WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 - Results & Afterthoughts

The second stop on World Wrestling Entertainment's Road to WrestleMania XXX, Elimination Chamber, occurred last night to mixed reception from WWE fans.

I won't sugarcoat it when I say that people were PISSED when the smoke cleared and the final result set in. This has to be a record that WWE managed to piss the bulk of their fanbase off two months in a row - let alone the night before the WWE Network launches.

Pre-show match: Goldust and Cody Rhodes defeated Ryback and Curtis Axel. 

Larry “The Axe” Hennig accompanied Rybaxel to the ring. Cody Rhodes pinned Curtis Axel after a Cross Rhodes.

I didn't manage to get back home in time to check this match out last night, so forgive me that I don't have anything to say about it. I will say that was pretty cool that Larry "The Axe" Hennig accompanied Rybaxel to the ring for the match.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Big E (c) defeated Jack Swagger. 

Big E retained after hitting The Big Ending on Swagger.

I'm surprised that more people aren't giving this match more props that it deserves. This was the best match I have seen from Jack Swagger in a long time and both men don't have anything to be ashamed of here, despite the fact that the match had a few Botchamania-worthy moments.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match: The New Age Outlaws (c) defeated The Usos. 

Billy Gunn won the match with a roll-up.

I felt that this match should have been on the pre-show. I know NAO are pushing up in age, but it seemed like they were not able to keep up with The Usos speed at all. I was expecting a better finish than quick roll-up.

Titus O’Neil defeated Darren Young. 

O’Neil pinned Young after Clash of the Titus.

This match dragged out a bit too long for my taste, but I guess this was the bathroom break match of the evening. For those you watching this on the replay, this is why the fast forward button was invented for.

The Wyatt Family defeated The Shield. 

Bray Wyatt won a long, back-and-forth match for his team by pinning Roman Reigns with Sister Abigail.

This was arguably the best match of the evening, without a shadow of a doubt. Amazing match from start to finish. If you must watch one match from this PPV, watch this one.

To the people who are butthurt that The Shield lost, why are you mad? The Shield had nothing to gain here. The Wyatt Family needed the win here to secure their dominance while WWE continues to plant the seeds that The Shield is going to fall apart and split up.

Divas Championship Match: Cameron defeated AJ Lee (c). Cameron won by disqualification when Tamina interfered. 

Earlier in the match, Tamina “accidentally” kicked AJ.

I laughed so hard when AJ mocked Cameron like that. AJ went a bit overboard doing Maryse's facial expressions though...

When Tamina "accidentally" knocked out AJ, I thought we were going to see a title change (along with a LOT of pissed off AJ Lee marks...), which could have led to the Funkadactyls feuding among themselves when Naomi returns from injury. Sadly, it seems that WWE isn't going that route yet. From Tamina's accident, they could build towards a potential Fatal 4 Way at WrestleMania between reigning Divas Champion AJ Lee, Tamina, Cameron, and Naomi to see where truly all of these friendships lie when the title is up for grabs. Of course, the Funkadactyls should not have any problems, but I think WWE wants to go ahead and dissolve Tamina and AJ's partnership at this stage.

Batista defeated Alberto Del Rio. 

Batista won with a Batista Bomb. The crowd didn’t like him much.

I felt the live crowd was a bit disrespectful during this entire match. It was annoying around the start of the show and it was even more distracting during this match. Okay, okay, okay. We get that the IWC doesn't like that Batista won the Royal Rumble. What are WWE supposed to do, make a time machine and change the result? Believe it or not, there's people who was actually glad to see Batista come back. I'm not one of them, but give the guy a break. At least he's going to still be here after WrestleMania. People can give The Rock a free pass to walk in, collect that WrestleMania pay check and leave, but shit all over Batista? C'mon get the fuck out of here with that. I have said it once, I'll say it a million times. Don't get mad at the wrestlers for WWE's blunders - blame WWE Creative.

Elimination Chamber Match For The WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton (c) defeated Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Christian, Sheamus and Cesaro. 

Christian eliminated Sheamus with a splash from the top of a chamber pod. Daniel Bryan eliminated Christian with a running knee. John Cena eliminated Cesaro via submission with an STF. The Wyatt Family interfered and beat up Cena and Bryan, allowing Orton to pin and eliminate Cena. Kane made the Wyatts leave the ring, so Bryan attacked him. Bryan hit a running knee on Orton, but Kane pulled out the referee before the three. Kane continued to interfere, and Orton was able to hit two RKOs and retain the title.

This wasn't a bad Chamber match, but at the same time, it wasn't the best either. 

That being said, I'm going to restate what I posted on Facebook shortly after the event ended. 

Even though I'm still under the weather, I'm going speak up on the PPV results.
From the expressions of fans' faces after the WWE Elimination Chamber event ended to the widespread bitching that's going across my News Feed on both Facebook and Twitter, I have to say I'm NOT surprised that Daniel Bryan didn't win tonight.
From the second the match started, Cole made a point that was completely brushed underneath the rug by King and JBL, stating that Randy Orton has NEVER won a Elimination Chamber match despite having the most experience out of any other Superstar in the match.
When Sheamus and Christian got eliminated and it was down to Cesaro, Bryan, Cena, and Orton, I didn't have a slither of hope that Bryan, Cesaro, nor Cena would win here. Why you ask?
1) Someone has to take Punk's spot in the inevitable ______ vs. Triple H/other misc. Authority member at WM match. From the past few weeks of being screwed over by Kane, we can easily see that Bryan's being shoed into this role.
2) Cesaro is set to face Sami Zayn this week on NXT ArRIVAL. What sense would that match make if Zayn was instantly given a WWE World Heavyweight title match this week over everyone else? Hell, I'd pay to see it, but it would screw up WWE's plans set out so far.
3) Despite the fact of how vocal people have been against this, the landscape is looking at Orton vs. Batista to main event WM. WWE doesn't care what the IWC likes or doesn't like, they had this set up in motion since they signed Batista and allowed him to win the Rumble. Get mad at WWE Creative NOT the wrestlers, folks.
4) Cena was attacked by the Wyatts during the Rumble and the angle never went anywhere. Apparently, they are saving that encounter for WM.
After ALL of that proof, it left Orton to reign supreme.
Like I keep on saying, if you don't like it - STOP WATCHING! Don't buy the WWE Network tomorrow, stop buying tickets to the shows, don't watch WrestleMania! It's not hard to find wrestling alternatives. If you can find 5-10 wrestling forums to bitch about WWE on, then you can find some other wrestling product that caters to your interests.

Dear IWC, you had to be STUPID to think anyone but @RandyOrton was going to walk out of #WWEChamber w/ the WWE title. #DatWWEBooking Bro
— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) February 24, 2014

As far as we know, WWE might go that extra mile and pull a complete 360 on every storyline going into WrestleMania. Tonight's Monday Night RAW is set to be a blockbuster with the return of Hulk Hogan (who is confirmed as the official host for WrestleMania XXX), The Undertaker set to appear and name his WrestleMania opponent, and a rumor title change set to occur as well. WWE is supposedly pulling out all of the stops to kick off the debut of the WWE Network. Speaking of which, if you want to do a free 1-week trial, look no farther than here.

While we're on the topic of predictions for tonight's RAW broadcast, I have a few in mind:

• Roughly 2-3 different title changes tonight
• Dean Ambrose loses the United States Championship
• The New Age Outlaws lose the WWE Tag Team Championship
• Randy Orton loses the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Daniel Bryan as "damage control" -- but wins it back between now to WrestleMania

• Brock Lesnar in attendance and will name his WrestleMania opponent... 
• or... WWE will add both Lesnar and Bryan into the main event, making it a Fatal 4 Way for the WWE title. 

We don't know what to expect from here, but let's just hope that WWE doesn't fuck this up.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy World Premiere Trailer | Meet The Guardians

On Tuesday night (Feb. 18, 2014) during the Jimmy Fallon Show, marked the world premiere for the first trailer for Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Without further adieu, I share that footage with all of my loyal blog followers who may have missed it.

Many of you are possibly wondering "what does this all mean?" While there are a lot of great dissections of this initial trailer, I'll provide a few minor tidbits on what to take note of in this trailer. 

• Nova Corps - Much like DC Comics' own Green Lantern Corps, the Nova Corps are the intergalactic policemen of the Marvel Universe. It is plain as day that they will have a strong presence in this film, which in turn could lead to spin-off solo Nova film. 

• The Artifact - The one that Quill snatches at the beginning of the trailer is obvious another one of the Infinity Stones/Gems that are sought out by both The Collector and Thanos. 

• Nebula - The female shown fighting Gamora in the trailer is one of Thanos' once allies turned adversaries. Who knows what role she will play here, but I'm positive that she will be in a temporary alliance with Thanos in this film. Nebula's role will have a vital role throughout this film and others connected to Thanos. She is played by popular Doctor Who actress, Karen Gillian. 

• Ronan the Accuser - At the 1:59 mark, you see a shadowy figure one-arming Drax. Without a shadow of a doubt that's Ronan the Accuser, just by seeing what he's holding. With Ronan in this film, that means the Kree alien race will have a presence in future Marvel Cinematic films - meaning Captain Marvel and potentially leaving the door open to possibly that the Inhumans and Ms. Marvel being brought into future films.

• The Collector - He made his debut in the bonus teaser at the end of Thor: The Dark World and there is no doubt that he will be a major player in this film. He is played by Benico Del Toro. 

Meet The Guardians

I'm still skeptical of Chris Pratt playing Starlord/Peter Quill, but that's mainly I have been doing a lot of marathons of Parks and Recreation. It seems like he's playing the same type character in this trailer. Much like the Star Trek reboot, I'm hoping that this unlikely hero finds his legs by the end and makes me a believer that he can pull off the role of Starlord. 

The only thing I want from Bradley Cooper's portrayal of Rocket Raccoon is that his voice is better than the voice used for him in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. ANYTHING is better than that.

Vin Diesel finally got his wish of landing a part in a live-action Marvel film. He didn't land the part of The Vision, but at least he landed the role of Groot. I just hope he has more lines than just "I AM GROOT!" in this film. 

Dave Bautista as Drax is an excellent choice. Drax the Destroyer was a man of little words in the old Silver Surfer comics I remember him from. Batista does his best as the strong silent types, as shown in his appearances in Smallville and The Man With The Iron Fists.

You can ask anyone - I'm not particularly crazy about Zoe Saldana as an actress, but I have faith in her pulling off Gamora. If she can pull off Uhura from Star Trek, then she can pull off Gamora.

Who is Willow The Wisp? -- Jeff Hardy's "New" TNA Gimmick

The biggest news to come out of last night's Impact Wrestling broadcast (2/13/14) is the teaser video for the return of Jeff Hardy, but not as the Jeff Hardy we are used to in both WWE and Impact Wrestling... For the first time in mainstream wrestling, Jeff Hardy will debut his Willow The Wisp character from OMEGA to the broader audience. For simplicity in Impact Wrestling, it will be simply known as "Willow". 

The promotional video teaser that aired during last night's Impact Wrestling broadcast can be found below for your viewing pleasure. 

So who is Willow or rather, Willow The Wisp?

Before arriving in the WWF, Matt formed his own wrestling promotion, the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA) with Thomas Simpson. The promotion was a more successful version of the original TWF (Trampoline Wrestling Federation) and included talent such as both Hardy brothers, Shannon Moore, Gregory Helms, Joey Matthews, and Steve Corino, among others. In OMEGA, each of the brothers portrayed several different characters; Jeff Hardy portrayed such characters as Iceman, Mean Jimmy Jack Tomkins, The Masked Mountain, and especially Willow the Wisp.

My personal take on the character was that it was the "dark side" of Jeff Hardy. In OMEGA, it was Jeff Hardy's means of stepping outside of his brother's shadow. Below is a behind the scenes clip from the rare OMEGA DVD discussing this gimmick. 

For TNA/Impact Wrestling, I think this will end up being their answer to the cult hit of WWE's Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family - if executed properly. I think that the Jeff Hardy character (as a babyface) has ran well past its mileage and I'm glad to see Jeff Hardy try something new and revamp his image. The Aces and Eights gimmick did wonders for Bully Ray over the last two years and I would like to see a change for Jeff Hardy in a similar fashion.

Only time will tell if this change will be for the best. 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS -- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 DEMO

Unless you've been hiding underneath a rock, but Konami announced about 8 hours ago that the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 demo is currently available on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and PC. If you're aching for a bite-sized preview for what's to come when the retail version releases at the end of the month, then look no farther.

The demo opens after the events of Castlevania: Mirror of Fate, as Dracul (the former Gabriel Belmont) has been weakened by the combined efforts of both Alucard and Trevor Belmont. The demo starts with an attack on Gabriel's castle by the Brotherhood of Light.

The game quickly gives players control to run the ropes of a very brief tutorial, covering the bare bones of combat and overall basic gameplay. For those who have played the original Lords of Shadow, Gabriel is stripped of his Light and Dark magic here, but the Void Sword and Chaos Claws replace them respectively. Attacking with the Void Sword warrants Gabriel with ability to regain his health from each strike, while attacks with Chaos Claws break armored foes' defenses with its increased damage output - at the cost of being slower than the Void Sword. The Combat Cross is absent completely, but Gabriel has a Blood Whip by default that mimics a lot of those basic attacks.

Much like Kain in the Legacy of Kain series, Gabriel can feed on the blood of stunned foes with a well-placed button prompt to restore health as well. Sadly, this method doesn't build as much health as merely using the Void Sword. I wonder what purpose this ability will have in the full version of the game when players can easily rely on the Void Sword to restore health instead. My only guess at this stage is players won't start with both the Void Sword and Chaos Claws at the beginning of the game and have to acquire them, much like how Light and Dark magics were acquired in the original Lords of Shadow.

One thing that the tutorial does NOT cover is art of Perfect Guarding. In the original Lords of Shadow, this was cued by a huge flash of white light along with the game going into slow-motion. Perfect Guarding allows Gabriel a free counterattack when done successfully. This is a technique that should be mastered in its fullest to dispatch a lot of this series' foes with minimal effort, along with Dodging.

FYI, this is NOT me playing... I'm still unable to capture gameplay footage until I buy another computer in the next month or two...

After dispatching a few minor foes and stepping outside of the castle, Gabriel is faced with an enemy that looks a lot like the Silver Knight that gave many players issues in the original Lords of Shadow - for the sake of this article, I'm going to simply dub him "The Golden Knight". I personally didn't never see what was so difficult about that boss fight as it was one of my favorite boss encounters in the original game. The Golden Knight sports a similar pattern, maneuvering around the arena at high-speed while throwing out hard-hitting attacks. This is where Perfect Guarding and a successful Dodging is key. Evade his attacks and pummel him with a combination of the Void Sword and Blood Whip after Dodging his attacks.

The latter half of the demo consists of avoiding The Golden Knight's arrows as Gabriel maneuvers around the Brotherhood's mechanical golem by the use of this series' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and Shadows of the Colossus-style platforming, while stopping to break through a gate after disposing of more the grunt soldiers that opened the demo.

I wonder how many people caught the line from the beginning of Symphony of the Night when Gabriel exits the castle...

For my first attempt at this demo, I cleared it in less than 10 minutes. That was even shorter than the original Lords of Shadow demo... I was hoping that Konami would give us a bit more to chew on before the retail release here. (Sighs) Anything is better than nothing I suppose.

There are a few things that annoyed me with this demo that were minor concerns but I'll bring them up anyway. I hope the particle effects from weapon attacks are reduced a bit before the final release as it was a bit distracting to see the pending enemy attacks and react in time while the huge flashes onscreen with a proper Dodge or Perfect Guard. Another thing was the lack of a lock-on button. I thought developers learned enough from that mistake from last year's DmC: Devil May Cry. Call me nit-picky, but when it comes to action games in this genre, I want to pick my own targets and not rely on the game engine to do. More often than not, the game tends to pick the least threatening adversary to target at the worst case scenario.

Again, these are VERY minor concerns as I'm still pleased with what I have played so far. This is still the Lords of Shadow game I thoroughly enjoyed in its original debut and I'm anxious to see where Gabriel/Dracula's story goes on from here.

(Looks at wallet) I might be VERY tempted to buy this Collector's Edition... I still have the Collector's Edition for the original game on my bookcase. (Shakes fist) This is going to be a LONG wait until the end of the month...

REVIEW -- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 1, Episode 13: T.R.A.C.K.S.

Last week's episode of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD set the Internet on fire for Marvel Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe fans from the roller coaster ride of the episode properly named, "T.R.A.C.K.S." These one-episode-per-month deals with ABC are killing me with this return of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. If you weren't a fan of this show before, then trust and believe me, you will be after seeing this episode.

Episode Overview: (Spoilers)

In order to find the Clairvoyant, the team boards a train in Italy, on which a Cybertek security group led by Carlo Mancini (TJ Ramini) is shipping a package to Ian Quinn. They take over the mission for an Italian police member named Luca Russo (Carlo Rota). The team splits into groups, with Coulson and Simmons posing as a father and daughter while Fitz and Skye work with Ward and May to track down the package.

However, the group is exposed, leaving Coulson and Ward to flee the train. May also goes missing, but when Coulson and Ward track her down, they learn the team was sold out by Luca Russo, who is killed by May. The team finds the train and Simmons, but Fitz and Skye are gone, having disembarked to track the package to Quinn's mansion. In the basement, Skye is confronted by Quinn and Mancini, who reveal that Mike Peterson is alive, having been kept in a hyperbaric chamber. Mancini opens the package, which a high-tech prosthetic leg that he fits onto Peterson's severed right leg. To test Peterson's obedience to Centipede, Quinn orders him to kill Skye. He refuses as it is not what the Clairvoyant ordered. Instead, Quinn then shoots Skye twice in the stomach and leaves her for dead stating that he has his own orders. Peterson then executes the Cybertek security team because they led S.H.I.E.L.D. to the mansion. Quinn walks right into a S.H.I.E.L.D. raid on the mansion. Quinn is arrested, but Skye is left near death and Simmons can only sustain her temporarily by placing her into Peterson's hyperbaric chamber.

In the final scene, Peterson secretly observes his son at a playground and requests the Clairvoyant to let him see his son by writing on a piece of paper for the Clairvoyant to read. The Clairvoyant says "not yet". The view zooms in on his new prosthetic leg which bears the name "Project Deathlok".

The Verdict: 

I don't care what anyone says - this was Malinda May's episode from start to finish. Agents of SHIELD just gave me yet another reason to love Ming-Na Wen. (Whistles) Shit just got REAL on this episode. This has been arguably the best episode to date and I hope it shuts up a lot of the whiners, complainers, and other people doubting that this show as going to amount to anything big for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There's so many things to talk about on this episode... Where to begin?

First of all, I loved how this episode played out like a traditional Quentin Tarantino film on its style of narrative, with the use of flashbacks and multiple perspectives to move this episode's plot. After Coulson and Ward were forced to abandon the train after being discovered, I thought after the train disappeared they were sporting some sort of new A.I.M. technology and the Advanced Idea Mechanic was going to be properly introduced into this series. Nope, no dice. Minutes later, we follow May's heavily intense situation as Ming-Na Wen doesn't fail to disappoint in her bad-assery as this character. I said it once before and I'll say it again - who needs Ward when you have Malinda May on your damn team? She's an entire team on her own. Speaking of Ward, it seems that his and May's hidden romance is out in the open now and they are planting the seeds of Ward's possibly jealousy of Coulson. I don't see where they could go with this other than a weak knock off of Wonder Man and Vision's competition for Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch's affections from the Avengers comics. What's more interesting is that it seems that Ward is blaming Skye being hurt on Coulson as well for pushing the team too hard and too fast to catch Quinn. What is even more ironic is how far Coulson is willing to go to save Skye, which would contrast the extreme methods SHIELD did to save his own life. Sadly, we won't get that answer until March 4, when the next episode is set to air.

(Sighs) I hate having to wait, but geez... I did LOVE how they pretty much threw that PG rating out the window on this episode, especially from the way how May killed that bastard Mancini.

This episode also marked the first cameo of Stan Lee appearing in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.

If the espionage action with Coulson, May, and Ward weren't enough, Skye, Gemma, and Fitz got into the mix as well. Gemma sacrificed herself to buy Skye and Fitz the opportunity to trail Quinn. Skye's amateur SHIELD training seemed to be enough to get her inside Quinn's base of operations only to find Michael Peterson locked up in storage. At this stage, I could see why Ward is upset about Coulson pushing Skye so hard at this point. She is still a rookie and pretty green when it comes to combat. Gemma and Fitz at least have some degree of field training, but Skye is pretty much a newbie at all of this. Her place is behind her computers, tucked away safely on The Bus. At the same time, it was her own stupidity to go in there after Quinn without a plan what so ever. After receiving the bionic leg implant, I thought The Clairvoyant was going to order Peterson to kill Skye and Quinn on the spot, but it seems like "he/she" has other plans in motion for those two. It was rather odd that The Clairvoyant allowed both Quinn AND Raina to be captured by SHIELD, despite how value they have been to The Clairvoyant's plans thus far. Peterson could have easily made short work of Coulson's team, but The Clairvoyant ordered him not to engage them.

Now let's talk about "Project Deathlok" shall we?

There's a bit of nerd outrage about the inclusion of the Deathlok character being injected into this series and even though I'm a comic book nerd myself, I'm a bit more forgiving on this character being introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Micheal Peterson is only Deathlok in name only, so I don't see why people are getting so upset. Much like most of their properties in the current Marvel NOW! reboot of Marvel Comics, Marvel are revamping and approaching their characters from different angles to keep up with modern times and themes. For example, the current Ms. Marvel is a Muslim female and the current Spider-Man is a half-African American and half-Hispanic male. Seriously, I'm down to the point of I'm like "okay, cool..." with Marvel's changes now. It doesn't squash the stuff I grew up reading while at the same time, it offers a new entry point or gateway into Marvel Comics for both long-time fans and newcomers alike without feeling alienated that they did not read the source material. Whether people like it or not, that is a common issue that this series suffered from at the start. I found myself writing lengthy explanations for what is going on or what it could be possibly building towards in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from small tidbits and themes found in each early episode of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. Now, Josh Whedon and his writers realize that they can't alienate fans who aren't comic book savvy and are introducing elements that aren't commonly well-known to fans of Marvel Comics.

I can only guess from this debut, but it seems like The Clairvoyant doesn't want Peterson to engage SHIELD yet - at least not until they finish his upgrades. I just hope they don't have him wearing that ugly yellow and red singlet like in the comics. Much like most comic book costumes, that shit would not look cool on TV, so I'm guessing he would end up looking like a Terminator by the time The Clairvoyant is done with him. A better question is that what is going to happen to Skye with her life in critical condition. Are Coulson and his team going to do something as drastic as what Nick Fury did to save his life? Fans are still speculating that Coulson is a Life Model Decoy of the real Coulson that died during the events of Avengers, and I wouldn't be surprised if they pull something similar with Skye and she ends up being a synthezoid like Jocasta. With her technological expertise in a cybernetic body, she could be a formidable opponent for Peterson after he makes the full transformation into Deathlok. I know that sounds a little far-fetched but my mind has been buzzing with crazy tie-ins and connections since the announcement that Ultron is going to be the feature villain of Avengers 2. In either case, I'm positive this season will end with Deathlok and Skye (after her "hidden powers awaken") squaring off.

"T.R.A.C.K.S." set the bar pretty high for Marvel's Agents of SHIELD and definitely stands out as one of its best episodes to date. I personally haven't been this excited to see what's in store for the upcoming episode(s) since "Girl In The Flower Dress" (Raina's debut). I give this episode a perfect rating - a 5 out of 5.

REVIEW -- Sword Art Online (Complete Series)

Over the last year and a half, I have had several friends and colleagues suggest to me that I should be watching Sword Art Online since it happened to be the biggest new anime craze that wasn't a Shonen Jump property (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragon Ball, etc.). When it was added to the revived Toonami programming block, I gave it a fair shot.

While the English dub hasn't finished airing in the United States, I have taken the liberty to finish the series in Japanese with subtitles as I'm one of those people when an anime is catches my interest, I don't care whether it's in English or subtitled, I would like to finish it in a promptly fashion if I have the means to do so.

Introduction:

Sword Art Online is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The series takes place in the near-future and focuses on various virtual reality MMORPG worlds. The light novels began publication on ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko label from April 10, 2009, with a spin-off series launching in October 2012, and are licensed in North America by Yen Press. The series has spawned five manga adaptations. A television anime series produced by A-1 Pictures aired in Japan between July and December 2012. The anime has been licensed in North America by Aniplex of America and an English-language version began airing on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block on July 27, 2013. An Extra Edition episode aired on December 31, 2013, and a second anime series, titled Sword Art Online II, will begin airing in 2014.

Plot: (Spoilers)

Sword Art Online (SAO) is a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG), released in 2022. With the Nerve Gear, a virtual reality helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds.
On November 6, 2022, the players log in for the first time, and later discover that they are unable to log out.

They are then informed by Akihiko Kayaba, SAO's creator, that if they wish to be free, they must reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However, if their avatars die in-game, their bodies will also die in the real world. One of these players is Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya, a skilled player who is determined to beat the game. As the game progresses for two years, Kirito eventually befriends a female player named Asuna with whom he ultimately falls in love. After the duo discover the identity of Kayaba's avatar Heathcliff in SAO, they confront and destroy him, freeing themselves and the other players from the game.

Upon being sent back to the real world, Kirito learns that Asuna and 300 other SAO players have still not awakened yet. Following a clue about Asuna's whereabouts in another VRMMORPG called Alfheim Online (ALO), Kirito also enters the ALO's mainframe. Helped by his sister Suguha Kirigaya, known as Leafa in the game, he learns that the trapped players in ALO are part of a plan conceived by Nobuyuki Sugō to perform illegal experiments on their minds to put them under his control, including Asuna, whom he intends to marry in the real world in order to take over her family's company. After Kirito foils Nobuyuki's plans, he finally reunites with Asuna back in the real world.

The Verdict: 

To judge this anime fairly, I want to split this anime into two halves. The first part that I will cover will cover the first half of the series, set in the original VRMMORPG, SAO (Sword Art Online), while the second half of this review will cover the latter half of the anime, set in ALO (Alfheim Online). 

Phase One: SAO (Sword Art Online)

Without a shadow of a doubt, this first half of this anime is where it shines. Sword Art Online dwells heavily on the emotional burdens and the complexities on online relationships and interactions with fellow players. With everyone trapped within the game without any means to escape other than working together to conquer the game, it is an interesting yet very realistic take on what people would do in this type of situation. Much like how audiences are accustomed to people showing the worse of mankind in narratives, such as The Walking Dead or The Last of Us, Sword Art Online takes a slightly different approach. This is a world where there are more good people than there are truly bad people, but at the same time, the villains stand out as truly vile creatures due to the consequences of wiping fellow players' Life Points down to zero. Sword Art Online excels at the moments of this narrative where they showcase the fact that not everyone pitted into this situation is ready or savvy enough to survive in this world, but manage to survive not because they are forced to do so, thanks to the looming death around each and every corner, but because they have someone to protect. It would be crazy not to appreciate the attention to detail given to situations where players break down into tears after losing their companions or familiars, when there is no means to bring them back. Some critics can say "Oh, it's just a video game..." but that bond you create with people in this type of environment is a spectacle to behold on its own. Any gamer, whether you play MMOs or not, can appreciate what this anime brings to the table as gamers share this type of bond with their own. Gamers bond over their memories and experiences together in fictional worlds, especially by doing feats that they cannot do within normal means. 

Throughout the course of this portion of the anime, Kirito establishes himself a loner, merely for the fact that he doesn't want be a part of any player parties after being the lone survivor of an attack that massacred all of his allies. Kirito's mindset gradually changes over this portion of the anime as he meets and bonds with several players and helps them with their ongoing struggles in the world of SAO as he maps out the world and shares this valuable information to other players. One player in particular who stands out above the rest is Asuna, who becomes Kirito's love interest in this virtual world. 

Asuna shatters almost every stereotype about female gamers as she holds her own in combat, even better than Kirito in a few situations and even saves his life from a few close calls. Her appearance isn't over-sexualized, which is a surprise for many of the female characters shown in this first half of the series. You could excuse that due to Akihiko Kayaba altering everyone's avatars to resemble their real-life selves, but I like to applaud the artists for taking that aspect out of the equation from Asuna's net worth as a desirable female character. She is formidable and able to hold her own in combat without anyone coming to her aid - in world like this, those qualities are more desirable in a companion than mere appearances. Besides, it didn't hurt that the lady could cook too! (Laughs) Seriously though, Asuna was able to seamlessly transition to any role that was needed of her to survive.

It was an unique take on the MMORPG world to see Kirito and Asuna take their relationship as far as getting married in-game (I know this is VERY common nowadays...), but taking it as far as placing their concerns of trying to escape the game that they were trapped in to truly enjoy the blessing that they were given to experience a world such as this. This is why Kayaba/Heathcliff makes such a strong antagonist in this half of the narrative, as you can see why he went to such extreme means to share this world that he created to the masses and forces players and the viewers to question whether this world is a truly a blessing or is it a prison. One could argue that this is the same dilemma that was at the core of .hack//SIGN's narrative, but the fact that all players are trapped in this world adds more weight behind these emotions. 

The thing that makes the romantic image of Kirito and Asuna's "marriage" even more powerful is the introduction of Yui. Kirito and Asuna originally found her wondering around the forest and allow her to call them her parents until they found her as it seemed she was merely an amnesic child. It is quickly revealed that Yui is an artificial AI that is part of the original coding for SAO as Mental Health Counseling program. During the events of Sword Art Online, she becomes self-aware and a fully realized artificial intelligence built from a program atop an existing computer architecture, which is why she usually appears in programs based on SAO, including Alfheim Online. Her core program runs and is stored on Kirito's NerveGear local memory. The relationship that is established between Kirito, Asuna, and Yui is truly significant as Kirito and Asuna took their relationship even further with a surrogate offspring of their own. Once again, the introduction of Yui into their environment forces the players to question if the world of SAO is truly a prison or is it a blessing in disguise. For Kirito and Asuna, the stakes are raised even higher - if they die in the game, Yui would lose her newfound parents.

Without question, the best part of this half of the anime (or the anime as whole, in my opinion) is when Kirito figures out that Heathcliff and Akihiko Kayaba are one in the same when the advanced party is still a quite a few floors away from the end of the game. It shows exactly how arrogant Akihiko Kayaba is to disguise himself among the players and to expect that he would remain undetected for this long without question nor conflict, while at the same time, the viewers are spared from the anime dragging on until the players reached the end in the game. The moment is reminiscent of the vital significance of the event in Watchmen when Ozymandias was confronted by Rorschach and Nite Owl to stop his plot to destroy the world when he simply stated, "I already did." It was pure genius that the creators of this anime choose not to drag this out like commonly known Shonen Jump properties, and put everything at stake at this moment of the anime.

Phase Two: ALO (Alfheim Online)

This will not be the only rack on
display during the latter half of SAO...

Alfheim Online acts as the second half of Sword Art Online, whereas Kirito is joined by Leafa, who shows him the ropes of Alfheim Online for he can learn the game quickly as possible and rescue Asuna. This is the point where this latter half of the anime gets a thumbs down for me. The anime devolves down into a very cliched damsel in distress plot, much like a hentai version of Super Mario Bros. set in a MMORPG. Why the hentai reference you ask? If the over-sexualized women (see the image to above and the following below) weren't enough in this half of the anime, then the tentacle monsters (I'm not even kidding there) and stripping of clothing like unwrapping Christmas presents by one of the most cowardly antagonists that I have seen in an anime in long time would really grind your gears. You would think if Sugo wanted to violate Asuna sexually, he would have done so in her hospital room (while her body is still in a vegetable/comatose state) by now instead of going for cheap virtual reality imitation.

Everyone wants to seduce Kirito...

My thoughts exactly, Leafa...

Another factor that makes this half of the series a bit uncomfortable to watch is that Leafa is Kirito's real-life cousin, Suguha, who was raised as his sister in his family. As stupid as it sounds that how two siblings could be playing the same video game online and don't know their own avatars is a bit absurd to me, but to make things even more outlandish, Leafa develops an ongoing crush on Kirito, not knowing that's the avatar of her own brother/cousin. Thus, this turn of events inadvertently creates a love triangle for the bulk of this latter half of the anime between the highly oblivious Kirito, Leafa, and the damsel trapped in the bird cage at the top of the World Tree, Asuna. When Kirito gets to the World Tree and it's revealed that Kazuto is Kirito, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Suguha/Leafa. At the same time, she had herself to blame in a way when it comes to investing so much emotion towards strangers. Much like the first half of Sword Art Online, this is one of those few concepts that is portrayed with beautiful precision that gamers and especially players who invest so much time attaching themselves to the people they think they know so well in these games and are disappointed when that same person isn't the same person who they thought they knew so well.

As much as I wanted to like Leafa as the female lead in this half of Sword Art Online, I couldn't find any way to put her on a pedestal higher than Asuna, despite her being trapped symbolically like a caged bird at the top of the World Tree for the duration of this series. From the moment that Leafa is introduced, she is reduced to a damsel in distress, where the newbie Kirito has to save her from the Salamander soldiers. Despite the fact that she takes Kirito under her wing to show him the ropes of Alfheim Online, Kirito holds his own combat and manages to quickly surpass Leafa in combat prowess, time and time again as she is left to look on in disbelief from the sidelines. By the end of this half of the series, she is reduced to merely a support role in Kirito's party, only healing and buffing his stats. After the high standard that Asuna set for women in the anime's first half, it was a bit of a disappointment to see a woman's role reduced to the backseat in the latter half of the anime when Kirito and Asuna were portrayed equals in combat.

Final Thoughts

After the recent announcement that there will be a Sword Art Online II, which will cover the remaining events found in the Sword Art Online mangas, I was relieved to know that this story does not end here. As it stands in its current state, Kirito and Asuna are together in real life and in their gaming lives, with all of the remaining comatose SAO players finally returning to somewhat normal lives. After a stellar first half, the anime falls short of hitting the high notes that made the initial part of this journey such a brilliant experience to behold. This anime suffers from what I would like to call "Death Note syndrome", where that anime of the same name hit a monumental high point, then just fell flat on just about everything else afterwards and never reached that height again before offering a lackluster ending (meaning that we knew it was coming a mile away...) as the reward for fans sticking around to the end.

Despite its faults, SAO does provide some superb action sequences and offers one of the better anime romances in recent memory, along with touching on the drama of online interactions and relationships found in MMOs, which was handled in a more clever manner than found in the .hack//SIGN series.

At the end of the day, I would still humbly suggest for my fellow otakus to give this anime a whirl at your viewing peasure, but Sword Art Online left me wanting more by the end of its finale. I give Sword Art Online a 8.75 out of 10. 

Super Bowl Movie Trailers for Captain America 2, Transformers 4, Amazing Spider-Man 2, and More

I'm not a football fan in the least, but I don't mind having an excuse to pig out on junk food and some alcoholic beverages with friends and family. Super Bowl ended with a score that was reminiscent of some random clueless n00b being handed the worst beating of their lives in a game of Madden, but not before giving geeks something to gush over with trailers for upcoming films set to debut later this year.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I know it's going to be a big deal when I'm not really a fan of Captain America in comics (with the exception of when he is leading the Avengers) and I'm hyped as HELL for this movie. I'm in utter shock that they found a way to make The Falcon to appear nowhere as the lame duck he was portrayed in the comics and in the current Avengers Assembled cartoon. I'm still not feeling Scarlet Johanssen's straight hair look for Black Widow. I hold my opinion that she looked best in Iron Man 2 when she first portrayed the character. It seems like in each film, she loses more and more that originally made her click with that character. Hopefully, my opinion will change by the time I see the film. I have really high expectations for this film as both the comic book storyline was very well-written. I'm anxious to see how Marvel Studios put their own unique twist on this angle. Anyone who has seen the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode of the same name should know what to expect here, but I wonder how Marvel Studios is going to spice up this familiar territory for newcomers and seasoned comic book enthusiasts?

Gawd... April 4 can't come soon enough...

Need For Speed

After the untimely demise of Paul Walker has seemed to haul production of the over-saturation of the Fast & Furious franchise, it's a breath of fresh air to see someone else step into the driver's seat. These games have been around for well over the last decade and a half for a reason, so Hollywood should have more than enough material to pull from to make this worth a look.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

I'm still not sold on this. I thought Sony Pictures would have learned their lesson from the disaster that was Spider-Man 3 by piling on multiple villains in one film. It is no secret that Sony Pictures want to replicate Marvel Studios' success with Avengers and create a shared universe for the Spider-Man franchise with spin-off films and tie-ins. The problem with that idea is that the Spider-Man universe doesn't have that many "strong" characters to warrant interest in solo films. What are they going to do, a Venom or Sinister Six solo spin-off? A Venom solo film MIGHT warrant interest. Alternatively, they could do a Black Cat solo film, but that would be a HUGE gamble at this rate. If you don't see the clues sprinkled throughout this trailer, it's obvious that this film is building towards the introduction of the Sinister Six. Doctor Octopus' arms are in the vault in Oscorp, along with what seems like The Vulture's flight gear. Harry Osborn is shown riding a Goblin Glider, while Spider-Man faces Rhino and Electro as this film's feature villains. The only reason that I'm remotely interested in seeing this film is that I'm curious if this initation of the Spider-Man franchise has the balls to kill off Gwen Stacy since it wasn't done in the previous franchise.

I will admit I LOVE that they finally made the Spidey costume look as close to the comics as possible now.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

New cast? Check. Autobots vs. Decepticons? Check. HOLY SHIT, the Dinobots are in this one? Was that Galvatron in his vehicle mode at the beginning? Curse you, Michael Bay, now you got me interested.

Pompeii

Why am I sharing this trailer you ask? The fact of the matter is that this is the film that is halting production of Paul W.S. Anderson pinning and directing the (hopefully...) last Resident Evil film for Millia Jonovich's Alice character. As for Pompeii, I think I'll wait until the DVD release or whenever it's shown on TV...