The anime for the Sword Art Online series is similar to the light novels, especially with how they portray the characters. However, there are still differences between how the light novel and the anime portrayed Asuna. Asuna played the role of both Kirito's friend and eventual love interest in both versions. Asuna's overall individual development was similar between both versions, too,
However, her actions and opportunities to do certain things—from professing her love for Kirito to showing off her amazing cooking skills—differed depending on the scene. Some of these differences even widely varied with how she is first introduced in the series and how she acts at specific plot points.
10 Asuna's Introduction In The Light Novel VS. The Anime
In the anime, Asuna is first introduced when she teams up with Kirito to take down the first-level boss. However, the scenes discussing taking down the first-level boss never happen in the light novel, and therefore Asuna is not introduced to the reader in the same way she is in the anime.
Instead, Asuna is first introduced to the reader when she approaches Kirito for cooking-related reasons, only for Kuradeel to stop Asuna from hanging out with Kirito. Meanwhile, Kirito gives information about Asuna, including descriptions of how skilled she is in combat and cooking to the reader while this scene is happening.
9 Asuna And Kirito's Meeting Before Kirito's First Duel With Kuradeel Was Different
The meetings that Asuna and Kirito have with each other, before Kirito's first duel with Kuradeel, differ slightly between the light novels and the anime. In both the anime and the light novel, Asuna and Kirito ditch Kuradeel and have dinner together the day before Kuradeel approaches Kirito and challenges him to a fight over Asuna.
In the anime, however, there is a slight addition to the dinner scene. After dinner, when Kirito is saying goodnight to Asuna, both of them take a moment to look up at the night sky and ponder about the world's creator, Kayaba.
8 Asuna's Interference With Kirito And Kuradeel's Final Fight
When Kirito broke Kuradeel's first weapon during their duel, Kuradeel summoned a second weapon to attack Kirito with. However, Asuna directly interfered before Kuradeel could start a rematch. She knocked the weapon out of Kuradeel's hands before he could land another attack. After this, she dismissed him entirely.
In the light novels, Kuradeel immediately gives up on the fight after the initial loss. Asuna takes the time to chide him before she makes him leave.
7 Asuna Healing Kirito (And Her Actions Afterwards)
Asuna's actions with healing Kirito and what she does after healing, during his second and final fight with Kuradeel, differ slightly between the light novel and the anime. In the anime, Asuna appears to save Kirito in the nick of time, using a healing crystal to restore his health. In the light novel, she does the same thing. However, in addition to using a healing crystal, she places a hand on his chest while doing so.
In addition, her actions immediately after healing Kirito are different. In the anime, Asuna quickly explains to Kirito how she ran all the way to help him before fighting Kuradeel. In the light novel, Asuna immediately starts fighting Kuradeel after making sure Kirito is fully healed without explaining how she got there, and the explanation is given after the fight.
6 Asuna Explains The 'Moral Code Removal' Setting In The Light Novel
Remember that moment in the anime's Aincrad arc when Asuna strips down to spend the night with Kirito, only for Kirito to explain to her that he just wanted to share the bed with her? The reasoning behind how Asuna can do it in the first place isn't explained in the anime and is cut out entirely.
In the light novel, however, Asuna gets the chance to explain that she found out from someone in the guild that she could do this. This is due to a 'Moral Code Removal' setting deep in the options setting if one looked hard enough.
5 Asuna Leaves The Guild With Kirito Before Agreeing To Marry Him In The Light Novel
In the anime, Kirito proposes to Asuna while spending time with her at her apartment before temporarily leaving the guild together in the following episode for their honeymoon. However, the light novel switches the order of these events.
Asuna and Kirito first leave the guild after their battle with Kuradeel. After they spend time in Asuna's apartment together, it's only after that Asuna and Kirito get married. Either way, Asuna and Kirito end up on their honeymoon together. However, what happens during said honeymoon also differs.
4 Asuna Has Fewer Chances To Profess Her Love For Kirito In The Light Novel
In the anime, late in the Aincrad arc and after she and Kirito get married, Asuna gets several chances to profess her love for Kirito, from confessing her love in his ear just as he wakes up in the morning to other heartfelt conversations shared between her and Kirito.
Their honeymoon arc even centers around them briefly having a daughter figure in their lives together. However, Asuna does not get these moments in the light novel. This can be attributed to the light novel centering around Kirito's point of view.
3 Asuna And Kirito Do Not Have A Daughter Figure In The Light Novel's "Aincrad" Arc
During Asuna and Kirito's honeymoon in the anime, they meet a young girl named Yui. Yui quickly becomes a daughter figure to them and later is revealed as an NPC who ends up being nearly deleted for breaking the rules.
Kirito then saves Yui from deletion and turns her into an in-game item, which he gives to Asuna to remember her by. However, this never happened during the events of the light novel. Instead, Asuna and Kirito's honeymoon involved them going fishing after meeting Nishida and defeating a monster in the lake together.
2 Asuna Cooks More In The Light Novel
Asuna gets to show off her cooking skills in both the anime and the light novel. This includes the scene where she makes a tasty stew out of the ragout rabbit that Kirito lets her use. However, the light novel gave Asuna a few more cooking and food-related scenes to show her culinary ability.
One of these scenes included Asuna feeding Kirito a homemade lunch after escaping a mid-level boss together. This tasty picnic includes homemade sandwiches, mayonnaise, and soy sauce. This scene, however, was skipped over in the anime.
1 Asuna's Potion
After fighting a deadly battle against a floor boss with other fighters, including Klein and Kirito, Asuna is the first person Kirito sees when he wakes up in the anime. This also happens in the light novel, but with one added element.
Asuna, after making sure Kirito is awake, immediately shoves a restorative hi-potion into Kirito's mouth to drink. This is to restore his life points and regain his health, especially since he nearly lost his life against the earlier boss. However, this part doesn't happen in the anime. Instead, Asuna hugs Kirito after confirming that he's alive and awake.