Do many SOTA players watch MMORPG anime?

LOL I remember Asterix! They had them at the library when I was a kid. I haven't thought about those in forever...

 

There is a new parallel-world RPG anime series that just started today in Japan (and was simulcast in the US on Crunchyroll) called Knights & Magic, where a programmer/robotics enthusiast is reincarnated into a medieval world of knights... and magic. I haven't seen it yet and like magic vs. technology battles (the Battle of Zhuolu in Chinese mythology is fascinating). Will be watching this one closely to see if it is any good. The nesting of realities in such stories is philosophical and often makes me wonder if the "limitations" of the avatars we play in virtual worlds such as SoTA might be an analogy of our real-world limitations, especially the reasons for them.

 

I liked to read the Light Novels the anime were based on (translated since I don't speak moon rune sadly) before Yen Press decided to license everything and like the ass-hats they are start releasing from the beginning only (read: 6+ years til I got new material in many cases).

I found the anime left out WAAAY too much in almost every case. In more egregious examples they plain bastardized it entirely and SAO falls closer to this category compared to the books.

 

This might sound a bit naive, and it may turn out to be, that my main source of knowledge about the manga and anime industry comes from watching Bakuman, an anime, based on a manga, about the manga and anime industry (talk about nested levels). It was an excellent series, and if it is accurate, it shows the difficulty of creating both manga and anime, and the high level of professionalism, artistry and skills required even by ancillary staff like managers, voice actors, etc. So I think of manga/graphic novels and anime as two separate art forms and don't compare them directly. One is the artistry of the original illustrator/author, and one is the professional teamwork required to turn it into an anime. I guess it's sort of comparable to Blade of the Avatar (book series) vs. Shroud of the Avatar (game), although Blade is supposedly a prequel. Nevertheless, the more specific MMORPG anime and RPG anime genres are a great complement to playing games like SoTA, similar to how some people watch live game streaming, being a shared experience.

 

By the way, @Berek, can you please move this thread over to Fire Lotus Tavern? This seems to be a niche topic like games, books, etc. Thanks.

 

Done!