Accel World - Review

It's always fun to see how people envision the future to be like. With the possibilities of technology continuing to increase, it's no wonder many individuals have their minds set on a technologically-driven future. Focusing on a rapidly-rising feature in the gaming community, Accel World seeks to depict what it means to take the "virtual" out of "virtual reality", albeit at a limited level. If one's life were to revolve around a video game, what would it be like? Let's see the results of this interesting premise.

Art (7/10)
I'll be honest here. I really dislike Haruyuki's character design. It's not so much that he's fat, but more so because he's so disproportionate to the other characters. Given that he's the essentially the poster boy for the anime, this isn't a good impression to give. But aside from that, I thought all the other character designs looked quite nice, although they were a bit on the plain side. The background details of the show were on about the same level. The most memorable animation aspect was definitely the battle scenes, which should be expected from an anime of this nature. For the most part, the animation for the fast-paced fights filled with flashy attacks was smooth and of decent quality.

Characters (8/10)
Let's first take a look at the main male protagonist of the story, Arita Haruyuki, whose character has managed to more or less evenly divide viewers into two distinct groups of fans and haters. On the surface, he is indeed different from the usual anime characters—fat, short, and whiny are just a few of the negative adjectives that have been used to describe him. And while people are entitled to their opinion, isn't judging a character based on his/her appearance a bit superficial? Upon further analysis of Haruyuki, you can see that he grows a lot throughout the series. Although his transformation is not so much a 180-degree turn, that is what makes it realistic. The other characters also display signs of growth as the series progressed. Through the difficulties and trials they experienced—including battles with past demons and encounters with antagonists—all the major characters ended up noticeably changing for the better.

Sound (7/10)
For the most part, shōnen anime are rarely driven by great BGM pieces or talented seiyū—and Accel World is not an exception. Both the aforementioned aspects did their jobs well, but not to the point where they were memorable. For me, I found that the OP and ED were the best parts of the show in terms of sound, but that's not really saying much. All four tracks are upbeat to a certain extent, sharing a common synth feel. Everything was quite average overall.

Story (6/10)
The idea itself was promising; integrating gaming elements into anime generally produces good results as quite a number of viewers are also gamers. However, execute it unsuccessfully and you have a subpar story at best. Although learning all about the Accelerated World, Brain Burst, and like was interesting at first, it soon got to the point where things started getting either repetitive or uninteresting. Overall, the story moved at a slower pace than I expected, and at times, felt bland and boring. However, it did have its moments in which it was able to earn my praise. Nonetheless, the slow pace of the story, in my opinion, is what hurt its score the most.

Overall (7/10)
Accel World is really just your typical shōnen anime. You get your typical "weak at first, strong at the end" protagonist, a bunch of high-octane battles, and some good dialogue. If that's your cup of tea, then by all means give it a try. But if not, I'd suggest giving some thought before watching this show—24 episodes is quite the time investment—though that's not to say it's a bad show. When it comes down to it, the enjoyability of all shows comes down to the viewer, some more so than others.