world rather than the characters which I think was a good choice, since despite the futuristic bent, it's completely believable and relatable to gaming in the present day.

 
It gets even more interesting when the plot shows up and the players are forced to reveal their true faces. This scene was hilarious in how true to life it was; some people, like the main character, chose avatars that were idealized versions of themselves while others completely changed their gender or age ("You're not a girl!" "You're not seventeen!"). With their avatars taken away from them as well as the reveal that people have already died, the relatability gives the premise extra weight. Instead of "play this game or die," it seems more like the show is asking the question, "If an MMO player were forced to survive in their game world...could they?"

 
Of course, a lot of this is helped along by the art style, which also surpasses it's brother Accel World. The game world is beautiful, and what little we see of the real world is mostly in shades of gray. It's easy to see why people would chose to escape from one to the other, which seems to be the case for our protagonist. While all the subtle world-building and fantastic animation sells me on this series, I think that any further success is going to ride on how Sword Art Online plays it's characters. While the hints throughout this episode were enough to get a basic idea of Kirito, I don't know if something that sparse can carry through the whole show. Regardless, the bar has been set pretty high and I'd love to see this show continue to meet it.

Images from Crunchyroll.com. Part of OASG's Summer Evaluation.