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You know, for quite sometime now, I forgot about this anime...since there is nothing memorable about garbage. This sequel to IS has the same amount of bullshit as Old McDonald's farm. Once you're on the tip of your chair or what ever you're sitting on, it pushes you back down making you say "Really...you're really going to do that". Of course this isn't the first time it did this *cough* season one *cough* but this time I was really,really, really let down.

The story from season one.... really didn't move. Even though the series did have some highlights like mecha fights, getting chased...by girls, misunderstandings...., and ... how Cecilia can't cook to save her life. All those high...lights... But don't worry guys and girls! We have two new characters!

Like most sequels to any animes, Infinite Stratos also gives us new characters, two new characters. You guessed it! A student council president and her sister! The Sarashiki sisters (Tatenashi and Kanzashi) both have blue hair and are totally "totes" for Ichika...you know like how the rest of the school is....The other characters, that play as the villain,Madoka Orimura, who obviously is not Chifuyu and Ichika sister, does not get much screening time. And once she does, she is there to just make shit happen. Leaving out explanations, and leaving the viewers with sooooo much questions just to be turned down with ass and tit shots. (Did I mention that Ichika forgets his own birthday. Seriously, who does that?)

You know the art was the only thing this anime could have kept going on. The art was pretty much on par as any 8-Bit producers want it to be. Seeing how this anime is one who like to show off cleavage, I could pretty much tell that they were going to emphasize on the "jiggles" and they did deliver on the "jiggles".

The sound was fine. Nothing special, it's pretty much the same as season one but it seems like there was not enough "umph" into it anymore.

I like harems. I like ecchi. "If" (huge if) they are done right. Examples are Zero No Tsukaima, Sekirei...Hell, I could even say Highschool of the Dead had more plot than this pathetic excuse for a harem. Honestly, my thoughts haven't changed since season one nor has my enjoyment. I have read a few pages of the light novels and they are pretty much the same. Really disappointing but really I wasn't hoping much, just a little. And that little hope got tossed out to the nearest four way intersection, right in the middle of street. The reason why I was hoping just a little change, was because of some other series with the same genres and elements, changed during the second season. Examples are Boku wa Tomodachi, Sekirei, Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?.

Would I recommend IS: Infinte Stratos. Yes, only if you like to lose more brain cells.

Sword Art Online or SAO for short. One of those animes that split the community in half just by talking about it. I find SAO one of my favorite animes, why that's my opinion and nobodies here to read about my opinion ~pff~. And yes, this review won't be on my opinion but what I actually think about the show's execution. Even though it's one of my favorites, I can't say it had the best story and characters, and if I did that I would just be flat out lying. Honestly, no one can say this anime was a masterpiece, but ... you can say it was your favorite anime.

SAO takes place in the year 2023-2025 if I'm not mistaken. A game that requires a helmet called the Nerve Gear to transfer your mind into a VRMMOPRG (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). Through this, we find our protagonist, Kazuto Kirigaya, or in the world of RPGs "Kirito". The same SAO has been released, Kirito goes into the world of Aincrad. "A floating castle" that has 100 floors. On this day about 10,000 people were online and as these 10,000 people play some have noticed that the "Log Off" button has disappeared, vanished. All these 10,000 people are now forced teleported into the "Towns of Beginning" where the GM (Game Master) appeared explaining what has happened. Paraphrasing what the the GM said, SAO now is a survival game. A virtual game with twist, "If you die in the game, you die in real life". As pandemonium breaks loose the GM gives them all one last present, a mirror. A mirror that will make your RPG avatar turn into what you look like. Now to beat the game and release everyone, all you need to do is beat all 100 floors.

While I know this story wasn't original, the thing that got me was the twist. A virtual reality...that isn't your real life but if die you're real body dies too. What SAO did quite well was there first few episodes. Showing us viewers how this twist works. Though, as you continue to watch, they don't show the audience this twist quite as much as you would like to see. But in exchange for some well done animated fight scenes. Another good thing about the anime is that the art is well done. Very detailed and great lighting. The boss fights or fights in general, were flashy and a good eye candy. The rest of the story gets choppy. What I mean is that the story has a "stop, sprint, stop, run, walk, stop, run, sprint" type speed or the pacing was bad. One day, Kirito is 14 the next 16. There is a big time lapse that really bugs the hell out of me.

Another huge down side to SAO is the characters. The character had no, and I mean no character development. The characters usually pop up once and then you don't see them again until the end of the series, honestly. The only characters that you see time and time again are Kirito and a the heroine of the story "Asuna Yuuki" and a little bit of Kirito's friend "Klien". All of these character that get the most screen time don't get a back story. NO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Though what makes up for this (at least to me) is the the romance that surrounds Kirito and Asuna. But you get all that in the second half of the anime and the ending of the first half. I'm not really going to stress on that but Kirito's cousin "Suguha Kirigaya" is introduced. She is another character that gets a lot of screening time and just like a gram of character development. The characters overall weren't that great, they honestly weren't that good either. Some of them were boring others were annoying, and some were pretty cool (just Klein). Another bad part about the characters were the supporting cast or the people that showed up once in an episode and never appears again. These characters were honestly useless. Each one caused problems for Kirito and in the end Kirito turns a blind eye and some how becomes friends with them or they start feeling "emotions" towards him. But once they do that, they never appear as a big role in the anime again. Which is a shame since this is a 25 episode anime and could have done it easily.

While the story and character weren't good I adored the art and sound. I have touched on the art already in the third paragraph and will say, again, that it is eye candy. The slashes, bashes, stokes, fighting were done clean and smooth. As the OST goes, it was eargasm. At first, the first opening sounded like something you would just skip, but as you keep listening and listening to the melody of the song, it gets stuck in your head and later you put it on your playlist and listen to it once you go to bed...The first ED was grand: Soft toned and relaxing. The soundtrack playing while fighting was unique...But if you already watched it, rehear what the soundtrack was playing when they fought a boss or something. "Coffee, soda, coffee, soda, give me coffee" is what I keep hearing...I don't dislike it but sometimes it takes the seriousness out of the action scenes.

The reason why I enjoyed this and it became one of my favorites is because...well I don't actually know. Well kinda. I love the idea of saving your loved one, being trapped in a different world where you need survive, the idea of a survival game. But it also turns you down on how it's executed. Poor and hard to follow. I can see why people hate this anime. But I also can see why people love this anime. It might not be the same reason I liked it, but at least we have something in common. And for the people who hate it, I don't blame you, but please don't try to force it down our throats that you hate it. SAO is poorly executed anime, that is indeed true but with this poorly executed anime you get a lot of enjoyment and possibly some inspiration of love or something like that.

Would I recommended SAO, only if you like to have a good time and watch some awesome romance and action scenes but if you watch anime for actual plot done right, you're going to have a bad time.