First off: this review contains a few SPOILERS in a later part, as it is not completely possible for me to discuss some of the series' shortcomings without going into a bit of detail.
SAO seems to have divided viewers like only few others I've seen, as the huge gap in rating and review scores suggests. However, I would strongly advice people to keep an eye on the score numbers in other reviews. For me, this series was kind of disappointing despite its enormous popularity, even though I liked many other popular series of past years. A lot of potential, but also a lot of things
...
wrong with it.
The first parts will deal with the individual ratings while the more troubling things and inconsistencies that prevented a higher rating will be adressed in the "Enjoyment" section.
Story: 7
The general idea of the setting is quite fresh to me. People are getting trapped in an MMORPG with the actual problem of dying in real life if their HP reach 0. They are only able to get back, if they manage to beat the game, which reminds you of the classical "Lord of the Flies" setting, but with a nicely cooperative twist to it. A really good and promising premise that could lead to quite a complicated plot, many ethical dilemmas and difficult social relations due to the game mechanics. However, many elements, like the heavy amount of romance and slice-of-life parts kind of prevent further depth of the story. There are some episodic events that tackle the things the characters have to deal with, but in general, the great potential of the setting is not fully explored. Especially, since the notion of dying in real life is nullified around half of the series. There is an ingame revival item, but it gets left behind along the way, though there are some very good points where usage would've made sense.
Basically, the first half (SAO) is superior to the second (ALO) in pretty much every aspect (characters/world design/setting/pacing). Drawing out the SAO part to 25 eps would probably have improved my rating by 1 or even 2 points. ALO as a whole feels less than necessary and it wouldn't have hurt to just call it quits after 14 eps.
Art: 8
Quite satifying. Things like backgrounds and the general animation quality and fluency (with some episodes stepping it up a notch during fights) are definitely likeable. The fighting scenes are mostly done well, but again, those in the first part seem just a little better to me with a few exceptions.
Sound: 7
As with the art, this one scores quite well. Sound effects, BGM and opening/ending are executed in a nice fashion and something to remember. Not much to complain about here.
Character: 4
Lot of improvements to be done in this category. The main character, Kirito, does not seem to have any shortcomings at all, winning every battle, making all the girls fall in love with him (including family mebmbers, that's right) and generally succeeding in everything, despite ever seeming exceptionally clever, charming, tough, whatever you need to achieve those things. The most promiment character trait are his moral standards, which develop a bit during the first episodes and then stay at maximum level for the rest of the series. Asuna and Suguha, the other main characters, could also profit from additional development, which gets overshadowed by terrible fanservice and lots of overexcessive emotions. Many of the interesting or possibly important side characters, like Klein, only appear on very irregular timeframes, their development is left behind as well. The portrayal of the main villians is especially bad, which will be discussed in the next part.
Enjoyment: 5
Like mentioned in the story part, a lot of things are done not quite as well in the second major arc (ALO), and I asked myself alot what the developers were thinking in handling it like this. There is so much potential for the premise and some of the characters, that disappointment is petty much bound to happen, especially if you have watched some series that managed to handle it all well. There's also a ton of details and inconsistencies (some of which may be nitpicky) I would like to address:
- Technology issues: aside from some problems with the game mechanics and the characters behaviour due to it (which have been discussed by a lot of other reviewers already), I have a problem with the NerveGear hardware and the general situation in the world. First off, the ability to intercept and alter all of your brain signals without any physical contact to your CNS in a small, battery assisted helmet is ridiculously far ahead of current technology and science. It's not something we would get in about 10 years and it's also not something that would be released to the common public just like that. The technology needed would pretty much cost a fortune, which leads to the assumption that Kirito must be filthy rich. The safety of the system is incomparably poor and you would never get a life-and-death setting like that in real life due to heavy testing and control. There would also be no way players would lie around in the hospital for years without anyone trying to hack into the system or finding a way to forcefully remove the NerveGear and destroying its battery.
- Medical issues: as a biology student, I cannot help but notice those. For some reason, it seems that NerveGear users have a near perfect control of their bladder and can go on for very long times without taking a break. Also, the hospital that harbors Kirito is something you do not want to get into. For a kind of comatose person, he received pretty awful care. Not even a feeding tube, which means he should have starved to death. It also seems that nobody cares about the heart rate monitor being removed. Aside from his SAO char, his real body seems indestructible as well, as he can just walk down the hallway after 2 years of coma, all through willpower, which leads me to the next point.
- The concept of willpower: there are some situations in real life where willpower and tenacity can help you achieve your goal, but also some where it is fruitless and stupid to go on. Some anime manage to implement this quite well, but in SAO it's very blunt. Willpower (and also the power of love) makes you defeat every boss, gives you constant plot armor, lets you overcome the game's very code and makes you walk first try after your muscles had no exercise for 2 years.
- Villians: this is something really messed up. In the series, the second antagonist (Sugou) is portrayed in a much more (awfully stereotypical) evil and crazy way, even though the first one (Kayaba) has caused exponentionally more harm. It's pretty safe to say that Kayaba is a psychopathic mass murderer with a god complex, being directly responsible for the death of ~4000 people. Even though, he kind of turns into a good guy in the second part, which is utterly ridiculous in my opinion. There is no proper redemption if you have killed that many people who didn't deserve it just for your own selfish reasons and no writer should protray it like that.
- Other: I'm just giving a few keywords for these things, some which this series (and pretty much every anime on this planet) wouldn't have needed.
Fanservice, harem, Gary Stu, plot armor, deus ex machina, (hinted) incest, (hinted) tentacles, inhuman emotion levels, oceans of tears, endless promises of love.
In conclusion, not everything is bad about this series, but I have no idea how it has gotten to it's incredibly popular state, as it does not deserve it in terms of quality. However, if you are watching for the action and fighting scenes, you will most likely not be disappointed.
Dec 7, 2014
Sword Art Online
(Anime)
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First off: this review contains a few SPOILERS in a later part, as it is not completely possible for me to discuss some of the series' shortcomings without going into a bit of detail.
SAO seems to have divided viewers like only few others I've seen, as the huge gap in rating and review scores suggests. However, I would strongly advice people to keep an eye on the score numbers in other reviews. For me, this series was kind of disappointing despite its enormous popularity, even though I liked many other popular series of past years. A lot of potential, but also a lot of things ... |
