Introduction

My feelings toward Sword Art Online have always been very strange. As an anime viewer for nearly three decades, Sword Art Online does things so right it makes me smile and then does other things so poorly I have to question Reki Kawahara and ask him…why? The first dozen episodes of Season 1 are incredible. The end of Season 1 is bizarre. Then you have Gun Gale Online, which was cool at times but took the franchise in a whole new direction…then we have SAO: Alicization, which made me fall back in love with the series all over again. Okay…I’m going on a tangent, I know. But hopefully this slight rant shows that I have a genuinely weird love/hate relationship with Sword Art Online.

The movies, though? Most have been beyond stellar, with amazing animation and intriguing standalone stories…until today. When I first heard that original studio A-1 Pictures wasn’t making this film and that Polygon Pictures (who in fairness are a great animation studio) had taken the helm, my concerns started forming. Then I sat down and watched this nearly two-hour movie, and my concerns became reality. No clever quote or opening question today, dear readers. I just need to get into this review before I want to dive right back out. Here’s our review of Sword Art Online: Unanswered//butterfly. Please note: I purchased the Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online Ultimate Edition, which includes a digital download of the film, and that is how I was able to see it ahead of wider release.

Story

Sword Art Online—an online VRMMO that went from an exciting new game to a digital death trap thanks to its creator Akihiko Kayaba. Those who donned the NerveGear headset ended up trapped in Aincrad and quickly learned that death in the game meant death in reality. Players pushed forward hoping to escape by clearing all 100 floors. This particular story focuses on two young players operating under rather unusual circumstances.

Rex and Emirun aren’t elite warriors, but despite their limitations, both are determined to help push the effort forward. Rex, due to unknown NerveGear issues, is physically unable to swing a sword and can only equip a shield. Emirun is rash, goofy, and airheaded, driven by a desire to avenge a recently fallen friend killed by a player in black armor. The pair decide to grow stronger together, though their quest will be no walk in the park.

I’ll stop the plot summary there, because as cool as the premise of SAO: Unanswered//butterfly sounds, the story will test your patience. Rex is one of the more compelling character concepts in the SAO universe, at least initially. A player who literally cannot fight, entirely dependent on others, somewhat reminiscent of The Rising of the Shield Hero but far more constrained in what he can do. It’s fresh and interesting.

Then there’s Emirun.

As someone who tries not to throw the word “hate” around lightly, let me be clear: I absolutely hate Emirun with every fiber of my being. I haven’t disliked an anime character this consistently or this intensely in a very long time, and the feeling was so persistent it almost felt strange. Her character is the textbook definition of annoying. She screams like a five-year-old. She cries like a five-year-old. She acts like a five-year-old who wandered into a death trap with no plan. She is likely among the top 20 dumbest characters I have encountered across all of anime. There is nothing endearing about her reliance on Rex to shield her and guide her (he was actually her real-world tutor)—it is just grating. Even as the story makes a fairly dramatic shift roughly halfway through the film, Emirun never stops wearing on you. By the time the credits rolled, I wasn’t curious about what comes next. I was just relieved it was over.

I know this section is meant to cover the story broadly, but my feelings about Emirun are the story problem, because the entire film rises or falls on whether you care about these two protagonists. I didn’t. Their struggles felt hollow. Even with the appearances of Kirito and Asuna alongside a few familiar faces from Echoes of Aincrad, the story never finds solid footing. When it ended, I felt nothing except quiet relief.

Animation

While the story is…almost unbearable, the animation is quite solid, even if it doesn’t reach the level of polish audiences associate with A-1 Pictures. As I made brief note of earlier, Polygon Pictures are no strangers to quality work—their credits include Ajin, Knights of Sidonia, and BLAME! SAO: Unanswered//butterfly is handled well by their studio, sporting a different art style from the SAO we know but with comparable quality. The big fights and smaller duels look fantastic, and I’m genuinely grateful to Polygon Pictures for giving me something visually worthwhile when so much else around it wasn’t.

Sound

Kirito and Asuna are once more voiced by the excellent Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Haruka Tomatsu respectively, and though their roles are limited (Asuna gets slightly more screen time than Kirito here), both are as perfect in these roles as ever. Kouki Uchiyama as Rex and Tomoyo Kurosawa as Emirun aren’t bad either. Whatever my feelings about Emirun as a character, her voice performance is handled well. The music isn’t too shabby either—Reach for the Rainbow by Kato Leia and Ria (Lori and Lala) is a genuinely enjoyable track. Overall, not the strongest the series has offered, but nothing to complain about.

Characters

Let’s try to be fair to Emirun rather than cataloguing frustrations without context. My dislike comes into focus when you place her alongside SAO‘s strongest female characters: Asuna, Sinon, and Alice. Each of them is capable, complex, and compelling in her own way. Then there’s…Emirun, who is none of those things. There are brief flashes where I can see a better character trying to emerge, and then she opens her mouth to scream for food or pick a fight to prove she’s tough, and whatever goodwill she’d built disappears instantly.

Rex (the other main lead) is Emirun’s polar opposite, almost tactician-like and quietly brave. When specific events occur (that I want to spoil but won’t), Rex’s entire persona shifts and I genuinely saw real possibilities opening up. Then Rex began drifting toward Emirun’s energy and my optimism faded with it. The supporting cast drawn from other SAO stories and Echoes of Aincrad are so underutilized that their appearances feel more like brief cameos than meaningful contributions. SAO: Unanswered//butterfly had the pieces to build something genuinely compelling and squandered nearly all of them.

Conclusion

Honestly, it hurts to score a Polygon Pictures production this low. But I can’t excuse just how disappointing Sword Art Online: Unanswered//butterfly is. An unlikeable main female lead, a story that finds brief cleverness before abandoning it entirely, and a cast of characters that gives you almost nothing to hold onto. If you are a fan of Sword Art Online (even the side stories and films), I recommend skipping this one with my whole heart. If you’re here purely for solid animation and familiar voice performances, there’s something to watch. For everyone else, this is one question best left unanswered.