Ruins, relics, and reckless abandon!
Creative Staff
Story: Reki Kawahara
Illustration: abec
Translation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
It’s been just two months since they were trapped in the game of death that is” Sword Art Online,” and Kirito and Asuna continue their struggle at the vanguard of progress through the game. The fifth floor of Aincrad is a mazelike ruin, and the two dare to take pleasure in raiding it for the treasure it contains.
Upon returning to the fourth floor, it’s time to do some questing on behalf of the Elf Lord Yofilis–but here begins Asuna’s discontent, for in doing so they will have to face her least favorite monster ever…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the tale of the fifth floor kicks off, we actually join Asuna in the midst of a practice duel with Kirito. It just kind of ends up fizzling before it goes anywhere, but it acts as a nice enough introduction to our heroes’ concerns surrounding PVP players, which is the main focus this time around. The big news, though, is that this time around we start from Asuna’s point of view. And her primary worry is that she can’t seem to catch up to Kirito. Which makes sense, seeing how heavily he’s been shoved into the limelight so often throughout the series. So at least in theory, this makes for a nice change of pace, giving Asuna a chance to shine for a change.
Anyway, the theme of the fifth floor itself seems to be ruins, with the main city being full of ancient sites and relics. That makes for a fun bit of flavor as Kirito and Asuna go treasure hunting for at least a little bit as they first arrive. Oh, and we get an awkward little bit of tidying up as our heroes need to travel back down to the last floor to get the rewards they didn’t have time to grab in the last book. Once things really get rolling, though, it soon becomes obvious that this part of the book is going to be disappointing. And that’s because Asuna is tagged nearly immediately with a cliché and crippling fear of ghosts, causing her to cling to Kirito and have him deal with the matter. Even still, this could be used as something for Asuna to overcome as part of her character arc. But instead, when she later goes chasing after Kirito (as he rushes off in the dead of the night, fearing for Argo’s safety), she… runs into a ghost again, falls into a trap because of her fear of it, and then has her weapon stolen by a looting monster. Oh, and then plot contrivances have her happen to overhear some dirty dealing between PVP players, trapped in hiding all the while. I will say that she does at least pull a kind of clever little trick to get out of the situation, which is neat to see. But even so, Kirito’s still a factor in the circumstances, and this whole bit ends with Asuna breaking down, crying, and receiving emotional support from him. It technically could’ve been worse, but this seriously does feel like a huge missed opportunity, completely failing to make Asuna feel like a strong character who can stand on her own two feet.
To be more positive, though, the back half (which unsurprisingly switches to Kirito’s point of view) fares much better. After plenty of intrigue forcing an extra tense situation, Kirito and company are forced into a boss battle with under a tense timeline and limited manpower. And fortunately, focusing on a boss once more works out quite well, showing off some interesting ideas and concepts in the process. So at least that’s something that the book has going for it.
In Summary
While this book has a number of solid points in its favor, there’s one nasty little flaw really dragging it down. And that’s that Asuna’s chance to shine and develop as a character largely falls flat, showing her break down and lean on Kirito, even if she does have one moment of cleverness. It’s a real shame, as it could’ve been her chance to shine, but that most certainly doesn’t happen here. Still, the back half works quite well, once more focusing on a boss battle and giving it some real polish. It’s a creative fight that pulls some interesting twists, and is just really well done all around. Add to this a nice theme for the floor featured here and some solid development for characters like Argo (plus the relationship between the main guilds), and you have an enjoyable entry in the series. It’s just a shame that it’s held back so much by some real questionable choices in the first half. Still, if you’re a fan of the series this is definitely still worth a read. And admittedly the issues it does have are more thematic rather than being actual writing problems, so they certainly aren’t enough to sink this volume completely.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: N/A
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: October 25th, 2016
MSRP: $14.00