I kinda liked SAO.

I went through a phase where I believed that this anime is really good, being one of the recent anime that got me interested as a once-casual viewer. Then the second half came.

Part of the complaints from most people about SAO is its sloppy narrative—and this is especially evident in the anime when they time-skipped A LOT. A good opportunity to flesh out the concept with the world of Aincrad went to flames after watching all these slice-and-life and overly melodramatic brouhaha fillers that never made any effect to develop the characters nor the world.

Now, granted that SAO: Progressive does NOT answer all of the technicalities of the game world (How do they take a shit?), it does a job that is leagues better than what the original content might have given.

Sword Art Online: Progressive is a light novel series intended as a reboot to the SAO franchise as a whole, written by Reki Kawahara, the author for the SAO light novels. Progressive returns to the original Sword Art Online VRMMORPG and significantly redoes everything about the whole Aincrad arc. It was adapted into a manga, which is still ongoing, and the one I'm going to make a preliminary review of.

We are given the similar canon introduction as the original, where people get stuck in a virtual reality world, blah blah blah. However, readers will be quickly able to note how Progressive will take a different path by introducing us to the perspective of one of the most wasted potentials in character arc history: Asuna Yuuki.

The first few chapters suffer from a few hiccups here and there, because aside from one notable new character introduction it still feels like Kirito is the same overpowered walking deus ex machina in the original. The next chapters soon turn this around, and I must say, the change in focus to more on Asuna grants a fresher approach to the world of SAO.

Since the plot does not offer huge time-skips, it's superior in pacing and narrative, and while this story is generally predictable because, duh, this is a reboot but is still more of a plot expansion with the SAO arc, there are some small twists and turns that make you compelled to continue reading, surprising you with how minor differences may be, they still make up a huge role for forming SAO into what it is currently, and what it could have been.

One of the problems in the original SAO is how they dealt with deaths and game mechanics. I recall seeing how dark it can be at one point in the story, then by the next episode we have too much lightheartedness that is a terrible contrast. Progressive handles these fun moments and grim scenes much better, when the stakes are definitely high when it needs to be. Kirito may be an overpowered prick, but with good reason—similar to how you play RPGs, as you grind, you get better, and while Kirito has that advantage of being a beta tester, Progressive actually doesn't go to such lengths and shows that he can get in trouble as well.

On the topic of game mechanics, the system of Aincrad is explained with more detail and actually make sense: of course, I hope this continues until the crucial point in Floor 75 when they face off against Kayaba, where Kirito's sudden hax is put with good reason and not some pointless "Oh-No-It's-A-Bug" thing.

Comedy scenes are much better, too, and the cliched tropes of belligerent sexual tension are played with good effect, save for some parts. Overall, though, I find it funnier with how much different the characters' iterations are from the original SAO and how it is played to be their strengths to have greater complement to the plot.

Speaking of characters, Asuna has become the Asuna everyone wanted—the Asuna who isn't a lowly tsundere damsel-in-distress, and her foil and chemistry with Kirito's character had me double-checking if this was really SAO I was reading. Everything is handled smoothly that their budding romance does not become just like some sort of obligatory subplot unlike SAO had. Asuna gets significant screentime for being a character who is much like Kirito's equal in terms of skill and a love interest who can actually stand on her own.

That being said, Kirito is done in ALL THE RIGHT WAYS this time. He breathes more like a typical character (granted that OG Kirito was also cliche, but there are just some things about him that makes him look too much like the second coming of Jesus), and is a badass. Sure, there is still that vibe of "I'm-A-Main-Character-That-Is-So-Good-And-All" kinda thing running within him, but it isn't shoved into our faces much like the other one.

Much props to the other characters, especially the new character Argo, who is a great addition to the cast. Agil and Kibaou have more involvement and did not turn out to be mere plot devices who pop in and out.

The art in this manga is great, because it retains the original look with the characters. What I usually don't like about manga adaptations is that the character designs go way off compared to their anime designs, and takes a little bit of getting used to. Progressive is more or less similar to the art style of the anime and the light novels.

Also, I am going ahead and saying it.

The action scenes in this manga top that of the anime.

Sure, there's no motion, but there is the compelling beauty of danger in the fight scenes that triggers your mind to fill out the movement within your imagination. One scene that comes into mind is the battle with the first boss—and the dialogue and illustrations it had with the fight had the anime running for its money. It FELT like an MMORPG, where there are leaders that instruct the players to make formations in order to figure out boss patterns—which I felt was lacking in the anime. I don't know if the original SAO light novels had those parts, but I am glad I'm seeing this in Progressive.

The only flaws I see in this manga are that 1) I guess to get maximum enjoyment out of this, you need to know how terrible the original content is. Sure, it is not the worst anime, out there, but it is pretty mediocre at best. 2) It takes some background of gaming in order to understand some terminologies—since Progressive is more in-depth, they tend to use more video game logic to get some points through. 3) Some fanservice moments were really offbeat and I believe were not necessary, but hey, if it's Asuna, I'll take it. I just wish they'd reduce those scenes though. And the fourth flaw...

At the time of this preliminary review, the manga series nor the light novels of Progressive are not over yet. It still has grounds to be as worse as its original parent story, but seeing the major amount of differences this reboot has done in comparison to SAO, I have my hopes up, for this is how Sword Art Online should have been in the first place.

Also, the Aincrad world has 100 floors to finish. And hey, heads up, it's only the fourth volume of the light novels so far...that covers the fifth floor. I have a theory on how the narrative will proceed, but that's another story.

In conclusion, Sword Art Online: Progressive is not a guaranteed must-read but it sure as hell is it recommendable. It fixes a lot of mistakes of the original iteration and becomes far larger in scale. But then again, we have to thank the anime for its creation.