There's something about a VRMMO focusing only on melee combat that has remained as novel and fun of an idea to me in my early twenties as it was to me as a twelve year old. Despite how much flack the Sword Art Online franchise gets, I'm not afraid to say how much I like the Progressive spin-off series, particularly the novels. So, I am always looking forward to watching the movie adaptations, even if I'll constantly lament it not being a high-quality television series. I watched the Aria of a Starless Night when it came to theaters, and have just come back from watching Scherzo of the Deep Night.

This sequel doesn't pick up directly after the events of the first movie. Instead, it focuses on an arguably more important story arc that occurs a few novel volumes ahead. On one hand, I understand the decision go in this direction because let's be real there's no way every single floor's arc will be adapted (nor will the volumes ever be completed in Reki Kawahara's lifetime, for that matter). But on the other hand, I'm disappointed that the earlier stories aren't covered because they contained my favorite aspects of Progressive, which I'll get into later. Since the movie skips ahead in the story, the beginning of the movie is a bit jarring because it jumps right into a floor boss fight and afterwards quickly introduces the audience to a new character, Argo. Argo is a character whose importance is greatly understated in the movie as a consequence of going ahead in the story.

The rest of the movie is pretty good for what it is. There is no lack of spectacle in the action and visuals are all high end. Though in my opinion none of the fights are as well choreographed or satisfying as the last fight from the first movie. Matsuoka yelling "ASUNA!" and "SWITCH!" are as iconic as ever, Tomatsu Haruka is still wonderful, and I'm glad that Izawa Shiori's voice as Argo is really close to what I had imagined when reading. Kajiura Yuki is once again responsible for the absolutely banging music. She's done the rest of SAO as well as the Type Moon stuff - what else is there to say? If you enjoyed the first Progressive movie and want more, then this is a treat. Looking at the movie by itself, it is a fun action-packed hour and forty minutes of well spent time. It's hard to shake off the infamous reputation of the original series, but if you're already at the second movie then you should already have your expectations properly set. However, as a fan of the source material, I should take a moment to talk about the things the movie lacked not because of poor execution but because of the movie format.

As I had said earlier, what I love most about Progressive takes a backseat in this arc. The best part of Progressive is its detailed floor-by-floor world building, lore, and exploration that breathe much life into the world of Aincrad. Much of the source material involves Kirito and Asuna exploring the floors for the first time and encountering in-game side quests or other conflicts along the way. Their constant dialogue with each other leads to insanely cute banter and the time spent together helps justify how strongly they depend on each other. Many of these stories may not be directly important to the main quest of beating the game, but they're just plain fun and help strengthen Kirito's and Asuna's relationship. This important characterization is unfortunately lost in the movies due to obvious time constraints and this particular arc focusing more on the broader SAO story with more side characters involved. Kirito's character suffers as a result because the audience doesn't get to see just how dorky he can be when he's alone with Asuna (though he's not as bland as he is in the original). The tender moments between Kirito and Asuna in the movie are still undeniably nice, but if I were a first timer of the series, I wouldn't find it super impactful and would need to see more of them together to be convinced. The world building isn't the Lord of the Rings knock-your-socks off kind of level of deep, but it's still a shame that such a level of detail couldn't be included. All of this is just me saying I'm sad to not see all the fun lighthearted aspects of Progressive that lead to the absolutely intoxicatingly adorable romantic moments they share together.

Overall, I enjoyed Scherzo of the Deep. It for the most part delivers the SAO experience without all of the garbage that once weighed it down. I'm excited for the next movie, and hopefully it'll fulfill what I personally want most out of it.