... is phrase Ive heard a lot even before this movie was announced. I was skeptical of the claim but wishful regardless since Sword Art Online had one of the coolest concepts that anyone who played games would love. Im happy to say that so far the claim holds true. What does this movie cover? This movie covers the first half of volume 1 of Sword Art Online: Progressive which only covers floor 1 of the series. A big flaw of Aincrad in the original series was the pacing of the story being way too fast. Numerous time skips made what was suppose to be a big adventure feel like a rushed story that jumped between whatever it sees fit. Progressive fixes this issue by having each volume of the light novel roughly adapt 1 floor of Aincrad. Would that make the pacing way too slow? Perhaps if you are looking for an adventure that is relatively shorter but the big appeal of SAO was that this was the new reality they had to live through and seeing them trudge through life or death situations in a super interesting world was very alluring. Is Kirito the main character again? Not exactly. At least for this part of Progressive the main spotlight this time around is Asuna. As someone who was never a big fan of Asuna Im very glad the movie was able to make me like her. In the original series she just seemed like a love interest Kirito picks up because he can. In this movie however we are able to get the perspective of what she was experiencing in the early stages of Aincrad. Quick side note: Im very glad they cut out the fan service. SAO is already notorious for being trashy and having fan service on top of it would just make it not only not needed but even worse. The other 2 main characters include Kirito and Mito an animeoriginal character. Mito was a nice addition to the cast of the series being the skilled and confident character who cares for Asunas wellbeing in the game. Unlike Kirito she is not an overpowered and perfect being shes someone who has flaws and people can relate to. As for Kirito Im not actually going to give him any flack in this movie. He is much more likable than in the main series cutting out the Im an edgy bEaTeR and making him way more normal. His interactions with Asuna are good no girl is flaunting over him and he isnt unfairly OP. Of course this is due to the story cutting out a lot of his floor 1 screen time and only focusing on the times when he first encounters Asuna as well as it not adapting up to when he becomes a full edge lord but it still gives him a pass. Also the sheath scene was hilarious. Animation and Sound Studios A1 Pictures Its what you expect from an SAO project by A1 Conclusion This movie was a great retelling of the beginning story of Sword Art Online. Not only making me like all the characters but also making me excited for whats to come. One change Progressive does that the anime did not do is at the end of the boss fight Just that little change made me like it 10x more than before. Not only that but it allows us to see how they actually develop after the boss fight rather than time skipping to a random floor and them magically having a past we havent seen. With another movie confirmed to release in 2022https://anilist.co/anime/140999/SwordArtOnlineProgressiveKurakiYuuyaminoScherzo/ Im glad to say I am excited for another SAO movie where it will adapt floor 2 and not skip floors..... is what Id like to say. However it appears that they will be adapting the 4th volume of Progressivehttps://twitter.com/saowikia/status/1455189234449592334 which takes place during floor 5. Maybe they will go back and adapt the previous volumes after that movie but that would mean they skipped content to get there. Worrisome? Definitely but at least Aria of a Starless Night was great.