SWORD ART ONLINE
Sword Art Online is a fairly new anime, adapted from a light novel, that was released over the summer. It is currently ongoing with 14 episodes already released (As of this post). Something around 25 episodes were planned for the first season. New episodes are out on Saturdays.
Short Summary:
New technology called "Nerve Gear" introduces a virtual reality Helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain. Players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds. A new popular game comes out called "Sword Art Online" that offers a virtual MMO to the world. Upon joining the game, the players soon realize they cannot log out or exit the game.
"The only way to escape is to 'clear' the game. Death in game means actual 'death' ---- The ten thousand who have logged onto the as of yet mysterious game 'Sword Art Online' using their Nerve Gear have been forced into this perilous death game and are trapped inside. Protagonist Kirito, one of the many gamers, has greeted this 'truth'. He plays as a solo player in the giant castle that is the stage for this game ---- 'Aincrad'. To meet the conditions of clearing the game and leaving this twisted virtual world, he must get through all 100 floors. Will Kirito have what it takes to clear the game, or will he die trying? "
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Virtual Reality, Romance
Personal Opinion
Now before you shoot it off as the stereotypical fantasy or .hack counterpart, the anime quite realistically touches base on the human morals and confrontations when thrown into a game of life and death. Relative MMO/RPG elements + dialogue such as partying, inventories, guilds, health, etc shows up in the series that many of you can relate. It's a different flavor and a new take on the whole fantasy gaming world genre. It is also a good investment to watch since the story is still being planned for a second season beyond the game itself. Being an MMO gamer myself, I was able to relate to alot of things going on and I found this anime pretty enjoyable so far. The feels later on..
So at least give the first episode a try to see if it starts to suit your tastes. In the meantime, here is a trailer.
Discussion is welcome but please keep any spoilers in spoiler tags.
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