Gekidžóban Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale

So I guess I am a fan of the anime series because, unlike the reviewer Scalpelexis, I definitely did not feel this as an extreme bummer, and I even had quite a bit of fun at the end. I am going to start with the obvious, which is that the animation and soundtrack are really good. I thought that the fight scenes especially were once again great, dynamic, and as a person who likes action, I enjoyed them. I thought the final fight scene especially was very good. It was colorful and had that epic feel that I loved with the last boss. So, thanks to the decent animation, it is easy on the eye, and I am willing to partially forgive the, in my opinion, rather mediocre and simplistic narrative. For about three-quarters of the movie, it was extremely predictable, even for someone like me. Sometimes I was wondering, for example, how Kirito might have got so buff so quickly, and then the conclusion came along, which was quite emotional, even though quite predictable. It is cool that the villains are not black and white characters, more just like some people with a tragic backstory who took the solution into their own hands and did not really succeed. However, this has been done so many times before with movies and anime series, so it is not that new. Luckily for me, I felt it was very moving in the end. I found the tragic narrative touching, and so it served its purpose. Perhaps this was the cornerstone of its success, or perhaps it is also because I am a fan of the main two protagonists. Now I am probably going to disagree with my colleague Scalpelexis because the romantic subplot between the main two protagonists seemed quite believable to me (however, what do I know about love?) I like that the movie focuses on the main couple and the rest of Kirito's harem finally fades into the background, where I think they belong. Oh, and some of the romantic moments, including the final one, made me feel happy. So, all in all, I accept that the narrative could have been more interesting, even though the rest of it did not bother me in any way, and as a fan, which I guess I am, I even enjoyed it quite a bit. 7/10. (16.09.2017)