Sword Art Online

Apr 6, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

LordAura (All reviews)

3658 people found this review helpful

--The review contains minor spoilers--

Since I've seen a plethora of scores of 10 for this show, I thought I'd write what I feel is a more realistic review for this show. Sword Art Online is more or less the equivalent of a fanfiction in it's writing and quality. Whether people want to overlook it or not is up to the individual, but I believe it fails at the fundamentals for writing a good story. This review will go into details as to my opinions on why I feel this way.

1) Story - This is first major problem is the show. Let's start from the read more

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Feb 26, 2013

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

LLYNCES (All reviews)

2873 people found this review helpful

I don't really want to go into too much depth, but I'd like to give an overview of the series and give my opinions it. If you haven't noticed yet there are many negative reviews out there for this anime, and while many of them bring up some pretty fair points, I think some people are being a bit too harsh on it. Let me explain.

Yes it's a popular anime, yes it has flaws, no it's not perfect, but at the very least in my opinion it is enjoyable. The pacing is off, the beginning particularly feels rushed, there were moments where I thought I skipped an episode because of the time skips which made it difficult to really connect with any of the characters in the beginning, and there were some less than stellar instances where it felt like the anime was trying to make me care but failing hard.

Some characters felt to be completely forgotten throughout most of this series too. For example in the beginning we are introduced to a character named Klein who is quickly pushed aside after the first episode and barely seen again and doesn't really make much of an impact at all on the story later on. This seems to happen a lot throughout this series where there might be some emotional moments where a character dies, or something dramatic happens but there is really no emotional impact from it, and the main character seems to not really care that much about it or it doesn't really effect anything significantly.

I really felt this series shined from around episodes 4-13 and I wish they would have kept with that pace instead of rushing an ending midway and throwing something new at us. The second half just felt completely unnecessary and forced.

Pushing the negative aside, I found the overall theme and atmosphere of the series to be great, and being an avid lover the MMORPG genre obviously a lot of things in this series appealed to me. I really enjoyed the idea of being stuck in a game that was impossible to escape from without winning and having real consequences, it really made everything much more dramatic and meaningful in the story. Sadly this quickly goes away midway through the plot.

If I had to pick two of the best things this anime did well for me it would probably be the animation and soundtrack. They both were really well done, and honestly without them being as good as they were this series would have gotten a much lower score from me, and when I say I really enjoyed the soundtrack I mean that I loved it, it was superb.

I think what it really comes down was just the fact that I enjoyed watching it. I can look at the flaws and pick the anime apart pretty easily, but those flaws never really stopped me from enjoying this anime.I really do feel though that it had a lot of potential to be a top tier series, it just made far too many mistakes. Looking at it objectively I simply cannot give this anime higher than a 7. It was good because I found it to be enjoyable, but it wasn't great or amazing.

At the end of the day I watch anime because I want something that will entertain me and keep me interested, and I feel that Sword Art Online did a good job at accomplishing that.

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Oct 12, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

TheDeedsOfMen (All reviews)

1898 people found this review helpful

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a brave young boy. He was the best swordsman in the land and the manliest man of all. He overcame countless trials with little effort and won the hearts of many fair maidens.

Yes, it's time for Sword Art Online, the origin of many angry rants.

The premise doesn't sound too bad. Ten thousand players of a virtual MMO are trapped in the game and forced to complete it to escape, except that death in the game leads to death in real life. Just think about it: this could be a tragic story of struggle read more

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Dec 31, 2012

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

_Rika (All reviews)

1460 people found this review helpful

Once in a while, there comes along a title (be it movie, book or anime) that takes the audience by storm, sweeping numerous off their feat, leaving several with a bad aftertaste in their mouth and making a few pass the work off as ‘average’ or ‘mediocre’. Online communities, forums, chat rooms and every other nook and corner of the internet known to the man turn into arenas of debates, discussions, fanboyism/fangirlism and flaming. It’s apparent that when something is popular, it doesn’t always get to bath in praises. With the acclaim, comes a sheer amount of criticisms. Also, it goes without saying that read more

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Oct 15, 2012

15 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 2

Florete (All reviews)

987 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

Sword Art Online, aka The Twilight Saga for Teenage Boys.

In the beginning, Sword Art Online (SAO) looked like it could have turned out to be the best show of the year, no exaggeration. The premise of being stuck and unable to log out of a virtual reality MMO with the condition that dying in the game means you die in real life and the only way out is to clear all 100 floors was set up extremely well in the first episode. The second episode continued this with the first boss fight, supported by well-done animation and Yuki Kajiura's amazing-as-always score. At this point, hopes read more

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May 4, 2013

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 1

Polyphemus (All reviews)

932 people found this review helpful

Well then. SAO is indisputably one of the most polarizing anime in recent memory. It has devout fans who think it's one of the greatest, haters who think it's trash, and a minority that just says "hey guys, can't we all just have different opinions?" I hate the first and last groups with a fiery passion. I feel like breaking down why I think it's awful, so I'm writing a review. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Story:
The premise was a somewhat generic one, and “trapped in a video game” has been done numerous times before, but SAO seemed promising. And then the plot did everything read more

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Nov 3, 2012

21 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

Stellio (All reviews)

905 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

After examining forums, comments, and reviews on Sword Art Online, it doesn't take a genius to recognize that this anime adaptation is one of the most controversial, disputable TV Series of the year. Thus, it'll be understandable if you disagreed with me at some point in this review, but please take the time to actually read it before deciding "oh, just another fan boy" or "gross, just another hater." Because, in my opinion, Sword Art Online doesn't deserve the amount of crap it gets or the amount of praises; essentially, it's mediocre.

First and foremost, the Sword Art Online TV Series is an adaptation of the read more

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Jul 17, 2012

21 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

iWriter88 (All reviews)

798 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

Sword Art Online was one of the most hyped up animes of Summer 2012 and has probably the widest range of scores I’ve ever seen. Does it live up to the hype? Read on to find out! That being said, skip to the consensus (TLDR) if you don't want to read blocks of text! :D Please do not send anything overly negative to me; polite and constructive criticism is always appreciated.

PLOT:
The Good: Man, they really went for a lot here. The light novels themselves were actually more action/adventure focused, something that doesn’t happen in the anime. I’m going to do my best not to give read more

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Dec 18, 2012

24 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

etherealharmony (All reviews)

616 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

A brave young hero. His beautiful sidekick who becomes a love interest. Dual wielding swords. A world in chaos. Lives at stake. All seem so cliche, why would I even think to watch this? I made the right decision to. I know there is alot of controversy over this anime currently so I, naturally, must enter my two cents to defend and be realistic about this hot commodity anime of 2012:
*As spoiler free as can possibly be*
Story:
The story is indeed EXTREMELY rushed. While the ideals and thoughts behind the initial plot are absolutely outstanding and completely unique and original, the SAO anime timeline leaves little room for the storyline to blossom. As a 21 year old, I found it fairly childish at times yet still enjoyable. I feel as though younger people wouldn't appreciate the underlying plots which the plot holes failed to fill and give way completely to imagination. As a biased idealist, I give the story an 8/10 because the idea is there, the timeframe wasn't. But I guess that's to be expected in today's anime industry.
Art:
The art is visually stunning and appealing. The colors draw the viewer in and the scenery is the hook. The entire landscape of Aincrad is a feast for the eyes. On the flipside, some of the fights scenes were choppily done in comparison to the beauty of the backdrops. The boss details, especially the Skull Reaper, were phenomenal and several shots were created in a very different, unexpected perspective, adding additional interest to the episode's events. So that's an A++++ to colors and imaginary vision and a B to combat scenes to make a 9/10.
Sound:
Yuki Kajiura. Need I say more? 10/10. Absolutely outstanding and completely relevant and appropriate for the anime. The music truly makes the anime and hooks the viewer emotionally.
Character:
Kirito is your typical boy hero destined to save his love interest and destroy a corrupt system. Sure, seems pretty unoriginal. However, I connected to Kirito more than I feel many do. The episodes that seemed like fillers served as ways for us to get to know Kirito and his imperfections and taught us to let them go. While the anime completely fails in terms of side characters with failed attempts of Klein and Egil, the main characters are given enough spotlight to give the viewer a general consensus on their personality, actions, and values toward the Cardinal system of SAO. Asuna is a fantastic heroine at the beginning, immediately winning all the hearts of all male viewers and becoming a role model for young women. But as the anime progresses, the anime took a completely different direction in her character than I expected. While Asuna possessed so much strength and leadership, the anime fails to show this as it continues on, letting her slip into the whole damsel in distress role, especially in ALO. I truly felt the connection between her and Kirito and their desire to protect each other but their characters, as well as their love story, need more depth. 8/10.
Enjoyment:
I can't lie. I truly enjoy this anime. I have such a vision of it in my head that I feel the storymakers truly intended to get across to all viewers. Whilst the anime is lacking in depth, can be corny/childish/predictable, and is unreally rushed, it provides an entertaining feast for the eyes and ears and even for the heart from episodes 8 and on. I can't deny this one a 10/10 because I truly enjoy it.
Overall:
I have to give this anime a 10/10 wholly due to the fact that I can truly envision its perfection if it could be given more time. The character ideas are there, the unique and individualistic views are there, the fantastic composer and visual settings are there. It has the correct recipe, but the incorrect "bake time". Putting aside my bias, it should probably deserve a generous 9/10 due to plot holes, rushed timeframe, and incomplete character development.

Here's to hoping episode 25 will be a successful completion of an anime that could truly use a cherry on top of the sundae. The fandom will be on the edge of their seats and...so will I. I can't help it, this anime is my guilty pleasure.

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Sep 29, 2012

12 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 2

Angel_Milk (All reviews)

419 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

Why is SAO bad? First of all let us ask what SAO is and what bad is. SAO is an anime adaptation of a light novel of the same name. The light novel was created in 2002 by Reki Kawahara, around the time when MMORPG were the craze. The anime like the name suggest is about a virtual world in a MMO. Akin to .hack//SIGN it¡¯s about a group of people being stuck inside a videogame (at least until the third volume where the game changes) where the only way to escape is to finish the game. The MC is a guy named Kirito who meets various people along his adventure to the top of the tower where the key to completing the game lies. However, unlike .hack//SIGN, in SAO everything that could have done really well is destroyed. Now, let us get back to what the word bad means. It means it¡¯s not 'good in any manner or degree' according to dictionary.com and there many reasons for SAO to be bad. These reasons include overuse of cliches and overused tropes, bad characterization and that it exists as a self insert and wish fulfillment.

A major concern I have with SAO is the uses of cliches and overused tropes. One instance is the use of the well known clause in anime where Kirito said 'Do I have to use that?' in episode 9 when fighting a boss. This is one of the biggest cliche in anime and so bad that other shows mock shows using said cliche. In the scene where Kirito said that, there were players dying from the boss. This meant that Kirito let people die because he didn't other players to find out about his skill.

One of the things that I found extremely irritating about SAO was the fact that Kirito was the strongest in the SAO the game barring the admin. This is evident due to the fact that he is a BEATer (a portmanteau between the words BETA and cheater). Also, he has a unique skill where only two people in the game have. Not only was Kirito overpowered, his girlfriend Asuna is overpowered as well. This might be sexist but I find it hard to believe that a girl would be good at MMO (she is one of the highest leveled person in the game) when she has never played them before even if SAO is different from normal MMOs.

This brings in new questions. Why did the author make the main characters the strongest? This is due to self insertion and wish fulfillment. This is painfully obvious when plenty of pretty girls such as Sachi, Lizbeth, Silica and Asuna are lusting after his manhood and his personality is very similar to teenagers who have emo tendencies and antisocial behavior so they can relate to him. He is also later shown to be a massive nerd therefore pandering to computer geeks. Asuna is particularly the largest wish fulfillment girl I have ever seen. She possess incredible power like Kirito, is considered beautiful by pretty much everyone, excels in cooking both in game and in real life and comes from a wealthy family which are considered traits of a perfect girl. However, I personally hate her due to these facts.

The characterization is absolutely atrocious. First there are the main characters Kirito and Azuna as I mentioned before are terrible characters with terrible characterization. They have inconsistent personality such when Kirito suddenly changes from an emo kid to a happy going person between episodes and when Asuna suddenly becomes a tsundere. Also, characters such as Sachi and Lizbeth fall in love with Kirito even though they only knew him for few days. Even Asuna is guilty of this since she had sex with Kirito despite not knowing too much about him. The only good characters in the series are minor characters such as Silica and Klein. (Why couldn't they become the main characters? Klein as the MC would have made the show better.)

The pacing is also a major issue. There are just too many time skips in the anime. This makes the episodes too episodic and not have real plot. I am not saying that being episodic is bad but the episodes between 2-8 serve in no point in the plot other than being a side story. The anime would have been a lot better if it was pure comedic, slice of life MMO life about a guild instead of what it is now where it changed from sol to having an actual plot which neither of them were good.

The only really good aspect of the anime is the music, decent character design, animation and the setting was done well. It had Yuki Kajiura as the series composer who is one of my favourite composers and LiSA, another one of my favourite, as the singer for the opening. The setting for the anime is surprisingly good and is somewhat creative. The art wasn¡¯t anything special but was still one of the best aspect about the anime. Regardless, all of these were sadly all wasted on this bad anime.

Despite all I said, the worst part about SAO is the potential it had to be a good anime. It could have easily become my favourite anime if it was done right. It had the trapped in the video game trope which I quite like. In the end it doesn't even matter what I write since the anime will sell like hotcake. The fact that an anime with bad characterization, plot, and plenty of cliches is the most popular is telling that anime is dead. In MAL SAO is rated higher than Nodame, Tatami Galaxy and many other anime that are better than SAO. This is disappointing and I hope publishers do not start making similar anime to SAO just because it¡¯s popular just to make money.

*Minor update*
I would like to thank the user Veronin for helping me when I was writing this.

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Sep 23, 2012

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

Mortsyn (All reviews)

405 people found this review helpful

Scavenge. Slay. Survive.

This is what Sword Art Online should have been about. It should have been an anime that was a pure MMORPG in anime form, as it was made out to be. What did we get instead? 55% slice of life, 25% romance, 10% action, 10% plot. SAO is quite possibly the most overrated and overhyped anime I've ever come across in my anime years. SAO is highly regarded by its fans as one of the best Light Novels ever, better than Fate/Zero, Monogatari series, Haruhi series, Kara no Kyoukai, Welcome to the NHK and Baccano for a few examples. Granted, I haven't read read more

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Nov 26, 2013

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

HannahxBear (All reviews)

384 people found this review helpful

I've heard many things about SAO (Sword Art Online): There's either a lot of love or a lot of hate for it. Personally, I'm leaning a little towards the latter, but not fully on it. Before you start sending me hate mail or press the "Not Helpful" button, please hear me out.

As a gamer, and a fan of MMORPG's, I tried to keep my expectations not too high, because you know what they say: "The bigger they are, the harder they fall". Unfortunately, SAO fits this saying to a T, as it was one of the most disappointing anime that I've seen this year. Why? read more

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Jun 8, 2015

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

RedInfinity (All reviews)

341 people found this review helpful

|This review contains minor spoilers of the shitty story and characters|

Oh Sword Art Online, how you fooled millions of people into thinking that this show will be every gamer and anime fans' dream-come-true. We all came in, watched the first episode and thought " This actually looks pretty cool " , and continued watching like fish on a fishing rod. How wrong were we? Well, I will tell you, fellow readers, how the anime that received one of the largest fan-bases in recent times, holds the pinnacle of the word 'Overrated '; and I will do my best to convince you to NOT watch this read more

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Dec 22, 2012

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

BloodRequiem (All reviews)

303 people found this review helpful

Remember back in July I said that seeing the hype, this would probably become the next Guilty Crown? Well, reflecting on that now…I would like to sincerely apologize…to the Guilty Crown fans because Sword Art Online is nowhere near Guilty Crown’s level in terms of visuals and soundtrack.

As we all know, studio A-1 is not known for action based anime. Most of their signature works are slice of life romantic comedies. The character designs are reminiscent of those in Working!! despite the fact that this show markets itself as a serious action fantasy series. Action scenes heavily utilized flash frames in order to cut corners. Most of the time, the viewers are just shown the expressions of the characters instead of what is actually happening to the scene as a whole. In some instances, frames from previous episodes were even reused. Saying that the visuals were underwhelming is an understatement.

The music department is one of the few redeeming qualities of this show although this is perhaps Kajiura’s most lackluster work in recent years. Some parts of soundtracks seem recycled right out of her recent works. Not to mention that sometimes, the music does not fit that particular scene. To put it simply, the music was nice, but lacks soul.

Up until now, we’ve covered the visuals and the music. Both aspects are mediocre at worst and are not bad enough to garner the negativity towards this show. So what went wrong? Well, obviously the leftover parts: the plot and the characters.

Truth be told, the premise of the story had potential. However, that raw potential was untouched and on top of that, was marred by absolutely horrid execution in terms of storytelling and progression. An easy phrase to apply here is “show, not tell”. Several backstory filler episodes were carelessly dumped into the beginning of the series giving the impression that the writers didn’t care enough to put in the effort in order to integrate those side stories nicely into the series. To add insult to injury, those episodes were rushed. It’s pretty ridiculous how the progression would have seemed smoother and more acceptable if the content was cut. And as the viewer continue watching, the story becomes a mass of plotholes rampant with tasteless fanservice that are randomly thrown in; In particular, the breaking of game mechanics written in cold, hard code at the convenience of the main characters which will be covered in the next section. Again, this is just very contradictory considering the fact that this show is trying to get viewers to take it seriously. You really have to wonder if the writers have forgotten that this is supposed to be a story about an MMORPG.

Now we come to the last nail in the coffin: characters. Overpowered main characters are not uncommon and there are generally no problems if they are done well. Sword Art Online, unfortunately, did not handle this trope with expertise and fell into the trap where the main character bends plot more than gravity stretches time. Kirito is a walking deus ex machina. He can do and experience things that are impossible according to previously shown game mechanics. His personality and traits also changes according to the situation such as being a fumbling idiot one moment yet two minutes later he is soloing mobs while spitting out cheesy phrases from some Clint Eastwood movie. He simply does not leave a lasting impression other than his role and abilities in the story. Take away his dual wielding abilities and what do you remember him for? Nothing. On top of that, the story gives no sense of excitement due to his overpowering presence. The viewer does not feel pressured to known what’s going to happen next since it’s a given that Kirito will resolve the situation with no problems. Asuna, on the other hand, was introduced as a strong capable female but turned into a damsel in distress under the influence of Kirito’s plot wielding; eventually becoming a fap fodder waifu character. What’s also not helping the cast is that there are no significant characters other than the main characters. Side characters are pretty much irrelevant given their almost nonexistent character development. It’s almost as if they are taking on an episodic approach to the characters despite the fact that this story is supposedly linear with a clear objective or ending in mind.

The final verdict? A three out of ten. This is taken into account the fact that I've changed into a masochist and this show has given me enjoyment and gratification with it's absolutely tortuous delivery. You really have to wonder if fans of this show love the premise of the series or the series itself. Perhaps this show would have done better if it chose a simply fantasy setting instead since it obviously wasn’t adeptly incorporating elements of an MMORPG. In the end, Sword Art Online is a show that can present the who, what, when, and where with efficiency but fails completely to explain how and why I should bother giving a tiny rat’s ass.

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Sep 17, 2012

11 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

kwgee (All reviews)

290 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

Story-

Sword Art Online (SAO) had real promising from reading the synopsis; however, I feel that it failed to delivery on all the hype it was getting. But after watching several episodes I feel like SAO has two major issues which make the anime really hard and jarring to get into. These two problems are the Story and the Characters. The story starts off with the premise that players are trapped within the game, SAO, and the only way to get out is to clear all 100 levels. But the problem here, with the story, is that the anime tends to skip months at a read more

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Aug 10, 2013

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

Ascarde (All reviews)

282 people found this review helpful

I heard all this hype about Sword Art Online. Any anime site worth its salt has heard of it. It's vaunted as one of the best animes of 2012, and I heard pretty good stuff about it! However if there's one rule about anime is that the more hyped it is, the more crushing when it turns out to be a disappointment. SAO is one of these.

It started out with an interesting premise: ten thousand people are locked into a virtual reality game, with no law or order. They must beat the game in order to get out. At the forefront is Kirito, a skilled player and one of the original players of the game. It sounds good on paper.

The issue with this is that Kirito is a borderline Gary Stu. He's the Ace, the secret weapon of the players, and all the player's hopes rides on his shoulders. Okay, apart from being a typical sounding shonen hero, that isn't anything special. What IS, however, is that he picks up a LOT of skills that become more and more often deus ex machinas. He steals the spotlight from every other character so everyone else, even our female protagonist, Asuna, can only stare in awe off to the side.

Asuna went from a powerful, pretty awesome character to the love interest that every anime requires. Her powers and skills as co-leader of the best guild in the game gradually dwindle until she's little more than a plot point. The romance between the two is nonexistent, despite it being praised as one of the anime's strongest points. If this is supposed to be the strongest point, I'm glad I didn't exactly go into this with high expectations. I'm not sure the author knew how romance works and that this was wish fulfillment. News flash guys, girls don't hang out with you, eat with you for a few episodes, and then decide they want to marry you. That doesn't happen.

The other characters, especially the female characters, all fall in love with Kirito. Why? I don't know; it isn't revealed. It's as if just being there is enough to charm everyone in sight. That was where I started dreading turning on my computer to watch this awful excuse for a romantic drama. They're shallow, one-dimensional, and bring little to no depth to the storyline whatsoever. They're only purpose is to long after Kirito, making it seem like a poorly written harem story.

The story is awful, despite having a strong premise. Go up a hundred floors (most of these aren't even shown), beat the boss, leave the game. Okaaay... what about leveling? Or getting better equipment? Interactions between guilds? Friendly duels? Anything NORMAL that you'd expect from an MMORPG? Nope, none of that is present, with the exception of illegal duels which eventually becomes murder cases (Kirito solves these, by the way).

The art is just... meh. It wasn't extraordinary and honestly looks like something I'd see out of a dime-a-dozen manga from 2006. No effects really seemed to catch my eye, and the scenery was just average. I expected more from a 2012 anime.

Sound? It does have a pretty nice opening, and the soundtrack is also nice, so if that's your thing, go for it. However, it's simply not enough to bring to the table. I had to force myself after episode fourteen to find episode fifteen and watch it.

SAO is over-hyped. It didn't live up to half the expectations I set, and I set pretty low standards. It's the perfect example of wish fulfillment to the highest degree.

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Dec 23, 2012

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

X10A_Freedom (All reviews)

268 people found this review helpful

*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Sword Art Online is a pioneer of its genre in that, the source material dates from all the way back in 2002 (.hack// being of the same vintage). This is important to note as with all pioneering feats, there is an initial sense of wonder and hype, followed by disappointment as the same concept is refined and improved upon. To give an example, the Victorians pioneered the underground railway in London, a marvel at its time but it was soon realised that they dug the tunnels too small. The tiny, overcrowded trains of today cannot be appreciated for read more

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Jan 24, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

Gotanon (All reviews)

262 people found this review helpful

Yes! Yeeees! Oh, let me taste your tears, Asuna!
Mm, your tears are so yummy and sweet!
Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! Yummy~

In a world where series' like Harry Potter, or other real abhorrent fanfiction tittles the likes of Twilight sells well enough for multiple sequels, it shouldn't be a surprise then, Sword Art Online's popularity skyrocketing that is. Pretty posters, familiarity, perhaps male power fantasies and the like, etc. There are numerous factors that play a part in a works' popularity; but it's hard to pin-point just what exactly got SAO such hype. Especially since it becomes apparent that it was already losing it's focus just after the third episode. In a similar vein to SAO's sister in terms of popularity still that very same year, Guilty Crown also had an (ostensibly) enormous fanbase even before it aired. It's a mystery really.

SAO is a clear indication that it's target audience are easy to profit from. Which is exactly why it makes it just the kind of anime that makes you wonder about where the anime industry could be heading. It is not a positive influence. And unfortunately for the supporters, SAO does provide with more than enough empirical evidence to tell them that it is garbage but, that would be unfair as there actually is entertainment value to be had here.

In the visual department SAO definitely excels, maybe not enough to make a graphic artist have wet dreams over, though. From the character designs to the very world which they reside in, it is all aesthetically pleasing. And while consistent and fluid in it's animation, it's a little rough around the edges during the fight scenes. There's an abuse of stills to express 'action', and distorted facial expressions used in an otherwise uneventful location (was that actually intended to be used for comedic effect? Welp). Of course, this alone wouldn't damper the experience. If everything else were intact, this would remain relatively unnoticed.

An interesting concept? A Charismatic main character? world building? SAO had just about everything working in it's favor to make it anime of that year. But even with the few legitimate merits it has it does away with them in favor of, well, to make our hero The Black Swor- wait, no one actually confuses to whom that tittle belongs to, right..? - Kirito, more of a flawless gary stu.

All complete with enough deus ex-machinas to make you puke.

Thousands of players dying? All off-screen and no one gives a crap about statistics. Boss fights? Essentially, a grand total of three and they don't re-spawn.You never really get a sense of dread in the world of SAO. Even the very first death was due to a player refusing to take a life potion. And that's all in the first half of the series. The second half? Not even going to touch it. Unless, of course, we're talking about Suguha's sugus here.

And as you can imagine, with it taking itself so seriously already, when it come to the uh... romance the end result is laughable. Later on, at one point Asuna said something around the lines of, "Kirito has changed me, everything I am as it is now is because of him". I started to cringe at that point, none of what she said happened. The characterization suffers almost as much as the writing; or vice versa. Every villain is cartoonishly evil and every supporting character doesn't fair any better either. All of the 'character development' happens during the constant time skips, successfully nullifying it and making for a heavily disjointed pacing. And It doesn't help that the script is akin to that of an eroge. Meaning: A) relationships take on a surrealistic fast pace. B) can't hear a confession a foot away from you. C) Being nice is enough to attract females from all corners of the land, etc.

SAO could very well be suggesting you to be a Infidelity-committing, sister-fornicating, misogynistic pedophile who loves rape as fanservice. Topped only by those slimy tentacles everyone likes. -- It doesn't encourage anything positive, it's too delusional to do so. All the gamer pandering, multiple relationships, etc. It only serves to further take away any sense of realism it might have had, including it's potential to construct a society within a virtual world; firmly planting it into wish-fulfillment territory.

Splendorous action - this is the only reason I can think of as to why I would recommend this show. And yet, despite all that, knowing that it falls off the rails, crashes and burns; it get's back on the tracks again, and again only to end up crashing.

It's fun, if only to mock it.

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Jan 6, 2013

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 2

Lindle (All reviews)

255 people found this review helpful

I might as well skip the plot synopsis of Sword Art Online, because odds are you already know it. Sword Art Online has utterly exploded. It is all over the place. It is that one show the EVERYONE is watching, whether it be through genuine interest or sheer bile fascination. And amidst this, it has split the anime fandom enormously between those who utterly love it and those who absolutely hate it. As you no doubt checked what I scored this before anything else, you can probably tell I'm in the latter camp.

In the event that you've been living under a rock these past 6 read more

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Jun 3, 2013

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

petch (All reviews)

244 people found this review helpful

This is a review of Sword Art Online’s adaptation. I do not care for the light novels, this review is based entirely on the anime adaptation.

The Story (4/10)

The plot for this anime falls below that of an average seasonal anime. Sword Art Online begins with a good, interesting premise. The first two episodes are actually very promising. However, once you get past those initial episodes the show doesn’t really do anything of interest and feels like it was written by a sexually frustrated teenager. As I said, the concept is good and somewhat tragic. A new virtual reality MMO opens up and thousands of read more

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