#everything wrong with sao

[everythingwrongwithsao]

EWWSAO Update

Yo it’s been 3 years since I shut down this blog. I haven’t visited it in almost 24 months, so it was a surprise to me how much endearing messages there are in the inbox. Some backlash, as expected, but mostly just nice comments from people who’ve discovered the blog while I’ve been away and enjoyed that their distaste for SAO is being validated.

So thanks for the nice words guys!

But now, there are some things I myself have to say. This not just for approving readers but also for the SAO fanatics who threw harsh criticism at this blog back when it was active.

Honesty below the cut.

Behind the curtains of EWWSAO You haters were right: Writing so much spiteful criticism every day and fighting with SAO fans was draining the life out of me. However, you lacked sympathy for me and what I was saying simply because I was saying bad things about a show you liked. It was a two-sided train wreck. You thought I was stupid and evil. I thought you were naive and blind. It was not a fruitful platform for anybody. But maybe we can understand each other better in hindsight. See, I DID really love writing criticism. I DID really enjoy posting and arguing. I never lied about that. In the middle of a harsh breakup with a lifelong friend, struggles in my long distance relationship and difficulties in finding treatment for my mental illness EWWSAO gave me something to focus my attention to. You could say this blog was my coping mechanism. Not a good one, not a healthy one, but something to pour my brain energy into. And because I never looked up anyone else’s comments on the show it felt like my criticism was important. It felt like I was important. And I got to drag on a show that my nasty friend liked. That’s what kept me going. I have not been the same after I quit - this blog changed me That might sound a bit too extra, but I’m not kidding. Before and during the runtime of EWWSAO critical view and analysis was what I lived for. I could watch a bad movie with a friend and go on for hours about its pros and cons, loving every moment of fruitful discussion. But after running this blog stopped serving the purpose my mind had given to it (aka. after I found out many other people have worded the problems with SAO more thoroughly than me AND without referencing the despicable dumpster fire that is CinemaSins) it drained me out so quick I had to quit it. It was a very good decision. I wanted to have some time off to get my critic energy back. But... it never returned.

To this day I have not recovered the bottomless analytical energy I had when I started this blog. It drove me crazy. “What is wrong with me? Why am I worse than what I used to be?” I looked back at this blog as a personal failure - something I left unfinished and didn’t succeed with - and as an enemy that stole part of my personality and never returned it. That’s why I tried coming back a time or two, but my inner workings had changed - I couldn’t. My understanding grew over time. Now I can see that my spirit breaking down wasn’t because of the blog, or SAO, or the hate, but because my critical energy was coming from a place of entitlement. “I am better, therefore it is my divine responsibility to point out the flaws others can’t see”, was perhaps not my exact thought process but on some level I felt like my criticism was needed. My life crumbling around me forced me to look at the errors in my logic. If I was so miserable, how could I be better than other people? If many others have pointed out the same things, why would my analysis be needed? The inner conflict forced me to change as a person. Painfully, but for the better.

Three years later Funnily enough, despite everything I still don’t feel any different about the things I’ve said on this blog. Kirito is still the worst, the abhorrent romance plot screams of Kawahara’s immaturity and the game mechanics make no sense. But these days I really don’t give a damn whether people see that or not, as long as they don’t hype the show in my face. SAO has become an ironic meme and I wouldn’t want it any other way. As what comes to my personal life, the friend that started all this by hyping this show was out of my life for a solid year before returning with apologies and a new start. I’ve built a whole new set of friends around the local video game community and we’ve started organizing events in several conventions. Building a growing following there. I’ve also put my graphic design skills into better use than taking screenshots of a bad anime in the form of doing posters for the community, heh.

What now? Will I be coming back? No, it’s obvious at this point. Will I delete this blog? No, as I still agree with most of its content and I want to preserve it as a record of this dramatic piece of my personal history. The messages from the past two years also confirm that there is enjoyment to be found in it for other people, so I’ll leave it here for them. Have I seen the SAO movie? No, but I saw the video Mother’s Basement made on it. That’s about all the time I want to invest on the matter.

I... somewhat want to know if the people who dragged me into furious arguments have changed over these years too. I’m eager to meet my old enemies and shake hands on the fact that whatever we raged war on is in the past now. I want to move on. But if you don’t share that concept with me it’s fine too, I won’t be checking in on anyone over this. I just want to say I don’t hold any grudges. (except against the person who said SAO can’t be criticized because it’s art. your soul will burn in the deepest parts of hell for the sins you have committed against this world)

See you. Be well. And don’t watch CinemaSins.

[charlierejouis]

I don’t know about EWW SAO closing. I actually agreed with some of what  said on the blog and I think that the reasoning for closing it makes sense.

[everythingwrongwithsao]

Against my previous promises EverythingWrongWithSAO will not make any new posts.

Why, you ask? It is not because I would have admitted defeat. It is not because SAO fans would have convinced me there is nothing wrong with the show. As a matter of fact it's the very opposite: I have become a SAO hater.

When I started this blog I did not like SAO. It was (and is) a bad show. The characters are bad, the story is bad, and having good animation and soundtrack with decent gimmick just doesn't cut it. Before I wanted to reason it and I felt the need to bring these issues to light in an objective manner. And I still do, but over this time I have become more and more convinced of how - and these are my own words now - idiotically shitty Sword Art Online is. The heart-eyed fans are a disgusting contradiction to how bad the series is. Not just the show, but the entire franchise. It has become complete trash in my eyes and I think only a complete fool could claim otherwise. And a biased view like that is not good for this blog. EWWSAO will never become a hate blog even if I become a hater, and I rather stop having it than turn it into something ugly. If I someday can look at this garbage with more tolerance in my mind I might bring EWWSAO back to life, but for now this blog is dead.

I apologize to all of my followers for this. I apologize to everyone who have been anxiously waiting for more content. I am ashamed of having to do it like this, but it is the only way to keep EWWSAO as what it was intended - objective criticism blog.

Below the cut there is a list of posts I had planned. Smaller ones I did not include but the main points are there. If you want to write a submission about any of the issues, feel free to send it! I will check this blog to answer to questions and post submissions if those are to come.

Yet again, apologies.

Planned issues:

► A special post reasoning why Kirito falls into the category of a Mary Sue with an explanation of the trope as well as links to vaster sources (Mary Sue and Common Mary Sue Traits) ► Another special post about SAO villains, why their motives are extremely poorly planned out, why none of them is well written and how they all fall into different stereotypes. Also an explanation on why villain is as important as the main hero and hence its writing should be focused on equal amount. Kayaba and Death Gun might have gotten their own separate posts. ► A third special about supporting characters - Asuna, Suguha, Klein, Silica, Liz, Agil and partly Sinon. The post would have explained why these characters are not realistic or believable and the word "supporting" matches them well because they exist only to help Kirito along. ► A post about why Kirito and Asuna's love story is unrealistic and weak ► A post about SAO confusing real world and game world - not just the characters but the show itself not knowing the difference between real and virtual and why that is a real issue ► A post about Cardinal as a system and why it would be possible for new quests to be generated to ALO without human intervention ► A post criticising the antagonising that takes place in the show. (The Army, Salamanders in ALO and Sigurd were all unnecessarily turned into villains despite them being just people playing games) Alternatively this and the villain post would have been a bigger entirety, handling the issue of SAO’s cheap morality and unhealthy representation of good and evil. ► A post pointing out how out of place Kirito's "trauma" was in GGO plotline and another about how it was written in ► Another post about Kirito's morale in general and its inconsistency throughout the show ► A post about Yuuki, the nonsense of her illness and timeline ► Few posts about Yui - again ► Several posts handling the plot convenience of GGO's worldbuilding and how it contradicts with its own reality ► Several posts pointing out small plot convenient inconsistencies in the game world (potions, NPCs, dual wielding, pain and other senses etc.) ► Many, many posts about Kirito being an unique little snowflake - all of which would have been linked to the Mary Sue post as reference ► At least 5 more fanservice posts including a post about Kirito's avatar in GGO

[everythingwrongwithsao]

162: Kirito's ability to dodge and counter bullets was the only reason he was capable of using a sword as his main weapon against gun-users in GGO, but those abilities are simply given to him. He didn't earn them through rasonable ways - practice and learning. He is good with the sword thanks to SAO and his high reaction speed can be an excuse for him to be able to deflect bullets, but he had never had to avoid getting hit by machine gun shots (and do backflips while at it) yet he does it like a professional in his first battle against another player. Kirito being in SAO for two years is not a good excuse for acrobatic skills, because he never needed them back then. Claiming it is would be like saying everyone should be instantly good at driving a car if they’re experienced in cycling.

Kirito is also said to be the first player to be able to use the sword so effectively, because he is the first player to predict there people are about to shoot instead of simply looking at the prediction lines, while player like Pale Rider simply rely on their agility. Considering that GGO is extremely competitive game and predicting gunshots is basics in FPS’s of today as well it’s utter nonsense that his dodging and prediction skills would be on such unique level.

[everythingwrongwithsao]

161: “When have I ever touched you when you didn’t want me to, Titania?” *proceeds to grab her almost instantly after* (Trope: I Have You Now, My Pretty)

There are three purposes for scenes like this in the show: 1) To make the viewers hate the villain, 2) to give sense of urgency, and 3) fanservice. Since SAO is not directed at adults but more likely people of Kirito’s age (14-16) and younger, this kind of adult content in the show doesn’t only make the viewers hate Sugou as a character, but the writers and animators for forcing people to watch this. A 14-year-old is not going to find this kind of material sexually interesting - it’s simply gross. And the sense of urgency could have been kept alive with other ways too, if only Kirito wasn’t killing it constantly by getting sidetracked from rescuing Asuna.

This scene and many others where the viewers are forced to watch Sugou grope Asuna and her hair, lick her face and talk to her of the most indecent things should not have been in the anime. Sugou’s perversion could have been handled in a different way.

[everythingwrongwithsao]

160: Kikuoka was the one looking into the murders Death Gun had committed, but it made no sense that he asked help from Kirito. Not only had Kirito not played shooter games before and GGO was full of extremely competitive players, but asking a non-involved civilian to be a part of a murder-related investigation - friend of his or not - was not an acceptable thing to do. Since Kikuoka was willing to pay for the job, he could have hired a professional instead.

[everythingwrongwithsao]

159: The whole conspiracy plotline in ALO was silly and unnecessary. The Salamanders and Sylphs planning to attack Sylph leaders to prevent their alliance with Cait Sith, Salamanders gaining portion of the territory's money and possibility to attack their towns for ten days - it's all just gameplay. No one is really in danger and Sylph players could just play with their alts for that ten days (or not play at all) if losing money and getting attacked was such a huge deal for them. The point is, compared to Kirito trying to save Asuna from an abusive man and arranged marriage was far more important and in comparison to that some squabbles between players meant nothing, yet they still wasted a lot of screentime on the conspiracy plotline and an entire episode was dedicated to Kirito fighting one of the Salamander players and preventing the "war". It's just a game.

What's even more bizarre about it is that at the end of S1E19 Kirito was going with Leafa only because they both happened to be going the same way out of the cave, Leafa even pointing out the whole squabble is Sylph business. However when episode 20 begins, he is teamed up with Leafa to fight the Salamanders. In between episodes the writers forgot the character's motives and the transition was extremely sloppy. The whole episode was just there for extra pats on the back for Kirito, getting him fight the strongest player in ALO and win for no reason and having some meaningless secondary female characters squeal over him for no reason.

As pointed out before, even though plotwise the meaning of that episode was to get Kirito allies that would help him beat the World Tree, their part was so poorly written the show would have been better off without them.

[everythingwrongwithsao]

158: Fanservice. There was no other reason to show Asuna bathing naked.