- 912
- 1,715
Doesn't sound too bad. But still, they're both better off facing other people.
- Characters made aware of the makings of their own world, and what it means to live in them (Beanstalk / Fluctlights and the Underworld). Commentaries on the state of their respective worlds and their futures. Oh and Heathcliff's history with SAO's narrative can be seen as similar to Zanza/Klaus's history with Xenoblade's narrative [see also].
- Both have survived death of a sort (Dickson backstabbing @ Mechonis core / Aincrad post-grace period). Both have also lost friends and managed to regain them (Fiora and Asuna respectively).
- Both are swordies (duh). I daresay the god tiers of their respective verses.
- Both spend off-time in scientific or otherwise technological fields of work (Shulk being a weapons scientist, Kirito being a hardware boffin, and looking to the future of VR as it pertains to it's proliferation within his generation).
- Both may or may not be commentaries on survivors guilt, and what can be done with varying power (causality, understanding emotion in an ever-automated and atomised world etc.). Shulk having a vision about people like Sorean he was ultimately unable to save could be seen as not too dissimilar to Kirito seeing Eugeo's death as tantamount to Asuna's near-miss, and knowing he shouldn't have gotten away with it. In fact, both have outbursts in their inactivity (Mechonis core arc and WoU Episode 18 respectively).
- Both can be considered RPG protagonists as much as they are video game characters.
Also Kirito would probably mistake Shulk for Eugeo. Admit it lol.
Anyway, this would probably be your tagline:
(yes, this is like my 2nd edit of the post lol)