This is a response to your first half:
Jesus, just because it takes place in an MMORPG setting doesn't make it the same. I've read books from Scholastic in elementary school that took the whole VR game setting.
Three things made SAO popular, the MMORPG setting, the art/animation and the LN fans. The LN fans created the hype, the 'if you die in game you die in life' thing gave it more excitement(until the second arc) and finally, the art and animation being how good it was carried it. I've had friends tell me SAO was so great just because it looked good and while it does have superior art/animation, it doesn't mean LH has terrible art either, it's actually not bad. Kirito and Asuna on the other hand, aren't exactly the best characters either. The romance was mediocre and so were they, in fact, I'd say that Klein was a better character.(At least until they actually 'developed a bit more')
The characters in LH are different and so are the roles, worlds, setting, etc. and so far the first episode hugely differentiated from SAO's first episode, which captured you with the "Oh my God, we're trapped and could die!" In Log Horizon, no one is answering the question of what's going on so far, by the looks of it, the players have to find out themselves.
I'm also going to scoff at you for saying that the game elements it had are nowhere near SAO's level and doesn't seem like a game. LH, has shown more game like attributes in that one episode then SAO did in the whole series.
We've already seen the UI, guilds, combat system, 'in-game voice chat', maps, teleporters and they even added that little sound when a monster dies and drops loot. We've got different classes, abilities and from the PV mounts as well.
What SAO did was introduce you to the game-world, but after that treated the rest of the show like a fantasy anime, when realistically it was a fantasy game, not an actual world. They touched back on a few things dealing with the game of course, but not to the extent of what it should have been.
I agree with you on the rest though, if they do this right, it will most likely be all from a more group-oriented, strategic point of view and hopefully have a good plot along with some good-settle romance. SAO fans will probably be watching this, but to say if it will help in the end or not will differentiate. SAO is pretty controversial, people debate on it all the time, some saying it's the best anime ever, others saying it's utter crap. To say the least, there will definitely be people whom are just going to blindly love or hate this series, purely because of SAO. Finally, I doubt it will make it in the top, as you said, the amount of people watching this is nowhere near the amount SAO had.
Anyways, that being said, we've only got one episode, but it's already set itself to try and be something else. If it will be able to do that throughout the series? We'll have to wait and see. |