The Sword Art Online anime adaptation is hated amongst Light Novel fans for a number of reasons. First, Studio A-1 Pictures forced them to be in a chronological order for the anime, which made everything a mess, including getting the scenes and characterization wrong along with rushing things up. For instance, the adaptation of Alicization deleted many Kirisuna sequences to include more “harem-y” scenes and they screwed up Kirito’s characterization by portraying a typical edgy OP main character with a harem.
However, what the anime did get right is emphasizing the distance between Kirito and Asuna from the very beginning. Initially, Kirito didn’t have feelings for Asuna like the way he developed later on and moved onto different teams, separating himself from her company. But as Kirito fought enemies with Asuna by his side, things got a bit mushy and the rest was history.
How the anime fixed Kirito X Asuna portrayal from the Light Novel
The story of Sword Art Online was originally short and could be contained in a single volume. It mainly focused on certain aspects, such as Kirito and Asuna’s relationship, but later on, original creator Reki Kawahara expanded by writing several side stories in the Aincrad arc (Liz and Silica’s introductions, Yui’s story, the moonlit black cats travesty, etc.) and moved onwards to the other arcs.
That’s why the story isn’t in chronological order. However, Studio A-1 Pictures forced them to be in a chronological order for the anime, which made everything a mess except for the portrayal of Kirito’s relationship with Asuna. According to the anime director Tomohiko Ito, A-1 Pictures decided to emphasize the initial distancing between Kirito and Asuna before Kirito began to have feelings for her.
Q: After you decided on the structure of the show, what points did you stress and insert into the scripts?
A: Awareness of the distance between Kirito and Asuna. Since Kawahara-sensei wrote them at different times, it influenced their emotions. When you re-arrange them in chronological order, their feelings shift a bit. Also, Asuna has a forceful approach when she appears in novel 1. With a novel, you can use other text like details or explanations to convey her feelings, but that’s difficult to depict in an anime. Due to that, I thought we could give a different perspective by portraying that distance between them from the very beginning.
The original Light Novel had different timelines so it was harder to show how their relationship matured over time. But the anime took the right direction and carefully showed how Kirito first saw Asuna and how that changed as he fought along side her.
Kirito wasn’t attracted to Asuna at the beginning
In the anime, Kirito and Asuna met on floor 1 in the town of Tolbana and fought Illfang the Kobolt Lord together. After they won the fight, Kirito dissolved their party, and they went their separate ways. During the 2-year timespan, Kirito distances himself from other players after clearing the first floor’s boss, due to him being identified as a “Beater” (beta tester/cheater) by people he knows from the real world.
It turns out he did this to create distance between himself and the other beta testers so they would not garner all of the hatred for having more experience than everyone else. Despite not knowing anything about Kirito at the time, Asuna was the only one who knew the kind truth behind why he did this.
He tells Asuna to go ahead and join a guild if she sees an opportunity, due to her strength. Kirito never really got to know her in the short period of time they interacted when clearing that boss, except for the fact that this was her first MMO, and that she was surprisingly talented. As the series progresses, the two of them fall in love, and after they declare their love for each other, they are only concerned for each other’s safety, hence showcasing fans anime’s idealistic portrayal of romance.
Sword Art Online is available to watch on Hulu, Crunchyroll, Crunchyroll, and Netflix.
