Reviews

Outstanding visually and musically, as you'd expect from a SAO movie. However the story feels very lacking. Where Aria of a Starless Night felt like an amazing retelling of the first two episodes of SAO, only greatly expanded and from Asuna's point of view that leaves you anticipating more, this story feels like a letdown of filler that doesn't seem to have any real attachment to the main series. The stakes don't feel dangerous at all in the primary plot, and the much more interesting secondary plot of the movie feels like just a little teaser to keep you interested for what MIGHT come in the next movie.

The look and feel of Aincrad is definitely there and has never looked better with the boss fights being especially fun to watch, but there isn't much in the way of new world building in this movie compared to the last one, again except in regard to the secondary plot of the movie. We get to know a tiny bit more about the crafting system of the world but that's about all.

All in all, this movie feels like it's setting us up for what could be some fantastic SAO movies later down the line, with bigger conflicts, more characters and higher stakes, but for right now this feels like a tepid purgatory where you get very little of new substance and just 2 hours of gorgeous filler. A nice watch, but not much to write home about.

6/10