#”SAO: Alicization – War of Underworld” Vol. 3: A touch of nostalgia

“#”SAO: Alicization – War of Underworld” Vol. 3: A touch of nostalgia
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After a long break, the German release of “War of Underworld” is entering its final phase! We looked at the third disc volume for you – you can read our conclusion in this review.

• Label: peppermint anime
• Publication: 05.08.2021
• FSK: Approved from 16 years of age
• Running time: 175 minutes
• Image format: 16:9
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 p
• Genre: Action, Fantasy
• Languages: German, Japanese (DTS-HD MA 2.0)
• Subtitle: Deutsch
• Number of discs: 1
• Packaging: Digipak in a slipcase
• Extras: Clean Opening, Clean Ending, Trailer

Story (7/10)

The reinforcement is here! Asuna and Alice are supported in the great fight for Underworld by Sinon, Leafa, Yui and many other friends from SAO and ALO. Even among the ranks of the Dark Territory Army, some are realizing that they appear to be on the wrong side and are opposing the army of American players. But Vecta and Vassago don’t give up so easily despite these setbacks and not only find new fighters for Underworld in the real world, but also have very special accounts up their sleeves … On the Ocean Turtle, however, someone ultimately turns out to be a saboteur and tries to prevent that Kiritos Fluctlight will be restored.

Personaly thinking (Warning, spoilers!)

What was heralded towards the end of the first half of “War of Underworld” is continued here: the return of familiar faces from the previous seasons, piecemeal. This was a welcome change for me, as the residents of the Dark Territory in particular suffer from a lack of exposure and therefore, in my opinion, could not manage the story on their own.

Apart from Sinon’s appearance, the comeback is a bit bumpy: Leafa is subjected to a tentacle rape scene almost immediately after arriving in the Underworld. This just seemed like an extremely cheap excuse to please a particular clientele.

Furthermore, it is noticeable how ironically the series itself now deals with the steadily growing Harem Kiritos. When asked by Ronyes whether Kirito was only friends with girls, Sinon replied with: “There are a lot more where we come from”. But it gets a bit too much when Sinon brings about the decisive turn in a fight – solely through her belief in Kirito.

But the story also has positive twists and turns. Overall, the episodes seemed more exciting to me than any previous one, especially since Kirito’s awakening is also being worked towards. Before that, a few more “old friends” meet. There is almost a touch of nostalgia when Yuuki from season 2 makes an appearance and Yuna and Eiji from “Ordinal Scale” stand up to their opponents. Unfortunately, these cameos are all very short and suggest that they simply wanted to work through the fan favorites again.

But it also becomes interesting when suddenly the content of the first season is also linked. For example, we learn that one of the antagonists is not that unknown to the viewer – and in the Ocean Turtle, too, a saboteur shows his connections to past events. Admittedly – sometimes the sudden cross-references seem a bit strained, but I am happy to try to link the events.

Animations (7.5 / 10)

The third season is about to end – but I can’t really say that I have completely made friends with the new look of the series. The responsible studio A-1 Pictures didn’t do a bad job here, but the color scheme in particular does not appeal to me as much as that of the previous seasons. One also often has the feeling that scenes should appear more impressive through the use of many computer-generated particle effects – here I tend to advocate the principle “less is more”.

Regarding the background, unfortunately, we hardly get to see anything new in the second half of “War of Underworld”. The virtual surroundings of the figures, which mostly consist only of reddish stone, tend to be tiring and monotonous in the long run. Here I would have welcomed more variety.

Music (8/10)

With the beginning of the final phase of “War of Underworld”, there will also be a new opening and ending to the episodes. The intro is the song “ANIMA” by ReoNa, which already contributed the very first ending to the season. At the end of the episodes we get to hear the piece “I will …” by Aoi Eir. It should also be well known to “SAO” fans from the first two seasons. While both songs are not among the very best or catchiest songs in the series for me personally, they are still a clear step up from the previous opening. However, as I hardly need to mention, the singing skills of the two singers are of course still impressive.

Regarding the background music during the episodes, chances were unfortunately often wasted. So you have the piece several times «Moon and Shadow» suggest, in my opinion one of the best in the whole anime. Unfortunately, each time it was cut into versions of just a few seconds – this makes the background music sound rushed in a certain sense, as you hardly allow time for the piece to unfold. The situation is similar with the «Swordland» theme. Apart from this, the selection of songs is appropriate and often adds to the tension in the scenes.

German localization (10/10)

The German synchronization of the episodes was carried out as usual at the Oxygen Sound Studios in Berlin. There are also no changes in the speakers. This of course continues to do a great job and lets the German dubbing of the season shine.

In addition to the main cast, some characters from previous seasons and the film “Ordinal Scale” also make a brief comeback in the third volume. For example, the idol Yuna will continue to be set to music by Samira Jakobs. And as in the movie, Nico Sablik speaks her companion Eiji. This results in a collision with his other role of hurricane leader Lilpilin, but that doesn’t really matter, since both characters have rather short appearances.

Regarding Alicia Rue and Sakuya it is noticeable that they did not keep their voices from season 2, but instead the continuity to the cast from the film was preserved. This can probably also be explained by the fact that the episodes at that time were still recorded at Studio Metz-Neun.

Packaging & Extras (6/10)

The extras of the third volume are the same – and unfortunately this is not a positive surprise. Furthermore, we only get clean versions of the opening and ending, which are almost mandatory for today’s anime releases. When it comes to packaging, digipaks in a slipcase are still used, which are at least one step above normal Amaray packaging with an O-Card.

The cover design appeals to me a little more this time than on the previous discs. Unfortunately, this is again undone in the side view by the colorless spine with a strange choice of font. I hope that peppermint anime will use a more pleasing design in future releases.

Conclusion

It’s going up – well, maybe. With the return of numerous familiar faces, the fans of the old seasons in particular can probably be appeased. And also in terms of tension, the story attracts noticeably with the imminent awakening of Kirito.

But even the current “War of Underworld” episodes cannot do without their weaknesses. Exaggerated excesses of the Kirito harem phenomenon and some questionable decisions in the staging cloud the overall picture.

It will be exciting to see how the return of the “black swordsman” will affect the dynamics of the season finale. Here I hope that his presence doesn’t let the minor characters suddenly disappear into insignificance – but we’ll only find out in the fourth and last volume of “War of Underworld”.

valuation

>> Here you can order «SAO: War of Underworld» Vol. 3! <<

We would like to thank peppermint anime for providing the review copy!

The article “SAO: Alicization – War of Underworld” Vol. 3: A touch of nostalgia first appeared on BuradaBiliyorum.Com.

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