Introduction
Hello, welcome back to Kangaeru Sensei where we make learning fun by talking about how are favourite media that we consume have been carefully crafted to create spectacles that are truly wonderful. Today I want to have a little look at Accel World’s light novels.
You’d be surprised that despite how niche this series is it has 25 light novels and to this day is still ongoing. The story is made by Reki Kawahara, the creator of SAO, who started writing Accel World in October 2007. Initially he was just trying to have some fun but in 2008 he won the Dengeki prize and got the first volume published! SAO was also a web novel before Kawahara submitted it into Dengeki’s prize in 2002.
You might be wondering, why am I telling you all this? Well, I want to make it clear that I’m not particularly fond of SAO as a series despite loving Accel World. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that Kawahara’s writing greatly developed when he initially began writing Accel World. Maybe SAO’s later seasons are great? Who knows and who cares, point is while it’s good SAO has a strong loving fanbase, I wish Accel World had something resembling its older brother’s success. Of course, don’t take this as me being a salty Accel world fan, just know that Reki Kawahara wrote Accel World very differently from SAO.
Anime Comparison:
In my opinion, Accel World’s anime is a great representation of the light novel overall, although I do have some minor gripes. For one, the way how the anime imagines the descriptions of the different stages and scenery within the Accelerated World is respectable. However, while the way these stages look matches how these locations were described in the light novels, the scenery all have a very generic anime looking style, which makes it blend in with every other anime or JRPG in existence. Characters having big distinct eyes with not much going on with their faces or body, a kind of cutesy art style. Not being stylised like One Piece, or better yet, The Great Pretender, which uses varying numbers of colours in its art to make it truly feel like you’re exploring the world. The various terrains in Brain Burst consisting of: forest, lava or earth settings with maybe a dark gritty hellscape that’s fitting as the final dungeon. Although I’m probably just nitpicking as this could be said to be a problem with all anime in existence. This might be down to the fact that the anime is matching the illustrations made by HIMA; whose art style is so beautiful that they’ve made *ahem* other kinds of art, though that’s beside the point. I promise…
Thinking back, on the surface, many things about Accel World don’t actually seem to stand out. If you turned your brain off to most of the dialogue, you’d just see another generic anime that’s just halfway decent, after airing that season, fated to fade into obscurity. In fact, this is exactly what happened to Accel World in the end, and it could have had a chance for a season 2. And it’s honestly sad as people would have probably come to appreciate it more if they at least got to Hermes’ cord, those who’ve read the light novels know what I’m not talking about. Damn you Love Live! Damn you Infinite Burst! What a disgrace you two are, and if there are any fans for these abominations come take me on!
The Dusk Taker arc while good in the wider context of Accel World’s story is such a sour note to end the series on. Which isn’t the fault of the anime. Dusk Taker is an obdurate villain who’s motivated by the pleasure of people’s failures and suffering. Classic sadist, classic generic antagonist, correct? Well, when brain burst by design is such a cutthroat system that drops players for losing enough fights, we see how the people in different legions attempt to go against the implications the rules bring that ‘everyone is an enemy but you’. Further exemplified that if any king were to die once, they’d lose all their points in an instant. And reaching level 10 would mean killing every last king. So, when the characters are all looking to have some good fun at Hermes’ Cord and Rust Jigsaw ruins that, it makes what they’re doing feel all the more threatening. Breaking apart a safe space these kids have created for themselves in Brain Burst; burst linkers also got to worry about facing their own mental scars!!! They need a break sometimes you know.
In terms of subtly and foreshadowing, Kawahara was a king in the light novels, planting seeds for certain events through his unique wordplay that helped to show different perspectives on characters. Thankfully the anime kept this for the most part, especially for characters like Sky Raker and Takumu. There was one scene in the light novel which said
“He casually raised the enormous needle in his right hand and lightly pierced the insect’s back.”
The anime luckily enough kept it in, not fully but it’s still there and carries out its desired purpose well.
(Insert anime clip)
This subtle moment was great because for so long Takumu had been jealous of Haruyuki, he was better than him at everything and still, he felt Haruyuki challenged him. Challenged him for Chiyuri who was supposed to be his girlfriend, leading to all this raw hatred being released on this innocent virtual bug.
In Sky Raker’s case, all of the dialogue essential to her development remained.
“I decided to get rid of my legs which held my greatest attack abilities.”
(Insert clip from the anime.)
Accel World’s anime is definitely worth a watch. Personally, especially because it had been so long, I simply read the books the anime covered and slowly continued on into the new content only the light novels possessed. Though jumping straight into volume 5 isn’t an issue either. One thing to keep in mind is the light novel will help give a better understanding for what Accel World’s story is truly about. This could possibly be due to the fact that I was young so I just didn’t pay attention to the story as well as I should have or maybe some details cut should have been kept. If you’ve watched the anime recently or will watch it after this video let me know if it was just me or the anime.
Volume 1
Volume 1 is a good beginning volume that sets the foundations for what Accel World could possibly be in future volumes. From volume 1 we learn about a world called the Accelerated World, living in this program known as Brain Burst. Haruyuki meets the student vice president who introduces him to this world and fulfills his dream of escapism from the real world like none could ever imagine. From the start, the goal had been outlined to reach level 10 and ask the creator of Brain Burst what compelled him to make a world like this?
To me, after reading a little further ahead I can make an educated guess as to the reason, though we’ll get back to that. The main plotline in this volume, besides learning of what brain burst is, revolves around the mysterious duel avatar Cyan Pile, who relentlessly stalks Kuroyukihime to challenge her for points; abusing the brain burst program for his own benefit in reality. Such as in tests or especially in Kendo where man can just mutter ‘burst link’. He literally has an infinite amount of time to properly assess what to do next, completely defeating the purpose of playing Kendo.
Anyway, near the end, Haruyuki challenges him to a duel, during the whole fiasco getting a pair of majestic wings, and Kuroyukihime reveals herself to be the long-lost black king from the defunct legion, Nega Nebulus. Now, it’s important to note the clear distinct differences between the first and second halves of volume 1. The first half focused a lot on the worldbuilding of the Accelerated World, the second half focusing more on developing the characters. Usually, by the end of a light novel’s first volume, you’d have a pretty good idea what the story will mostly focus on, the only thing audiences don’t know is how well things will be executed. In Accel World its main focus isn’t made apparent until volumes 3 and 4; the answer for what the focus of the story is will undoubtedly surprise you, though again we’ll circle back to that later on in the video.
We aren’t at volume 3 or 4 yet, for the sake of keeping things simple let’s say the focus is for Haruyuki to reach level 10 so they can maybe reach the world’s creator and ask him what the purpose was behind constructing such a complex program. It’d make more sense for Haruyuki to help Kuroyukihime reach level 10 since she’s wayyy closer. Regardless of that, when she was dying she entrusted her wish to him so…oh wait…she came back...(cricket noise). Well, she isn’t the main character, screw her!
Haruyuki himself can make or break the series for some, especially since a character with low self-esteem isn’t what people look for in stories. You want someone like Spiderman who despite his flaws as a teen growing up trying to figure himself out, too cool for villains, he has fundamental beliefs. Making him make him someone admirable. He has as a responsibility to protect the people in New York, transforming a previous mistake he’s made into his life code. That’s beyond inspiring and people would look up to someone like that because people make decisions, they regret every day and to see someone take that mistake as inspiration to do great things motivates people to do better. Realistically people aren’t going to read Spiderman and decide ‘let me go fight those thugs in the street, the only right thing to do uhuhhu’ cause that’s stupid. However, the unrealistic glorified outcome presented in Peter Parker’s story allow people to view their own lives in the same way so they can rectify their own mistakes.
In contrast, Haruyuki has no belief in himself, making it very difficult to have readers have belief in him or his ability to change. ‘How can this story make me care about this character if they don’t even care about themselves?’ Even with all that being said I feel it’s worth giving Haruyuki a chance as because he’s a character who has so little faith in himself the author has a lot of room to make substantial changes in him, allowing his character development to be flexible and long-lasting. Characters like Spiderman won’t have that luxury as once their character arc is done, forcing anymore would undermine what first made the character great in the first place.
In some ways, you want the best for Haruyuki as while in some cases he’s isolated because of his own actions, such as staying away from his friend Chiyu because she has a boyfriend now, who’s his best friend. Bruh, if you’ve been friends with someone for a long-lasting period you should be able to speak to them, whether they got a partner or not if their partners are upset. Well… guess your friends simply dodged a bullet, what else to say? In the case of the bullies, it’s a little different since, while he could report them, they wouldn’t get expelled for bullying a student; especially when they always take him outside the view of the social cameras.
You feel this sort of sympathy for Haruyuki as he has so little self-worth that he feels like he almost deserves to be punished, so while he can be frustrating there’s this sense of understanding. Especially from the light novel since it’s a third-person perspective so it comes off less like self-pity. Even the anime got this right, he’s more concerned about things being his fault than wallowing in misery at how pathetic his life is. Though the moments of self-pity do still exist.
To finish off this review of volume 1 we must talk about Kuroyukihime. Oh lord, Kuroyukihime; Reki Kawahara struck gold with this character, even if I like Sky Raker more Kuroyukihime is by far the best character in the series. Kawahara probably thought the same thing considering she’s literally on nearly every light novel cover! But I digress, Kuroyukihime’s character being slowly unraveled to readers through the course of Accel World is a fun element of the series. The more you learn about her the more interesting she becomes. For example, she calls her avatar ugly despite the fact you’d think swords for arms would be cool. After reading volume 2 you find out this is because those very same arms killed a fellow burst linker she’d known as a friendly acquaintance; Kuroyukihime killing him because she wanted to reach level 10. And when she realised how this affected those around her it eventually led to this deep hatred for her own avatar.
Kawahara has constructed this formula where Kuroyukihime has an abundance of mysteries surrounding who she is and the motives behind her actions. When those mysteries are solved in a satisfying way, there is this intrigue and excitement making readers intrigued for how the next mystery will be solved. Changing the perception of her from a mysterious princess to a well-developed character.
Volume 2
I know I shouldn’t be saying something like this at the start of the review, but I really don’t like volume 2. It isn’t because of any glaring flaws with the volume’s story, it’s instead more so to do with Accel World’s other volumes just being better. In my opinion, this happens a lot with: TV shows, games, movies,etc. More so games as movies usually have a trend of the second being the best and the third the worst. An example I like to use for this is the original Phoenix Wright trilogy. Justice for All had very average cases up until the last one; I think a great deal of it has to do with the second game being a bridge between the first and third. Setting up events, characters and expanding on plot lines which assist in making the finale this grand spectacle.
In Volume 2’s case, the plot revolves around ‘The Armour of Catastrophe’ which contaminated a burst linker known as Cherry Rook who sought power after feeling he’d been left behind by his own child Scarlet Rain. And just a quick aside The Red King’s real name is Yuniko Kozuki but the nickname Niko is easier to: pronounce, say and type. It’s not laziness it’s called being innovative. Anyway, he unequivocally got more than he bargained for as he’s now become this mindless beast destroying everything in the Accelerated World. Niko, Scarlet Rain, meets Haruyuki in the real world because she hoped his wings could help aid in subjugating Cherry Rook, or as he’s better known as Chrome Disaster.
This volume and volume 5 are the most worldbuilding-focused volumes of Accel World so far. We’re introduced to the Unlimited Neutral Field, which is this plain of space where, as nicely put by Kuroyukihime herself, the real Accelerated world is at. 10 points are for sure a measly price to pay with the amount of time you can spend in this plain; spending 1 day in the Unlimited Neutral Field equates to 3 WHOLE FLIPPING YEARS! That must be causing some sort of brain damage, but whatever. Obviously leading to discrepancies between the character’s mental and physical ages; the most poignant example represented in this volume is Niko.
She’s an elementary school kid that while granted isn’t the most mature person in the world, has a very knowledgeable and adept mind. Adept enough to manage her own legion as the Red King. It gives some more insight and development for why Kuroyukihime is strangely mature for her age. She’s lived much longer than her real-world body lets on enabling her to have the absurd confidence to casually joke about confessing to Haruyuki. 14-year-old kids don’t usually possess such courage, though eventually when you’ve lived long enough little things like that don’t seem to matter. Whereas Kuroyukihime is overtly jealous when Haruyuki cable links with Chiyuri in volume 1; she’s developed mentally in some respects and hasn’t in others.
Brain Burst forces its characters to take on very adult roles and those comedic moments where they’re allowed to be kids feel earned and always seem to serve a narrative purpose in some way. Haruyuki joining a club leads to meeting an essential character, this doesn’t happen till volume 6 but I felt it necessary to illustrate my point. In addition, through Niko, we see how while Brain Burst is tough the dual lives these kids are given makes them happy. This is why she never wants it to end; it doesn’t stop her from envying Kuroyukihime whose goal is to reach level 10 even if it might possibly end Brain Burst forever.
Niko is surprisingly vulnerable when voicing her fears of losing Brain Bust and eventually takes comfort in Haruyuki’s words that basically tell her she shouldn’t be sad it ended, instead be glad it happened. Removing an outcome where your memories of brain burst are tainted. The element of wanting brain burst to be an everlasting experience is something that’s touched on in later volumes, so we’ll discuss this topic further then.
Volume 3
We’re at the point in this review where I can finally say Accel World has found its identity. What do I mean by that? Well, up until this point Accel World has had this confusion for whether it wanted its story to be plot-driven I.E there being a clear end goal in its narrative, events in the plot affecting characters’ development. The focus always being to reach some elusive answer at the journey’s end. Like eventually completing brain burst. Whereas character-driven narratives don’t usually have substantial storylines. When they do the storyline is there to enact change within the characters. Giving motives behind their actions and helping us as readers understand why characters do the things they do. I feel Accel World has now leaned more towards the latter; to better understand why I believe so let’s look a little into what volume 3’s story is about.
A few months have passed, Arita, Takumu, and Chiyu are now second years while Kuroyukihime has become a third year. Haruyuki finds himself in a situation where he is being blackmailed by one of the new first years known as Seiji Nomi, who inhabits the duel avatar Dusk Taker. Originally, Haruyuki meant to follow Seiji Nomi to the male’s changing rooms, but his Neurolinker was bugged with a virus which led him to the female’s changing rooms instead; he’s only saved from instant expulsion by Chiyu. Dusk Taker caught footage of this and has stolen Haruyuki’s wings. With Kuroyukihime gone on a school trip, Chiyu forced to comply with Dusk Taker’s orders and Haruyuki in conflict with Takumu after refusing his help, the boy is left directionless.
Ash Roller felt bad for Haruyuki and took him to his master Sky Raker. Who he believed could help Haruyuki regain his wings again as she was dubbed the only person in the Accelerated World to reach closest to the sky.
If this had been a plot-driven story, the immediate focus would have been figuring out who Dusk Taker is and what he gains from interfering with Haruyuki and his friends. But all of that doesn’t matter; Haruyuki doesn’t have the will to fight anymore, and Dusk Taker’s motives boil down to using people to make his time in the Accelerated World easier. We as readers spend the volume getting insight into Haruyuki himself and more on how Brain Burst is a tool for these teenagers to understand themselves.
Haruyuki obtained the ability to fly because he wanted to be free as a bird, away from the bullying and his own warped views of himself. Believing that being chubby made him less of a person or being socially awkward meant he had little value. For a time, his escapism was online games; they were waxed wings that would temporarily uplift him but soon burn and crumble in the sky. When in the sky it didn’t matter what people thought of him because he was too far above for them to reach him, he was free. Dusk Taker taking away his ability to fly placed him right back where he started, the value he thought he’d obtained in the Accelerated World. The freedom he thought he achieved, was gone.
It's important to remember that the journey he went on to get his wings back wasn’t to achieve that freedom once again in the sky but instead to find freedom right where he stood. On the ground, he wanted to escape from. Haruyuki initially obtained his wings for this very same reason, finally facing his issues head-on without running away and he forgot that. His wings manifested because he chose to stand up for himself no matter if he lost or won; in fact, maybe he always wanted freedom for himself on land but thought it impossible to obtain. Being sure that he was too weak and fragile to make it happen. And I think him finally understanding that courage was the key to achieving the freedom he so desperately sought, is beautiful storytelling.
Something a plot-driven narrative wouldn’t have delivered as well because the focus would have been away from the characters.
Sky Raker helps Haruyuki come to this understanding and even lets him borrow her um wings? Jet packs are….ok moving on.
I honestly love Sky Raker’s character; she has so much depth to her, it’s astounding. I go more into this in my Sky Raker video, but to summarise Sky Raker has unresolved trauma; having this steep self-hatred for trying to reach her goals, failing, and then isolating herself as a result. In her case similar to Haruyuki what she wished for wasn’t in correlation to what she actually wanted. She wished to fly in space to escape the fact she had prosthetic legs. She never considered that even as you’re flying in the sky, you’ll still feel the weight of your legs and entire body. So, by flying in the sky, you wouldn’t be escaping anything right? This is why what she really sought was to fly in space, where wings won’t function due to air not being present. However, a jet pack certainly will work. There, she’d be in a weightless world where the mass of any and everything has no significance. If you seek more depth and explanation on how I came to this conclusion check out my Sky Raker video. The title card will be hoovering around some time now.
To finish off this volume I want to briefly speak of the Incarnate System. Initially, I wasn’t too fond of the idea because it was adding this level of complexity to Brain Burst as early as volume 3! Keep in mind though, this was before I’d come to realise Accel World is a character-driven story.
To summarise the Incarnate System is a hidden system within brain burst where a Burst Linker uses image power to overwrite code in the program to create phenomena that aren’t supposed to happen. Like turning your arm into a sword, or better yet morphing an existing weapon into something else, like a sword (funny image). Or if your imagination is really powerful, destroy a space race and its opponents with rust, but I’m getting ahead of myself. The four types of Incarnate that exist are: Attack Enhancement, Speed Enhancement, Range Enhancement and Armour Enhancement.
This system is kept a secret from mostly all Burst Linkers, due to the fear that someone will abuse the system to do sinister things which could end up corrupting the Accelerated World. So, the main rule for all Burst Linkers who know Incarnate is to only use it if it’s used against you; Sky Raker inferred that Haruyuki’s wings were stolen by someone who used Incarnate. She taught him Incarnate so he had the means to get them back.
I feel the Incarnate System is there as another way for these characters to overcome their own struggles. Take Takumu for example, the reason he has a Pile Driver despite being a close-range fighter is due to the fact that when he was in elementary school he was heavily bullied by a group of older students. They would constantly stab his throat and only stopped picking on him when their ringleader left.
“This Pile Driver is the incarnation of my terror of piercing techniques…and my anger. It’s saying I’d like to line up those guys who bullied me back then and slam this stake into their throats one after the other.”
In tournaments this made him always reflexively guard his throat, his pile driver is the evidence of this mental scar.
The Incarnate System forces him to come to terms with that trauma as he won’t be able to learn Attack Enhancement otherwise. It’s presented as something cruel but it’s possible the creator of brain burst made it so the Incarnate System is like an award system. Face your mental scars and you get to use cool techniques. And even if Incarnate is implied to be some strange bug, we know it’s not since the creator hasn’t patched it. Not to get too ahead of myself but volume 7 has a duel avatar known as Chrome Falcon who invades a castle he wasn’t supposed to by exploiting a bug in Brain Burst’s code. He explicitly states that he must see what the castle is like immediately before the creator patches the bug, meaning the creator has an active relationship with overseeing the program and should know that Incarnate is somewhere in his code. Especially since pretty much all high-level burst linkers know how to use it.
I know it’s a little strange I left this for last but up until this point, there was no good place to discuss this. Firstly, Chiyuri is now a burst linker; she doesn’t want to be left out of their fun and games. Kuroyukihime isn’t her biggest fan in the fight for Haruyuki’s affection. Though to her dismay, Chiyuri meets the requirements to become a Burst Linker. They initially thought her ability was to heal but as we find out later, she has the ability to reset time. Pretty neat, pretty cool; finally, she’ll have more of an essential role in the story!
I shouldn’t do this but I’m going on this tangent anyway. Chiyuri early on is used to simply drive conflict and drama among the characters. In some instances, fair enough I’d be suspicious too if my best friend started hanging out with the most popular girl in school who had no interest in him before and implied, they were dating 2 days after they met! You work quick huh Haruyuki, not like I’ve got room to talk. Or being upset if my partner who I trusted tapped my neurolinker! However, even while all this is understandable it’s annoying because she served no purpose to the plot, and when she did its usually a smaller plot device for her to get mad at the characters for doing something to her. After the conflict is resolved them having to apologise in some way. It starts to become annoying for readers who know why all these strange phenomena are happening. But I digress, I think it’s time we delve into volume 4.
Volume 4
Volume 4 is the second half of the story arc ‘The Twilight Marauder.’ Haruyuki ended the last volume fighting Seiji Nomi after Takumu figured out how to challenge him. Haruyuki uses Incarnate to defeat the Marauder but Dusk Taker is saved by Chiyu who heals him, Oh my GOD! Thereafter they both go to Niko so Takumu can learn how to use Incarnate. Then one of the maids, Blood Leopard, takes Haruyuki to the burst linker Rust Jigsaw to try and ambush him in the real world. They failed but this led Haruyuki to realise that those of the Acceleration Research Society have avoided the matching list by logging on to the network with specialised chips in their heads. Meaning they never have to log in with their neurolinkers and can avoid the matching list.
With that we’re led into this two-part story’s climax. Everyone agrees that they’ll all stake everything on a sudden death match, where losing means entire point loss, banishing the loser or losers from the Accelerated world. FOREVER!
Understandably with the stakes so high Haruyuki and Takumu continuously changed the times to where they’d meet Dusk Taker to remove the risk of him bringing allies to aid him in battle. Well, goddammit he did it anyway, that cheeky bastard. Bringing a character known as Black Vise who’s not only the vice president of the Acceleration Research Society but has also been in the Accelerated World for a suspiciously long time.
Haruyuki and Takumu get beaten to the ground until Kuroyukihime arrives to their aid on a pretty stead in the sky. Haruyuki looking in awe wondering how he pulled a girl that beautiful; Chiyuri then resets Haruyuki’s wings to a point before they were stolen by Dusk Taker, once again his pair of majestic wings. Chiyuri reveals that it was her plan to do this all along and she was only using Dusk Taker for experience so she could eventually rewind Haruyuki’s wings to a point before they were lost; she was also the one who summoned Kuroyukihime. You know, while writing this I was looking for excuses to come at Chiyuri for her plan, but her reasoning is sound honestly. She was worried she might be tapped by Dusk Taker, which is why she ignored them. My only minor gripe is maybe we could have had some subtle hints for how hard it was for Chiyuri to keep this secret from Takumu and Haruyuki. Maybe she could have gone through a mini-arc of realising that brain burst isn’t just some silly game like she initially thought. It’s something that must be taken very seriously. In the end, Chiyuri resolving to find ways she can help: Haruyuki, Takumu, and herself out of this conflict. A chapter showing something along those lines would have sufficed. Oh, and before I forget Kuroyukihime and Sky Raker near the end resolve their conflict with each other, Sky Raker a member of Nega Nebulus like days of old. HOORAY, PARTY TIME, huh. (Insert some happy music that’s cut off)
Dusk Taker not only lost brain burst but also his memories, WHAT!!!
Yeah, the creator probably did this to remove an outcome where spiteful players looked for ways to get back at Burst Linkers who’ve killed them. Or better yet, remove the possibility of salty burst linkers spreading the world of Burst Linker’s existence to those who don’t own the program. Burst Linker’s memories being erased was something implied during the Cherry Rook storyline though Niko never told anyone, this raises the stakes to a much higher level. Losing Brain Burst means all your experience growing as a person and overcoming the trauma which initially made your duel avatar, will be erased if you’re forced to total point loss. What the hell is that creator thinking? How can you build a program that helps teens develop as people and have a function where their memories are lost if they’re to lose? Well, this just makes the quest to find Brain Burst’s creator much more fascinating.
By and large, the Acceleration Research Society is kept a mystery, even after the Dusk Taker arc, we still don’t know a lot about them. However, what we do know is that they’re a society of people exploiting Brain Burst’s program to carry out some sort of malicious plan which hasn’t yet been specified in the story. As I spoke of previously their good villains throughout Accel World’s story and because we know so little concerning them it makes it so when they show up at the strangest of times during the story it doesn’t feel out of place or far fetched and can lead to discussion and speculation among fans. And as they’ve said already an underground society, they cause damage from the shadows. To skip to volume 6 for a second the main adversary in that book is a flipping bird. They do play a part in this arc later on, but they do so from the shadows. They’re an important element to the story that’s sprinkled in from time to time. This is a double-edged sword though as if it takes too long for their motivations to be revealed the whole thing will start to become stale. Not to mention the fact that we barely know anything about the society itself.
Eventually when it comes time to take them down if the only real stakes are preventing them from altering the accelerated world, then we as readers are given no reason to really care. Can’t be having ‘save the world’ plots all the time without at least some interesting villains.
Going back to volume 4 in general I feel worldbuilding is side-lined and the context behind how certain mechanics work is told to readers right when they need to be. Like, take a look at how Kawahara describes the brain implant chips used by the Acceleration Research Society.
“The device itself was a small neuroelectronic chip implanted between the surface of the cerebrum and the dura mater. With self-growing terminals placed on the sensory area of the brain surface…” You get the point, felt like I was reading a damn lecture, honestly geee wiz.
In storytelling when giving readers information as important and as dense as this there are two rules. One, give the information gradually over a period of time so readers are able to properly digest the information that they’re given. And two, give it to them in an interesting way. This could be something as simple as Haruyuki having a lecture that day about these forbidden chips or maybe rumors are spread around the school of Seiji Nomi possibly using it. Creating a discussion among those of Nega Nebulus about the chip’s history and whether if it were possible for Seiji Nomi to have access to these chips. This might turn out to still be somewhat of an info dump but it’s more interesting than being told every detail for how the chips work while Haruyuki is simply daydreaming in his room letting his thoughts run wild.
Besides all that, this volume is a great continuation of volume 3’s previous story and made me excited for what volume 5 had to offer. Oh boy was I impressed with what comes next.
Volume 5
Straight off the bat I’d like to make it clear that Volume 5 is my favourite Accel World story so far because: I love how the cast and characters interact with each other throughout the volume, the idea of a space elevator being something fascinating to me, learning of its mechanics making me giddy for what came next and finally how this volume manages to have an individual self-contained story that sets up major events in future volumes.
To briefly summarise this volume’s story Haruyuki and Chiyuri are in Tokyo’s government office building and Haruyuki mellows in his thoughts, getting the idea that maybe there are unexplored regions in the Accelerated World. Places that are in the social camera’s view, but no one has ever thought to go to in Brain Burst. Something akin to a space elevator, which Haruyuki thought might be implemented into Brain Burst due to it having a social camera within it. And after consulting with Kuroyukihime he goes to Tokyo Skytree to see whether the elevator was actually implemented into Brain Burst. Surely enough it is, and according to Blood Leopard, it’s apparently tradition for players to compete against one another when an area has been added to Brain Burst, before it becomes a duel stage. During the race, Rust Jigsaw storms the space race and uses Incarnate to destroy the space elevator. This angers Haruyuki so much that in a fit of rage the disaster overtakes him. Inturn becoming Chrome Disaster as a result. Sky Raker is able to carry Chiyuri near enough to Haruyuki so she is able to use Citron Call to reverse the effects of the enhanced armament putting it back into slumber.
The character interactions really put a smile on my face this time around. I loved learning about Blood Leopard’s relationship with Sky Raker and how glad she is that they can compete against one another again. I adore how Haruyuki and Ash Roller’s relationship continues to get stronger. They’re casually having idle chat with one another before, what’s to them, a very important event and while they’ll never openly admit it they enjoy each other’s company. There’s a healthy mix of action and worldbuilding layered throughout the story. Arguably the most focused character this time around being Sky Raker, and as we discussed earlier, Haruyuki desperately wanted to take her atop the space elevator to realise her purpose as a Burst Linker.
Kuroyukihime gets her own development in this volume when she and Haruyuki have to stay the night with each other after a coincidentally intense storm during the night. She floods Haruyuki with her long-term guilt of not feeling as she’s good enough to be a Legion Master after killing the Red King. And it was entertaining to see Haruyuki try to cheer her up through a duel showcasing how she’s helped him grow so much. Also, deliciously entertaining how she blows him to bits after regaining some confidence.
Kuroyukihime: Thanks, Haruyuki you’re the best.
Haruyuki: No problem Kuroyukihime I really appreciate yo-
Kuroyukihime: Now die!
Haruyuki: Huh?
(Explosion sound effect and gif)
Jokes aside, Haruyuki becoming Chrome Disaster shocked the hell out of me, but strangely made me super hyped for future arcs throughout the narrative. I didn’t expect for it to be so integral to the narrative later on and I felt like a kid again when I first began watching anime waiting to see what I can learn from the story. Yes, stories are a good way to learn life lessons fight me if you think otherwise!
As we keep going throughout these stories as well Haruyuki is slowly becoming more comfortable with himself and confident in his abilities. The Haruyuki of volume 1 would have been silent at Kuroyukihime’s guilt but this Haruyuki is actively trying to cheer her up. While he isn’t fully there with words yet he’s slowly climbing up that ladder.
Not to mention how Haruyuki became Chrome Disaster out of hatred that those of the Acceleration society ruined the space race. He wasn’t anger for himself but instead for others and while I find that very amicable, I also think it displays that Haruyuki still doesn’t value himself that much. Not being able to be angry for himself but instead other people.
Conclusion
Well would you look at that, We’ve arrived at the end of this 40 minute long venture reviewing Accel World’s first 5 light novels. I know today we’ve covered a lot of ground, but I hope this has come to help you understand why Accel World to me is such a great series so far. And for those who’ve read these light novels already, I hope this gives you some perspective on why the story is so great. Make sure to comment, like, and subscribe and I hope you tune in for my upcoming videos in the future. Sensei out!
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