I run two SAO Weiß Schwarz (like Magic, but for anime) decks — a mono yellow "Asuna" deck and a mono blue "Everyone" deck. I do pretty good, but honestly I only run SAO because it's the anime I'm most familiar with, among Weiß decks, and my wife already got Attack on Titan. But I haven't seen SAO since it first came out in English. I've seen it once in Japanese and once in English. I see a lot of cards and I'm a bit hazy on who some of them are, so I'm watching again for a refresher. Thankfully, it's on Netflix, and in English.
This show gets a lot of flak from anime purists, but it's really a lot of fun. It seems to be based on or at least heavily influenced by an older series called .hack//SIGN, which featured a similar story and many similar themes and subplots. But it's also a huge improvement, in plot and pacing at least. In any case, I'm a big fan of the genre. Gaming, trapped in a strange world, fantasy adventure — SAO is a near-perfect mixture of genres.
As to the first episode, while it does beat around the bush and feel a little padded at times, the setup in the beginning, the art design... the first episode is a real joy to watch. The biggest issue I have is that Asuna is not in this episode, but I think I spotted Lisbeth in the crowd. Not sure, though. Fullmetal Alchemist seeded characters in the background who would appear later. May Chang, for example, appears before she's officially introduced, looking at a schedule in a train station as Ed and Al walk by, so it wouldn't be unprecedented. I had that scene in mind and was actively looking for the side characters; also Agil, Lisbeth, Sachi, and more.
Shout by ParkerVIP 2BlockedParent2024-06-07T01:34:28Z
i never got around to season 3 or 4 so i figured i'd watch the first two seasons again before watching through it.. this anime was the first anime i watched as an older person and i remember the grip it had on me at the time so it'll be interesting to experience this again years later as a grown person with more life experiences and such.