Accel World just finished airing with obvious sequel bait. As a series, I found it quite entertaining. Production values were high, the action was slick and fast paced and the soundtrack was pretty killer. But why was I unable to engage with a large portion of the core cast? The answer: Brain Burst. And to top it all off, a nice serving of female disempowerment. So while Accel World did succeed on many fronts, it failed in what I consider the most important, its characters.
Brain Burst is an integral part of the series. It is what drives the overall plot, after all. To that end, it also drives character development. Whilst it is obvious that character development did occur over the course of the series, to me it felt superficial and wasn’t positive. Some aspects of the character development were positive, but others were overwhelmingly negative. For example, Haru became more confident in himself by finding success in the Accelerated World, but at the same time became obsessed with it. It was prioritised above everything else. And no one called him out on it as they were equally obsessed.
Chiyu was the only person to be concerned about Brain Burst, and rightly so. It made people like Taku manipulative and two-faced, and became the driving force in many people’s lives. Chiyu’s concerns over their obsession were dismissed as “Chiyu just not getting it”. Even when the game threatened to destroy Taku, Chiyu and Haru’s lifelong friendship, Haru simply put it down to Chiyu not caring! She was just this hysterical mess who didn’t get it.
Chiyu’s determination to understand her friends and repair their fractured relationship causes her to dive into the world responsible for breaking them apart. Unfortunately, this act goes unappreciated.
In an attempt to further understand the game and recover the friendship Chiyu, Taku and Haru once shared, Chiyu agreed to install Brain Burst. The significance of this is never really acknowledged by anyone, though. Were Taku and Haru really aware of the magnitude of Chiyu’s action? She agreed to become part of the world which had torn them apart in attempt to restore their friendship. Her desperation causes her to steel herself and go against her own values and beliefs. If you can’t beat them, join them, right? To me, this speaks highly of Chiyu’s courage and love for her friends, but Accel World never recognises this. Chiyu’s just suddenly another player in the world. A little girl trying to get her friends back. In actuality, Chiyu’s a strong woman who’s willing to do anything to protect what’s important to her. Personally, I found Chiyu much more engaging for this reason, rather than the flat and obnoxious Haru, but of course, Haru is the main character and we need to gloss over characters like Chiyu so he can get stronger and save the girl.
When Chiyu sides with Nōmi, Haru and Taku begin to wonder why and immediately theorise she might be doing it for points, or was tricked. Surely, after having just installed the program to get back the relationship the three once shared, and having that ripped away from her, Chiyu would take action to reverse it, not just sit there and think, “I’m gonna get some Burst points now, lol!”. For this reason, I think Taku and Haru never really understood the depth of Chiyu’s actions and simply looked at her as a silly girl trying to play a game. The series never bothers to say otherwise, either. Failing to acknowledge Chiyu further exemplified the level of obsession displayed by the main characters, as well as marginalisation of female characters by the series.
Haru was obsessed with this game which gave him a sense of self worth. I can certainly empathise. He’d never excelled at anything, and had been bullied his whole life. Suddenly, a beautiful girl introduces him to a game he’s great at and she loves him for it. Of course he’d become obsessed and cling to it. But it’s made painfully obvious that Snow Black cares about Haru on a much deeper level. His skills in the Accelerated World are an added bonus. Despite this being quite plain, Haru still believes his success in the Accelerated World is needed to make Snow Black love him, and is needed to protect her (which is so ridiculously stupid because Snow Black does NOT need protecting and will be talked about in the latter parts of this post).
Disturbingly, this isn’t the worst of it. Haru enters a borderline catatonic state following this.
The loss of Haru’s wings to Nōmi Seiji is an excellent example of this. Haru shuts down completely because now he’s useless and can no longer “protect Snow Black” (this would be hilarious if it wasn’t nauseatingly dumb). What concerns me the most about this turn of events is the lack of support Haru receives from his friends. No one bothers to console Haru and let him know he’s still a valuable person in their life despite him no longer possessing a unique Duel Avatar. The obsession with Brain Burst is so deep that the immediate thought is, “How do I help Haru get his wings back?”, rather than, “Haru, you’re still valued/useful/whatever”, followed by trying to rectify the situation. To me, this communicates that Haru is useless without his ability to perform in the Accelerated World. It may not be overt, but the message is still there.
This obsession is touched upon by the Red King, who mentions it’s easy to lose track of the time you spend in the Accelerated World. The fact that she and Snow Black have essentially spent years there surprises Haru, but it’s not a concern and isn’t communicated as such. It’s scenes such as these which communicate the message that this obsession is justified and a person’s value is determined entirely by their ability to fight. And Haru buys right into it, along with everyone else. This mentality is what initially caused me to dislike Haru, along with his dismissal of Chiyu’s legitimate concerns. However, it’s Haru’s drive for becoming stronger and proving his worth that made me dislike him the most.
Haru’s drive to become stronger is based on his need to sustain Snow Black’s affections, despite, as mentioned previously, her assurances that she likes Haru for Haru, not because he can fly (This I do find clever and a bit of Fridge Logic, because despite being in her early teens biologically, mentally Snow Black has lived for much longer, so she’s bound to be more mature in some respects). Haru is blind to this, however, and seeks to become stronger to impress Snow Black and protect her.
Yes, protect her. One of the seven Kings. A Burst Linker who is shown consistently kicking arse. I won’t bother listing all the examples, but take my word for it if you haven’t seen the series. Snow Black is a total badass who needs no protection. Yet Haru feels he needs to, and this is central to his character development. He is driven to become a better Burst Linker to protect someone who doesn’t need protecting. Of course, it’s for the age old reason of, “She’s a girl”. Cue hisses and vomiting because of the sheer absurdity.
I’m sorry, but does she look like she needs protecting? Hint: She takes out about 15 enemies in 5 seconds flat following this. My guess is no.
This was probably the most disturbing message communicated by Accel World. That no matter how strong a woman is, she still needs protecting by her male partner, despite all evidence saying she’s perfectly capable of doing it herself. And when Haru proclaims he’s going to get strong enough to protect her, Snow Black doesn’t object!! This isn’t the sort of protection one talks about romantically, but protecting Snow Black because she’s weak or in danger. I’m not sure if Haru was paying attention during any of Snow Black’s battles, but she managed to take anyone who opposed her with little effort. If someone offered to do something I was perfectly capable of doing myself, I’d be a little offended and probably reject the offer. But Accel World has arguably its strongest character (in terms of strength within the Accelerated World, that is) do just this, and conform to a ridiculous gender role of “the protected”.
Both Chiyu and Snow Black are treated fairly poorly by the series. Snow Black is forced into a negative gender role despite the time spent world building establishing her as one of the strongest – if not the strongest – character we meet. Chiyu’s concerns and actions are never recognised as being profound, despite them obviously being so. She agreed to join a world she most probably despised in order to get her friends back, but in the end, this goes unappreciated and our main characters win through a combination of ignorance and beatdowns. Our female characters, both physically and emotionally strong ones, essentially have their strengths ignored in order to further the plot
So whilst Accel World managed to entertain me on a superficial level with the combat, art direction and score, I can’t say it was enjoyable on a narrative level. The main character was lacking, and I found the messages communicated disturbing. It says a lot if my favourite character was the one most people despised (Nōmi Seiji; perhaps because he wailed on Haru and made him cry??). I’d say watch Accel World if you’re looking for something flashy and exciting, but don’t go looking for a profound plot or a loveable main character, because you won’t find it here.
With facial expressions like this, how could you not love Nōmi?
Kagayaki Koteri 