


The original romance was incredibly milquetoast because the chemistry between the two was fairly average. What's even better about the Abridged parody is the relationship between Asuna and Kirito is far more interesting. Take a look at the series' second episode featuring Kirito at his best here! His arc is even subverted as a character as he's shown to be a character that has moments when it looks like he'll change but immediately reverts to his awful self. While Kirito in the original show certainly kept to himself, this version of the character hilariously wears his ego with pride as he relentlessly mocks other players in the game. By far the biggest change between the original show and the parody is Kirito, who's depicted in these videos as a narcissistic sociopath.

What's hilarious though is that this version of the anime actually has a better storyline than the source material.

YouTube entertainer Something Witty Entertainment began sharing a new series in 2013 called Sword Art Online Abridged that took episodes from the aforementioned anime and spoofed them with clever jokes and new versions of the iconic characters. Related: Dot Hack is Sword Art Online Done Right Since then, Sword Art Online's writing and characters have become infamous among anime fans, but an Abridged series actually managed to take what didn't work and made the show even better. Characters like Kirito and Asuna who were loved before were now being critiqued as fans began to see flaws that were in the first arc from the beginning. Because of the series' lengthy storylines that continue long after the base premise had ended, fans have argued that the show's writing has taken a massive hit as far back as the first season following the escape from the killer game. Sword Art Online continued to follow the characters outside the game in numerous storylines over the years in new seasons, video games, and even movies with a new Sword Art Online film recently announced to be in the works.
