Sword Art Online II: Sword Art Offline II

Sword Art Offline II / そーどあーと・おふらいんつー / SAO 2 Specials / SAO II Specials

Genres: Comedy
Studios: I was a Ballerina
Producers: Aniplex
Licensors: Aniplex of America
Rating: 6.61 / 10
Rank: #6609
Popularity: #2941
Users Listed: 66,449
Users Scored: 26,711
NSFW: No
Last Updated: 04/09/2022
Aired: October 22, 2014 – June 24, 2015 (Fall)
Type: special
Source: Light Novel
Age Rating: PG 13
Episodes: 9

Synopsis:

In a secluded, technologically advanced coastal town, young Ren struggles to connect with others, finding solace only in meticulously crafting intricate clockwork automatons. His quiet existence is disrupted by the arrival of Akari, a spirited newcomer who challenges his solitary nature and unveils a hidden history within the town's gleaming facades. As they explore forgotten archives and unravel cryptic clues embedded in old machinery, Ren and Akari become entangled in a mystery surrounding the town’s founders and a suppressed technological innovation. The series explores themes of isolation versus connection, the burden of legacy, and finding purpose amidst intricate systems – both mechanical and human. It presents a contemplative atmosphere with detailed world-building and character-driven narratives, focusing on the gradual unfolding of secrets rather than high-octane action.

Episodes:

Episode 1: Sword Art Offline Two 1 (Aired: 10/22/2014)
Episode 2: Sword Art Offline Two 2 (Aired: 11/26/2014)
Episode 3: Sword Art Offline Two 3 (Aired: 12/24/2014)
Episode 4: Sword Art Offline Two 4 (Aired: 01/28/2015)
Episode 5: Sword Art Offline Two 5 (Aired: 02/25/2015)
... and 4 more episodes

Characters:

Asada, Shino (Main) - Voice Actors: Sawashiro, Miyuki
Kirigaya, Kazuto (Main) - Voice Actors: Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu, Keller, Patrick
Konno, Yuuki (Main) - Voice Actors: Yuuki, Aoi, Hise, Nicole
Yuuki, Asuna (Main) - Voice Actors: Tomatsu, Haruka
Ayano, Keiko (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Hidaka, Rina
Kirigaya, Suguha (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Taketatsu, Ayana
Shinozaki, Rika (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Takagaki, Ayahi
Yui (Supporting) - Voice Actors: Itou, Kanae

Staff:

Kawahara, Reki (Original Creator)

Reviews:

User CabernetRose (Score: 4/10):
Just like the original Sword Art Offline, I found the specials to be incredibly boring and hard to sit through. The humour is so forced it isn't funny, and the same predictable things happen - they show some clip of Kirito getting harassed by girls, then they harass him more. Movements of the characters are few and very repetitive, and it doesn't feel like they're actually adding much content at all, except for some technical trivia (eg. Kirito talking about the types of guns and how they work). I found that the general atmosphere was very awkward and scripted, not natural at all.
User Eoussama (Score: 6/10):
Would you look at that, more opportunities to mental, and physically abuse Kirito. I guess the trope has gotten old already with the first Sword Art Offline shorts, this one is nothing special; aside from the season 2 related content. More than the first one, they tried to capitalize on the feminine Kirito joke for almost all of re shorts, the jokes got old but remained present throughout, that Is to say, they were funny at first, but really dude? Huh, who am I kidding, a series milking a dead cow would go to such lows. I wish they included more characters like Klein and Agil, the reoccurringgirls came to grow old, I guess, except for Asuna, the hostess, but damn, Sinon was just unbearable in this one.
User Shirogari (Score: 3/10):
Sword art offline II follows the same format as the two previous iterations as Sword art offline, it is a chibi newsshow that reviews scenes from the main anime and is mainly about the romance aspect of the anime. The story is a newsshow about the entire second season in which scenes are reviewed and talked about. It conists of the same 5 elements as before namely: news headline, trivia, playback corner, viewers questions and slot talk. Trivia is still interesting and there are two segments of it now which is neat. The other sections are all not interesting and focus on the romance which isn'tthe anime's strongest point. The humor is supposed to be a big part of this special but overall it's plain bad. nnThe characters are the relevant characters from season 2 of SAO. nnThe animation is about as poor as it gets with chibi characters that stand still and talk. In the playback corner scenes of the main anime are shown and those are okay quality but this isn't a big part of this special. The voice acting is fine and done by the original voice actors and the music is remeniscent of a newsshow but otherwise not worth mentioning. nnOverall this special definitely isn't worth watching. Aside from the trivia it doesn't really add anything to the anime and can be considered a very poor recap. If you love the romance dynamics in the anime, think it's funny if kirito gets hurt or liked the previous iterations of sword art offline then you might like this but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

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Related Anime/Manga:

Sword Art Online: Sword Art Offline - Extra Edition (anime - Prequel)
Sword Art Online II (anime - Parent Story)