In the future, 10,000 virtual mmorpg players are trapped in "Sword Art Online" and the only way to get out is to clear the game. The premise of the anime is one that every video gamer would squeal at. But unfortunately, there's not much more I can say about the anime than that.
Upon finishing the SAO anime, I was left utterly confused and wondered: Why is this piece of ____ so popular? I'd heard much about this series way before the anime was announced, and I thought the anime would be a great chance for me to get into the series.
...
Alas, I ended up hating most what I saw. In fact, lurking around forums and talking to my friends, I've ultimately found that people who've watched SAO fall into two groups: Those that mindlessly love SAO and those who hate it without mercy.
Thankfully, I decided to reserve my judgement until after I got a chance to actually read the novels, which is why I've forgiven the series. The anime itself, however, as a standalone work, still fails to deliver all that was amazing in the novels.
Disclaimer: The following review touches upon what I despise about the anime, with references to the original light novel.
First of all, whoever planned the anime out needs to get slapped in the face. Hard. The first episodes were really great, and I really loved them, but then the hated filler arcs arrived. Episodes 1 and 2 set up the anime perfectly, and established our main character, Kirito, and his role as a strong solo player to be feared/respected. Episodes 3 to about 8 takes all that, chews it up, spits it out, and steps all over it. It was painful to watch and reminiscent of Haruhi's Endless Eight arc. To be honest, if you want to watch SAO now, I highly recommend that you skip episodes 3-8 because they really add nothing to the story. Many side characters are introduced only to magically disappear and never return, except some in the last episode. The producers somehow thought it would be a good idea to jam Volume 2 of SAO (which are ALL RANDOM SHORT STORIES) in between events that occurred in Vol. 1, which completely killed the progression of the story. Granted, in SAO Vol. 1, there are still a large number of time skips that may leave the reader disoriented, but at least the majority of the story focuses on the main characters, Kirito and Asuna, and their relationship is more believable and less forced. A lot of much-needed monologue is also missing from the anime, which makes the characters themselves difficult to understand and sympathize with. In fact, I often felt like I had no idea why characters were doing certain things because they simply weren't represented well. In the case of Kirito and Asuna's relationship: "I wub you!" Me: "Wait, what?"
Part 2 of the anime progresses much better (and also follows the novels a bit more closely), but again, there is not much monologue, which makes the characters feel empty and insubstantial. Often, I'll find that characters have sudden changes in disposition without even seeing what led them to that point. In fact, if I hadn't read the novel, I would still hate a certain blonde-haired elf with a fiery passion, without understanding her inner turmoil. I wish the anime had done something like Melancholy of Haruhi, where Kyon narrates a lot and we get to hear what he's thinking. There's no way we can read the minds of anime characters, so why not have them tell us what they're thinking?
With that said, story and character development are the weakest points of the anime, and is truly a huge disappointment.
On a (somewhat) brighter note, I was rather pleased in terms of the graphics and sound effects. While this doesn't take away from the fact that the story and the characters are a big mess, it was still good. The characters are crisp and cute, and the music is done by Yuki Kajiura, who has never failed to disappoint me. I usually skip through the OP/ED songs, but they're surprisingly good and don't kill my ears.
All in all, I would recommend that people who want to get into the SAO series either read the novels (translated somewhere on the net) or watch the anime anyways while skipping a few episodes. Maybe watch them on a later date, when you're bored.
--Editted for clarification
Jan 16, 2013
Sword Art Online
(Anime)
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In the future, 10,000 virtual mmorpg players are trapped in "Sword Art Online" and the only way to get out is to clear the game. The premise of the anime is one that every video gamer would squeal at. But unfortunately, there's not much more I can say about the anime than that.
Upon finishing the SAO anime, I was left utterly confused and wondered: Why is this piece of ____ so popular? I'd heard much about this series way before the anime was announced, and I thought the anime would be a great chance for me to get into the series. ... 
Sep 5, 2012
Fetish Berry
(Manga)
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Seeing as how the only other review is a 4, I thought I'd make my own comments about Aki-sensei's work. If you're looking for an original shoujo story, you won't find it here (then again, shoujo ideas have been recycled so much that it's hard to find an original one). However, for the limitations of the genre, I'd say Fetish Berry did a good job keeping me entertained, and there were even some unexpected twists to boot!
Story - 6 - MINOR SPOILER ALERT I gave the plot a 6 because it's so generic and 80% predictable. The main heroines are somewhat unique, but ... |
