Sword Art Online is not so Gender Equal

As you may know, the Sword Art Online (SAO) anime is widely popular and has fans worldwide. According to popular belief, the series selling point is in large of its characters such as Asuna, and its recurring narrative of human willpower overcoming adversities in virtual reality. The plot consists of romance between the two main characters Kirito and Asuna and its hard-hitting tragedies. However, the fanbase has explored flawed areas, such as “annoying” plot holes and time skips, and poor designing of villains. Although, I feel compelled to address the gender inequality of the series, and particularly how females are portrayed within the series. I am going to explore three scenarios within the series: SAO season 2 (saving Asuna), and SAO season 3 Part: 2 (Asuna and Sugu entering the underworld).

Season 2 The narrative consistently misleads the audience to assume that Kirito is the righteous one. But in the midst of the season’s plot, they show scenes of Asuna locked up in a cage being a damsel in distress, waiting for Kirito to save her. This scenario contradicts the notion that Asuna is a powerful character. Furthermore, Asuna is constantly sexually harassed within the cage by the main villain - in several scenes, Asuna’s harassment is portrayed explicitly and sound engineered to cause discomfort within the audience. In the creator’s perspective, these scenes’ purpose is to make the audience resent the villain and side with Kirito, but that exactly contradicts the notion of female power. From an audience point of view, this scene suggests and emphasizes the notion that women are dependent on men. Kirito in this respect is hailed as a hero, but his actions send a message which just further disempowers female independence.

Season 3 Part: 2 Asuna entered the Underworld by gaining the identity of a Goddess. In hindsight, this represents great strength due to her combat capabilities. Despite her strength, she is unable to finish off the main villain and was given to Kirito instead, suggesting female characters has no power to conclude a conflict, resorting to men to solve the problem. Not only Asuna got this treatment but also Kirito’s sister ‘Sugu’, she entered the Underworld too, but was later captured by an enemy and was sexually harrassed by tentacle monsters. She was only saved by another male character. He struggled to rescue her due to him resisting sexual urges and overcoming the system’s physical restrictions to free will, whilst still looking at Sugu being sexually harassed. The latter was a good enough reason not to be able to save her, but the former suggests female sexual harassment is also an adequate reason to not save someone from it. As if male lust is a given and sexual harassment is not a significant alarm for immediate action due to the female body being too provocative to resist. The twisted storyline accentuates the notion that females are portrayed to be sexual objects no matter how strong they are.