Mako-Chan @JaredMithrandir 15 minutes ago
The way#SAO#Alicization is using the word#Soul makes more sense when your aware that the#Greek word translated#Soul in the#NewTestament is#Psyche.
The TVTropes page UsefulNotes/Gnosticism claims Gnostic influence on a number of Anime and Video Games that I don't feel hold up. Especially Evangelion (though I do defend that it's use of religious imagery isn't meaningless) and Final Fantasy VII which is as far the opposite of a Gnostic attitude as you can get. Revolutionary Girl Utena is the one that holds up, well so does Serial Experiments Lain which I'm not sure was always there.
SAO isn't mentioned there even though I feel it's more applicable to SAO then it is to most they do mention.
First you need to understand that Platonic and Gnostic views of the world are in modern times highly related to the Simulation hypothesis, which frankly is also most of the basis for seeing The Matrix as Gnostic. When talking about the first episode of season 2 Digibro mocks Kirito's suggestion that the real world might be no different from a Virtual World by saying something like "the real world doesn't disappear if you pull a plug". However the response to that is pretty easy, what if "God" pulled a plug? Ironically in his No Game No Life video from 2018 Digi seems to suddenly support a form of Simulation Hypothesis by quoting Elon Musk.
The first arc of SAO is kind of the proper Gnostic Allegory philosophically, since everyone is Sophia in that situation. But the Alfheim arc while very problematic is the purest allegory of Gnostic mythology with Asuna as Sophia and the villain as a true Demiurge, not a true Creator but merely fiddling around with what Kaiba created.
I'm not gonna go any deeper then that today, I'm hoping to inspire further discussion of the topic from people more qualified then I am to talk about it.
