Reviews

Despite its flaws, I still think SAO was outstanding. I didn't watch the show until like 3.5 years after it aired so I'm not someone who was hyped by it who's writing a late review. The pacing was bizarre, but I don't think it took away much from the story; it would've been boring watching episode after episode of only boss fights and leveling. I'll admit that the characters, especially Sachi, Silica, and Lisbeth should've had more screen time, but each one of them served an important purpose in the show and each experience drove Kirito even further. They did fall in love with him quickly, but that's understandable considering their situation. The music scores are amazing as well as the theme songs (Aincrad arc at least); Crossing Field is my second favorite anime opening.

The fairy dance arc definitely could've been eliminated to make room for an expanded Aincrad arc, but it was pretty good. Sughua developed kind of an incest type love, but after being rejected for some time, she was just happy that Kirito was spending time with her again and she lost track of her emotions, in my opinion. Sugu was a bit too evil, but I think he was a good villain; an overly-evil villain almost always makes for a great scene later on and that scene came in episode 24 (SPOILER after this until the end of this paragraph), where Kirito used Kyaba's admin credentials, summon excalibur, and plunged it into Sugu chest, eventually decapitating him I believe.

The music and art are just fantastic. SAO always does an excellent job in these departments.

Overall, the show was very enjoyable and I loved the story. I think some people just criticize because it was popular or they forced themselves to finish it when they didn't enjoy it and that caused more hate to develop. For those of you who really hate this show, you should've known character development and story wasn't going to be really deep since it's rated tv-13. Think before you criticize the show and don't hate on it due to the fan-base or the ratings from others.

I will warn you. The Fairy Dance arc will lose some of its entertainment value after a while. Basically, I doubt you'll be re-watching the arc as much as the first one.