Accel World Review

Going into Accel World, my initial thoughts were mostly positive. The premise was nice, the main lead was non conventional, and it just seemed like it would be one of the anime to watch this year. But alas, Japan throws us another teen melodrama revolving around a virtual world that allows them to escape their “harsh” reality. And that’s it, that’s what the entire anime is mainly about. Slowly but surely, the main characters learn to cope with their “traumatic” experiences in life and learn to accept what has happened while fighting in a virtual reality game called Burst Link. Shows like Clannad and Kanon portray teen angst and plight perfectly, because they do it in a way that is realistic and nonsensical. A show like Accel World, I just can’t take seriously. The main thing everyone has in common is having been bullied in school. Well shit, I think everyone at some point in their school life has been bullied. If the creators had expanded this plight even further, for example, making each character have a severe emotional scar such as having alcoholic parents, living near poverty, or having been raped, this all would have fit nicely and had made the melodrama fit in nicely. There was none of that however, just your standard school bullying. Its really hard to take that serious =/

Moving on, the fights were great, and its what mainly kept me watching. Overall id say this series is passable, but its not the worst anime this year.

Score - 6.5/10