Unboxing [US]: Sword Art Online - Box Set 3: Fairy Dance Part 1: Limited Edition (Blu-ray)

Perhaps the rarest of the four in this series for Blu-ray. It's time to take a trip down to the fairy land of Alfheim Online.

Here's an overview/unboxing for the third of four limited edition boxsets from Aniplex of America for Sword Art Online Season 1.

This is the point to where many will say you should stop watching Sword Art Online. After the first 14 episodes, the next major arc begins. This arc has been very controversial in the anime adaptation for a few reasons - fanservice, character development and pacing. Many loved the Aincrad arc because the main two leads were strong and could protect themselves but in the Fairy Dance arc however one of them ends up powerless and stripped down to a damsel in distress role, which pissed off quite a lot of people. It also introduced a new female lead and another shit-load of problems for fans due to the whole complex that I will not discuss because I won't.

The point that I'm trying to make is that many people disliked Fairy Dance and I honestly felt it was okay. I know it will never beat the first arc but I liked Leafa and the interesting direction it took.

This very VERY (I mean it) expensive and now completely out of print limited edition set from Aniplex of America contains the first half of Sword Art Online's Fairy Dance arc which covers episodes 15 to 19 (yep that's five episodes. I don't even). Note that due to the early release (which is unusual for a lot of English releases) the sets had to be split into multiple parts and as such were given special treatment to make up for the price tag.

The set also provides the second original soundtrack, chipboard artbox, postcards, booklet, a collectible card and on-disc extras including the Sword Art Offline specials and Audio Commentary. Like all Aniplex of America sets, the Blu-ray is region free and contains unlockable subtitles. The audio for this set contains the original Japanese language and an English dub.

Another thing to point out is the audio track for the English audio, like Fate/Zero the content was too big and given Aniplex likes to prioritise on the Japanese part of the discs the English audio had to be reduced to Dolby Digital 2.0. This may be disappointing for many but it's better than not having a dub if you think about it.

Blu-ray Specs (Main Feature):

Languages: Japanese, English

Audio: LPCM 2.0 [Japanese], Dolby Digital 2.0 [English]

Video: 1080p HD Native 16:9

Region: A, B, C

Subtitles: English & Spanish [Japanese language]

Subtitles Locked: No

Discs: 2

Plot Synopsis (via Back cover):

Although Kirito cleared SAO and returned to his real life, his adventure was far from over. Asuna is in a coma in the hospital, and Nobuyuki Sugou of RECTO, the company that took over SAO's property, is trying to get married to her!

Hearing that Asuna has been spotted in the virtual game Alfheim Online (ALO), Kirito decides to dive into the virtual world once again. With the help of Leafa, Kirito rushes to the World Tree where Asuna is supposedly imprisoned.

Extra Content:

Chipboard Limited Edition Artbox

Original Soundtrack 2 from Yuki Kajiura

16-page Deluxe Illustration Booklet

Set of Pin-up Illustration Postcards
WeiB Schwarz Collectible Card #3

Aniplex 'Proof of Purchase' card

Audio Comnentary by Creators and Japanese Cast

Special Animation 'Sword Art Offline'

Original Web Previews

Trailer

2nd Season Textless Opening

Sword Art Online is pretty much no longer available as a Limited Edition Blu-ray set from Aniplex of America (unless they release a standard set). The DVD version is still available. For other territories the Blu-ray and DVD are available from Manga UK and Madman.