The anime condensed story material down to fit the time they had.  The second half of each season seemed to be condensed even more than the first half.

Grimgar is pretty good.

Lots of ass, too.

Clannad was awesome. I just dropped it when I started Afterstory. Can't figure out why but I just couldn't do it

My favorite is FLCL. Imagine that show as your 1st anime. Completely hooked me.

This, right there (in the feels ).

I really enjoyed the tone and pacing of that one.



The soundtrack was the only thing that felt a little off.



 

I need to rewatch FLCL.  I don't think I fully appreciated it the first time through.



Do yourself a favor (?) and finish After Story sometime, especially if it hasn't been spoiled for you.  The second half is where everything comes together beautifully.



 

Very true, could barely stand it.

You might try Log Horizon.

Lol

SAO was Ok in my book... Not great. Not bad.  I'm not a huge fan of it... just sort of indifferent.  Didn't bother with the second one in the gun MMO.  I liked .Hack//SIGN way back in the day.  None of the "stuck in an MMO" type shows since .Hack//SIGN have really struck a cord with me like .Hack//SIGN did. Though Log Horizon was pretty good... but I still haven't finished it.

SAO has pretty good characters, that's what set it aside from others like it.

There are a shit ton of "stuck in an MMORPG" anime out there.

It ain't the same with a loyal woman like Asuna making it for me

That makes sense. I was honestly shocked when they made it out of Aincrad halfway through the first season. It was a bit disappointing, really, since those first few episodes were my favorite. I love it when Kirito casually does something totally badass.

The PK guild early on. The dragon. The dual wielding boss fight. Learning illusion magic in Alfheim. Fighting the general. The end fight in the Alfheim arc.

I thought the Excalibur arc was pretty weak, but the Mother's Rosario arc was excellent. That's the first time a subbed foreign language show has left me sobbing like a child.

I'm happy to hear that they're going back to revisit Aincrad in the next arcs. Hopefully they bring back the feel of that first half season.

 
???




Unless you've heard something I haven't, the inevitable season 3 will start to cover the Alicization arc, which takes place in yet another game, and which Kawahara is still writing.




Progressive is a series of novels he's writing in addition to the main SAO story and Accel World, in which the Aincrad arc is covered floor-by-floor.  Volume 4, covering the 5th floor, is due out October 25.




If Progressive ever gets a proper anime adaptation, I think it will do for SAO what Brotherhood did for FMA, but I kind of have my doubts that the author can see it through to the end, at least at his current pace and level of detail.


 

The first season is the Aincrad arc and Fairy Dance arc. To fit the Fairy Dance arc into the time they had left in the first season, they completely cut a section of the story that was the setup for the later Excalibur (titled as Caliber, in the source text) arc.  

The second season starts with the GGO (futuristic science fiction gun MMORPG game) arc, then moves on to the short Excalibur arc and Mother's Rosario.

In the novels, SAO volume 1 starts off with the events of episode 1 of the first season and goes to the point that Kirito clears the game and wakes up in the hospital, but it leaves out the material from the episodes where the girls are introduced.  As I recall, Asuna isn't introduced until Kirito makes the deal for her to cook the rabbit, and she is described as someone he had previously talked to in the raid planning meetings.

SAO volume 2 is a collection of short stories that fill in some of the blanks in volume 1, and are essentially the story material for some of the first season's episodes that were not covered in volume 1.  Volume 8 is another collection of short stories that fills in a few more blanks, and also includes Caliber (Excalibur).  The material for episode 2 of the first season, was originally part of a short story that was released on the web, then later incorporated into the first half of SAO: Progressive volume 1.

This jumping around is the biggest problem with trying to read the original Aincrad arc, leaving you with the options of either reading it in the order published and accepting the broken continuity, or making a list of the chronological order of the story, then jumping back and forth between a few novels, reading the sections in chronological order.  The fact that the author agreed (probably forced, by the publisher) to write SAO: Progressive in chronological order is astounding.

SAO volume 3 and 4 are the Fairy Dance arc (second half of the first season of the anime).

SAO volume 5 and 6 are the GGO arc (first half of the second season of the anime).

SAO volume 7 is Mother's Rosario (included in the second half of the second season of the anime, along with Caliber/Excalibur).


There are various short stories and doujinshi that the author released separate from the novels, that aren't required reading, but are nice little extras.  The argument between Asuna and Kirito at a planning meeting (then Kirito and Agil are talking out side, after the meeting) in the first season of the anime, is from one of those doujinshi (Material Edition 1: "The Progressors").  In the full story of that argument, Klein eggs the argument on until Asuna challenges Kirito to a duel.

 
Dammit, I could have gone but decided against it.  I think they only recently released the full schedule, and there was nothing on the earlier schedule that interested me, so I didn't pre-register.


I saw all the Aniplex/SAO stuff on Friday/Saturday this morning, and the artist who did the mech designs for the Macross series is doing a panel on Sunday.


I already committed to a match on Saturday and I'm not splitting the weekend up given the 2.5-hour drive to Raleigh.

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Watching the "new" Gundam Unicorn and I cannot get over a how much of a whiney little bitch Banagher is.
Mikazuki was the best protagonist the series has had in a long time.
All of the whiney prevent wars bullshit got so old.

Yes, please.







 

If my memory isn't off, the SAO: Aincrad manga follows the story material of volume 1 of the SAO novels fairly closely (doesn't include the extra material from volumes 2 and 8).

The SAO: Progressive manga follows the  story material of the SAO: Progressive novels, but not as closely as the Aincrad manga followed SAO volume 1.  The Progressive manga spends a little more time on Asuna and how she views things, and gives Argo the Rat a bit more story time (Argo was completely left out of the anime), than in the novels.  A few events are also rewritten, to simplify explaining some background information of what is happening.  It skips the material that is covered in the Aincrad manga, so it would be best to read both.  I don't know how far the Progressive manga has gotten (I think I've read less than half of what has been translated), but the Progressive novels have still only covered four floors of the Aincrad 'death game'.


Reading SAO volume 1, or the SAO: Aincrad manga, is like watching the first episode of the first season of the anime, then skipping to episode 8 and watching through to episode 10, then skipping to episodes 13 and 14.

Episode 2 is covered in the first half of SAO: Progressive volume 1 (and covered in the SAO: Progressive manga, if I'm not mistaken).

Episodes 3, 4, 7, 11, and 12 are covered in SAO volume 2.

Episodes 5, and 6 are covered in SAO volume 8 (the Yen Press translation is due to be released later this year).

If you have a series you really enjoyed but haven't seen recently, I'd recommend going back and rewatching it. Surprising how many things I've forgotten about FMA

I do that, periodically.  Re-watching Hamatora, currently.

FMA: The Sacred Star of Milos is a decent movie if you haven't seen it.  On Netflix.

No, that's probably me misreading the information in this thread and assuming that progressive would get an anime adaptation.

Now I'm disappointed.

 
Even with my shit-tier cooking skills, this still came out pretty good.


The marinade would be damn good on burgers.

 
False alarm.

There has been some noise about possibly, maybe, not going to rule it out, if everything works out, it could happen, there being a third season of A Certain Magical Index.

At least it sounds more positive than a second season of Highschool of the Dead.  

Wanted to try it and had to go to the store this morning so...

Driving home, I realized I had forgotten one of the ingredients that I needed for the marinade.  Oh, well.  I've probably got something I can substitute.

Get home and start putting groceries away...

"Crap!!!  I didn't buy any meat."

Maybe I can hit the store in the morning, before they get too busy.

Index, and railgun were both good...hmmmm.  About time to re-watch both, actually.  Lulz.

Yep.  I read fan translations of some of the novels (been buying the licensed translations as they are released), but managed to miss sections of the story (incomplete translations, or couldn't find a translation of a volume).

The licensed translations of the novels are currently part way through the story material of season 2 up to the end of the story material of season 1 of the anime, if I'm not mistaken (another reason to go back and watch it again).  Something like 35 volumes released in Japan (6 volumes translated and released in the US), so the anime won't be running out of story material for quite a while.

How do twin tails pass through a helmet?  

Amazon Prime has Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, FYI (Attack on Titan with zombies?)

Hory Froating Head demands I buy merchandise, so I have just ordered Arcadia's reissue of the 1/60 VF-4G. Yes, it's nearly $300... but I don't care.

Always liked the music from the particular show

My favorite anime is Cory in the House.

Yep. So much better. No angst. No whining. Mika doesn't give a shit about that. All he cares about is his "family" - Tekkadan and the Turbines, and anyone that tries to hurt them is in a world of pain.

I just watched all of Evangelion....


I don't even...


This was supposed to be a mecha show about aliens invading.

Trigger is killing it this season. I'm really enjoying Kiznaiver, and Space Patrol Luluco is basically the greatest thing ever.

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