Sword Art Online (Part 2)

In the previous post, we discussed concepts such as Focalization and Appropriation. In this post, let's discuss the Fidelity of the Anime Adaptation of Sword Art Online Light Novel (LN) Series. 

For the most part, Anime is loyal to the LN. Most of the episodes closely follow the novel. Amongst the few minor differences, scenes like Kirito's Excursion with Knights of Blood having a fourth character in the LN (excluded in the Anime), and scenes following the Gleaming Eyes battle have some tweaks in the Anime. These were mainly done to fit the time restrictions. A considerable amount of lines and phrases were cut.

Although both the Light Novel and its anime adaptation have a similar plot, the Light Novel went into a lot more depth into the MMORPG world's aspects, whereas the Anime is more of a fantasy series. Further, LN does a better job of showing Asuna's strengths as a fighter and her stubbornness, compared to the Anime where she comes off as a really fluffy heroine.

In some scenes, the way the protagonists overcome the game's programming's limitations felt like a deus ex machina, just like in the Anime Adaptation. In other words, most of the flaws attributed to the anime trace directly back to the source material.

-Pavan Kumar Reddy Yannam
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