Best character in the middle.
DOWNLOAD HD: [UTWoots]_Sword_Art_Online_-_25_[720p][4337E8EE].mkv [DDL]
DOWNLOAD SD: [UTWoots]_Sword_Art_Online_-_25_[XviD][FB1DA2E0].avi [DDL]
Joint with GotWoot Fansubs.
The release of this episode concludes the SAO project! Over the past six months, we’ve followed the adventures of Kirito and Co. (or should I say Harem instead?) through two game worlds and four volumes of the LNs, and this is where we say goodbye to the series, right before Christmas.
My feelings towards this anime are mixed. I really did enjoy Volume 1 of the LNs and had high hopes for the series initially, but I can’t say I liked many of the directing decisions the studio made as the series progressed. In particular, all the sweet, little things that made Book 1 wonderfully romantic were left out. I never really liked the ALO arc either, but I suppose it makes sense to end it there.
Now that I’ve had my say, here are comments from the other staff!
kokujin-kun (Translator): A-1 Pictures, lrn2 English
Isakasan (Timer): I enjoyed it, aside from the action scenes it wasn’t too bad. The adaptation was done really well even if that meant making ALO so dull. Just like the novels! It was great working with UTW and the rest of the team regardless. Thanks to everyone for making this so enjoyable.
Justaway (Typesetter): Coming soon…
ar (Encoder, Backup Typesetter): Working on this show was a pain cause I didn’t enjoy it, but I had fun working with the guys none the less. Boobs would have made it better, but there wasn’t any so I rest my case.
Spoggerific (QC): Surprising how fast half a year passes. It’s a little cliche, but it seems like it was only yesterday when we started on the first episode. I liked the SAO arc a lot more than ALO, but at least that brought us Suguha, The Best Imouto. I hope there’s a second season just so ar has to work on this show some more.
thecowgoesmoo (QC): Thank you to everyone on staff for having enough patience to deal with my slow, obsessive self. I think SAO tried to do both too much and too little with the time it had, but in the end it turned out okay, right?
I handled the TLC, editing, QC, and anything that needed doing when people disappeared on me (such as timing and ad hoc typesetting. Shit sucked).
killazys, Sapphi, KmE, fgghjjkll, Bungles, msm595, and sangofe all helped out at some point or another… yeah, we had a lot of random fill-ins.
I think we’re doing the BDs, but they’re admittedly low priority. Don’t expect anything soon.
We hope you enjoyed the series and our work, and hope you’ll stick with us for future series! Thank you all for your continued support throughout!
Yay! first! finally will get to watch this soon as it downloads!!
Thank you to all staff that worked on this. It had it’s peaks and troughs but was a very entertaining show to watch through and through. I’m hoping for that S2 to wrap up all the novels and considering so much money has and will be made on this series I guess all we can do is wait and see. Thanks again!
Been waiting all day for this, doing an all day SAO marathon and I was almost up to 24 when I saw 25 up =D
Kitttaaaaaaaaa……..!!!!!!
Finally after 200+ refreshing my firefox…. XD
I can’t believe this is the end T-T. Thank you for all the hard work in giving us SAO UTW!!! 😀
So, the best character is Kirito? I can agree with that. That AI program is unnecessary.
Thanks so much for all your work guys!
Thank you for subbing this series!!!!
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Thanks for subbing this UTWoots!
10/10 would miss terribly until s2.
Was a meh show, good but not an epic. Would have preferred he dated some other girl in the harem, like wincest.
Can’t wait for S2, now! There better be an S2, at least…
called it way back on first the episode but I’ll repeat myself… Best show of the year! Thanks for your hard work
Thx PPL!
Thanks for your precious work, guys!
I’m so happy that the teams decided to exercise your tremendous talents on this show. It must have been a lot of work for you, but for me it was pure play, and I can barely express my deep appreciation and admiration.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Thanks for subbing this series. I agree that it probably tried to do too much, it felt rushed IMO. I don’t know if it would have turned out better if it ran longer, or if they would have started adding filler.
Thank you very much UTW to sub this to the end and in a very fast release manner, I could write a lot of pretty words to tell your group rocks but I will resume it.
UTW ROCKS ! Merry Xmas and a happy new year !
my hope are S2 released with Story GunGale online and Underworld if not wrong~~
please sub this anime again if it release!!
UTW subs are the best!
I don’t care if its true or not, please just say you’ll sub GGO + Alicization if/when it comes out!
Yui-chan is the best…..thank you so much for subbing this series. UTWoots ROCKS !!!
Yay! Thanks for subbing this guys!
and +1 to hoping for more season(s)!
I don’t have much to say, but to thank you really much, UTW & GotWoot. My two cents worth – I enjoyed SAO more than ALO, but I had a lot of fun with this show. Some things were annoying, but other ones were really enjoyable. Again, thank you very much for your splendid work, even though some of you did not enjoy it.
Last but not least – I wish you a great festive season and a happy new year!
Entertaining anime when taken at face-value, what I really despise is people/fanboys giving it merits in areas it doesn’t achieve, such as ‘smart’, ’emotional’ and ‘deep’.
SAO Arc: 2000+ people are killed in-game and die IRL, 300 people are still left in a comatose state. Yet ALO is allowed to operate given SAO’s catastrophic incident that would of left thousands of families and friends in grief and would of caused not just a national but international uproar with results in most likely a global ban of the NerveGear technology and so on and so forth. Just my 2cents.
End rant.
Thank you UTWoots for subbing this show!
Soa was much better than alo, but im sad to see this series go. Thanks guy for bringing us this great series its one of my favorites =)
Like everyone, I’d like to thank you for subbing this! I actually became a fan of it -because- you subbed it, so more thanks for that! Same with Chunni actually! So let me wish everyone a wonderful Christmas day and a kick ass awesome new year as ‘payment’ for your incredible dedication 😀
Thanks a lot for subbing this show UTWoots! Happy Holidays 🙂
You guys doing season 2, I assume?
Thank you so much UTW and GotWoot for subbing this show!
This is for me, the best show of the year and one of my top Anime’s of all time. The SAO Arc was mindblowingly good, and while I also feel the crammed too much in, instead of making 3+ seasons, I’m just hoping they continue it with GGO and more in the future, and hopefully you’ll do us the honour of subbing it once again.
Sad to see this show end, but hopefully it’s just the beginning.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and all the best for the New Year. 😀
(I wonder what Kirito said towards then end… )
Thanks for subbing this great show! happy holidays
Thanks! It’s funny, when reading the LNs, I preferred ALO over SAO, but in the anime I didn’t really like the ALO arc. Guess the fact that a fuck tonne was left out impacted how much I enjoyed it.
Thanks for all you hard work on the show 🙂
Why is Heathcliff doing a V sign???
Looking forward to the GGO arc, the ALO side arcs and the alicization Arc being animated.
Man, what a ride…Thank you very much!
Thanks for the hard work! It was a good show, but I had to suspend my disbelief too many times. On the other hand, what initially drew me to this was merely the promise of Yuki Kajiura’s music (which turned out okay but not as good as expected). Conclusion: good, but not “anime of the year” material.
@Oni
Well they allowed ALO to continue because they used amusphere. It’s a second generation device which is a lot safer than nervegear (without the microwave feature 😉 ). The incident only occurred because of the nervegear. Besides, all the hate was passed on to the nervegear and no one uses them anymore. Also, even if there is a hate for VRMMO technology, no one can actually stop gamers from actually playing them, not even their families. I would give everything just to experience it… lol. I agree about you with the fanboys though. Hate em’ except if they are teenagers. The have the right to be dumb lol jokes. I was one of them fanboys when I read the book, before the show started, only because I haven’t seen dothack series or anything similar so i thought it was genius. The series wasn’t that emotional (too cheesy or bland on some scenes) but the book is a bit better.
This was a good ride. Loved the SAO (even they cut a boatload of scenes) but a bit disappointed in ALO (anime). Though LN for ALO (Fairy dance) was one of my fave’s. Can’t wait to see GGO, CALIBER!!!! (TONKII), mother rosario, and Alicization! THANKS A BUNCH UTW for subbing the recently ended SAO and Chuuni! This is a wonderful advanced Christmas gift for everyone!!
Thank you very much!!!
Great Ride, I want to thank you guys for doing such a great series. I have a request, can you link us the pictures you use in the banner? =3
Hey guys! I made a simple latest release checker for checking fansub groups’ latest posts because I usually have like a billion tabs open to refresh pages seeing if there’s any updates. So I wrote a simple program to check Doki’s, UTW’s, FFF’s, Commie’s, GotWoot’s, Mazui’s, and gg’s sites easily. If anyone wants to take a look I would appreciate the feedback!
Here’s a screenie and download:
http://i46.tinypic.com/25a6vwp.png
http://www.mediafire.com/?pd2wry2j3p8fsqd
@Raze
Yeah, loli is the best. LoL
thank you so much for subbing this serie
well it was one of THE most anticipated series this year, a BIG THANKS to you guys at UTW and the guys from gotwoot for subbing this despite all the ups and downs.. prolly gonna look forward to the BDs for melon-chan’s sake since they cut out Asuna’s bathtub scene in SAO tsk… xD *fingers-crossed* for Sinononon and hopefully, you guys would still sub the upcoming SAO x Accel World crossover OVA next year.. 😀
Loved both SAO and ALO, however SAO had soo much more Feelz throughout the whole lineup. IMO the only thing ALO had going for it was the main eye candy Suguha/Lyfa, 2 decent fights, one at the town by the lake in a cave, and the other when trying to stop that ambush on the treaty, and that’s all really. Honestly for me…the only episodes that really meant anything were the ones where Asuna got some memorable screentime in mid, and then these last 2-3 episodes. Can’t wait for GGO, if/when it starts to be animated seems like it could have some awesome potential if they do it right and continue on their path as it is graphically.
Honestly i wouldn’t mind of it was slower..and they took their time getting the story out and get everything in there…but hey..i’ll take what i can get happily from them..since it’s cool.
And thanks for subbing UTW, gotta drop a line over at GotWoot for their awesomeness as well.
“Best character in the middle”
Ive been saying that ever since vol 2 was translated. VINDICATION!!
ahem, also great job everyone at UTW and GotWoot. When I heard this series would be a colab between my two favorite/most-competent translation groups I was stupidly happy. You all did not disappoint.
See you all in the inevitable S2 of both this and Accel World (Kawahara must be making BANK right now)
So question is it possible for a batch to be put together anytime soon.
Awesome job as always guys, thanks for working on it.
As someone who didn’t read the LNs, I loved this series. Maybe that puts me in the “ignorance is bliss” crowd, but I thought it was fantastic.
BTW, the image you guys used in the post? Wallpaper-size available somewhere by any chance?
Thank you for your brilliant top-notch translation and patience to stick with this series until the end ^_^
The Ending was appropriate, i guess. It was a fun series to watch and I enjoyed it very much.
A BIG THANKS goes to the UTW Staff for their excellent work and patience.
@Ashitaka
Nah the post image is from the TV broadcast. This is probably the best quality of it I could give you.
http://hcd-1.imgbox.com/acfwusYJ.png?st=TRTq3pAdSBs5EnI3iQE0yA&e=1356256623
Thank you very much for the series! You did an excellent job, as usual
GGO? Will it be the new season?
Thanks for great releases, i’ve really enjoyed following SAO with you! 🙂
I want to see ALO second season. And i wanna have them show GGO. Does it really end it for them like that?
@Ashitaka
http://img2.sankakustatic.com/wp-content/gallery/misc-ero-xvi/sao-25-finale-058_0.jpg
this should be good, right? :p
semi-trolling aside, here’s a tip.
copy the url of that picture above, then paste it in google image’s “search by photo” feature
anyway, the highest clean one I could find so far is this
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/475695_458248780900486_1752756835_o.jpg
I really will miss this. Every Sunday.
Thank you all for doing this project!! Really enjoyed your uploads, they are amazing. Thanks again and happy holidays!
Thank You for this release and i really enjoyed your works ^^
GJ and big thanks UTW.
Also to anyone who liked the anime but hasn’t read the LNs, read them (they are avaivable for free on baka-tsuki)! The anime adaptation simply doesn’t do justice to the LNs, they are waaaayyy better.
Thanks.
Although I’m sill in episode 17 or 19 it was enjoyable. As I thought, I liked Accel more, but the two series are a nice complement to each other in terms of virtual worlds.
Thanks for all your hard work!
As always, your subs made the show better in every meaning of the word. Thanks for your hard work, guys.
for the first time in a long time the ending on an anime didn’t piss me of in some way. im happy the way they ended it. im not really hoping for a season 2 because of what happened with darker then black and countless other anime over the last few year..
Any way thanks for the hard work.
Was there any mentions anywhere that S2 will happen at all ? Be it for SAO or AW or both ?
Season 2 please! And please, please do BD’s!
Many thanks for your hard work! You guys are awesome! I really enjoyed the show 🙂
Oh wow, it’s finally over. Thanks for sticking with this show until the end, guys. Many laughs were had.
Thank you so much for this series!! I’ve been a follower of your subs for years and y’all are still the BEST!!! Keep up the great work!
Thank you to UTW & Got Woots for the amazing subbing.
Was a nice and grandiose anime and I’ll be waiting for more.
Dunno why Kirito reseted his status. To have a challenge? Ah well, I guess it makes sense.
Yui-chan, best character +1. Blue haired Asuna kinda cute.
I’ll be waiting for those BD’s then! =D
what a shit ending, the whole scene in the air and dancing and everything should have been kirito’s and asuna’s, da fuck did they do with this? F****ing shit ending scene, F*** that incest shit
Thanks for all your work on this project – I really enjoyed the series!
Thank you!
Thank you for all the work.
Have to be honest that I was quite disappointed from Ep 14 onwards but the ending was quite fitting.
Cant wait for season 2 now. Lord only knows when that will be.
@ChronoBlue:
Basically speaking, it’s because in MMO games it’s lonely to be at the top. You want to be equal, or near equal, to your friends and not the strongest one out of them with a large difference in power (he already is the strongest, even with his stats reset, due to his skills and reaction speed, but that is his real strength in VR stuff and not just numbers).
Well, partially that – Kazuto wanted to reset his stats after finding out that they carried over like that since he didn’t want to cheat in MMO games but he didn’t do it because Yui assured him it won’t be detected and he really needed everything he had then because saving Asuna from “Oberon” was a timed mission.
@Huami:
I wish to inform you that you are a close-minded cretin if you see “incest” there.
Because there is no incest, there is just someone who is happy to be needed and celebrating it with someone they are close to, a member of their family. But no, some people have to see damn “incest” or “harem” everywhere for whatever effing reason.
Never had friends nor family to be able to compare, or something? Because it really appears as if that is the case if you are incapable of not seeing their relationship as a romantic one.
Thank you guys for subbing this each week and not dropping it even though it was simulcasted. Looking forward to your BD release. Volume 3 should be arriving somewhere around the 26th so I can upload it to you guys then.
Thanks for subbing this. I ended up watching it raw a couple of times, only to return to waiting for your version because the quality of the raws was kinda bad <_<
The show had it ups and downs, but it was good to see at least some scenes animated. I suggest anyone who liked the anime to read the novel, just to get all the nice bits they left out in the anime.
@Kazeto: WORD. Some people just can't imagine a relationship that doesn't involve sex, it seems.
@Soukyuu:
Yeah, I know. I think I just stopped perceiving that particular thing (sex, that is) as something “special” some time ago. Sort of got used to it just being part of our lives.
And really, I just had a bad day and he made me annoyed with his stupid quasi-fanaticism so I chewed him out, that’s all.
So when are you subbing the Sword Art Offline specials?
Thank you guys for subbing this anime, i tried to find it french but there wasn’t any fansub subbing this because it is licensed in France, so i had to watch it in english.
Thanks! Looking forward to the BD releases in the future!
I felt this episode lacked a small section dedicated to the ones who died in SAO and in them the ones Kirito had strong bonds with. In the end of this show we had a tad bit much Kirito/Asuna things going on and nothing for everyone else.
To be truthful, this show felt at times like a soap opera. There were good times and bad times, but life itself is like that. It is one of my favorite shows to date and probably will be for a long time. This season was great. Great job guys! Keep up the good work!
I enjoyed watching this show a lot. I have to point that out because usually I seem very negative even when I talk about my favorite shows. Case in point:
SAO – Derp so many adaption fails.
ALO – A-1 learned how to do it right. Meanwhile in the world of novels, Mr. Kawahara learned how to do it wrong.
I’m not sure if two 7/10 half-seasons is better than, like, 4/10 + 9/10.
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Enjoyed watching SAO with UTWoots. Moshi still MIA?
Could you give us a status report?
Thank you very much for your outstanding work: I kept (with great difficulty) the last four episodes aside, to enjoy the end without interruption, and I must say it was worth it!
So, now I’ll be really lonely without Asuna, Kirito and all the others characters! T_T
Anyway, I hope you’ll make another great work with the BD version… and I’ll look forward to S2!
Thx again and happy holydays!
Any updates on fate zero s2 blurays or madoka
@Kazeto: I have 5 sisters, a wife whom I’ve been married to for 5 years now with 2 very beautiful children aged 4 (boy) and girl (2). If you can’t already see all the subliminal sex in this anime, then that puts you at the very bottom when it comes to being an authority in this matter. It’s already clear who the market is for this anime with all the ass shots, boobs shots, waist, hip, all the f***in close ups you can imagine + an all female cast falling for our main protagonist who is technically your typical average joe that all the male viewers are meant to identify with. Seeing Sugu with Kirito being romantic disgusts me. Asuna Deserved to be in the last scene in place of Sugu. That is what makes this season ending total bull f**k. And you are riding it all the way cowboy
Thank you UTW for all the work put into this. Myself and others really appreciate your dedication. I’ll have to go back and watch something else you’ve done now I guess.
unlike most viewers, I can actually see things with depth, I can stomach an anime of this caliber sexualizing its women for revenue, but sexualizing your own flesh and blood? that just makes it dirty and cheap, for any of you viewers who don’t find this subliminal incest disgusting, or the least disturbing, then you are messed up sick in the head and probably deserve to die
Look, it’s a Christmas troll! How adorable.
@Huami: dude chill the fuck out, you are over ‘sexualizing’ everything.
Maybe you’re the sick fuck who deserves to die?
I’ve gotta say, based on how good the novels were (well, at least the first two, and I liked GGO though apparently no one else did), I’m definitely somewhat pissed that they had such a bad animation/production company in charge of this, especially with how pretty shows like Accel World and Psycho-Pass turned out. Oh well, hopefully the next few novels will be animated as well and then Accel World’s production company will get to be in charge of the Alicization arcs.
I’ve filed this anime in my “entertaining while it lasted but nothing memorable” category. Sometimes, you want good plot and deep character development. Other times, you just want to watch a dude flip out and beat the stuffing out of a bunch of asshats while a bunch of hot girls flash their curves. This is clearly a show for the latter cases and its serves its purpose as such.
i want to fuck cloë b4 she grows more 🙁
@Huami
..dude… if you really think that SAO is an anime that talk about incest, you’re “out like a balcony”! duh
I guess you must watch “Yosuga no Sora” and/or “Koi kaze”, and THEN we can talk again about it..
Said this, happy holydays @all! 🙂
You guys did an awesome work! Thank you so much for your efforts!!
I really enjoyed this series. I wish the did some things a somewhat different, but still great series. I thing the last thing I enjoyed this much was FMA:B.
Thank you all for the hard work and keep it up. 🙂
Happy holidays
Much love, thank you for your efforts UTW, and happy holidays! 🙂
As someone who haven’t read the novels and a huge fan of swords, the SAO arc was no doubt my favorite part of the show. ALO just wasn’t as interesting, rather than the more exploring theme of SAO it felt like we were just waiting for Kirito to reach the damn tree straight through. As for the ending, I was still hoping for a sudden ‘oh-shit’ event to pop up at the last second (Like with .hack//sign if my memory serves me right), albeit it may have been naive to expect anything more after ep 24. All in all, I greatly enjoyed my time spent watching SAO.
Again, thank you for being the best, UTW.
There’s no anime have all the good thing in their show, of course SAO is not exception. But they already made a good ending and I’m satisfied with it..
Thank you UTW & Got Woots for making us satisfied in every weekend..
P.S: I wanna see Asuna with her elf avatar more, that hair color is really beautiful..
Well done! Thank you for the consistently good work and timely releases. You have a very talented team here – I’m looking forward to your future efforts.
bob
Thanks UTW+GotWoot for subbing this fantastic anime, I hope you do the next season if ever. Asuna <3
@Huami:
Your problem here is that you are literally seeing “incest” where it is not. Yes, Suguha felt something towards Kazuto that she wasn’t able to clearly categorise – she literally didn’t know whether she is in love with him or merely likes him as her brother. But the point is, she tried to force it to be the latter, and she succeeded by making herself fall in love with Kirito, only to find out that Kirito is Kazuto. Which is why she broke and chewed out on him without meaning to.
And in the end, she managed to be a sister to Kazuto, and a friend to Kirito, no incest and no romance involved.
You might have experience when it comes to having a wife or having sisters, but it doesn’t make your words marking it as “incest” any less irrational.
As for it being harem, well, yes, there are many girls around him. But for something branded as a “harem” it really lacks “harem-like” development – out of all the girls only Asuna, Rika, and Keiko could count as being in his “harem”, and even then they aren’t trying to make him choose them all, they merely want him to choose them over Asuna (any one of them, that is), and they quickly become “just friends”.
While I feel that the ‘dance in the air’ scene should have been with Asuna (simply for the warm fuzzies), I’m not dissatisfied with the ending at all. Their dance felt kinda like Harry & Hermione’s in Deathly Hallows 1, IMO; it felt like their long-fractured relationship was fixed.
I’m not entirely certain about the identities of certain people at the Dicey Cafe, though. After re-watching it I realized two of them were Yoruko & Kains/Caynz, (whatever the official spelling for his name was in the show), and by process of elimination one had to be Yulier, but I still didn’t know who everyone was…
Thank you UT/Woots for another awesome season. Many of my friends switched to your version after expressing dissatisfaction with Crunchyroll (and especially Hadena, meh heh heh) because they realized yours was the best and most polished. You guys rock harder than Sex Bob-omb. Wait, that may not be such a good analogy,,, Okay, you guys rock harder than Scott THINKS Sex Bob-omb does.
Bravo, guys, Bravo.
Thank you guys for your hard work and dedication when it came to subbing this anime. My whole family looked forward to Sunday every week thanks to you!
The quality is amazing.
Would you be able to torrent out some AVI or MPG that are 720p that have the subtitles transcoded in? I converted them, but they become huge and the streaming over wireless is shoddy, so I have to put 1-2 episodes on a thumb drive per viewing (cuz I don’t have a big thumb drive).
Or… would anyone be able to point me to a better converter that will do this but keep the file size down?
So since most of your shows for this season are done now and all four nekomonogatari episodes are this Saturday, the 29th, I was wondering if we could expect anything on that front from you guys…
For all those complaining about the “air dancing” scene, I actually found it somewhat refreshing that they showed Kirito doing something nice for the other important woman in his life, rather than just ignoring her after he got his one twoo wuv back. It’s not as though the only options between a man and a woman are “whirlwind romance” or “stranger to be ignored”.
I hope there is a next season, but in the meantime gonna pick up the Light Novel (which I haven’t read yet >.<).
Okay… Instead of joining those ” OTHER ” rantings… Just wanna say this…
About that pic
Do they make it seem that Kirito and Lizbet are holding hands behind Asuna’s back…?
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/475695_458248780900486_1752756835_o.jpg
Seems like… Liz have her right-hand behind Asuna while Kirito’s left hand’s obstructed from view…
So like… Lyfa’s clinging to Kirito’s right-arm that’s holding unto Yui. And Asuna’s Laft-hand’s on Yui as well…
Then what’s Asuna’s right-hand holding…?
Could just be mine P~Brain’s messing with me…
And why’s Heathcliff doing a V – sign anyways…?
Thaanks for the release brw and a merry X-MAS to all‼
@LargeHard – I don’t know the whereabouts of the unseen hands, but for me the creepy part of that group picture is the ghost of Sachi. Brrrrr. I mean, Pina’s looking at her like, “so you came back from the dead too!”
@man00ver :
Oh right…! Pina was revived…!
Seriously… How come ingame Pets gets to have 3-days… While Players only get 10 secs ?
Why?? Y¿
So, does anyone know what the hell it was Kirito said (but that there was no audio for) right before the ending? The way Sugu and Asuna reacted it seemed significant…
@Ashandarei – according to the LN, he was whispering a name while looking downcast. No other clues there, but Kayaba’s would be my guess.
@LargeHard:
Pina is a in-game object/whatever so it can be recreated. It’s kind of hard to recreate a player after their brain was fried.
And if I were to guess, I’d say Heathcliff is doing a V sign because he has pretty much realised all of his goals – literally, it would not be a mistake to say that he is the one who won in the end.
Well, saw it through, but this was definitely Wasted Potential: The Series (the entire work that is, novels included not just this adaption). The anime would have had to have deviated significantly from the LNs to be good but unfortunately they made a reasonably faithful adaption so meh. While not truly terrible, it *could* have been so amazing that it ended up being more disappointing then something that no one expected anything from in the first place. Oh well. Maybe if they do more it’ll have more boobs.
@zanon:
People would be crying about wasted potential if they made it different, too. Nowadays the only way to make an original anime without people crying about something not getting adapted faithfully is to not use a source for it but to write the script yourself, and considering the trend in the past few years that ‘s getting less common because they don’t really have time for that.
And besides, for what it was, SAO anime was decent. Not “the best thing ever”, sure, but it definitely was enjoyable.
first thing’s first then…
*pauses*
no GunGale?
I love you.
Happy ending… I don’t know how they could follow that with a second series. Well if they followed the SAO guys again at least it would be ruining things.
Does the LN do this ending any different and continue on with Kirito’s story?
@Asdfjuma – The ALO ending is the same in the LN, and the next volume picks up from there. It’s not set in Alfheim or Aincrad, though there are references to gameplay progress there. There’s a new character, and some unfinished bad buisness is the plot driver. Great, edgy story coming next year, if we’re lucky.
@zanon:
Okay then, Mr. ‘wasted potential’, how would you have done it? You suggest that it “would have had to have deviated significantly from the LNs to be good but unfortunately they made a reasonably faithful adaption so meh”, so I ask you to define ‘meh’, then offer examples of how it could have been changed/improved. Also, plz leave suggestions like “more boobs” on the sixth-grade recess yard where they belong.
I am disappointed to have BDs just “low priority”. It would be nice to have them higher up.
As for me those Leafa/Leefa = Lyfa and Swilvane = Sylvain was kinda irritating.
Well, i should not complain to much. It was fun.
PS: In the beginning of GGO, is it saying that they completed NEW Aincrad? Just wanna know.
And i think he says “Sachi, do you see this” in this 25 episode.
@olexijl:
The new Aincrad is still being cleared when he plays GGO. It is progressing slowly because the floor bosses all got buffed (because the death penalty isn’t as bad in ALO).
Hi, I just want to say, AWSOME job on this!
Will there be a batch?
Thanks for subbing the series 😀
The “Sword Art” arc was, well, okay. It had it’s nice parts, but it suffered from many serius flaws and plotholes, some big enough to fit a Boeing 747, with ample space on both sides.
I found it a very stupid idea to put the side stories at the beginning, they didn’t fit in at all. They were done after the arc was already completed, and you were expected to know a lot of things abiout the series and the characters already. Watching them without any advance knowledge about the series, a lot of things didn’t make sense and went right over your head.
I enjoyed the Alfheim arc quite a lot more – even if had its flaws as well, but those were nowhere near as big. Optimally, they should’ve reduced the Sword Art arc to four episodes max., as some sort of introduction, then do the Alfheim arc as they did now, and then do another arc in the remaining episodes – as I’ve heard, there are still many more arcs. That would’ve been much better.
Alternatively, they should’ve at least cut out those stupid Sword Art side stories at the beginning and then devote more episodes to Alfheim.
thanks alot for your hard work and for releasing it on time it was very much appreciated
Will you guys release a batch for this? Thx 😀
Thanks for subbing SAO. It was enjoyable marathon watching it before the year ended. Cheers everyone!
BTW, who is that blonde at the bottom right of the pic?
@takuto06 – That little blondie with the whiskers is Argo the Rat, an information broker who’s uncharacteristically friendly with Kirito. She only appears briefly in the anime, when she gives Kirito the info about locating Nicholas the Renegade in the “Red-Nosed Reindeer” episode. She’s a slightly better-developed figure in the LNs and side-stories.
@man00ver
Thanks man. Just re-watched episode 3 to see.
Oberon is totally creeping on Sakuya in that picture.
Many thanks to UTWoots for their great fansub, the series certainly wasn’t perfect, but I genuinely enjoyed it and eagerly await Season 2. The art and story world are unforgettable, and the OST is most definitely worth listening even outside the anime. I absolutely love the premise of the story to death, and can only dream of one day playing something like the one that’s been illustrated. Unfortunately, right now, I’ll just have to make do with Guild Wars 2 :P. I liked the “SAO” arc much better than the “ALO” arc, but both weren’t without it’s faults. Here are the most major issues I had with ALO, a little “critique,” if you will. *I have never read the LNs.*
The relationship and one-sided romance between Suguha and Kazuto was, to be honest, quite shallow and never fully explained. The studio made it seem as if Suguha’s love for him was only to serve as the plot’s device for all the emotional turmoil and dramatic irony, making her character and motives seem flimsy and superficial. When Suguha confronted Kazuto and said, “You’re not my real brother,” did anyone else think to themselves, “Aren’t you two still cousins?” The series takes a very complex and powerful device, love, and tosses it around non-nonchalantly, as seen with Kazuto’s “harem.” In the realm of film, and more specifically so of course, anime, if used properly and within good taste, there certainly isn’t anything wrong with that, but it forces the viewer to only take the film at face value, and takes any possible depth behind it and torpedoes it further into the bottom of the ocean.
This brings me to my next point, the scene where Asuna is sexually assaulted. Rape, as a plot device, barring its possible contrivances of morals and sexism, is an effective way of triggering an emotional response and a sense of urgency in a given scene. However, leading up to this point, the entire series has been inhabiting the realm of superficiality, eliciting emotional responses from the viewer through means such as puppy love and the like. By using something like the notion of rape, suddenly the scene demands to taken seriously, and the identity of the series splits and becomes bi-polar. Even though, within the scene, it was used within context, it still felt out of place in the series as a whole. I guess all I’m saying is, if you’re going to use a device that is as powerful and controversial as rape, if would be best to have first established an identity that would have viewers take it more seriously.
Of course, this is simply my opinion on the matter, and I would definitely like to know what others think, particularly ones that have read the LNs. Did you find that the anime lived up the standards of the novel, and do you feel content with the way that the studio developed the story? Also, where can I find ebooks or downloadable versions of the LNs? Some of you guys make it sound so much better. Thanks! It’s been a good run :’).
@a Lilac: This is a bit of a late reply, but I thought it was still something worth going back to reply to. As a reader of the LNs, my opinion on the matter is that the anime was a better adaptation than I expected it to be, but there were still a lot of things that it could have done better. Honestly, I felt that the ALO arc was the weakest of them all in the LNs as well as in the anime, but on thing that stood out to me most as lacking in the anime is background knowledge. There was a lot that was shown in the anime that was never really given any real explanation (despite an explanation existing in the LN), which, along with the animation style in some cases, had a tendency to make things come across as significantly less serious or more over-the-top than they had in the LN.
The whole situation with Suguha is an example of this. As a whole, the ALO felt somewhat rushed even in the LN, but part of this was due to the fact that within the story itself Kirito was working under very tight time constraints, forcing him to simply rush ahead. This was only compounded in the anime, though, and a lot of things got rushed by without much in the way of explanation. While I won’t say it was handled perfectly in the LNs either, Suguha’s feelings were a bit more fleshed out, and while there was a bit of a feeling of the plot forcing it along, it was actually quite believable considering the fairly complex circumstances. Personally, I’ve never agreed with the idea of all the people crying incest at that, and there were those that did after only reading the LN as well (though I don’t remember seeing it nearly as much as I have from the anime).
In terms f the situation between Asuna and Sugou, I got the same sort of feeling from the LN as well, but again it wasn’t nearly as jarring as it felt in the anime. Part of this was simply my general dislike for Sugou. I feel that he was one of the main reasons that I didn’t like the ALO arc as much as the prior or latter books, he was just an entirely unlikable antagonist, and he was pretty much solely responsible for the driving force behind the entire arc. Kayaba Akihiko could be considered to be a much worse villain, considering the comparative severity of their crimes, but of the two Kayaba was by far more likable as a character, if not a person. Asside from that, while he was the mastermind, he was not directly the source of many of the conflicts in the SAO arc. To me, Sugou felt like someone pretending to be Kayaba and failing (which in a way, is what he was intended to be), but lacking any of the characteristics that made Kayaba likable as a character.
As for your last question (and to anyone else interested), I would highly recommend taking a look at the LNs assuming you haven’t already, especially if you liked the premise behind the story, as one thing the LNs do much better than the anime is fleshing out the world. You can find the translated volumes at baka-tsuki (http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Sword_Art_Online), and they currently have up to volume 10 and some side stories that weren’t published in a full volume completely translated, with 11 (the most recent) in progress. By comparison, the anime covers volumes 1-4, which is less than half the published material in the LNs, so they’re worth checking out for that reason as well if you liked the anime. I’m not going to say that the LNs don’t have their own flaws, as they do, but overall I greatly enjoyed reading them, and I believe that anyone else who likes the sort of story and setting it is would as well.
One thing to keep in mind while reading the first two volumes of the LN after watching the anime, however, is that SAO was originally written as a single, standalone LN (for a writing competition, if memory serves), which was later greatly expanded on by the author. Only around half of what was in the first arc of the anime is actually in volume one (which goes until the clearing of SAO), and many of the side characters (Lisbeth, Silica, and Yui being the most notable) were introduced in a series of side stories. Many of those side stories were collected into what was published as volume two, though there are others as well (they’ve pretty much all been collected and translated on baka-tsuki), so it may seem a bit out of order to someone who watched the anime before reading the LNs. from volume 3 on things are pretty much chronological, though there are a few times things go back to SAO.
i heard there might be a new season called gun gale online i hope what i heard is true i really wanna see a new season also i hope it’s as good as the first 1!
I have stumbled upon Sword Art Offline(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVdxAYGAaK8) in youtube.
Is there any chance these going to be subbed? seems interesting enough.
Pls do the BD’s too! T.T
CG’s version is an eyecancer, and they are using Evetaku’s subs, which is a pain in the butt. Doesnt even makes sence at many points.
Guh. I had a lot I wanted to say in renspose to your post but it all went out the window when I read the comments, so I’ll just cover the last part:I am interested in the interplay between moe archetypes and the genre as a whole. And I think it has implications for Kirino as a tsundere. Here’s the short version:Anime these days is painfully aware of the context in which it airs. Shows like Seitokaicho Yakudomo and Panty & Stocking indicate that the genre knows that characters and situations in each show reference and are in dialog with other shows that have aired recently or are airing at the same time. In this model, kirino’s behavior (while complex and nuanced as a regular younger sibling) still exhibits tendencies toward tsundere that the fanbase is EXPECTED to notice (her condescending date invitation during Xmas shopping, the tendency to physically abuse Kyousuke, the constant protesting). While she might not reach full-on denial and therefore fail as a tsundere character in the strictest sense, it’s clear that she’s in a tsundereque category.And I wonder if these characters are actually tsundere in dialog with other shows. Another example would be Azu-nyan, who is definitely NOT, but given the array of moe characters hanging around her, to claim that she is MEANT to be perceived as such. I feel this holds double-true for a show like OreImo where the otaku culture is front-and center. Since the whole thing has got eroge undertones (thanks to Kyosuke’s impressionable nature), I would argue that Kirino is intended to be seen (and played) as if she WERE tsundere. At least that’s how I feel Keima would approach her.
I just saw 18.Any delay will cost him time and he has two problems to solve where time is crictial.One is personal, one is global.This is interesting in that even though he’s not gonna die if killed in the game the stakes are arguably higher than they were earlier.
Mark i wanna buy a cam. m confused bteeewn d following two1.sony dsc-hx100v2.canon eos 1100dcan u plz plz help me choose? i wanna buy one asap.. thank you. btw digital photography 1 on 1 helped me learn alot ..thank u.
You’re on top of the game. Thanks for sharing.