Initial Impressions: Accel World / アクセル・ワールド

This review has been updated. To see "Accel World, Final Impressions", click here.

Posted by DarrenW
April 26, 2012

Yosh!

Sorry that the reviews by me are so late nowadays. Exams are coming up and I really don't have a lot of time to relax and write reviews.

And... I just realized that viewership has dropped from a daily 410 to 120. Wow. That's ugly.

But for now, I will do the initial impressions for Accel World / アクセル・ワールド!

So the story begins in a setting that's not too far away from us, in 2040, where technology has advanced to a stage where manipulation of the five senses have become available. Neuro-synchronization allows people to link their brains similar to that of computers. So basically you can view whatever you want while having windows on the side of your eyes, and enter virtual realms that feel realistic.

Virtual Realm

"Haruyuki Arita"

And thats when I saw the main character for the first time. OMG. Our protagonist, Haruyuki Arita, that sounds like Ouma Shu from Guilty Crown, appears in front of my eyes as a short obese student, being tortured and bullied by other people. (I like Wikipedia's interpretation, where they say "short, fat boy")

So Haru decides to escape into the virtual world, to vent his angers from reality. (He's virtual avatar is very suitable) He likes playing what I would depict as a 3D version of squash with special power-ups.

"Kuroyukihime"

However, he comes back one day and finds that his high score has been severely trashed. Life basically sucks for Haru now, or is it? He gets the attention of his school's vice president, Kuroyukihime, who is, on the up side, one of the more beautiful characters in the anime. Mysterious, she presents a different ideal to Haru.

Do you want to rebuild reality into a form you never dreamt of?

"Brain Burst"

"Neuro linker"

Haru agrees and installs a file called "Brain Burst", which is like the ultimate reality hacker programme I've ever seen, which gives you the ability to freeze time into a thousandth of a second, and lets you think through your strategies.

"Silver Crow"

However, with such great powers comes at a cost. Accelerations use up acceleration points. People who install such programmes must fight in a virtual arena, to maintain their acceleration points. (like a HP bar)

Reborn into the "Silver Crow", will Haru be able to accelerate his world into the greater reality?

"Ash Roller"

Although not much actual plot has developed, the setting and how its progressing seems quite good from where I'm standing, with rational explanations and all that.

Personally, there aren't any issues to talk about here. It's all about the future and all that. Why not give it a chance. I'm sure that this series will be one of the more interesting ones this season.

Accel World has an awesome 24 episodes and right now has premiered 3. It also comes with a light novel and manga version, of which you SHOULDN'T READ if you don't want spoilers. It is currently fansubbed by Commie, Asenshi, Hadena, UTW, and WhatStory.

Welcome to the accelerated world. Welcome to Accel World.

DarrenW
Edited by Tr3xus