I decided to give the Aincard manga a read after finishing the two light novel volumes that made up this arc. While for the light novels I'd give this arc a 6/10 (Have yet to read Progressive), the manga adaptation on the other hand is brought down by the horrendous art.

The story itself there's not much for me to say, it's an adaptation of Vol. 1 of the light novels with a side story from Vol. 2 (Yui's chapter) as well. This is why characters like Lisbeth and Silca don't appear, Sachi's backstory isn't expanded upon, nor do we see any of the other floors expanded upon before floor 74. Not much for me to say here as that would turn this review into a review of the arc itself which is not what I want to focus on.

The art is the main problem here. It feels very amateur and doesn't fit the tone at all. Kirito and Asuna look like they came out a 'How to Draw Shoujo Manga" book and other characters range from ok (Heathcliff and Agil) to horrible (Klein and Yui), backgrounds are meh, and the action scenes are 'ok?' I guess, but could be way better. The quality of the art when compared to the LN's art is a huge downgrade and make it really hard to enjoy this manga. In fact, when compared to the art of the later arcs' manga adaptations, the poor quality of the art here really stands out.

In conclusion, the art is the main problem here. Story-wise it adapts Vol. 1 accurately, but the art makes it a hard read, if you wanted my opinion I'd say go read the novels or watch the anime (Though the quality of the anime I have no opinion of as of yet since I have yet to watch it).