Sword Art Online Progressive, Vol. 1

Sword Art Online: Progressive Manga #1

by Kiseki Himura (Illustrator), Reki Kawahara (Original Creator)

Yuuki Asuna was a top student who spent her days at cram school and preparing for her high school entrance exams--but that was before she borrowed her brother's virtual reality game system and wound up trapped in Sword Art Online with ten thousand other frightened players. As time passes, Asuna fears what will become of her life outside the fantasy realm--the failure she might seem in the eyes of her peers and parents. Unwilling to wait on the sidelines for more experienced gamers to beat the game, Asuna employs her study habits to learn the mechanics of game--and swordplay. Her swiftness impresses Kirito, a pro gamer who invites Asuna to join the best players on the front lines. Is Asuna ready to swap class rankings for player rankings and join Kirito?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Romance, Comics, Young Adult

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 27, 2014

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impressive artwork, and a great story. Could have done without the sultry bathtub scene, though...

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uh... What's so "progressive" about this manga?

It's certainly not treatment of female gamers. They didn't say "tits or gtfo" but they might as well have. They treat Asuna as a "princess" (the Princess Peach kind, not the Sailor Moon Princess kind). They size up her "cute" factor and are checking out her figure before they even consider that she's there to fight, not to get a boyfriend. And while I don't mind her needing to learn the basics from someone (I play games all the time and would need help understanding the SAO system), they essentially defanged her by making her need to rely on Kirito for information she already knew in the original SAO, like switching. That's right, they retconned her to know less, not more.

The progressiveness doesn't come form treatment of female characters either. Besides the fact that other characters treat Asuna as Princess Peach, Himura-sensei basically treats Asuna as a sex object. There's a shower scene in which Asuna essentially does a strip tease before sexily climbing into the bath to sexily shower and sexily moan at the feeling of being clean. Not only that, Asuna seems more embarrassed than offended at the informant saying she was going to sell information on what underwear she's buying, like that's perfectly normal.



So about the only thing I see as "progressive" with this manga is that the main character is female, but considering she's just treated as fanservice for the most part, that's hardly progressive at all.

I was hoping for Asuna back story and Asuna awesomeness. What I got was Princess Peach swinging around a sword like she knows what she's doing until Kirito shows up to save her sorry butt.

ASUNA'S AN AMAZINGLY STRONG GAMER! WHY MUST YOU TREAT HER LIKE A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS SEX SYMBOL?!

(Anyway, the art is nice but for the obvious attempts at fan service and the story, like the original, is good but for the obvious attempts at making Asuna a weaker character)

[Jorge Desormeaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Princess in need of rescue looking for reliable knight

I have mixed feelings about this manga. On the one hand the artist is the impeccable Himura Kiseki (Fate Stay Night fans should check out his Sword Dancers dōjinshi) and reading the manga is an aesthetic treat.

On the other hand, while the story is told from Asuna's point of view it drastically undermines her confidence and competence compared to the original Sword Art Online story: she relies on Kirito to save her life twice in just this first volume, someone else has to teach her the basics of SAO, she relies on Kirito for basic necessities like food and lodging, etc. People even call her princess and Kirito is named her knight. The implied meaning—that Asuna needs him to protect her—is unfortunately accurate.

The first story arc of SAO (the anime) is remarkable for creating in Asuna a female lead that is the equal of the protagonist: she's just as skilled, spirited and capable as he is. One could argue that it's Kirito who relies on her emotionally. Subsequent seasons prove that the author had no idea to what he was on to, reducing Asuna to a helpless princess in a cage to be exhibited and molested by the antagonist, and then a secondary character (a healer, of all things!) who is sent to the background so that Kirito can get on with enlarging his (by then considerable) harem. It's a shame that this manga continues the trend of making Asuna into a girl that needs saving.

[Esme · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m very intrigued at this series!! I know theres like at least 3 versions of it so if anyone with more knowledge could help me understand what the other versions are I’d be really grateful!

Love the art style!! The story is good and I’m so excited to pick up vol 2 soon!

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sigh, rant time yet again on another SAO book.
Ugghhh. Again, I love the idea of SAO! And wish it could be drawn and written in a way that could appeal equally for everyone... But yeeesh. This was even worse than the light novel I tried previously as far as seemingly existing merely to subjugate Asuna (the main female character) and make her as helpless yet "sexy" as possible. Her very character is a contradiction: she's supposedly an incredible, strong warrior "DESPITE being a cute girl" (because of course one cannot be both), yet at the same time she's a lost and confused puppy, vitally needing the males in the story to educate her and lead her in everything. The manga was even worse than the light novel in this and obviously drawn for the male gaze, including a new scene involving a naked Asuna enjoying a bath for several pages, for absolutely no reason but for the sake of more nude drawings.
If you enjoy these, hey, you do you. Lord knows I have plenty of guilty-pleasure reads myself! I really wanted to be able to enjoy these. Unfortunately though I just can't continue with either series for all the reasons I've ranted about. As a proud female nerd and gamer myself, I find them really insulting, sexist, and uncomfortable.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though the artwork was beautiful and the storytelling was fun, I'm way too disappointed by Asuna's portrayal. Like since when is she only the eye candy and clumsy and in need of help from men? Not to mention the bathtub scene, what the fuck was that??? The male gaze was too obvious. I hate it here.

[Kimberly Zamora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m honestly surprised by the manga. It is so different compared to the anime and I’m surprised by what I didn’t know. I enjoyed reading the manga because it was my first and it was okay because it wasn’t too interesting to me but perhaps the others will

[Crystal Pacific · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think what really pulled me into this was that it was all these people being pulled into a video game and doing a sort of roleplay. I'm a big fan of roleplay, so I naturally fell into it. I worked voluntarily at my school library. Someone brought it back and I was checking it in. The moment I saw the cover, I set it to the side so I could read it after I had done my job. When my work was done, I opened it and naturally became a fan.

[MC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sword Art Online Progressive is a series of novels and manga in the SAO universe that tells an alternative story of the Aincrad Arc that began the series. I greatly enjoyed the manga for the most part. I liked how Asuna and Kirito were both made out to be more human, or at least we saw the human side of them. This is opposed to the main series where, other than some loneliness issues, the were just short of Mary Asuna and Marty Kirito.

Obviously they are still really powerful characters. They have to be to have the impact on the game and thus the story line that they do here. But they are a little less perfect seeming and a little less suave than the original story. That and the reactions to them aren't "fall over yourself" lust for the pure awesomeness of the characters. Well, other than a jab against gamers and nerds that the author put in the story.

The story also fills in details that were missing with the huge time-skip in the original arc. The second light novel dealt with this somewhat, but this manga does so much more in-depth. It is a time period ripe for stories.

My only real dislike is the character of Agil. I agree with his basic point against the asshole Kibaou, but the way he put it was not helpful at all. After pointing out how the beta testers had done what they could to help others, he says something about how the players who died so far died because of not treating the situation seriously enough. Perhaps he was right, but the way he put it came across as victim blaming. It doesn't matter if they took it "seriously" enough or not. They would not have died if not for the fucking psycopath who trapped them. Maybe it's a cultural thing but that did sound like insensitive victim-blaming. I likely am misinterpreting it. Even so, that soured me on that part of the manga. I don't know if it's a cultural thing, poor writing, or what.

Despite the above, I really loved the story, the artwork, and the more nuanced portrayals of the leads. I can't wait until the other characters appear in future volumes.

Highly Recommended.

[Shannon Luchies · Rating 4 out of 5]

VERY good read. Retells SAO from Asuna's perspective, providing a very interesting take on the series.

[TJ Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

"But it would be such a waste to let you die at least leave me the map data first then you can die if you want." id rather fight to the very end. Asuna is very rude at the beginning. she is nicely drawn though krito is my favorite but his fighting style better. I also want to watch the anime and play the game. the main character went from a top student to a game addict like me. Krito is hard to draw but it is worth it. The series is insane. i rate it 500

[Bree Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one up on a whim at my local library. It was a very quick and fun read. Definitely recommend for those who enjoy the Sword Art Online universe.

Content warning: Fighting, violent images, brief cursing, and nudity (a female’s boobs are shown, as well as her whole body. These are not detailed images, but they do show her full body and I would not recommend for younger audiences or male readers).

[Azbaqiyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plot - 5 ⭐
Character - 5 ⭐
Writing Style - 5 ⭐
World Building - 5 ⭐
Art - 5 ⭐
Cover - 5 ⭐

Overall - 5 ⭐ / 5 ⭐

[Miriam Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too exciting.

[Shannon Kauderer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this. Makes me think fondly of the first season of the anime. They did a great job of having a character driven story <3

[Ashe Catlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a great idea to reexplore Sword Art Online: Aincrad Omnibus from Asuna's eyes. A lot of people who hate SAO loved the initial arc, so going back to it and diving into more of the levels, being that the previous series was only 2 manga volumes.

Even though we are back in Aincrad the story has the initial dungeon which is the same, aside from Asuna's backstory, the storyline is very different as much of this wasn't explored so even though we know the ending it's still fresh territory that we haven't covered before.

The whole series adapts Sword Art Online: Progressive, Vol. 1 and Sword Art Online: Progressive, Vol. 2

[Galleane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si les personnages n'ont pas l’aisance qu'on leur connaît quand on a lu le light novel avant le manga, découvrir comment tout a commencé s'avère très intéressant et offre un très bon moment de lecture. Le lecteur navigue aux côtés d'Asuna, on apprend comment se sont passés ses débuts dans le monde de Sword Art Online, comment elle a rencontré Kirito et tous les deux vont partager quelques moments avant d'affronter un adversaire de taille. L'action est au rendez-vous, l'humour côtoie l'aura de danger qui pèse sur les personnages qui s'ils meurent dans le jeu, meurent pour de vrai. Les dessins sont bien agréables, les scènes de combat sont un peu brouillonnes, mais j'ai toujours eu du mal à m'y retrouver dans les mangas. Un très bon premier tome au contenu inédit, qui nous permet d'en apprendre davantage sur les personnages et qui, vu la fin, nous encourage fortement à lire la suite.

Ma chronique complète : http://bloggalleane.blogspot.fr/2015/...

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, totally Loved it! So good! Love Sword Art Online & really cool side stories too! Love Kirito & Asuna together omg & really enjoyed season 1 of the anime & am currently watching season 2 & Love it so far! : ) definitely recommend this manga & anime series! : )

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I dig SAO, I'll admit it up front.

I like the Progressive storyline because it takes Aincrad and tells a much bigger (several actually) story by taking it floor by floor. Sure, it starts out very similar, and in ONE volume of a manga which hardly scratches the surface, I am seeing SO many judgement calls. Okay, I'm not going to deny there was some gratuitous fan service, gripe all you want about that. But as for Ausna being weak because she was "rescued" or needing help...

SHES A NEW PLAYER. She's not a MMO veteran. Or even a game veteran. It's pretty clearly shown that she's focused on her academics her whole life and rarely stepped outside that. So yeah, she gets into a game where she knows NOTHING and needs some help -- how is that weak? How does that ruin her character? Rather, she's taught to use her first sword skill and picks up on it so fast that even Argo is surprised. Even so, she's still learning and gets in a bit over her head and is helped out again. All games have a learning curve, and in most death may be a hassle rather than truly deadly -- but seeing Ausna actually having to progress rather than just being "The Flash" from the start makes perfect sense.

I for one am looking forward to when out library gets the later volumes so I can keep reading. I've been waiting ages for volume 7 of the light novels to come out. Looks like it might actually be coming later this year!

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read Sword Art Online Progressive because I heard it was going to try to fix the issues with the original Sword Art Online story. The short answer? It didn't. Which is disappointing because the premise of the original is so great, I keep waiting for someone to do it justice. But this series isn't it.

It even went so far as to weaken Asuna's character (one of the only redeeming qualities of the original), making her a damsel in need of rescuing not once, but twice in this volume alone. What happened to the awesome girl from the original? She's been turned into the usual run-of-the-mill anime chick, right down to the gratuitous naked-in-the-bathtub scene.

This series also doesn't stand on its own. If you haven't read/watched the original Sword Art Online, you are going to be seriously lost. It doesn't go into any details about the game, how the players are trapped, or how the players are supposed to get out. Without starting from scratch, it created inconsistencies.

Can we take this series away from Reki Kawahara and give it to someone else? Please?

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sword Art Online is a series written by Reki Kawahara about a virtual reality game called Sword Art Online (SAO), with the only difference being that if you die in-game, the Nervegear, a helmet that must be worn to launch the game, will release electricity that will kill you in real life. There is no way to escape, and there are 10,000 people trapped in the game. According to the creator of the game, Akihiko Kaiyaba, you can only escape by beating the game, which is the 100th floor. The main character is named Kazuto Kirigaya, with his in-game name being Kirito. He would later become one of the two strongest players in the game. The story does not feel well-written, as most of it is an introduction to characters that aren’t exactly relevant, even in the series after SAO. For example. A character named Lizabeth- she was a weaponsmith who helped Kirito create a sword, but she required a rare material. Kirito and Lizabeth went to get it and succeeded. Their relationship was pretty bad when it started but it built up towards the end. However, Lizabeth did not appear anywhere else in the story besides this. The only she made an appearance was at the end of the series, and another at the end of the sequel to Sword Art Online. The most common order in the story is that Kirito meets a character, helps the character while building a good relationship with them, leave the character and never see them until the end of the series. Sometimes, however, the characters introduced even die in the same volume that they were introduced in, but the majority survives. There are few parts that seem to push the story forward, while the rest seems to be parts just to extend the story further. Without these parts, the story would be about 25 pages while it is an 18 volume series. Of course, some parts actually drive the story forward- Kirito joining a major guild, dealing with a murderer guild called Laughing Coffin, and working with the offensive team- a group of players who want to get out of the world by continuing to push forward.
Overall, it is a fun series to read, but I would not recommend this to someone who enjoys books with a deep story. It has a story, but most do not connect to much else in the story. The basic story is rather unique, and there is a good amount of action, but also some romance. In the end, it’s an interesting book and I’d recommend it as an easy read.

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Asuna in the days before she became the waifu...

Unlike the light novel the manga opened from Asuna's perspective, a breather. It covers up to the rising action of the Floor 1 Boss fight, nearly a quarter of the light novel counterpart but with some original material at the side.

Asuna's first impression as the fast-learning, efficient lone wolf from Volume is further retconned for emphasizing that she's merely a top-A student, who just happened to be trapped in a death game after trying something out of her character. Her habit of achieving the top rank became her reason to strive in the game. Kirito's presentation is different, in a way that he's the secondary protagonist.

The slower pace of the manga is good enough for expanding the Aincrad arc's universe and build-up. With a pinch of skin revealing here and there. Volume 1 ended with enough hype for Kirito's character to fully shine in the next volume.

[ribbonknight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly, I mistakenly thought I was checking out the light novel from the library, so was disappointed this was in fact the manga. (Also when will my library get Mother's Rosary?!) I'd been excited to read the Progressive arc because it was going to be the Aincrad arc from Asuna's pov. When she meets Kirito, she's his equal in speed and skill. Unfortunately, they retcon her growth as a warrior and make her reliant for Kirito for knowledge of how to play the game, what weapons to use, etc. Plus a multi-page bath scene to titillate the reader. This is the kind of damsel in distress bullshit I dropped Fairy Dance for, and incredibly disappointing for me as someone who was hoping for some great characterization of the bamf Asuna.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this one from the library for the summer reading program and because I had heard good things about the anime. Fits the current trend of LitRPG, where people get pulled into games and have to figure out how to survive and progress.

Cool story, good art. Probably won’t continue the manga because it got a little too “fan-servicey” (read: section 4 was scandalous enough that I might not hand the book to most teens). It does make me more inclined to read other books in the genre and to check out the anime.

Rating: a heavier PG-13 for some fairly suggestive illustrations in one portion.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3.5, but I'm such a sucker for the series I have to bump it to a 4.
I'm super happy to get more Asuna and I really enjoyed this.
They did make some interesting changes though. I can see why they did this, with the audience they're shooting at and the practicality of certain scene changes for layout/artwork. So a lot of the adjustments I didn't mind at all. In fact since I grew up on shojo manga/comics and they played into those tropes and styles I ate those up. But some people may not enjoy them.

[Maggie Hesseling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually really liked this manga. I've pretty much just started out reading them, and having just finished two that were alright, I was really surprised how much I liked this one. I love playing MMORPG games so this was right up my alley. And honestly, I'd probably be just as lost as her being in the game itself.

The story is great, it goes right into the thick of it and leaves you to learn things along the way.

[Eddie Maybury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trapped in a video game where death in the game means death in the real world. I've seen the Netflix series of this already, but the extra detail and background here is awesome. Some transitions were sudden to the point where a new scene would begin and it would take me a second to notice. This could probably be normal for image grid novels, but it still threw me off a bit. Reading from right to left also takes some getting used to. A solid quick read.

[José Abraham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The graphic novel is good but inferior to the light novel and movie... but the movie its based loosely on this graphic novel, so, this work must have his respective credit.

The problems with the graphic novel are that the author took too much creative freedom and changes the tone of the novel, in the graphic novel Kirito and Asuna look so dumb, and we see them with a totally different attitude than in the movie or light novel... the graphic novel has so much "fan service" too...

[Psalm Star · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's some good action and how sad she was in the beginning even to risk her own life was real. I knocked off a star because of the fan service unnecessarily that bath scene was too long 🙄 😒. I want to see her fight more not rely on a mmc she's the FMC but seeming so weak just running around 😑 like DO SOMETHING train already to get stronger just going right into a boss fight while she was shopping for undies girl-

[Marie Flower Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Après avoir découvert Reki Kawahara avec Accel World, je continue mon immersion dans son univers futuriste avec Sword Art Online Progressive, reboot du premier arc de Sword Art Online, Aincrad, qui nous permet d'en découvrir davantage sur ce monde virtuel. Ne connaissant pas (encore) le manga original (pas plus que le roman dont il est issu et les animes), je ne pourrai pas vous dire ce que le mangaka a apporté de plus ici. Vous avez donc droit à un regard totalement nouveau sur cet univers !
Comme Accel World (si vous ne connaissez pas encore, vous pouvez toujours jeter un oeil sur la chronique ici), Sword Art Online Progressive prend place dans un univers futuriste. Asuna Yuki est une élève brillante habituée à occuper le haut des classements scolaires. Mais un jour, elle se lance dans un jeu qui, dit-on, est révolutionnaire. Ce qu'elle ignorait, comme de nombreux autres joueurs, c'est que le jeu est à lui seul un monde virtuel dont il n'existe qu'un seul moyen pour en sortir : le terminer. Bien entendu, plus simple à dire qu'à faire... Dans sa quête de survie, Asuna va faire la rencontre de Kirito, un mystérieux joueur solo, aussi déterminé qu'elle à aller jusqu'au bout du jeu. Ensemble, réussiront-ils à en sortir ?

Merci beaucoup aux éditions Ototo pour ce nouvel envoi ! Les éditeurs de Spice & Wolf nous montrent une fois de plus la richesse et la qualité de leur catalogue avec cette nouvelle série. Sword Art Online est à la base un light-novel, un roman japonais young adult. Adaptée en anime et en manga, la série connaît de nombreux dérivés. Ainsi, si Accel World se déroule plusieurs années après, Sword Art Online Progressive est un reboot permettant d'aborder certains éléments qui étaient restés dans l'ombre jusqu'ici. Si certains peuvent être lassés de tous ces dérivés, pour ma part, j'ai été ravie de me replonger dans le monde virtuel de Reki Kawahara.

Lorsque j'ai vu qu'il s'agissait d'un reboot, j'ai eu peur de ne pas arriver à suivre car je ne connaissais pas l'œuvre de départ mais au final, ça n'a pas du tout été le cas et l'histoire était très facile à suivre. Nous faisons ici la connaissance d'Asuna, une jeune lycéenne aux résultats scolaires excellents et à l'avenir prometteur. Un jour, elle découvre Sword Art Online, un jeu de rôle stimulant les cinq sens des joueurs. Se laissant prendre au jeu, elle va néanmoins découvrir qu'il lui est impossible de se déconnecter. La voilà piégée dans cette réalité virtuelle comme tous les autres joueurs. Un seul moyen pour sortir du jeu : le terminer. Mais il existe de nombreux niveaux et personne n'a encore réussi à dépasser le niveau 1 ! Beaucoup y ont même laissé la vie... Déterminée à sortir vivante du jeu, Asuna va devoir apprendre à survivre face aux monstres qui peuplent ce monde. C'est alors qu'elle va faire la rencontre de Kirito, un jeune homme mystérieux aussi déterminé qu'elle à sortir vivant du jeu. Qui est-il réellement ? Une chose est sûre, s'ils veulent réussir leur quête, ils vont devoir progresser, et rapidement ! Depuis combien de temps sont-ils piégés dans Sword Art Online ? Le temps s'écoule-t-il de la même façon dans les deux mondes ?
J'ai beaucoup aimé les deux personnages principaux. Tous deux ont des personnalités très fortes. Doués au combat, Asuna et Kirito apparaissent comme des joueurs particulièrement doués et courageux. Ne reculant devant aucun danger, ils n'hésitent pas à prendre des risques pour passer au plus vite les différents niveaux. En dehors des combats, leurs caractères sont complètement différents. Asuna se révèle être une forte tête. Têtue et possédant un sale caractère, elle va mener la vie dure à ce pauvre Kirito ! Même si un rapprochement entre les deux paraît plus que probable, j'ai bien aimé la façon dont leur relation se construit. D'autres personnages vont faire leur apparition au fil des pages mais il est encore trop tôt pour en parler.
Du côté de l'univers, je m'attendais à retrouver beaucoup de similitudes entre Accel World et Sword Art Online Progressive. Or, j'ai été très étonnée de voir à quel point les deux pouvaient être à la fois très proches et très différents. En effet, les similitudes ne sont pas minimes puisque ces histoires sont seulement séparées dans le temps. L'idée principale reste ain5si la projection dans un univers virtuel sollicitant les cinq sens. Néanmoins, si la réalité virtuelle d'Accel World s'inscrit dans un univers futuriste, donnant un côté très science-fiction au manga, Sword Art Online Progressive se déroule à l'inverse dans un monde fantasy qui n'était pas sans me rappeler World of Warcraft en particulier pour ce qui concerne la façon de jouer (raids, amélioration des armes, personnalisation des avatars, etc...). Ces deux mangas ont toutefois un point commun essentiel : une fois lancé dedans, il est difficile d'en sortir ! L'histoire est particulièrement prenante et les dessins sont un régal pour les yeux !
Lire Sword Art Online Progressive, c'est prendre le risque de ne plus en sortir. Comme tous ces joueurs, vous serez piégé dans cet univers. Il ne vous restera alors plus qu'une seule solution pour vous déconnecter : terminer le manga. Oserez-vous vous lancer dans l'aventure ?


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