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Anime Review: ‘Sword Art Online II’ is an emotionally satisfying mystery thriller


Once the holy grail of the video game industry, super-realistic virtual reality gaming is increasingly becoming more attainable day by day. Like any other technological advancement, however, we tend to take the implications of its introduction into society for granted.
 
2012’s hugely successful anime, “Sword Art Online”, sought to explore the influence such a technology would have on human lives, from how cultures are born in the virtual world to how it changes us on an individual, psychological level.
 
The 14-episode first arc of this year’s “Sword Art Online II” continues its examination of a possible future when virtual reality existence has developed to be almost synonymous with real life. Only this time, it approaches the subject from a slightly different angle: how we use the technology to cope with trauma, and how painful experiences can control and change us – including the self we project in the game world – in ways we are rarely aware of.
 

 
 
Death in a virtual world
 
Kazuto Kirigaya, who previously ended the death trap that was Sword Art Online, is now living a normal life with fellow survivors and his love, Asuna. But in another virtual reality MMO called Gun Gale Online (GGO), a mysterious figure going by the name of Death Gun is murdering other players in the real world – by killing their avatars in-game.
 
The Ministry of Internal Affairs approaches Kazuto with the request to investigate the deaths. Though hesitant to leave his friends and once again risk his life, Kazuto eventually accepts the challenge, and enters GGO as Kirito.
 
Here he meets a sniper of exceptional skill calling herself Sinon, who unwittingly becomes his partner in his quest. And as our two heroes slowly unravel the secret behind the murders, they will realize how much in common they have with the silent evil lurking in the shadows of this suddenly dangerous make-believe realm.
 
 
 
Broken souls
 
The GGO arc of “Sword Art Online II” moves at a noticeably slower pace than its predecessors. While this might make less patient viewers antsy, the rest of us are rewarded with a tighter focus on its two main characters, making their friendship, individual struggles, and growth more layered and complex.
 
As GGO eschews swords-and-sorcery tropes for a post apocalyptic sci-fi setting in which the use of guns is the norm, Kirito finds himself out of his element in this new game. But wielding an unfamiliar weapon isn’t his biggest problem. The years he had spent playing virtual reality MMOs weren’t all good times – countless horrors were experienced, and many horrors were committed in turn. Thought buried under layers of forgetfulness, the past now returns as a vengeful spirit to haunt him anew.
 
Kirito isn’t alone, however. In Sinon, he discovers someone as tortured as he is.
 
Though at first she seems plucked straight out of a stable of bored-looking, emotionally withdrawn characters, Sinon develops into something far more interesting. Like Kirito, she has a past she can’t escape. This is thanks in part to the bullies hounding her, but mostly due to the intense, adverse psychoemotional reaction she has every time she sees a gun in the real world. Oddly enough, these symptoms vanish the moment she steps into GGO – convincing her that mastery of the game is somehow linked to defeating her crippling weakness.
 
Ultimately, “Sword Art Online II” is less of a story about how the hero trounces the bad guy, and more of how two lost and damaged souls help each other vanquish the invisible enemy within themselves. The show has to be commended for its portrayal of the psychological repercussions injurious and terrifying circumstances have on their victims. But “Sword Art Online II” takes things a step further by showing us how guilt, obsession, and other such issues tend to follow us wherever we go – whether we’re in the corporeal world, or a fabricated one.
 

 
 
Virtual reality and human existence
 
We all know how technology, no matter how initially foreign, can end up taking up residence in our lives to the point it becomes no different from putting on clothes. Kirito is a firm believer that there is no such thing as a virtual world, that virtual reality is simply an extension of human existence. “Sword Art Online II” is a reflection of this philosophy.
 
Sinon uses GGO as a means of coping, to project the facet of her true self that is unrestrained by the fears that shackle her in real life. A line is crossed when the game ceases to be a game, and becomes part of who you are, your avatar simply another version – usually the better one – of yourself.
 
But while potentially therapeutic, the technology also has a darker side. Those who abuse it to compensate for imagined deficiencies in the real world can become obsessed, even dangerous.
 
Perhaps this is what makes the villain of “Sword Art Online II” so terrifying – because he is basically a mirror of ourselves at our worst. We’ve all felt it, we’ve all been there; when technology gives us the freedom to act out our more sinister impulses, the results can be disastrous. Death Gun is a grim reminder of humanity’s potential for evil, and the role technology can play in our downfall.

 
 
Asuna, where are you?
 
Despite the effectiveness of the current arc, the problem I have with it, and the “Sword Art Online” series in general, is how it treats its female leads.
 
Asuna was such a formidable force in season 1, until she was relegated to the sexually exploitable, damsel-in-distress status that made its second arc nigh unwatchable. I’m sorry to disappoint Asuna fans out there, but this season she returns as background wallpaper.
 
If the prevailing pattern is any indication, Sinon will most likely end up like Asuna. Kirito seems to be the James Bond of the virtual MMO anime genre, with a new girl in his arms every arc to milk the show of all the teenage sexual tension it’s worth.
 
The embarrassingly tasteless fan service is also back, and this time they aren’t even trying to disguise them. We get an obligatory groin and cleavage shot whenever a pervert ogles Sinon, and there are a couple of weird occasions when the camera zooms in on female body parts for no other reason that to make postpubertal palms sweaty.
 
In a less offensive turn of events, Kirito’s avatar is now sporting extremely feminine looks, which should give all the pervs out there some rather awkward boners.
 
 
An emotionally satisfying mystery thriller
 
The GGO arc of “Sword Art Online II” isn’t perfect.
 
Kirito quickly overcomes the complications of gun usage by picking up a lightsaber. In a few episodes, he is back to his overpowered self, robbing some fight scenes of suspense. Some plot contrivances are too convenient, such as an in-game camera that can observe players up close but for some reason can’t transmit the sound of their voices to people viewing GGO from outside. And then, of course, there’s the shameless fan service.
 
Still, the good outweighs the bad. Excellent production values may make “Sword Art Online II” sheer eye candy, but what the show really excels at is building tension. Dangerous secrets aren’t introduced to us in one fell swoop, instead teasing us with morsels of the grander scheme, whetting our appetites for more. Before you know it, every encounter with the main villain feels like a high-stakes gamble with death.
 
More importantly, it is a tale about suffering and healing, and the role of technology in the existential concerns that have become part and parcel of life. It is for this reason that “Sword Art Online II” is not only an exciting and compelling mystery thriller to watch, but also an emotionally satisfying one. — TJD, GMA News
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