What is Sword Art Online?
Here's the easiest way to explain it - it's basically The Matrix meets World of Warcraft, with a little bit of Kill Bill thrown in for good measure.
But even more importantly, Sword Art Online is the best anime you're not watching (unless you ARE watching it, in which case, YOU ALREADY KNOW AND LET'S TALK ABOUT IT).
Yeah, but what IS it?
Based on a popular light novel series by Reki Kawahara, Sword Art Online takes place in the near-future of 2022, where virtual reality videogames have progressed to the point of being nearly indistinguishable from reality. The first major release is - you guessed it - Sword Art Online, a virtual reality MMORPG that requires the use of special equipment called 'Nerve Gear' (which simulates all five senses IN THE VIDEOGAME - think the Oculus Rift except seriously upgraded).
The main character of the show is Kazuto, (but his in-game avatar is named 'Kirito') who's one of the first players to log in to Sword Art Online. Once he and the rest of the initial players have logged in, they quickly discover there's no way to log out. The only way out - as explained by SAO creator Akihiko Kayaba - is to reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the end-game boss. Also, if you die in the game, you die in real life. Then begins the characters' two year journey, filled with love, heartache, and insane animated videogame battlin' madness. Luckily, Kirito meets with a fellow player named Asuna, and the two partner up and fall in love.
The cool thing is that the game world functions just like a normal MMORPG - with raids, guilds, quests, shops, and everything else you'd expect to find in a game, with the slight issue that it's all real and everything has actual consequences. It's every kid's dream - to be able to live inside a videogame - completely flipped on its head.
Oh wow - that all sounds cool, but isn't there a bunch to catch up on?
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The current run of Sword Art Online can be broken down into 3 parts, across over 35 episodes. But don't worry - we can simplify it for you.
Part 1 - Sword Art Online
Although the series is called Sword Art Online, the titular game only encompasses the first arc of the show. Kirito, Asuna, and the rest of the players find themselves trapped in the world of SAO, which puts them in an enormous floating tower known as Aincrad, with the instruction to get to the top floor and defeat the endgame boss, or die within the game. There are swords, twists, unexpected alliances, unexpected betrayals, and...more swords. So many swords, guys.
Part 2 - ALFheim Online
After getting out of SAO, Kirito finds that a few hundred players, including Asuna, are now trapped in ANOTHER virtual reality game, this one called ALFheim Online (and fairy-themed). Kirito jumps into the game to find out what's happened and rescue Asuna and the rest - where he loses the advantages he had in SAO. There, he'd been a beta tester and the greatest player ever. Here, he's a complete newbie, with no knowledge of the game or skills to speak of. Still, Kirito is able to traverse through the new game and find the person responsible for ALO - Nobuyuki Sugō, an employee of Asuna's father, who aimed to take over the company by making Asuna his wife in the real world.
The world of ALO brings a lot of new flavor to the series, and serves as a mission statement: this is not a show that will rest on its laurels - it will change the status quo and throw tons of new settings and characters into the mix to keep things fresh. Also? Even more sword fights.
Part 3 - Gun Gale Online
The Gun Gale Online arc opens Sword Art Online II - now that Kazuto has escaped both SAO and ALO, he's something of a legend. When a new virtual reality MMORPG takes Japan by storm, something strange happens - a series of mysterious deaths occurring in the real world that may be connected to the game. The government asks Kazuto to become Kirito again and find out what's happening. Teaming up with a sniper called Sinon, he enters the game and becomes Kirito once again - only this time, his avatar is female.
This story is still ongoing, so you should probably get watching if you want to know how it ends (hint: it's gonna be good).
I seriously don't have enough time and/or patience to watch THAT many episodes. Isn't there another option?
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You know what? There is.
If you really want to skip the first season and jump right into Sword Art Online II, there's a 2-hourlong special episode called Sword Art Online: Extra Edition. It recaps the major events of the first season, reintroduces all of the major characters, and even adds a few things (so it works as a nice refresher for those who HAVE seen the first season). Still, we recommend you just watch that first season - it's only 35 episodes at around 24 minutes each. That's about 15 hours - you could easily watch that in a single weekend (and you'll be glad you did).
