Drama Digest
One of the most complex and satisfying storytelling, bringing one of the best of its franchise, is SAO: Alicization – War of Underworld (S2).
The last battle against the Dark Territory carries on its final lap in the Under-world.
The Human Realm is also brought into chaos. Starting from the depths of the Under-world to the labyrinth of conspiracies, this show is the epic finale to Akihiko Kayaba’s dream of bringing to life human artificial intelligence. A world is collapsing with every strike, only Kirito, and his allies can protect it from succumbing to the darkness of the game and its players.
The Feel-Good Part
This season transcends between the virtual and real-world with more satisfying ease. This show has beautifully capitalized on the themes, it wished to portray including, identity, loyalty, and love. The war here is not just one side dominating the other in the form of victory, but rather it emphasizes why the characters fight with their lives on the line.
As the story progresses, with each arc, a new and different revelation is brought to light that makes the drama interesting. In an already complex story, comprising of war and inner turmoils going on, when the threat of government is thrown in, the original stakes get raised very high again. The Portrayal of emotions by the characters, and the understanding of their roles, on why they act, fight the way they do makes the viewers empathize and get invested in each of their journeys. Chemistry and bond between the characters, with everything happening around warms the heart, on how they don’t forget each other and the fundamental reason of their existence as the fight continues.
The Disappointing Factor
Some scenes may feel pointless and make you question why is this even happening? Why were these rules even made? Why was the project not terminated when things started going wrong?
It would have been a little better if the fangirling scenes with all the girls ( maybe except Alice) going crazy behind the protagonist that has nothing to do with the actual storyline.
In-Depth Analysis
Kirito is the black swordsman who stepped into the virtual world of the franchise from the very start of the beginning, which also makes him the most integral part of the Underworld arc. In this season, following its previous, Kirito is a vegetable,i.e., he’s in a coma state fighting his demons. As he is the protagonist too, it makes the viewers wonder whether he’ll ever wake up to normalcy and go back to being who he was before this unfortunate event. It is revealed later, when he reawakens to fight for the good, battling against the Prince of Hell: Vassago. He soon reunites with his friends to fight, and conquers his demons as the memories grew longer showing his despair but somewhere within him, he found a way to prove that anyone can overcome anything in the SAO world.
The second part gets directly into the mainland of chaos with the characters viewers are already familiar with. We are once again introduced to Sinon, Leafa, Lisbeth, Klein, and Silica and their journey through the underworld. While Kirito’s well-wishers are repairing his fluctlight, which is similar to a human soul. Kirito’s fluctlight has shot-circuited, due to which he fell into a coma.
Alice is the only name he remembers even after drowning into another realm away from his while he was working on a test in the Rath, even later Alice is the one by his side when the Dark Territory starts invading the human realm. Further, the reunion between Asuna and Kirito is another example of themes this show wished to solidify.
There are many triumphant yet sorrowful moments, but the tragedy, instead of being back with fear, is supported by resolve, which works to enhance their personality. SAO: War of Underworld s2 also has its piece of betrayals, especially of Yanni.
Star Power
The characters provide a graceful performance carrying with them a tinge of every flavor this genre could ever give at its best.
Overall Opinion
With multiple threads blending to weave one journey, this show may not be perfect, but it certainly has managed to evade a disastrous launch from the beginning, unlike its predecessor.
