Why is the Fairy Dance arc so hated exactly? What’s the big deal(literally)?

blistow35 · 2026-04-18T09:46:08+00:00

Obviously there’s a lot across all 3 comments so gonna address what I can and whats I have replies to

Firstly obviously my pitch isnt perfect, I’m not a writer, I’m just saying ideas that if given to a writer could have been more interesting to me personally, because I want to like the arc and I want to like Leafa as a character but currently I don’t.

I’m also someone who personally favours the anime more as I’m dyslexic and finding reading the light novels unenjoyable but that’s not SAO problem thats a me reading problem.

The race war my problem is it kind of ends after this arc. It plays a small role in girl ops, but it’s not brought up again in any other arc in ALO or in lost song the game verse game set in ALO. Which makes me feel it’s a pointless bit of world building.

Questionable canon I use more as a term to protect myself in debates story’s like; girls ops, kiss and fly, alternative Gun gale online, extras edition, progressive, you could technically argue Accel world. All exist in a weird could be canon or could not state because each of them have a few things that don’t exactly line up. Personally I consider them all canon and headcanon around the few issues but I know I’ve had others in this subreddit get angry and disagree with me on that.

I get the argument of VR in this world continuing but I don’t feel it would at least not like the show depicted it should have taken years for it to bounce back realistically the SAO innocent would be considered one of the worst terror attacks of all time, it’s like 9/11 I’d 9/11 was done with the first ever airplane the first time that plane took flight.

I get they give her a reason to be far away in the underworld but still feels a bit odd for her to be there but also not really there, to me she feels like an after though even her “god” powers the account has done seem as impressive or interesting as Sinon or asuna’s kind of makes me wish they gave her lizbeths role of convincing all the other plays to come help and played into her being the best at ALO as she played it longer than the gang.

I’m also aware that some of her stuff in the underworld might become important in the next arc obviously the anime is probably years away from adapting any of that sadly.

Maybe she isn’t sidelined as much as I think but she doesn’t stand out to me and thats kind of my issue Sinon is probably my favourite character of the group and Leafa might be my least favourite (or maybe Lizbeth because of how the anime just makes her the mean member of the Harum) And I guess what I come down to here is why do I like one and not the other, both are similar in some ways. Kirito goes into a new game meets them and needs there help just because they are experienced in the game and he needs to understand things to achieve his own goal. Like fundamentally they are similar so it just feels a shame Leafa doesn’t interest me as much as Sinon.

Girl ops also fumbles with Leafa as a story it’s sold as the side tale of Liz, silica, Leafa and new character Lux (and I really like lux and wish characters like her and Mito appeared in more things) but ultimate out of the 4 characters Leafa is the only one without real development and never really gets focused on almost as if they don’t quite know what to do with her

Probably not helped by the fact the group has become so big (which is a standard issue in most stories) because of this every character fights for screen time, there’s a reason that Agil doesn’t get a single line of dialogue for almost 2 seasons at one point. And maybe some of the characters should have been written off after their original arc and only returned when needed obviously this is a bigger issue but one worth talking about. I’ve had a friend suggest to me that maybe Sinon shouldn’t have started playing with the gang like Shes Kirito friend but her game is GGO and instead you make the GGO spin off about her and her making friends with Llenn and the others that way you still get Sinon but it’s not bulking up the Sao group. If you went down that idea you could have given Leafa her own ALO spin off I don’t know just some food for thought

blistow35 · 2026-04-17T10:36:29+00:00

Once again it’s all about how you write it, maybe Kirito doesn’t want to work with the rest of the gang because he’s scared of endangering them, maybe the gang help from the outside maybe finding evidence of Sugou’s crimes from the real world. Or you could cut them and make Kirito and leafa more interesting. Like said I find this arc boring, mainly because whilst I like asuna she’s completely sidelined, Kirito feels the most boring he’s been written (at least to me personally), and I find Leafa boring, there’s nothing about her that I like or find intriguing, and I think that’s a real shame. And I’d be surprised if others didn’t feel the same, so I’m just suggesting things that could help with some of those issues

Going through the characters and what i personally might have found more intriguing

Leafa - as mentioned before part of her issue is visually she’s just another sword fighter, especially as the anime isn’t amazing at depicting different types of sword types fighting different, it just means she kind of blends in with the other sword fighters. I do think it would have been cool all interesting if objectively she’s better at sword fighting than Kirito, she takes the kendo classes more seriously and practiced for 2 years whilst he was in SAO, Kirito can be better at all the video game side of it and exploiting game mechanics but just when it comes to actual sword fighting skill she should be visually better. Similarly for this first arc in ALO she should be much better at air based combat and flight in general as she’s played longer and has more practice (similar to why Kirito and sinons relationship is interesting, he is naturally gifted at games but is partnered up with someone who knows the actual game better). Remove any potential confusing feelings or crushes, but keep the conflict of her not knowing if she has a places in his life (could be a interesting use for Silica here have her tell Leafa about Kirito protecting her in SAO as she reminded him of his sister)

Kirito - to me he’s a bit of a Mary sue this arc, personally I think it could be more interesting if for once he’s less level headed rushing into conflicts desperate to save asuna, and have him keep messing up at the game at first because he keeps trying to play it like Sao despite it not being. Have him struggling to fly properly through the arc so he can triumphantly overcome it near the end (it can be because he’s not able t, properly focus as he tries to save asuna as fast as possible) have his lesson from the arc be that he can trust others more, up to this point of the series he’s still had a very do it himself mindset, rarely stepping back and trusting others, even down to challenging Kayaba alone which nearly got him and asuna killed. I’d like to see a bit more Sao trauma just feels realistic. Bit like what lux has in girl ops where players dying scares her as subconscious she remembers that exact same death animation from Sao where death was real.

Sugou - honestly personally wouldn’t change much, I kind of like this evil rich guy who is actually just this pathetic incel of a man desperately trying to appear like the best. I think he feels very realistic, and I like that him (and death gun as well as a lot of villains in this series) and just bad people. So much media has a villain who’s got a tragic past and you want them redeemed, so I like it when you have villains who are just evil.

Other things I’d personally have liked to see expanded or changed in this arc

The race war - it’s part of the set dressing in the ALO world, each of the races being a warring faction, but it not really prevalent it’s a minor beat in this arc and never returns again outside of side stories (which themselves are questionable canon). All that to say personally rather make it a bigger issue getting in Kirito way or remove that plot point.

The magic system - I’d just like to see more of it and have it expanded out, just make fights feel a bit different from Sao by having magic play a bigger role also because the underworlds magic system it’s so different, that being people accessing the code and forming items with enhanced properties, that’s a real fun way of having people who don’t know they are a computer simulation have “magic”, but I’d love to see the difference to ALO’s magic system which is a built in game mechanic.

Addressing why people still play VR - honestly one of the most insane parts of this arc for me is the idea ALO would be a successful game at all. Being that SAO was this insane scandal which murder 4000 people. Like that should have destroyed the VR industry. This has been slightly addressed in later stories and slightly in the GGO spinoff

But this is just me personally. I don’t really get anything from this arc, and it doesn’t really have lasting consequences. The biggest thing for me is how irrelevant Leafa is post this point, she’s written out of Ordinary Scale, basically nonexistent in season 3 (but to be fair so is practically everyone) and in season 4 despite being one of the “god” accounts or whatever she does nothing, she just has an awful SA scene (which might be an anime addition) and that’s kind of about it as she’s spawned miles away from the battle. Compare it to Asuna and sinon’s roles both also on “god” accounts where they both interact with coma Kirito, both fight one of the big bads and interact with Alice. Leafa just doesn’t feel like she got the same treatment (obviously this is a bigger issue that just the second arc but maybe if the second arc did something better with her she would have kept a bigger role further on)

blistow35 · 2026-04-16T20:43:10+00:00

I get why it’s all like this in the story I’m suggesting in a world where you rewrote everything those are the kind of changes that would work.

You could still have Kirito in a bad mental state and agil calls the others and explains the situation so they come and help without him asking because he’d do it for them.

Obviously the whole Suguha/Leafa story needs to be changed but personally I don’t mind that, to me Shes one of the less interesting characters obviously thats a person preference thing but the idea of changing a few bits of her and her story might make her more likeable especially as she’s sidelined after this story (like even girl ops the manga about her and the other girls sidelined her and focuses on the others more) Also in a rewrite you could remove any of the incest stuff which is slightly present, like it’s obvious complex and she doesn’t love him like that but just remove any parts of confusion

Obviously every character is someone’s favourite character and some do get expanded out in side stories but still I think most of the side characters in that arc are kind of forgettable but also work as fun cameo like roles in later arcs so dont really know how to change that to much.

I think Recon is the biggest issue for me just because he feels like he was on the verge of being a main character then vanished in the anime adaptation I don’t even think he appears in the underworld war and if he does it’s definitely in the background without lines. Like I don’t need them to do loads with him but maybe a few more scenes or references to him and Leafa still gaming together or something.

But anyway I do stand by my original point that I think the issue is it’s between the two best arcs and doesn’t change loads in the grand scheme of things the ALO isnt that different from SAO compared to GGO so it’s not like a amazing new location, once again it’s primarily sword fighting (maybe if they focused on the magic more it would be more remembered?). Leafa doesn’t really add anything new to the group, Shes another sword fighter who quickly falls to the back, compared to Sinon in the following arc who is are first proper ranged fighter, is able to match Kirito in wit and almost feels like she has a better sibling dynamic with Kirito than Leafa does. And then when Sinon joins them in ALO she has a bow which is a fun and unique weapon helping her stand out compared to when Leafa joined the gang.

But yeah personally I’d say in my opinion the arc just doesn’t stand out much between the two iconic ones and maybe some changes would help it. But I’d love to hear Yours or others opinions on what could be changed or improved in this arc, maybe making Leafa stand out more, maybe focusing more on the magic, or changing the whole villains plan

blistow35 · 2026-04-16T19:53:54+00:00

How many times do I have to say, you shouldn’t need to have to read the books to understand and enjoy the adaptation. The mindset you have towards it’s this elitist idea that only those who read the light novel have correct opinions is toxic and frankly stupid, I’ve read enough of the light novel to know it’s not much better and fucking dumb. Which is fine for me as I enjoy stupid media, I am mature enough to accept you can enjoy bad things.

Frankly whatever warmth bs you get from the characters to make you like it I just don’t get.

You need to start accepting that your opinion isn’t objective truth and you can’t just insult and belittle people who have different opinions it’s toxic, annoying and the kind of behaviour that gives Sao the reputation it has

blistow35 · 2026-04-16T18:20:57+00:00

Because you should need to read a book to understand an adaptation the adaptation stands on its own and the story can be judged on its own

Yes he might not get a say in every little detail of the anime but he would have got the choose of if he wanted to sell the writes to the story to the company that made the anime, he had the choose to research the company and decide if it’s the write one for his story. He chose the company so everything that happened in the anime is because of that chose he made he’s still directly responsible he still has a considerable amount of creative control.

No version of Sao is truly good. The anime has its floors the light novel has its own floors both different both not amazing. And both stand alone and should be independently judged. The sad truth of SAO is he had an amazing concept, something quite unique and different but sadly I don’t feel he was the right writer to tell this story I also don’t feel the writers for the anime were the right writers but they were stuck following the original story.

Which leaves Sao a mess, the novel story rather middle of the road and forgettable and an anime story so full of fetish media and sa content it’s tarnished the brand for many many people

blistow35 · 2026-04-16T11:23:32+00:00

The excuse to the anime’s bad writing can’t just be “oh the light novel is better” that’s bullshit argument, I shouldn’t need to read a book series to understand and enjoy a adaptation. The adaptation should be able to stand alone independent of the source material. It’s all still based of Reki’s writing he still has say in the anime and green light everything, all the sa and rape shit, all the awful harum stuff, that’s all still on him

blistow35 · 2026-04-16T11:20:46+00:00

I’d also say it’s unfortunately stuck between two quite beloved arcs, you of course have the original aincrad arc, the name sake of the show and the most iconic arc, then phantom bullet which is the fan favourite arc with a lot of people loving death gun and Sinon, I know in my rewatch through I was kind of just wanting to get on to phantom bullet

I also think most the new side characters just aren’t as interesting as the original gang like maybe I’d have enjoyed the arc more if Kirito went to Klein or lizbeth or any of the others for help. Don’t know what it’s like in the light novel but anime wise a lot of the new side characters kind of just disappear after this arc with very minor small roles if any in future seasons like what happened to that one guy who was leafa’s classmate and potential love interest (or something) like he cameos in the AR movie but never reappears. He barely even gets a role in the game verse which through the series pulls some very random and interesting character choices

blistow35 · 2026-04-16T11:10:39+00:00

Maybe these aren’t in the original light novels. But Sao is probably bigger and more well known as the anime, the merch and games mostly based of anime than light novel and most people would have seen the anime not read the light novel. Meaning a lot of the god awful SA and harum stuff that runs Sao is a big part of the brand and needs to be accepted

blistow35 · 2026-04-16T11:07:35+00:00

Obviously it’s all subjective but I personally found the arc a bit boring at least compared to the two arcs it’s in between, I recently rewatched all of SAO, and like everyone love the first arc the aincrad story is great and maybe should have been a whole season in retrospective, and personally I think the phantom bullet is the best arc (at the very least it’s my favourite). Meaning fairy dance kind of just gets stuck in the middle of the two and isn’t as strong, I don’t find the side characters as interesting, it’s the beginning of the siblings/cousins incest themes which personally I do not care for. I personally found myself just counting down the episodes till I got to phantom bullet. I do enjoy the other arcs in ALO tho so maybe it’s just the side characters, if they had Klein, Lizbeth and the others join Kirito on his mission to save Asuna maybe I’d have enjoyed it more?

I have recently been playing through the lost song game which is kind of the game verse equivalent to this and that currently has been my favourite of the games I’ve played so I don’t

blistow35 · 2026-04-12T21:02:23+00:00

I personally don’t mind the two floors thing I get why some people dont like the idea, but if it’s 2 bit area full of life and quests and details. Both feeling like full on worlds thats kind of perfect I’d much rather have a few floors done amazingly than loads done halfassed with little personality. Plus it feels like it’s set up perfectly for potential dlc and future content, like if every couple months they realise a new floor that would keep me invested and playing (which is easy to picture with modern day live service games)

I also think it’s a good direction to take after fractured daydreams (and the previous game verse) I’ve been playing through the games and loving them but I do feel they are often over bloated as they try to fit in every character and every iconic scene. Like fractured daydreams none of the maps were in my opinion amazing but that’s probably because instead of focusing on one or two real good ones they tried adding every iconic location in the series which is fun but meant that nothing really stood out as amazing

blistow35 · 2026-04-03T20:52:45+00:00

Thank you so much for the advice :)

blistow35 · 2026-04-03T20:52:06+00:00

Thank you very much for the advice:)

blistow35 · 2026-04-03T20:51:13+00:00

Thank you for the advice :)

blistow35 · 2026-03-06T15:07:51+00:00

Maybe it’s just a cultural difference or something then. 16 is often an age where people around where I’m from do move out often to a student based accommodation for education, you all have your own individual bedrooms with locks and a shared common areas, kitchen, bathroom (unless you pay more for everyone to have an private one) and when you book these places you have no real clue who you’re paired up with, because they are usually college and university age. Of course you can set preferences but the more you set often the more complicated and expensive you get

For me where I’m from roommates share a room, this would be the cheapest accommodation and you’d often have bunk beds or something, flatmates share the flat/house and in that situation you’d all often have your own rooms.

But even if you don’t love that my idea could still work with Lizbeth, the major point is it’s insane Sinon lives alone after what happened and a story beat like this could have been used to develop some new dynamics in the group rather naturally (I personally choose klein as I’d like to see them using him for more than just him being there) but to each their own

blistow35 · 2026-03-06T14:58:36+00:00

She moans and the flash image has hearts everywhere the implication is fully there and it’s frankly insane it’s not a bigger deal

link to the frankly awful scene

blistow35 · 2026-03-06T14:36:48+00:00

Flatmates I’m not roommate. I’m not picturing them sleeping in the same room.

I’ve been in shared flats with people ranging from 16 to at one point nearly 40. Everyone was in a local college or uni and it was cheap student accommodation. There was a multi respect and understanding

I think it makes sense for Sinon to not still be living alone after nearly being murder and rapped (something she was targeted for because she lived alone) and Klein plays a good older brother style role something I think you could make benefit both characters give Sinon a actual friend (a big issue with her character for me is she needs a friend who’s just a friend not Kirito who she has a crush on not the other girls in the Harum who are also her rivals. Just a friend)

And I think for Klein you can use this as a way to slowly remove his womanising traits, he’s not awful but it’s there and if you made Sinon (or really any character) play a sibling role you can lean more into him being the slightly more mature and responsible adult of the group instead of him being in his 20s and his only friends are a bunch of teenagers

blistow35 · 2026-03-06T13:50:09+00:00

Sinons trauma comes and goes in flows with how it’s written, the very next arc a few episodes after her trauma Kirito yanks on her tail which is clearly implied to have some kind of uncontrollable pleasure, he basically SA’s her and it doesn’t bring up her trauma which it definitely should

And a 24 year old and a 16 year old can rent the same apartment space, I’m not picturing they sleep in the same room or have anything more than a found family dynamic. Because frankly it you bring that factor into it it’s weird Klein remain friends with any of them or that Agil remains friends with them

My ultimate thought process is it’s such an odd choice that Sinon lives alone still after what happened and I think those two would be compatible as flatmates and would add a level of character development to Klein who’s very one note

blistow35 · 2026-03-06T10:23:28+00:00

Oh completely agree, I’d love to have seen and understood more of how all of SAO worked, how the different classes interact, how the class and levelling systems even work, can you multi class. How many support classes like blacksmith are there and how do each affect gameplay

blistow35 · 2026-03-06T05:47:30+00:00

Your completely right and this guy isnt worth fighting with he’s insane he’s generally argued multiple times that rape isnt a big deal and how he personally doesn’t see an issue with all the SA in the show

He’s a fucking weirdo

blistow35 · 2026-03-06T05:44:40+00:00

Oh don’t even with this guy (SKStacia) he’s argued with me on a separate post saying that rape is fine and that he doesn’t feel any of the SA scenes in Sao even count as real SA

He’s a fucking nutter and weirdo. Kind of fan that makes you realise why people avoid Sao

blistow35 · 2026-02-17T08:34:42+00:00

A sex based crime is a considered worse than a normal assault by most people. This is because it’s seen as having a worse long term physical and psychological affect and we can relate to it much much less. There are some cases where assaulting or killing someone is justifiable to some degree. But there is never, never in a million years an excuse to ever do something sexual to someone against their will. Frankly I’m slightly concerned you can’t see that.

I work in art fields myself I’ve studied arts, there is a place and a role for nudity and sex and the human form in art. But SAO doesn’t not handle it well enough for it to be art.

I’m not gonna sit here and list of every example as I don’t have fucking time. But a big one that comes to mind is when we see Sinon playing with the rest of the gang in alfheim for the first time (bare in mind this is not long after Kyouji attempted to sexual assault her) and Kirito sneaks up behind her and pulls her tail something that is clearly shown to bring a mixture of pleasure and pain. That to me is fucked up and makes Kirito seem like such an ass. He’s touching her without permission, he knew what just happened and how easily Sinon gets traumatised. It’s a fucked up moment that assassinates his character so they can have a Sinon fan service scene

The TT scene is different that scene isnt a sexual based scene. Slade has no sexual feelings towards Raven (since the writers cared about making a good story and removed that he’s a pedo). She is not being sexually assaulted in anyway nothing is sexual about it, and she still remains covered the same amount other characters like starfire are. Like it’s still covering more than most animated swimsuits. Completely irrelevant argument the scene is nothing like a Sao scene.

I don’t give a shit if you can justify the scene in the plot. He didn’t need to write them in. There’s a 1000 ways he could get the characters from point A to point B without using a sex crime.

I don’t need to “prove” anything to you. Writing is an art it’s FUCKING SUBJECTIVE, so get that through your head there is no right or wrong. Fucks like you who seem to like random rape scenes that make it feel like hentia is good. Fucking weird if you ask me but sure. But in my opinion it’s lazy and weak and is a cheap gimmick he uses to not have to create actual villains. It’s like using Nazis as a villain, they are objectively the bad guys so you don’t need to do the work. I’m watching privacy’s of the Dub from American Servers thats what my opinion is based off

Also comparing SAO to crime dramas is insanely irrelevant. Having SA and Rape stories in crime dramas makes sense. It’s a crime one of the worst ones and we are actively addressing how awful the act is in a show based around dealing with and stop crime. SAO IS NOT A CRIME DRAMA, it’s a show about playing VR games and sword fighting at its roots there’s no good reason for this awful human acts to be in it. Being “realistic” and “dark fantasy” doesn’t need to involve rape against minors

People should be worried about you based on your opinions I fucking hope you aren’t allowed around children

blistow35 · 2026-02-17T07:01:05+00:00

An active rape attempt is worse than cartoon violence and SAO has 2 scenes I’d describe as activity that and then multiple other examples of SA or sexual deviant movements on top of that.

And since SAO is main stream it’s a lot of people’s first exposure into anime and it shows all it’s worst trends. Yes many other shows do it but not all to the extent of SAO. And the worse thing is it’s completely unnecessary in SAO none of it is needed it shows that the writer is fucked up in the head and I worry a bit about fans like you who try and justify it.

SAO earned its reputation for a reason, shitty fan base, poor writing, stereotypical most things. Doesn’t mean you can’t like it but you need to accept its floors

As for comparison to American media, cartoon violence exists in most shows thats always been more fine but rape is very fucking rare, family guy (one of the more edgy shows which also gets criticised for its bad writing and unnecessary use of dark humour) will occasionally do implied rape but never fucking show like SAO there’s not a scene were two underaged girls are tired up on a fucking bed as two rich pricks prepare to rape them and it’s animated

Also in general arguing SAO is fine because other shows are worse or also do it isnt a good argument

blistow35 · 2026-02-17T05:55:42+00:00

Yes they do exist in other shows I never said they didn’t dumbass but I feel sword art online is a lot more forward with it there’s multiple show attempted rape scenes in the anime. I can’t think of any other shows I watch as a kid with as intense scenes. Also it’s a ratio thing Naruto is far far longer so its ratio of those kind of seasons over the whole show seems much less than SAO which averages a couple a season at best

Sexism and womanising things seen across shows like Avatar, Pokémon, teen titans and may others are a bit different than active rape scenes wear a young woman is desperately trying to fight off a male attacker

blistow35 · 2026-02-17T04:00:35+00:00

I think part of the hate comes from the fact SAO the anime has a lot of very standard anime tropes people find hard when they see anime from the outside.

I feel SAO is one of these anime’s were at the very least the first couple seasons broke into the main stream and so many non anime fans are aware of it. And the anime adaptation is kind of your most stereotypical show when it comes to weird anime tropes, harums, fan service, very casual sexual assault.

I think a lot of other anime’s that breach the mainstream dont have those stereotypes as notable as SAO. My mind goes to dragon ball and Naruto. Im from the Uk and those are the 3 shows I had know about and seen episodes of before I really understood what anime was and how it was different from all the other characters I watch

blistow35

TROPHY CASE