The show begins with a player being stuck in a Virtual Reality (VR) game, having to play it to completion in order to return to physical world with his life. However, we learn that protagonist does not care about reality and he is not feeling attached to it. He plays the game well precisely because it is literally his life, as a perfect escape from reality. By episode 15 the game is concluded and surviving players return to reality. Protagonist then immediately re-enters another VR game (made as remake of the original one) with his old account hence starting the game with advanced skills and powerups from previous game, being literally the strongest player. Guess if he wins the game again? Of course he does! And IMHO the only redeeming quality of the first season is that protagonist finds his love in the game, whom he later meets in real life hence finally getting something to live for.
The mediocre story would not be particularly good if not for its movie continuation. In fact, if the first season is worth watching at all, then it is for preparation for a movie where the story develops into something interesting:
After spending years on hospital bed in coma (while his mind played VR game), protagonist struggles to adjust to reality. How does he cope with VR addiction, physical rehabilitation and other issues? He plays another game, this time an augmented reality game where he have to move his physical body so he is not the strongest player any more and his game performance is average. That 3rd game portrayed in the movie is impressive and within the reach of current (or near future) technology. Yet protagonist resents it and even makes a philosophical case against augmented reality with university professor, explaining that unlike VR games that let you experience different worlds, augmented reality games are worse because they spoil the reality. IMHO that makes the movie worth watching as it have everything to satisfy viewer -- action, drama, romance, story, philosophy, good questions, impressive visuals and interesting concept of the game.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/11757/Sword_Art_Online https://myanimelist.net/anime/31765/Sword_Art_Online_Movie__Ordinal_Scale
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