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Mar 22, 2021 1:40 PM
#1
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Feb 2021
54
If I had told you that SAO was once rated 8.69 would you believe me? Personally, I enjoyed SAO, until the Alfeim Online arc came about. So with the help of the Wayback Machine (the world's biggest internet archive), I discovered the rating of the show from every year, below are the results

2021: 7.24
2020: 7.49
2019: 7.59
2018: 7.68
2017: 7.82
2016: 8.0.1
2015: 8.14
2014: 8.30
2013: 8.40
2012: 8.69

I originally speculated it was due to the big AniTubers hating on it, which influenced the general anime community, but idk. What do you think?
Mar 22, 2021 3:54 PM
#2

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May 2017
61
Because it’s bad lol and some of the people that watched it when they were twelve are no longer twelve and thus drop their rating for it accordingly.
Mar 22, 2021 4:25 PM
#3
Offline
Nov 2018
2
LisbonMapping said:
Because it’s bad lol and some of the people that watched it when they were twelve are no longer twelve and thus drop their rating for it accordingly.
This is 100% the answer. SAO held a special place in my heart Bc it was one of my first anime. But while I do think the SAO arc is amazing, the alfeim arc ruins the show and deserves to be around a 7 now. Rewatching the show at a mature age has reevaluated my rating of the show.
Mar 22, 2021 4:32 PM
#4

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Jan 2017
212
Because it's utter catshit with incompetent writing that only a teenager would enjoy.
REVIVE MECHA
Mar 22, 2021 4:37 PM
#5

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Jul 2015
11213
1. SAO is trash.
2. It's not the only one who's rating is dropping.

Mar 22, 2021 11:28 PM
#6
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Jan 2018
351
Sao was one of my first 3 anime. It apealed to my shutin gamer sensibilities and I thought it was a masterpiece at the time. I watched 17 episodes in one day. Then upon finishing it I rewatched it two additional times through.

My experience wasn't unique in the slightest. In fact I would say my experience was very generic. Most people watched it as one of their first anime to love it only to realize its flaws later.

Not only am I more able to critique anime as a medium now that Ive watched 71 full days worth of the stuff. But since the isekai genre is so popular now its very easy to pick apart shows in the genre that miss the mark since its so easy to compare them to the very small amount of actually good isekai out there.

I don't think sao is trash. I think aincrad is a 7, alfeim is a 2.5, gungale is a 7, and the second alfeim is a 2.

It's nowhere near unspeakably horrible like kanamemo or nobunagun that are absolute disgraces. I really wish that blind SAO haters would watch some truly bad anime to see what a 1/10 is really like.
He died doing what he wanted, no matter what, right? I bet he was happy.

Good luck with berserk Kouji Mori, you'll need all the help you can get. We believe in you.
Mar 23, 2021 4:51 AM
#7
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Aug 2019
60
bc it's utter fucking trash, every new person that watches it gives it a 1
Mar 23, 2021 9:09 PM
#8
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Mar 2021
1
I didn't want to watch it way back but a few friends kept watching and talking about it and they told me how good Alizitation was that I genuinely needed to watch it, so I did. And, tbh, it's just bad.

The writing is terrible, the characters are awful aswell, the setting was good the first few episodes and then it goes to shit when perseverance beat a game mechanic such as dying when your health bar drops to zero.

It only appealed to people because of how original the idea was at the time.

Nowadays the novelty is gone and you are left with only thrash characters, plot and villains.
miglehpMar 23, 2021 9:13 PM
Mar 23, 2021 9:20 PM
#9

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Jan 2020
66666
It's cause over the years it's been losing respect by everyone



Mar 24, 2021 3:01 AM
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Feb 2021
54
Scarz_ said:
LisbonMapping said:
Because it’s bad lol and some of the people that watched it when they were twelve are no longer twelve and thus drop their rating for it accordingly.
This is 100% the answer. SAO held a special place in my heart Bc it was one of my first anime. But while I do think the SAO arc is amazing, the alfeim arc ruins the show and deserves to be around a 7 now. Rewatching the show at a mature age has reevaluated my rating of the show.
I agree with you 100%
Mar 24, 2021 5:59 AM

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Jun 2020
3748
No clue but I like to see it. How did it ever get 8.69 lmao
Mar 24, 2021 6:03 AM

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Sep 2020
2477
i wish the 2nd half separated from the 1st half,damn....

also for the 1st half,i actually love it,it's my guilty pleasure,i even give it a 9/10 for almost every single moment in aincrad

also for the 2nd half,i hope it burn in hell,and better not talk about the season 2,probably one of the most insulting and worst anime i ever seen,trust me.
Mar 24, 2021 6:24 AM

Offline
Apr 2019
1015
SAO has the most scored 1's (24k) in MAL, even more so than FMA:B (17k) so the score really doesn't mean anything if it's tampered with.

If you want a non-biased scoring on it, then try checking Anikore. It's been consistently 4.1/5 throughout the years.
__

Most scores are tampered in MAL due to fan-wars or western biased-opinions like:
the big AniTubers hating on it, which influenced the general anime community







Mar 24, 2021 8:18 PM
Offline
May 2018
83
CrazyCatMan123 said:
If I had told you that SAO was once rated 8.69 would you believe me? Personally, I enjoyed SAO, until the Alfeim Online arc came about. So with the help of the Wayback Machine (the world's biggest internet archive), I discovered the rating of the show from every year, below are the results

2021: 7.24
2020: 7.49
2019: 7.59
2018: 7.68
2017: 7.82
2016: 8.0.1
2015: 8.14
2014: 8.30
2013: 8.40
2012: 8.69

I originally speculated it was due to the big AniTubers hating on it, which influenced the general anime community, but idk. What do you think?

As much as I’d like to imagine people realized it was mediocre, I think it’s the sh*t it gets online that did it.
Mar 25, 2021 5:15 AM
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Feb 2021
54
Kytren said:
i wish the 2nd half separated from the 1st half,damn....

also for the 1st half,i actually love it,it's my guilty pleasure,i even give it a 9/10 for almost every single moment in aincrad

also for the 2nd half,i hope it burn in hell,and better not talk about the season 2,probably one of the most insulting and worst anime i ever seen,trust me.
I agree I wish the just cut out part 2
Mar 25, 2021 5:15 AM
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Jul 2018
564612
Because it sucks.
Mar 25, 2021 5:19 AM
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Jul 2018
564612
Wtf this shit had 8.69 lol
Mar 25, 2021 5:27 AM

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May 2020
3680
Bots or more people are starting to dislike it cause the fandom continues to grow
Mar 25, 2021 1:03 PM
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Apr 2018
425
People think it ia cool to hate it and people go into the show already hating it if you dont like it dont watch it people are so stupid just because you grew older doesnt mean you can no longer enjoy the show
Mar 26, 2021 8:34 AM

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Nov 2019
718
-Target audience liked it
-Shit got popular
-Non-target audience gave it a go
-They disliked it
-Digibro made his SAO bad video
-Hating it became a cool thing to do
-People who liked it also also started hating it either due to ageing or to look cool and fit in
-Score started exponentially decreasing

Tbh it deserves around a 7.6-7.8 considering MAL standards.
SAO PROGRESSIVE ANIME HYPE
Mar 31, 2021 1:36 PM
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Jan 2020
72
I think the reason why it’s also held in so much contempt, rather than actually being a bad anime, is more a failure of execution what it could’ve been versus what it actually was. The second half of the season further solidifying it, I think people’s expectations translated more into the greater opinion of the show itself rather than what the show actually was. When expectations are let down you tend to view a show much more negatively than being blind and just being there for the ride. After the hate boner started in 2014, and the cool thing to do was shit on it, ratings plummeted along with opinions, the show definitely has it’s faults, don’t get me wrong, but so does every other anime in existence. When all your flaws are put on display, it’s bound to change original sentiments towards a show. At worst though, it’s definitely mid; by no means the worst anime of all time like it’s painted out to be, and it’s production values are genuinely great.

I’d say objectively it’s around a 6-7, but I enjoyed the fuck out of it. I’d say the rating is pretty fair, but by MAL standards, would safely have still been in the 8-range if the massive hate boner didn’t start after Digi. I don’t think it’ll drop past a 7, but most of the negative reception started from the negative stigma and constant bashing. Either way, sales don’t lie, it’s doing something right. I don’t think it deserves the extreme hate nor the extreme praise it gets. That being said, it paved the way for lots of better received series such as Re: ZERO, KonoSuba, etc. It’s arguably had the biggest impact on the anime industry after the old big name shounen.

At the end of the day, if you enjoy it, you enjoy it. Don’t let people on the internet dictate your opinion. It says more about them for bashing you for liking something in the first place.
Mar 31, 2021 1:41 PM

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Jul 2020
10610
Cause hating a popular anime is a cool thing to do.
Anitubers like Digibro and Animeman played a big part in the hate trend.
I still don't like how the haters point out to those who like Sao saying "YoU oNlY lIke It BeCaUsE iT's YoUr FiRsT aNiMe! like bruh let them like what they like.They never attacked any anime fandoms like that but still the annoying eltists ridiculed them in the past and to some extent still do so.
ScordoloMar 31, 2021 1:46 PM

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Apr 2, 2021 1:40 PM
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Jul 2018
564612
Eh. Ex Arm's existence should push the score up a little or at least slow down the exponential decay of the score.
Apr 4, 2021 7:52 PM

Offline
Oct 2014
653
CrazyCatMan123 said:
If I had told you that SAO was once rated 8.69 would you believe me? Personally, I enjoyed SAO, until the Alfeim Online arc came about. So with the help of the Wayback Machine (the world's biggest internet archive), I discovered the rating of the show from every year, below are the results

2021: 7.24
2020: 7.49
2019: 7.59
2018: 7.68
2017: 7.82
2016: 8.0.1
2015: 8.14
2014: 8.30
2013: 8.40
2012: 8.69

I originally speculated it was due to the big AniTubers hating on it, which influenced the general anime community, but idk. What do you think?


SAO is great, especially first season. It's just a shame it's 'cool' to still hate on SAO in 2021. 2020 just made me realize how many people simply crave 'belonging' to a group rather than thinking for themselves. Look how many isekai Japan is pooping out every season for last 5 years or more, sure, isekai received minor hate (not that it's obligated to receive it), but I just don't get hate for SAO. Besides, arguments I heard about it "sucking" are frankly weak, nothing has changed throughout the years. SAO is THE show that popularized isekai, but when you think about it, it's not a true isekai - mc doesn't die and get transported into another world, rather, enters through a console or w/e, later gets returned to real world and back into the game at end of season one, but I digress.
Apr 4, 2021 11:00 PM
Offline
Feb 2021
54
NiBer said:
CrazyCatMan123 said:
If I had told you that SAO was once rated 8.69 would you believe me? Personally, I enjoyed SAO, until the Alfeim Online arc came about. So with the help of the Wayback Machine (the world's biggest internet archive), I discovered the rating of the show from every year, below are the results

2021: 7.24
2020: 7.49
2019: 7.59
2018: 7.68
2017: 7.82
2016: 8.0.1
2015: 8.14
2014: 8.30
2013: 8.40
2012: 8.69

I originally speculated it was due to the big AniTubers hating on it, which influenced the general anime community, but idk. What do you think?


SAO is great, especially first season. It's just a shame it's 'cool' to still hate on SAO in 2021. 2020 just made me realize how many people simply crave 'belonging' to a group rather than thinking for themselves. Look how many isekai Japan is pooping out every season for last 5 years or more, sure, isekai received minor hate (not that it's obligated to receive it), but I just don't get hate for SAO. Besides, arguments I heard about it "sucking" are frankly weak, nothing has changed throughout the years. SAO is THE show that popularized isekai, but when you think about it, it's not a true isekai - mc doesn't die and get transported into another world, rather, enters through a console or w/e, later gets returned to real world and back into the game at end of season one, but I digress.

I agree, I also personally enjoyed SAO 9/10! Anyways the bigger question why are you replying now?
Apr 4, 2021 11:07 PM

Offline
Nov 2015
544
When the abridged version of an anime is better in every way then you know there's a problem with the original anime.

SAO is just not good.
Apr 5, 2021 1:58 AM

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Feb 2019
5511
It's because everyone now watch sao just to hate.

After all its cool to hate sao
Apr 5, 2021 3:08 AM

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Oct 2014
653
CrazyCatMan123 said:

I agree, I also personally enjoyed SAO 9/10! Anyways the bigger question why are you replying now?


I saw the thread now.
Apr 5, 2021 5:02 AM

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Nov 2019
718
KyleRiley said:
When the abridged version of an anime is better in every way then you know there's a problem with the original anime.

SAO is just not good.

People still find that funny after 4 episodes? I enjoyed like 2 episodes of the abridged and then it devolved into the same joke being repeated over and over again.

Liking an abridged series is one thing. I also like the DBZ Abridged. Saying it's outright better than the original series it's based on is a different thing which it's not.
SAO PROGRESSIVE ANIME HYPE
Apr 5, 2021 4:23 PM

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May 2016
65
Yeah SAO sure as hell didn't deserve 8.69 in 2012 but 7.24 (or 7.23 at the time of typing this) is way too low for MAL standards (and I say this as someone who gave it 6/10). It's not a great anime but it's also not the worst thing to have ever been created, it's just an enjoyable show with a LOT of problems.
Apr 5, 2021 4:47 PM

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Dec 2012
16083
The lower the score gets, the more cringe it becomes to hate SAO.
Apr 5, 2021 5:25 PM
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Jan 2021
59
I'm watching it right now to see what the whole hype is about, I saw 22 episodes and HOLY SHIT it's soooooo bad, the initial few episodes were good but then it went downhill pretty fast
Apr 6, 2021 10:36 PM
Offline
Jan 2021
1020
CrazyCatMan123 said:
If I had told you that SAO was once rated 8.69 would you believe me? Personally, I enjoyed SAO, until the Alfeim Online arc came about. So with the help of the Wayback Machine (the world's biggest internet archive), I discovered the rating of the show from every year, below are the results

2021: 7.24
2020: 7.49
2019: 7.59
2018: 7.68
2017: 7.82
2016: 8.0.1
2015: 8.14
2014: 8.30
2013: 8.40
2012: 8.69

I originally speculated it was due to the big AniTubers hating on it, which influenced the general anime community, but idk. What do you think?


I understand why it was rated that high first because the first 3 episodes of sao is fucking mind blowing but the rest was kinda meh so make sense why it got lower....
Apr 6, 2021 10:45 PM
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Jun 2020
893
I don't know. Maybe it's so good that some mf's rated 1 instead of 10.
Apr 7, 2021 7:15 PM
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Dec 2019
259
Because hating on SAO is cool, saying it's the worst anime 0/10 piece of shit anime is cool, eventhough it wasn't that bad.
Apr 9, 2021 1:00 AM
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Jan 2011
88
Because some people are now realizing that the 2nd half of the show ruined it.

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