[Summary] The movie "Sword Art Online -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night"

Hey everyone!

As I'm currently visiting Japan for two weeks (finally! In your face, COVID), I got the opportunity to watch the movie Scherzo in Japanese theaters.

Seeing that the Chinese summary/review is actually a little bit biased, I decided to go out of my way and make my own. Hopefully this can clear interrogations some might have! I figured I might also include my small, personal opinion of the movie at the end of the article.

If you have any question regarding the movie, feel free to reach us here or in the SAO Wikia Discord server.
Any feedback is also appreciated!

-Celest

Summary

The movie begins in front of Floor 4's Boss chamber, where Kibaou and Lind are arguing over which guild would be best at leading the raid. The battle begins after Kibaou shout cheering words to the group.

The whole Raid team lands hits on the boss until it crawls around the chamber, smashing pillars here and there.
As the Boss was on his last bar of Health, the chamber starts being flooded with giant waves of water, causing everyone to drown. Kirito manages to stab his sword through a pillar before grabbing Asuna's hand.

Immediately after, Kirito calls out for Argo's name, who was waiting outside the chamber to open the door.

As the doors are now opened thanks to the sneaky rat, the water begins to flow outside. Grasping the opportunity, Kirito and Asuna proceed to defeat the boss together.
Both Kibaou and Lind ended up being carried away by the waves, landing all wet on each other, on the fences. Our duo Kirito and Asuna celebrate their feat by clapping each other's hand.



The next scene takes place during a dinner between Kirito, Asuna and Argo. The table was set with chicken, fries, cheese and tankards.
Koharu is seen as a cameo for a few seconds in the background.
Argo's a heavy drinker, she finished her drink within seconds and already asked for another glass to the NPC waitress.
The conversation begins with Asuna pouting our boy Kirito for taking the LA, despite the both of them attacking at the very same time.

The trio then discuss the current tense situation between the two guilds, "ALS" and "DKB".

After a while, the conversation eventually deviated to the New Year's Countdown Party the two guilds are holding, which surprised Kirito as he was never informed of it.

When Kirito asks Asuna who invited her to join the party, she replies Shivata did. In a state of jealousy because a boy invited her, Kirito downed his drink in one go, and gave her a depressed look.
When Asuna realized Kirito was being jealous, she smirked and teased him. With her amazing "nya-ah-ah-ah!"s, Argo laughed the awkward situation off.

Argo left the duo just before dessert, as she had to collect information for some quest.
The NPC came and served the duo blueberry tarts.

Asuna eventually discovers the tart's special buff related to this Floor's special Hunting event after some hints given by Kirito; they proceed to go relic hunting outside the ruins.



After collecting a huge pile of coins, Kirito mentions they can get much more inside the ruins, such as bracelets and pendants... which greatly attracted Asuna's curiosity. Her joyful phase over, Asuna plays the tsundere card proceeded to land a huge punch on Kirito's stomach as he didn't tell her about this earlier.
Despite the safety zone's protection, the punch had enough force for him to fall behind.

Kirito informs his partner that there are Astral monsters inside the ruins; just as he mentioned the word "ghost", Asuna dashes towards him in no ime, and grabs his mouth with the palm of her hand. She displayed a scary expression, followed by a deep, red blush. That part of Asuna's emotions surprised Kirito, who asked her what he had just seen.

The two of them begun exploring the inside of the ruin. They pass through a variety of tight paths. We eventually got a classic Asuna butt shot.

The duo arrives at the Mournful Wraith's location. Asuna wanders away from Kirito to check the coins on the floor, despite Kirito's warning to be careful.

As the monster suddenly appears, Asuna falls back and got caught in a trap, which caused her to fall in a pit. Kirito screams her name.

In the aftermath of a huge fall, Asuna let go of her weapon. As she was still reeling from the shock of falling, a Sly Shrewman suddenly appears, and steals her weapon. She tries to catch it, but falls in a puddle.
Sitting down alone with her knees against her chest, she cries for Kirito.

However, she suddenly gains hope. Equipping a set of shell-shaped earrings and boots for better agility, she throws away her pendant into the puddle and waits for a Sly shrewman to come to steal it, only to defeat them by surprise.
After several attempts at trying to find the one shrewman that stole her rapier, she gives up and begins looking desesperately at her items menu.

In here, she finds a paper with a date, hour and location written on it. As it's relatively close to her current position and it's almost time, Asuna decides to go check on it.

In the lugubrious cave, Asuna, who has been lurking for a few minutes, finds two men with ponchos talking about the ALS guild planning to ditch DKB to defeat the boss ahead.

It wasn't long until Asuna accidentally made noise, alerting the two men. One of them approaches the source of the noise. In a panic, Asuna drops the paper she looted earlier at her feet, and begins to pray that a Shrewman will come and pick it up.In the midst of the suspense, a humanoid rat finally appears out of nowhere, on its way to steal the paper. Morte, startled by the monster, kills it with a quick sword skill.The two men complain that this type of monster can be so annoying. Morte looks at the loot window, and there he finds a certain rapier.

The duo looks at the stats of the "Chivalric Rapier", which happen to be terrific. 
Suddenly, our favourite boy, Blacky, surprises the two men and threatens them. He asks in a menacing way if that rapier is the one his partner owns, and what has become of her.Joe seems to be triggered, but Morte tries to play dumb. The tension rises, the men prepare positions for duels.
Asuna, still lurking behind, starts to hear yet another Sly Shrewman roaming around their position.
This is when she decides to launch the paper at Morte's feet, and at the same time—She goes out of her hiding spot and screams a long, cute "WAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!".
Morte, startled by her action, accidentally drops the rapier out of his hands; the nearby Sly Shrewman catches it.
Asuna leaps in the air, kills the Shrewman and joins Kirito's side along with her beloved weapon she had lost earlier.The four of them prepare to duel after some small talk, but are rapidly stopped by a giant horde of monster passing by.
Kirito grabs Asuna to her waist, and quickly dives in a small, nearby cliff. The two men in poncho starts fleeing.

Making sure the horde of monster is now gone, Kirito, who was hugging Asuna laid down on the floor, tries to stand up. Asuna stops him by grabbing his sleeve, the boy notices tears are coming out of her pupils. In that way, Kirito holds Asuna by her back to make her sit; she hugs him. Her hands on his chest, As she starts crying, she says she was scared she would never see her weapon again.

Fast forward to Asuna & Argo relaxing in an outside bath filled with various fruits & vegetables.
The bath is located in the "Shiyaya forest", where Elf guards are in front of the entrance.
Asuna shares that she's scared for Argo's safety. She is afraid the rat girl is being too reckless, as a solo player, going out of her way to gather information in dangerous places.
Argo mentions there isn't anything to be worried about, she's a strong player. That's when Argo asks Asuna to do a mock battle with her, while picking up an unripe banana. The rat going out of the bath, we can see Argo's naked back. Asuna exclaims they should wear swimsuits first, but as the rat didn't bring any, the girl made her one.

Nothing much to say about the fight itself. As the duel approaches its climax, Argo accidentally slips on the wet floor. Asuna tries to attack her, but the rat girl flipped back, and started walking on the water. Asuna gave a stunned expression.

While Asuna is also afraid of being in Kirito's way, Argo assures her everything is fine as Kirito tags along simply because Asuna is here for him.



Kirito was waiting for the girls by taking a nap on the nearby hill, Asuna joins him after finishing bathing.
Kirito asks her what the girls did; Asuna blushes and replies they had a "conversation between girls".
Kirito is surprised as "THE Asuna" and "THE Argo" had a what-you-could-call a "Girls' Talk", Asuna tells him off.

The topic quickly shifts to what happened in the ruins. Asuna asks him why people want to cause disorder in this deadly game; she believes that it isn't normal that not everyone shares the same goal.

The next scene takes place as both guilds are starting to prepare for the New Year's party.
Shivata, Liten, Kirito, Asuna and Kibaou are sitting around a table in a dark room. Only the ALS leader is eating, and loudly at that.
Kirito brings up the topic as to why the ALS wants to secretly go take down the Boss, but Kibaou denies everything.
This is when Liten confronts him. After a bit, he gives up and confirms that leak.

As he was asked why they'd do such a thing, the leader tells Kirito should know the reason, as he was a former Beta Tester.
Trying hard to remember, Kirito realises one of the common loot for killing the boss is the Guild Flag. He explains that the item gives buffs to all the members of the guild owning the item.
The tension rises, Liten wants to find another solution as the item could greatly disturb the balance between the two guilds.
This is when Kirito says they will create a Raid team to go defeat the boss before the ALS.
Kibaou tells them to do as they wish, and gives permission to Liten to join them. But the ALS will still go defeat the boss as scheduled.
After Kibaou left the meeting, Kirito quietly mentions that he is actually a kind person. Everyone looks at the dork with surprised faces.

As the group starts walking outside, discussing as to who would likely accept to be part of the Raid, Asuna receives a message from Argo. As per the girl's request, the rat finally found where Mito's whereabouts are.



In a dark forest, Mito was on her way to hunt. She got interrupted by Asuna, who came by. The girl asks her to join the Raid.
Mito refuses, and explains that she is someone who shouldn't be around people because she keeps betraying them. And she wouldn't be able to protect Asuna.
To prove that she doesn't need to be protected anymore, Asuna asks Mito for a duel. If the girl wins, then Mito would have to join the Raid.
Mito accepts.

As they start fighting, Mito keeps being on the defensive. Asuna boldly questions the girl why she doesn't attack, which leads to several real-life flashbacks of when they were playing games on the rooftop of their school.

This motivates Mito, who now gives a more joyful look.

The fight intensifies, but Mito wins by hitting Asuna with chains. One of the chain accidentally breaks Asuna's pendant. As Asuna is about to leave, Mito gives her a new pendant, which happens to be hand-made.

After Asuna left, Kirito got caught by Mito for sneakily watching them behind a tree. Such a dorky moment.
Kirito explains how Mito knows Asuna will be a great player in the future as she's got so much potential; he also explains how her POV about Asuna is wrong.
Mito says in a friendly way that she hates Kirito. The blacky gives her a smile.



Fast-forward to the Raid team (composed of Kirito, Asuna, Argo, Shivata, Liten, Agil, Hafner, Yamata, Okotan) clearing the dungeon in no time, gradually getting in front of the Boss' room.
Kirito and Argo walk ahead to scout the chamber, Asuna asks Kirito to be careful. The boy, with a gentle smile, tells her that he will.

Arriving inside the chamber, the Boss is nowhere to be found. The two start walking.
Suddenly, and out of nowhere, a huge hand made of stone emerges from the floor; successfully trapping Argo. Kirito saves her by hitting it with Sword Skills.

Both of them are surprised because this is nowhere near like in the Beta. As they keep getting attacked, they finally understand the arms are activated when one of them walks on the moving lines on the floor.

At the same time, the whole party comes inside the chamber, seeing that the two didn't come back.
Kirito shouts at them that everyone needs to retreat, but in the confusion Shivata and Okotan bumped into each other. They are now trapped.
It only took Kirito to scream for Asuna's name that she understood what she needed to do, and went attacking the hand that trapped the both of them. They are now released.

The Raid commences. The players keep activating the pillars to attack them accordingly.

As the Boss' health points downed to 75%, the room started moving.
The Boss' head, which was previously on the roof, is now gone.
Everyone is on alert, but the head suddenly reappeared near just above the entrance, trapping Asuna in a crack who pushed Shivata out of the AoE to save him.

The crack begins to close itself, destroying little by little Asuna's armour.
Kirito is starting to get an anxiety attack, but Argo snaps him out of his agony. The both of them tries to look for a solution. Agil is doing is best to stop the crack from closing, but he can't do anything much.

When the tension reaches its climax, Asuna about to die; Mito suddenly appears below. She blocks the crack with her scythe.
We've got an amazing original Suzuki Gou sequence with distinctive lightning effects.

Kirito & Argo finally find the weak spot of the Boss, the problem is that it is located on a pillar in the air.
No time to lose, Kirito tries to leap in the air, but gets stopped by Argo, who screamed at him to lower his head.
Doing so, the rat girl jumps on his shoulder, leaps in the hair, and majestually strikes the weak point.

The Boss' head disappears. Asuna thanks Mito she gives her a warm hug. She says she is glad she came to help them.
With her scythe who transformed into a chain, Mito keeps striking the weak point of the Boss that is at the top of the pillars.

When the Boss' health reaches the last bar, its full body emerges from above.
Its attacks are ferocious, Liten, Shivata and Agil are struggling to block them as the others do their best to attack it.

Naturally, Asuna and Kirito give the last hit together, with intense screaming.

As the Boss is now defeated, Kirito asks the group who among them looted the Guild Flag. No one replies.
The sensation of unease flows among the group, Kirito and Asuna start holding hands.
Mito eventually begins materialising an item, and asks if this is what he was talking about. She gives the materialised flag to Kirito.

Asuna tenderly hugs Mito and thanks her for coming to help them, she says they will play together again. Mito found her will to clear the game.



Kirito and Asuna are waiting together in front of the Boss' door for the ALS guild to arrive. They idly look at the item's stats.
As the guild arrives, everyone looks surprised that the duo possesses the item they were looking for, the flag.
Kirito explains he would give the flag under two conditions: Either another flag gets looted any time, or the DKB and ALS merge into one team.
Kirito gets covered in insults, especially by Joe.
Thankfully, Kibaou put Joe in his place and says there's nothing that can be done. 
He secretly thanks Kirito. The guild leaves the dungeon, still covering Kirito with insults.

When silence starts filling the room, Asuna starts crying. She asks why Kirito has to be the only one shouldering all the pain, the only one suffering in this world... Kirito reassures her this is the life he chose to live here, as a solo player.
To comfort him, Asuna asks Kirito to sit down, and gently pats his head.

"Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Happy New Year!!"
Everyone is celebrating the night under fireworks.

Kirito and Asuna are away from the group of people, eating cheese and drinking champagne.

After the fireworks stopped, they decide to run in the ruins towards a better location to watch the fireworks.
The moment they stop in front of the door, PoH came by surprise, pointing a knife at Asuna.

The majority of the talk is done by Kirito. PoH explains that spreading terror, to him, is fun.

This is when Asuna recklessly dashes out of nowhere, Kirito got the occasion to attack the man.
PoH uses a smoke screen, and Asuna tries to attack blindly, but hit a pillar.

Asuna laughs off about what happened, Kirito says "why did you dash? that was reckless" and Asuna replied "because I knew Mito's pendant would protect me".

Asuna says with a tender voice "thanks for protecting me Mito", and kisses the pendant. (The pendant has insane stats)
Asuna promises Kirito she'll always be here for him and that she'll always fight alongside him.




The movie ends with still shots under yet another round of fireworks, of Argo on top of a pillar, Shivata & Liten enjoying champagne as a couple, Agil's guild drinking with a cameo of Godfree, Yuna, Philia and Sanya in the background, as well as Kirito & Asuna opening the door, then watching the fireworks together.



The credit image is a still shot of Asuna done by Suzuki with her Progressive outfit; eyes closed, tears in her eyes. She gradually stops crying and begins smiling, her outfit changes to the KoB one.
Bubbles are surrounding her, containing key moments of the movies Aria & Scherzo.

As the credits end, a picture of Kirito and Asuna two years after, holding hands, is shown. We could say this is a remastering of this shot :

Personal opinion

Yet another masterpiece from the animation team if we watch the movie while not caring about the adaptation aspect, as they went almost all original.

The overall character acting was extremely good, I liked how the movie made Asuna show her emotions A LOT more than in the original novel. KiriAsu fans will also not be disappointed.

When it comes to animation, I could feel it was somewhat rushed with melt frames here and there. No wonder when we know when exactly the KA production started... That said, the animation on the AsuMito fight, as well as the 20 minutes-long Boss fight was insane... Props to the ADs and the action animators. You lots did a good job.

A lot of people asked me whether I liked Aria or Scherzo more. It's extremely difficult to choose, because story-wise, I absolutely love their very first moments in Aincrad, but the plot around the Guild Flag was superb. Nonetheless, in the heat of the moment, I would choose Scherzo (I say as I am on my way to go watch the movie for the 5th time).
I totally would *not* like to mention that the Boss fight almost made me cry out of excitement, this was the SAO vibes I was looking for all along.

Watchalong with @takasakinozomi!