sword art online, volume four: phantom bullet (my thoughts/review/summary
to give a disclaimer, i have some knowledge of the novels however this is my first time fully reading them!! iām very excited to read all of them and i would prefer to avoid any spoilers for anything after alicization!
under the cut!
first of all my favourite part of this volume was kazuto and his fucking cake. heās so petty about it for no reason i love him so much
i jest, i jest
my genuine favourite part of this chapter was kiritoās panic attack. it was really well written and more than anything i wanted to hug him and tell him heād be okay. thatās my favourite thing about this arc, kirito and sinonās ptsd and bonding through similar experiences with trauma.
i canāt put the whole scene in because of image limit, but this is a very small moment from it - iāve been there buddy, itās gonna get better
would you believe i used to hate this arc? itās one of my favourites now, if not my favourite, and this volume definitely helped.
kirito and sinonās relationship and emotions come through so much clearer in this volume vs the anime adaptation. i really appreciate that, it feels much more natural now.
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sword art online, volume four: fairy dance (my thoughts/review/summary)
to give a disclaimer, i have some knowledge of the novels however this is my first time fully reading them!! iām very excited to read all of them and i would prefer to avoid any spoilers for anything after alicization!
under the cut!
again, a disclaimer for oberon and his general oberon-ness, and sexual assault.
iām going to skim over the whole assault scene because weāre all aware it fucking sucks, but oberon being aware of yui (or at least aware of a weird program) was a detail left out of the anime, and kiritoās conversation with kayaba is a bit different too. still sucks though.
now thatās out of the wayā¦ā¦ā¦ EMOTIONS.
the kirisuna in the volume absolutely shattered me. theyāre soulmates. actual legitimate soulmates. to see them both so desperately try to find eachother again and to finally see them succeed. ugh. my heart.
kirito and yui are also adorable, for some reason the line about yuiās small hand holding kiritoās got me and i nearly cried over it. i live for good dad kirito
SMALL!
ALSO SHE LOVES HER DAD! he hugs her and kisses her cheek and strokes her hair! he loves her too he just doesnāt say it verbally and thatās okay!
the hospital scene was also very good 10/10 cried also nurses exist. the nurse calling kazuto asunaās family and him not correcting her was cute, theyāre family.
and of course, hereās their first meeting:
AND THEY WERE SOULMATES
OH MY GOD THEY WERE SOULMATES
seriously the amount of kirisuna made me cry itās 11:17pm at night and iām just laying in my bed crying about these two fictional nerds.
as for non-kirisunaā¦
leafa is a character that exists and does things but regrettably itās foreshadowed by her falling in love with her brother. i think the scene between the two of them was better in the anime only because cassandra lee morris (her english va) put her entire heart into that scene and she singlehandedly made it the most stunning performance of the series, in my head you canāt top that.
i do hope that they get their sibling bond back eventually, i can definitely see kazuto trying to mend the bond between him and suguha, i hope the novels do a good job of it. especially the scene after he wakes up from saving asuna, itās a beautiful moment of realising his baby sister is growing up.
ALSO LEAFA HAS GREEN HAIR I WISH WE SAW IT.
oh and before i forget ā tonky showed up in this arc!! that was a nice surprise, i wasnāt expecting him until around mothers rosario like in the anime, but iām guessing he shows up again later for the excalibur arc.
to quickly mention the ending of the volume, WE SEE RIKA!!! and sheās a lightweight!!! good for her!!! that scene is actually very sweet and funny and itās such a nice break from the rest of the chapter. to see everyone goofing off and relaxing and partying is so nice. especially when it gives us the potential for āklein and agil taking their dumb found family sao kids home to their parents and explaining why theyāre hungoverā fanfics⦠:)
and rinko gets mentioned! iām glad sheās brought up sooner than she was in the anime, iām really glad the novels actually foreshadow things properly
and thatās all! i tried to include some more screenshots this time, let me know if you guys prefer that! see you in volume 5 :)
sword art online volume three: fairy dance (my thoughts/review/summary)
to give a disclaimer, i have some knowledge of the novels however this is my first time fully reading them!! iām very excited to read all of them and i would prefer to avoid any spoilers for anything after alicization!
under the cut!
oh boy.
first of all, this post mentions sugou and asuna and their relationship, obviously, so trigger warning for that.
this is definitely my least favourite volume by far for obvious reasons. iām gonna start with some positivesā¦
i like the small glimpses into the kirigaya family! suguha seeing midori like an older sister was actually really sweet - i actually always assumed midori had suguha when she was younger, so to have that little headcanon confirmed was very validating lol
suguha saying she and kazuto were best friends broke my heart, my poor babies. i desperately wish their relationship would get better sooner lol. itās nice to have a real commentary on their relationship, seeing sugu really miss their relationship comes across so much clearer in the ln.
once again, they actually act more like siblings here and they act like teenagers so itās really refreshing to see.
asunaās emotions are a little more clear in this volume than the anime, the scene with the bird honestly nearly made me cry. the moment where she does kiritoās hand thing and giggles was so cute! i think its a cute parallel for when he mimics her hand movements in the phantom bullet arc
oberon is oberon. still creepy. having him āconfirmedā as being in his FUCKING THIRTIES?????????? gross. ew. bad. awful. terrible. horrible. disgusting.
i did like seeing kazuto originally think he seemed nice just based on appearance, that was definitely lost without kiritoās narration.
thereās not really much else to add, iām excited for the next volume if only so the arc can be over faster. and i canāt wait for the little rinko snippet at the end, as well as seeing rika for the first time (loml)
sword art online volume 2: aincrad (my thoughts/review/summary)
to give a disclaimer, i have some knowledge of the novels however this is my first time fully reading them!! iām very excited to read all of them and i would prefer to avoid any spoilers for anything after alicization!
under the cut!
FIRST OF ALL I NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT THE KIRISUNA BECAUSE IāM SO FUCKING EXCITED THEYRE PRECIOUS AND I ADORE THEM.
[morning dew girl]
kirito and asuna being a sweet little family with yui is always my favourite thing and the novels made it even sweeter. though i am just slightly sad so much of it was taken up by the army plot, i wish we got a little more of the three of them together lol
i loved seeing kirito and asunaās feelings more in that chapter especially, asunaās conflicting feelings about yui really touched my heart. seeing her expand on her own family life a little more and having such a maternal instinct towards yuiā¦ā¦.. my heart
for the rest of the storiesā¦
[the black swordsman]
for those who donāt know, i love rosalia (sheās my favourite villain, i thought she was really interesting) so to see her have some more dialogue was fun!! - to see her being immature was unexpected but i really liked it tbh.
this is what i mean when i say the anime cut the villains back so much - and this is only the second volume. the minimal information i have about kyouji and oberon from the novels i think the anime just skipped so so much, it makes the anime villains look just. awful. whereas the ln villains are still bad people but at least theyāre a bit more fleshed out.
i think kirito and silicaās relationship was sweet! kirito mentioning suguha and silica talking about having a big brother of her own were some of my favourite moments in the anime and i liked them in the novels too, i think theyāre so sweet. iām a sucker for a found family, i will always see those two as a found brother and sister.
[warmth of the heart]
LISBETH MY BELOVED <3 i love her so much (iāve cosplayed her a couple of times and i have pink hair because of her). i feel like this was actually pretty well adapted to the anime so i donāt have many comments
i did really like the little end of the chapter where lisbeth looks at the photo of her, kirito and asuna. i really wish that moment was animated or even that we saw that picture, it was so sweet. i love their friendship and i wish we got more of it
sword art online volume 1: aincrad (my thoughts/review/summary)
to give a disclaimer, i have some knowledge of the novels however this is my first time fully reading them!! iām very excited to read all of them and i would prefer to avoid any spoilers for anything after alicization!
under the cut!
first of all, itās a bit jarring skipping over so much to go right to the last floors. i got confused about it thinking iād somehow missed a bunch of chapters lol.
kirito is a dork. i love him. he is an asshole to klein. why. i think klein and kiritoās interactions are quite funny and iāve decided that, in aincrad, agil basically adopted the both of them. i love found family dad agil.
the cute kirisuna moments in their cabin!!!!!! my heart!!! i think it really shows what the anime skips, since this gave me much more of a domestic feeling reading it. speaking of kirisuna, the way kirito talks about asuna melts my heart. itās so obvious that this girl is his everything, she could just breathe and heād compare her to angels.
itās really interesting to get to see kiritoās inner thoughts and monologue. i really wish we had more of this in the anime. it makes him feel so much more of a teenager while also highlighting how much he goes through. itās something iāve always wanted from the anime.
THE SCENE AFTER ASUNA DIES. BROKE. MY. HEART. the fact kirito just imagines them in a field together? and imagines her just asking if she can nap? because he fell in love under that tree in the field? IāM AN EMOTIONAL MESS. i wish it was animated but also i would not have survived watching it at all.
also, kirito admitting to being suicidal. finally explicitly having kirito say he wishes heād killed himself, that he shouldāve killed himself. it destroyed me. i genuinely started sobbing. only one volume in and thereās already serious repercussions for kiritoās trauma. this is something that, if iām remembering right, is briefly mentioned in season 2 and then again in a few scenes in alicization. iām so glad its being mentioned early.
kirito is trans. he is also sarcastic and idiotic and dorky and to actually see him act like a real person was amazing. he has stupid thoughts. he acts irrationally. he hates his face. he wants friends. he doesnāt want to hurt people. he has goals and motivations. heās a real character with a real personality.
i feel like iāve been re-introduced to sao. this is everything iāve ever hoped for that i thought iād only find in fanfics. to see it in canon in the light novels? iām so overjoyed. iām so happy. iām reading volume 2 right now and iām so excited! i canāt wait to share my thoughts on each volume.
thank you for reading!! and thank you for coming along on this journey of rediscovering and falling in love with this series and these characters all over again <3
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Sword Art Online - First Day [Volume 8: Short Story] ||Ā ā
This short story tells the continuation of the events that follow the announcement made by Kayaba Akihiko in the Starting City (first floor Aincrad) during the first day of SAO's official service. Read to find out what happens to Kirito after he leaves Klein behind in the Starting City!