I see that a lot of people, especially teenagers, hate couples and think that Kazuto flirts with other girls, and they don't see their love.
- Asuna and Kazuto love each other very much that if Asuna / Kazuto died, the other person would kill himself. This is big love. 2.1 arc GGO series 2. Kazuto doesn't tell Asuna about a dangerous mission that some Xada (I forgot the name so sorry) is killing people. Because he does not want to endanger Asuna, it is firstly, and secondly, if Kazuto said about this mission, Asuna would stop him from danger. Imagine that you are a special agent, eg. A man has a wife / girlfriend, he cannot say that he is a special agent because they would be worried about his life. 2.2 After the end of the scene of episode 14, Kazuto brings Shino to a bar to his friends.
- Kazuto tells Shino that Asuna, Lisbeth and Agil are his "Nakama" which means SAO companions.
- Kazuto says a nickname to his friends: blacksmith, Berserk Healer, Agil the Wall. it's becouse Shino was stranger to them and Shino had a trauma of making friends, since all her friends before either bully her or end up wanting to kill her ... she was extremely fearful and anixious and Kazuto was lighteing up the mood with some joke .
- When observing their relationship, you can guess that Asuna and Kazuto are a couple or maybe they are a couple, because you can see how two people behave with each other. It is impolite to speak to someone who has just joined his / her friends' pack. He'll tell you: "She's my girlfriend because she'll think she did something wrong. In Japan, everyone is polite and nice, so it would be rude to say that she is my friend and she is my girlfriend. It's as if Kazuto is talking Shino. Pretty rude, don't you think? Better to say my girlfriend and friends are your friends " Imagine that you have a similar situation to Shino, you from elementary to 2nd grade of high school were mentally and physically harassed and suddenly another person appears who extends a helping hand to you. He / She wants to befriend you but you are afraid that he will beat you and tease you. Arc alicization is shown very well especially in LN, Kazuto in the afterlife is worried about Asuna and even Asuna flew to the ocean turtle because she was worried about Kazuto who found out about being connected to the STLD. Later, when it was war, she decided to enter the underworld, save Kazuto and the people of the underworld. She was in the ocean turtle all the time, because she wanted to be with Kazuto, plus she decided to stay with Kazuto in the underground for 200 years. Because Kazuto would not be alone and that she would not survive without Kazuto. Kazuto is very devoted and faithful to Asuna. In public places it is not shown that this couple loves, because it is embarrassing for them and people do not need to know about it. There is a different culture and customs in Japan than in my country, Poland and your country as well. My hate is when it says it's a harem, just because Kazuto has more (female) friends than (male) friends. A boy cannot have, for example, 3 girlfriend-friend and 1 (male) friend? If someone says yes, he is hypocritical and stupid because there is no such rule that a boy must have more male friends than female friends. Kazuto is Shino's friend because they both share the same trauma. Rika (Aka Lisbeth) is Kazuto's only friend and ASUNA because she knows that Asuna loves Kazuto and Kazuto loves Asuna. Keiko (Silica) is like Kazuto's sister, Kazuto is like her older brother. Asuna and Kazuto are Shino's first and best friends, and Suguha is also Shino's friend. Kazuto just teases and plays with Shino, Rika, Keiko, Alice as friends. And those who are jealous of this popular and beautiful couple are only singles who are upset because they don't have a boyfriend / girlfriend in real life. I do not have a girlfriend and even though I am 24 years old, I am not jealous of this couple because what am I supposed to be angry with for a fictional character who does not exist. I wrote a lot because I wanted to explain to you about the love of Asuna and Kazuto, the friendship relationship.
Sword Art Online is a particularly divisive series in any discussion post, particularly between its fans and its absolutist detractors who take every minor flaw with the series and blow them out of proportion. Some do so out of malice, and some do so out of ignorance of the series, especially the “I don’t have to watch SAO to know it’s bad” types. One of the biggest false statements given as a reason SAO is bad is because “it’s a harem, the only reason for females is harem”. Despite the fact that the major tropes of a harem are not present in the series, and that most of the romantic action is between Kirito and Asuna alone, people see every female character introduced as “ another member of Kirito’s Harem”. So, to set the record straight I want to go by definitions of harem animes and give reasons why SAO doesn’t fit the criteria to be a harem.
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ALL POINTS ARE MADE BY BOTH LIGHT NOVEL AND ANIME INFO TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE AND ARE BASED UPON MY INFERENCES AND THOSE OF OTHER FANS.
*SPOILERS UP TO LIGHT NOVEL 18 AND WAR OF UNDERWORLD ENDING.
Definition of a harem.
· (1) Anime that involves one lead male character and many cute/pretty female support characters. (2). (3)The lead male typically represents the average guy who is shy, awkward, and girlfriendless. While each female character surround the lead male possesses distinct physical and personality traits, those traits nevertheless represent different stereotypical roles that play on popular Japanese fetishes – KissAnime
· A harem (4)includes three or more characters who potentially show romantic interest in a male protagonist. The sex, gender, or orientation of the harem members is irrelevant as long as (5)they exclusively, or at least primarily, are vying for the affections of the same individual – (6)who may or may not reciprocate towards one, several, or none of these romantic rivals. -AnimePlanet
Other major traits of harems/harem anime
· (7) Harems generally tend to have the majority of the characters appear in every episode after they are introduced.
· (8) Harem anime is also generally paired with the “ecchi’’ category
Now for each major point, I will explain why Sword Art Online doesn’t fit the definition to call it a “Harem” whether in anime as a genre or as specific to the show.
(1) “Anime that involves one lead male character and many cute/pretty female support characters.”
-Kirito is undoubtedly the male lead, and yes there are several cute females in his friend group, but his friends do not only include female characters. Klein, Agil, and especially Eugeo are as close of friends as the female characters, (besides Asuna obviously).
(2) “Typically, the male lead ends up living with many female support characters within the same household.’’
-Though this is not always the case, it is a frequent enough trope in harem and ecchi anime to be addressed. In SAO (Aincrad Arc), the only female he lives with is Asuna. (Yui doesn’t count because she Is an AI daughter to Kirito and Asuna). In New Aincrad (The remade castle in Alfheim) Kirito and Asuna rebuy the cabin from the first season and often host the other characters in the home, but the characters do not live there. In the real world, Kirito still lives at home with his family, including his sister/cousin Suguha. He is visited by and the other characters, but never more than a single interaction and the only house he is seen visiting is Asuna’s.
(3) “The lead male typically represents the average guy who is shy, awkward, and girlfriendless.”
-Again not always, but often enough to be addressed. At the beginning of the series, Kirito does very well fit the “shy, awkward, girlfriendless” MC trope. But as the series continues, his character does develop (Despite the insistence that there is no character development in the series) into being a more outgoing and friendly person, although his original character does peek through time to time. And most importantly, he has a girlfriend (Asuna) since episode 10 of season 1 and has been going strong since then.
(4) “includes three or more characters who potentially show romantic interest in a male protagonist.”
-here’s the one of the biggest points in which I wish to make my argument. One thing that has been constantly debated about in regard to SAO is in which “All of the females love him, and for no reason other than he is the MC”. First of all, people tend to think love only tends to refer to “Romantic” love. Each of the character “loves” Kirito in their own way, but that doesn’t necessarily they are romantically attracted to him. (The Light Novels are much better at distinguishing this) Anime only viewers tend to overlook details and insert other details that gives the impression that the female characters “are in love with him”
Each distinct female character’s relationship to Kirito
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Asuna- By far the most important female character in the series. First as Kirito’s battle partner, then as his true love, it is undeniable that Asuna has had a profound impact on both Kirito as a person and on the series as a whole. In the early part of the series, she is strict and often temperamental. The biggest reason being her strict upbringing and her belief that one more day in SAO is one day lost in the real world. But while spending time with kirito, her attitude and view on SAO changes. And after falling in love with Kirito, she begins to be grateful of the time she spends with Kirito, Within SAO and eventually outside of SAO after it ends. In the interactions between the two throughout the series, it is abundantly clear that they both have intensely strong romantic love toward each other. In the Ordinal Scale movie, Kirito proposes to Asuna and gives her a ring IRL (The ring can be seen on her finger throughout Alicization) and this marks the commitment that kirito has made to Asuna alone. In Alicization, when Kirito wants to go to America, Asuna agrees to go with him. After He is poisoned and taken away by RATH to be healed. Asuna uses all of her resources to find kirito, so far as breaking into a Secret base to see him, And after his brain is damaged, dives in to underworld to save him, and stays behind with him in the underworld for 200 years. If that alone doesn’t get girlfriend of the century, I don’t know what does.
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Silica- Also sometimes referred to as “the Loli one” doesn’t really get a ton of screentime. But in the time she does get, it is pretty clear that she doesn’t have a romantic interest in Kirito. After Kirito saves her and helps her revive Pina (the little dragon that Silica has), Kirito admits that the reason he helped her is because she reminds him of his sister (Suguha). She even says at the end of the episode “ I got to have my very own big brother”, which doesn’t express romantic intent. Throughout the series, this mindset doesn’t seem to change and she doesn’t do much other than be a supporting friend.
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Lisbeth- The First character other than Asuna to fall in love with Kirito. At first, Lisbeth despised Kirito, mainly for breaking her best sword and being kinda rude, but after the adventure to obtain the crystal (that would become kirito’ s second sword Dark Repulser), she falls for him because she “was looking for something real” as she said, and her adventure with kirito and the way he didn’t leave her behind while also comforting her while they were stuck in the nest. But after she see’s Asuna and Kirito interact, she understands that they have a much closer bond and she didn’t want to interfere. But she still insisted on being great friends with both Kirito and Asuna, supporting their relationship throughout the series. *As a side note and to be as transparent as possible, in light novel 18 she does say, “I still love Kirito” Though it is unclear in which manner she means. Even if she does still like him romantically, it stands as a part of her character that she puts Asuna and Kirito before herself.
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Suguha- The little sister/cousin. By far the most misrepresented character in the series, her development throughout Fairy Dance is always cut down to “ew incest stupid sister”. Even though Fairy Dance is by far the weakest arc of SAO, by both series fans and audience at large, It is a huge misrepresentation to say Suguha’s development is worthless or cringy/gross. When Kazuto and Suguha were growing up, they were very close. But after he discovers his adoption, Kazuto pushes away from everyone and dives into gaming. After being stuck in SAO, and the resulting stress on the family, Kazuto returns as a completely different person. Suguha’s age mixed with the monumental shift in Kazuto’s character causes her to become confused about her feelings toward him. Even before he woke up, Suguha decided to try VR in order to understand why Kazuto tried to escape to gaming. Eventually she decides that her feelings must be love and tries to push them away. Despite the stereotypical Sister loves brother no matter what anyone says trope; Suguha hates the way she feels, knows its wrong, and tries to forget the feelings she has by going after Kirito ( the ALO avatar). But upon finding out Kirito was Kazuto, she is devastated and finally confronts her feeling In front of kazuto in real life. Kazuto forgives her and she decides that she would help him as a sister, and support him in his own happiness with Asuna, instead of herself. Even though they still live in the same house, the tone of the relationship between them never ventures beyond close siblings.
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Shino Asada/Sinon- Sinon by far has the most tragic backstories out of any of the characters in the SAO series. When she was around 10, an armed man tries to rob a post office. After shooting one worker and then turning the gun on another worker, then to Shino’s mother, Shino wrestles the gun away from him and kills him. This results in her crippling fear of guns, and the bullying throughout her childhood. Shino moves away to get away from the bullying in her town. After entering the new school, She enters Gun Gale Online, through the suggestion of Kyouji, to try to become stronger. Through the use of her avatar “Sinon”, she becomes one of the top players in GGO, gaining the attention of Death Gun. When Kirito becomes lost in the unfamiliar world of GGO, he bumps into Sinon who believes him to be a girl due to the appearance of his avatar. Not correcting the misunderstanding, he gains the assistance of Sinon to learn the basics of the world of GGO and of the Tournament BoB. After being found out as a male, Sinon becomes furious at Kirito’s hiding being a male, and tries to get rid of him, and later vowing to defeat him. Later in the tournament, they team up to hunt down Death Gun. Sinon gets stunned and is nearly killed by Death Gun, by the same gun she feared from her childhood, sending her into a panic attack. But after Kirito makes an escape with her, she essentially decides she would rather die than live in fear the way she has been, but after Kirito’s rebuttal and telling her that “its better to move on” speech. She agrees to at least try a little longer. And after winning GGO, the boy Kyouji, goes into a psychopathic fit and tries to subdue Shino. Kirito saves her and Kyouji is arrested, along with one of the other DG members. Kirito introduces Shino to Liz and Asuna, and they all reveal the reason they brought her, to show her the mother and daughter Shino saved at the post office. This prompts Shino’s recovery and beginning friendship with the group. Shino views Kirito as a “Saving Angel” figure that helped her heal from her years of agonizing fear and depression. She does state In the Light novel 17 that “I’ll be honest…I like Kirito. I love him. So does Asuna. There are many, many other people who do, too…”. Though it is inferred she doesn’t mean she loves him romantically.
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Alice Synthesis Thirty/Zuberg- It first needs to be noted that Alice the Knight and Alice the girl are two separate people. The first version of Alice “the one that Eugeo was trying to save” dies along with Eugeo after the battle with Administrator. The “current” Alice is the one that Administrator created after “previous” Alice’s memories were removed. This factor also plays into her metal state, as she constantly battles with the “I’m not the real Alice” and “my only purpose is to fight” thoughts. After Kirito reveals the truth behind Alice’s past, she breaks the “code 871” seal in her eye after defying the Church. After the battle with Administrator, Eugeo dies and Kirito is placed in a “self” coma and Alice takes it upon herself to care for him and take him away from the danger of the remaining Church. Going to Rulid, she takes care of comatose Kirito for 6 months until the village is attacked by goblins in the initial stages of the Invasion of the Human Empire. She decides to fight to save the people but takes Kirito along with her. After learning through Bercolli that Kirito could possibly wake up, she thinks that she may be able to wake him up by opening up her will to him. She places Kirito into the care of his former pages (apprentices) Tiese and Ronye. Asuna later dives into the Underworld, but Alice not knowing who she is, attacks her to keep her away from Kirito. Alice learns of who Asuna is and her relationship to Kirito but is still apprehensive. Alice’s behaviors show her protectiveness of Kirito because she see’s him as a “messiah” figure from another world that has all the answers. She basically makes her life mission into protecting him. It is possible she does harbor some romantic interest in him, but at this point in the series it is difficult to say.
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OTHER PROMINENT FEMALE CHARACTERS THAT DON’T ROMANTICALLY LOVE KIRITO
**-**Aki, Cardinal, Quinella, Ronye, Tiese, Sortilliena, Selka, Yuuki
(5) “they exclusively, or at least primarily, are vying for the affections of the same individual”
-And here’s the smoking gun. The female characters as mentioned in the previous point all are fully aware that Kirito and Asuna are together. Not only do they not let their own potential liking of Kirito not interfere between them, most of them actively support the both of them together as good friends. Although some of the females like him or, depending on context,
may love him. None of them try to attract Kirito’s affection or try to push Asuna away from him (with the exception of Alice before she understands the situation)
(6) “who may or may not reciprocate towards one, several, or none of these romantic rivals” – even though Kirito is sometimes put into awkward situations, he never wavers from the fact that he is completely devoted to Asuna. He does occasionally like to tease some of the female characters, it never goes beyond friendly “tail pulling”.
(7) “Harems generally tend to have the majority of the characters appear in every episode after they are introduced” -This is merely a personal observation of most of the “harem” genre of anime. One of the biggest arguments against SAO is that some of the characters are backlined after their respective Arcs. Even though this is half true (most of the characters make important appearances in the later parts of the series.) This works against the notion that SAO acts like a Harem because the point of the characters in a harem style anime is to see them interact with the MC and vie for his attention.
(8) “Harem anime is also generally paired with the “ecchi’’ category” - Again, not always but often enough in my opinion to be noted. Despite the cry of “ too much fanservice” or “Sinon Ass Online”. There is approximately 7 minutes of what could be called “useless fanservice” in approximately 24 hours of content. Hardly enough to warrant it being called ecchi.
All the points ive made above are what I believe the best arguments against calling SAO a harem. By definitions and behavior of the characters, the term harem does not fit the show or the group of characters. Kirito fan-club, yes they all like him and are good friends with him and each other. A couple of the characters may have minor romantic feelings toward Kirito, but those characters don’t act upon them and supported Kirito and Asuna’s relationship before they thought of themselves. So thus my argument concludes: Sword Art Online is not a Harem.
