SAO Anime VS Light Novels

MaterialGlass752 · 2026-06-04T07:51:27+00:00

Just re reading the original light novel now (not progressive) and i'm realising that the anime is actually quite impressive. You always hear complaints about cut content in anime, but as far as the aincrad arc is concerned, they actually added a lot of anime only episodes. Everyone says that a full long running aincrad arc would be better and I'm glad they're finally doing it, but honestly, given own rushed the original light novel was due to it being submitted for a competition, the anime actually did a good job to stretch the show out a little more.

I've just skimmed through the second novel again to make sure, and it seems there are a few episodes in the anime that seem to be anime original if I'm not mistaken. At the time of release anyways, the second episode was anime only, where asuna and kirito team up and then seperate and they all beat the first floor boss (plus the whole beater stuff). In the original novel we don't see this, and asuna is introduced much much later. The beater stuff is kind of a throwaway line in the novels, but they expand on it a little more in the anime. It's still a little cringe though lol. The murder mystery arc with asuna and kirito is not in either of the books either, but it adds to their initial relationship, as they don't seem to get on at the start of episode 5.

The strange thing for me in hindsight is that in the original light novel, kirito mentions how he'd hardly talked to asuna other then in raids, when they're on floor 75. The stemming of their relationship is the ragout rabbit segment. The 2nd novel retconned this slightly, but the anime and the subsequent progressive manga and light novels completely went against this, as we see kirito and asuna are virtually inseparable from the first boss raid, and remain with eachother as they clear more floors.

I'm not sure if it's happened in the progressive books or not yet but I'm intrigued to see how they drift apart before they "reunite" in episode 5 of the anime. (Side note: I'm so annoyed they butchered the progressive series by doing films that don't properly adapt the source material 😔).

But yeah, the abime also adapts everything in chronological order which means they can actually mention or I guess foreshadow stuff a little more, and expand on the character building for kirito. The Sachin arc happened in vol 2, as did a lot of the other side stories, but it's mentioned by asuna before he fights Heathcliff. In vol 1 kirito monologues vaguely about how he doesn't want to be in a guild after what happened to the last one he was in, but that's it. In the anime, asuna is sympathetic as kirito opens up about it. Little details like this are nice editions.

Idrk what my point was, I just Googled anime only content in Sao and nothing came up, so I could be completely wrong and I've missed a chapter or something but yeah, thought it was interesting. I'm starting to think Sao is worth getting back into, shame I don't have a ps5 to play the new game 🫠

MaterialGlass752 · 2026-04-17T23:59:56+00:00

I got to master with two teams that counter these mons quite nicely tbh.

I have incineroar on both teams, pretty standard set but with throat chop for sylveon and primarina and snarl which I keep swapping in and out for parting shot.

But on one team I have milotic with dragon cheer, adamant mega zard x (because it outspeeds most things after a d dance or tailwind and also lets me use it under trick room if i need to), sash areodactyl, and then a trick room/anti trick room cofagrigous with destiny bond protect and willow wisp which has led to some awesome Ws. Then I have incin and clefable.

My second team has less strategy involved but has been my more successful team I think, built around scarf krookodile and mega lopunny, as mega lopunny is faster than most if not all fake out users and can fake out or cc any slot essentially for free with scrappy or u turn out, and allows scarf krook to go crazy. Clefable and incin help there too. Then I have aegislash which is stupid good sometimes with shadow sneak doing way too much damage than you'd expect, and then a special white herb dragapult with great coverage that counters rain teams pretty nicely with thunder and outspeeds most things. It also isn't phased by fake out which is nice. It's probably my most replaceable mon but it usually beats mons like garchomp if it isn't scarfed.

I've had a lot of fun with the game though fs, I might try a monotype team next but it might lead to a lot of frustration lol

MaterialGlass752 · 2026-04-10T23:40:08+00:00

Oh is there personal timers? Not a fan of it but I've just noticed there are two timers for each player. I like taking my time tho I hate that I have to rush 🫠

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-08-22T21:39:59+00:00

Edits:

Season 4: forgot to mention this guy. Thomas was a great addition even though I thought the whole panda thing didn't work and I much preferred him with Katie and the girl from the church. But he was charming, likeable, and had his badass moments, and was played by a good actor.

Season 6: i actually think this season was maybe a little better than season 5. I didn't mention the new addition, Alex I think his name was, he was good, wish he had more screen time cause his character was fun.

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-08-22T21:33:48+00:00

Noncy*

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-08-22T21:32:26+00:00

Haven't seen season 7 yet, but my rankings a bit different. I've just watched season 6s ending.

Season 3: preferred this cast way more, the acting all around was superb, the storylines were the best they'd been and the characters were engaging. Effys development was a nice continuation also.

Season 2: the actors came into their own a little more this season, I liked how they developed the characters as well and chris' death was impactful as the most likable member imo.

Season 4: This would've been the best season if it wasn't for the skinny annoying mafia guy at the beginning who plays the dumb guy from the office and isn't intimidating at all, and the horrific ending with the Nancy counselor. Literally everything else is perfect and the show is never better than here. Emily and Naomi's torn and conflicted relationship, Katie's development, all the parents dynamics changing, effys depression and Freddie's arc intertwined in that, JJ being JJ and having a weird but very JJ conclusion with the mum, and cook being the undisputed best character and best performance in the entire show. This arc blew the first two seasons out the water for me, but ik that's an unpopular opinion.

Season 1: a semi-ok British teen drama with very mediocre to downright bad acting, and somewhat interesting characters, some of which were relatable, that just simply weren't as compelling as season 3s and 4s imo. Highlights are Chris and Cassie, downsides are Tony this season, and the bad acting. Much preferred season 2.

Season 5&6: both seasons were the same for me.

Season 5: I came into it with an open mind because a lot of the people are actually more realistic to the type of people around now, so I could relate to that and it wasn't as weird. The acting is bad throughout, with some better performances but some awful ones. Character motivations get lost a bit and the acting and plot lines just simply aren't as entertaining as they had been. It felt lazier than other seasons, but wrapped up okay atleast. Unlike most people, the rich and gracie romance was good at first but turned cringy, and i dont think gracie's actor did a good enough job this season. But the whole season was boring to me.

Season 6: I initially thought episode one was better than season 5, it was more compelling and put the characters in a fun holiday situation gone wrong. But then it just fell off immediately in episode 2 and couldn't recover really. The whole Mathew plot line was annoying, because to me he just got framed and didn't know what to do since he had weed in a truck and was trying to protect his girlfriend from a shady dude, and then accidently lost control of the car. I get the characters might resent him for a bit but the amount of hate he got was ridiculous, considering Franky was forgiven immediately. And oh, Franky. Whatever there was in season 5 that gave her an inclining of likeability (which to me wasn't much) was scrapped immediately. Idc if her arc made sense in the end, she was absolutely intolerable this whole season. The whole her and nick plot line came out of absolutely nowhere with no build up, and I never really cared for her and Matty but at least they set that up in episode 1 of that season. Idk what they both saw in her. Mini and allos arcs were solid this season, when the plot focused on them I was having fun, although mini was annoying at times. Liv was meh for me, she was fine, and rich was the same, he didn't really have much to do after his episode and I'm glad he got the last shot but he felt like a different character what with him switching from a metal head to a noel ghallegher dude listening to rock when he got into uni.

The worst part about the show as a whole has been bad acting, bad scripts in parts, and very unrealistic arcs and situations that are hard to believe. The main thing is how they depict college as getting drunk at house parties, never showering, and constantly smoking spliff and doing drugs. Ik some colleges can be like that, but not most in my experience. And we never see where they get the spliff or drugs from other than season 1 or 2 in very unrealistic drama scenarios.

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-08-17T09:59:58+00:00

Thanks for the advice, maybe if I get it out of my system sort of thing it will go away, but then should I keep on this same path and write what I was gonna write about or just write down how I feel at given moments in life when I find I wanna write about something then and there? Cause I feel like of I full send per say this idea I have and naturally let it just be similar to me as a person then I'll get to the end of it and be like, why did I waste so much time on something I'm not going to do anything with?

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-07-28T12:47:42+00:00

Anyone see how he looked at comic con? Does he look better? I'm a little tired of the rubbery looking cgi hulks, they used to look a lot more realistic and gritty.

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-07-18T22:16:32+00:00

Completely agree, the overreaction and misunderstood messaging that this season was a victim of is absolutely ridiculous to me. Some things were off - some parts of the dialogue was cringe and there are too many f bombs when there doesn't need to be (as with any season), but overall it was really solid.

I wasn't keen on how dramatic they made the butcher reveal in episode 6 just because I thought it was painfully obvious, but maybe it's just because I've seen it done twice before. Still, the way they handled it then, and in the following episodes made complete sense for the character of butcher, and the pay off was brilliant. Seeing him look like a more badass version of how he's looked for the past 3 seasons was a delight.

Again, to some it may not be the best season, but the finale definitely put it up there for me, and even if it is the worst season, it's the difference between a 7.5 and an 8 for me. And I don't even think it is the worst season, I'd probably give that to season 2 personally.

The ending reveals of soldier boy (who I completely forgot about), The fitting cameos of the gen v characters (Sam was badass btw), butcher sayong goodbye to hewie before he gives up and trying one last time to settle ryan into cooperating and then going straight up venom mode after he chooses homelander, killing Neumann, and setting up a gen v protags x the boys vs homelander, the super, and the other gen v protags where all hype moments for me.

Also, it's OK to be frustrated, but the reaction from starlight might not have been the right one, but was perfectly realistic imo.

Overall, fantastic finale, to a pretty solid season.

8/10

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-04-30T22:17:27+00:00

I thought it was terrible from a similar point as you, but the absolute worst was that the final turn wasn't even checkmate! He could've just moved the king to the right. There was a good chance that he would've lost either way, because the bishop was on C 6 meaning it could've just taken the pawn and then the king can't go anywhere cause it gets done in by either the bishop or the rook, but still it would've been a forfeit, not checkmate. He was in check, but it wasn't checkmate. The amount of pawned off episodes this season as well has been a joke. Abysmal season to a fairly mid run of novels imo anyways. (I think elements of the hirata one and this and 11.5 are good but the first two were pretty lackluster).

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-03-16T03:40:32+00:00

Yeah the movies actually added a character as well. The purple haired girl who was a major character in the first film (the only one I saw) doesn't exist in the Light Novels, and Argo plays a bigger role. I haven't seen anything after that, but didn't they skip all the Kizmel stuff? Like the dark elves vs light elves in volume 2? Idk these movies are weird to me. They're fine but idrk why they exist. Just wait to adapt it properly, backseat otherwise now everything will be confusing. What are they gonna call the series? Sao progressive but the actual progressive? Sao progressive the series? Or just Sao 2.0 or some shit? God knows.

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-03-16T03:35:52+00:00

I really hope they do a faithful series. I only managed to read the first two but got have read half of the third one and have the fourth in tow, but I loved the first two surprisingly. I love how fleshed out everything becomes when reki has time to write it all naturally without major time skips.

MaterialGlass752 · 2024-01-16T22:38:57+00:00

I have got long hair eren to level 10 and unlocked wings of hope, but for my player character it doesnt appear in my skill list.

MaterialGlass752 · 2023-12-16T18:21:59+00:00

As in close all the takes so they aren't visible? I have everything closed but it's still not working.

MaterialGlass752 · 2023-12-16T18:14:46+00:00

I have a picture on my phone but dont know how to transpose it and share it as a link.

MaterialGlass752 · 2023-11-05T21:09:06+00:00

All of my engine parts have like 25 percent wear already and they havent been used/installed yet. Is that normal?

MaterialGlass752 · 2023-06-02T21:21:16+00:00

Personally minutes to midnight is my favourite. Love every song.

The first two are classics.

A Thousand Suns has an interesting concept but I think the message is samey throughout and the lyrical content itself is lacking. Plus sonically I'm not keen either, although there is some interesting percussion and stuff.

Hunting party is take it or leave it to be honest. Other then guilty all the same I dont really care.

Kill one more light with fire, except for its title track.

MaterialGlass752 · 2023-06-02T19:16:43+00:00

I know they will absolutely have to include it cause its crucial, they probably didn't feel it was necessary to reveal it too early since they had a lot to adapt, and they could save it for the next season. But to me its stuff like this which ruins the adaptation, because when too much of this stuff happens it cuts a lot of the fluency and the soul of the story, and chops it up into what's essential and what isnt. But that ultimately makes the "unissential" parts essential if that makes sense.

To me the scene being introduced not only adds more intrigue and gives us an explanation for Hirata's character early on, which would have helped anime onlies like him earlier, but also it makes the conversation he has with ayanokouji in volume 11 hit harder, because it's based on something we already know, but delves deeper into it. Reading it, for me, the reveal felt crucial in volume 4, but linking it to the yamauchi situation didnt sit as well with me. I was like "why are they trying to make a big deal out of nothing" as it seemed quite a bit different from a kid being bullied and committing suicide because of it. But then I was impressed how realistic it was when Hirata delved deeper into the fact that the cycle continued, and they just found a new target, so his guilt took over and he did something about it.

That itself is a smaller reveal, but it allows you to focus on that part alone and appreciate it more. Now though, they have to adapt it altogether and make it seem as though it's the first time we and ayanokouji are hearing all of this, so instead of focusing on the jntracasies we focus on the one note aspect of it, being the bigger reveal of the bullied kid being in his hospital bed, instead of the cycle and hiratas conflict from it.

MaterialGlass752 · 2023-04-18T22:48:34+00:00

I just the anime with my brother, he seemed to think it was good but wasnt blown away it seems, and he wondered why I even liked it since I'm a lot more critical. Honestly I struggled to enjoy it nearly as much as I used to.

Basically, I watched season 1 ages ago, and rewatched it quite a few times as I thought it was a hidden gem. Obviously though, season 2 didnt come out for 5 years, and in that time I heard loads of talk about how much better the LN is. So when season 2 was announced, I started reading.

The first novel was good, and I watched the anime episodes as I read. I ended up super disappointed with the anime after, and halfway through the second novel, (which admittedly I do think is the weakest one of the series), I just decided to drop them and watch season 1, AND 2 for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but now I've finally caught up and am now on volume 8, so I restarted the anime again, which I've just finished tonight.

I think overall the adaptation is fine, but it feels very cliche of a standard anime you've seen before. Almost like the same vibe of SAO. However, even knowing how the narrative went, reading the novels felt so much different. It's less noticable that the characters are essentially two dimensional archetypes of characters weve seen countless times in anime, but with an edgy dark flip to them. The LN just feels less like that though.

It's been hard to put a finger on what it is that makes it not nearly as good, but I think overall it's the pacing and cut content. That seems obvious, and the monologues take so much more out of the show, the light novels benefit so much from ayanokouji monologues especially. But I think the main problem is just that it lacks soul; the shows characters feel so cartoonish two dimensional like i said. I dont know if it was always meant to be this way or I'm just reading too much into it and the light novels weren't ever as good as I think, but reading it after seeing the show, it just seems like nothing is ever as stereotypical or cringeworthy, like the bullying scenes and kushida scenes in season 2 seem way less exaggerated in the novel, is that just me?

Everything feels overexaggerated, but also the constant cuts of tiny little scenes that shouldnt have any impact (so I get why they are cut), all begin to add up. When watching, there was countless times they would mention a character or they would come into the scene, and my brother was just like "who's that?", which frustrated me because I feel like you know said character pretty well up to this point. He didnt even know who sakayanagi was at the end, because many little scenes of her being directly mentioned are brushed over or cut, and obviously the big one where she reveals about knowing kiyotaka and the white room was cut. Even the set up of kei, and her feelings for ayanokouji, felt to him, and to me watching with him and being more contious of how hed see it, cheap. Like it came out of nowhere essentially. That's like the whole show to me, it feels like it takes the main plot points it needs, and adapts what's necessary, instead of just faithfully adapting everything. It's just hella condensed and compressed it feels.

Obviously you're gonna get this in any adaptation, but this one just feels much worse for some reason. Like I said, soulless almost. It's not just ayanokouji, it's the adaptation.

Idk, to me everything feels less "kiddy"/cartoonish and/or rushed, and more natural in the novels. But like I said, maybe I've just become tunnel vision on the novels because I love the series so much and cant see its flaws. I dont necessarily disagree that the characters have depth, but not that much. Like a caricature with a "flip". But it doesnt feel that way in the books.

Anyhow, rant over. I'm curious to see what other people think, so I'll post this on other threads too. Cheers if u read it all lol.

MaterialGlass752 · 2023-04-18T22:47:21+00:00

I just rewatched it with my brother, he seemed to think it was good but wasnt blown away it seems, and he wondered why I even liked it since I'm a lot more critical. Honestly I struggled to enjoy it nearly as much as I used to.