The battle to conquer the World Tree!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Reki Kawahara/ Tsubasa Haduki
Translation/Adaptation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
Having defeated General Eugene of the salamanders and aided the alliance between sylphs and cait siths by protecting their leaders, Kirito and Leafa reach Alne, the town at the foot of the World Tree, at long last. But before they can tackle the tree–and their main objective–server maintenance begins, and they are forced to log out. Back in the real world, Kazuto and Suguha Kirigaya, each unaware of the other’s in-game identity, pay a visit to Asuna Yuuki, who still lies asleep in her hospital room. While there, Suguha suffers a terrible shock when she realizes just how strongly her beloved brother cares for Asuna.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Haduki-sensei is masterful with the illustrations in this final volume. There are several fights, and he does an excellent job conveying action and mood. The battle with the armed hordes of the World Tree is epic, and although Kirito’s duel against Oberon/Sugou is on a much smaller scale, it doesn’t lose in intensity. As for the dramatic moments, emotion practically spills off the pages. However, there are times such as when Asuna’s getting molested by Sugou’s assistants or when Kirito unleashes full wrath on Oberon/Sugou that the intensity of the images pushes the upper limit of the manga’s Teen rating.
But while the artwork swept me in, some of the rationale behind our characters’ actions left me cold. Haduki-sensei’s depictions of Sugu’s broken heart are poignant, but her brother complex is still hard to swallow. Even harder to believe is Kirito’s squick-free response when he discovers Sugu’s true feelings for him. And their let-me-communicate-my-feelings-through-my-sword reconciliation seems more suited to brawling guys than pseudo-siblings.
Also, while Sugou serves the purpose of arch nemesis inside and out the game, he’s flat as a character. In Aincrad, Kayaba was a complicated entity, and at the end, you’re not quite sure whether to hate him. Sugou, on the other hand, is positively vile and very much a stereotypical evil scientist complete with tentacled sidekicks. Having the lines of good and bad drawn so clearly makes the villain-hero interactions a lot less interesting.
But even though their enemies could use a level up in quality, Asuna and Kirito do fill the heroic parts admirably. While Asuna is cast as damsel in distress, she gets a couple of chances to show her resolve and pluck. Meanwhile, Kirito goes on a roller coaster of highs and lows as he presses against his limitations up till the very end. Once the dust settles, our heroes are rewarded with an unusually quiet moment, and it’s wonderfully touching to see the two meet in real life for the first time.
For those who missed the wider cast of Aincrad, the final pages of Fairy Dance offer a glimpse of those characters in a literal SAO reunion. The last chapter also explains the Kirito/Oberon duel and the aftermath of Sugou’s foiled plot with more detail and clarity than the anime. Fairy Dance really covers its bases in terms of closing action, and though the World Seed leaves the door open for future adventures, a reader can easily consider Fairy Dance’s ending a “happily ever after.”
Extras include the title page printed in color, background guide blurbs, translation notes, a short afterword manga, and closing remarks from Haduki-sensei.
In Summary
Haduki-sensei’s artwork really brings the world of Fairy Dance to life in this action-packed final volume. Battles abound, large and small, but despite the sheer number of fight scenes, they flow so well it never gets tedious. The somewhat unbelievable element of Sugu’s brother complex prevented me from getting completely immersed in the story, but if you can ignore that element, you can enjoy watching Kirito and Asuna strive toward a hard-won happy ending.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: March 24th, 2015
MSRP: $13.00
