Spoiler-less TLDR:
Season 1 of SAO is a mixed bag full of good and bad parts, however overall it is enjoyable and easy to watch and I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.
After watching every season of SAO, the progressive movies and Ordinal Scale. I can safely say that Season 1 of SAO ranks in the bottom middle of the series' tier list, it had the potential to be really good, but its quality is not very consistent. So because of that, I’ll go through this season section by section.
Episodes 1-4 (Aincrad arc):
The first 4 episodes of the show are a complete mess
...
in terms of writing and pacing, and arguably the worst episodes in the whole show in those 2 aforementioned aspects. This show takes "off-camera grinding" to such a level that even clickbait Minecraft lets players cannot compete with, apparently in the Light Novels it goes into detail about the main character Kirito was grinding enemies for XP to the point where he wasn't even sleeping, which they cut out of the anime, to very ill effect because it ends up making these first 4 episodes as follows:
- Some problems are presented in the episode (A boss to be fought, a player that needs help, a murder that needs to be solved. etc).
- Kirito offers to help.
- The show portrays the upcoming encounter as a perilous and challenging encounter.
- Kirito effortlessly saves the day.
- Attempts to have emotional character growth but isn't very effective because of how chopped up these episodes are which makes it hard to care.
- This repeats until the viewer does not expect Kirito to struggle at all, making the show a lot more boring.
These episodes go way too fast and leave out way too many details. Why the hell is Kirito Level 40-70 on episode 3 but only level 96 when he beats the game? How come the episodes are super inconsistent with the pacing of in-game time, In one episode they will be 20 floors higher than the last episode but then 3 episodes after that they are only 5 floors higher. A1 has slowly but surely gotten better at writing and pacing but in the Aincrad especially arc it's extremely clear that a lot of content was left out and the show suffers because of it. It makes it hard to like Kirito even though he is an interesting character once the show progresses. But initially, he seems generally like a bland character that doesn't struggle. Even in Episode 3 where a guild of people he cares for all die it still isn't very sad since they're present for less than half of an episode, you'd think they wouldn't skimp out on that because it’s important for Kirito's character development and he has flashbacks of it for the rest of the show, but they did.
The best way to describe Ep 1-4 is that they come off as a YouTube compilation of the show called “Kirito’s Best Moments” rather than the actual real show since so much context is missing that they’ve been making movies 10+ years later to add more context to the Aincrad arc.
Episodes 5-13 (Aincrad arc):
Finally, the Aincrad arc straightens itself out and follows a consistent (for the most part) plotline, this is where the show is actually good, characters develop we see that Kirito isn’t nearly as bland as the first 4 episodes make him out to be, we also see him be even more overpowered but this time it’s a lot less boring since he does almost die a couple of times and he isn’t soloing any overpowered threats.
The show also starts the romantic relationship between Kirito and Asuna, which still to this day is one of the best aspects of the whole show. Overall this is one of the best arcs in SAO, it’s a real shame that Episodes 1-4 had to drag these episodes down.
Episode 14 (Aincrad arc):
This episode marks the abrupt end of the Aincrad arc which In my opinion the Aincrad arc should’ve lasted longer, a full season to be exact. It’s abundantly clear that there is enough content in the light novels for this anime adaptation to have a full season of this arc, which would’ve made the start of the season magnitudes better. I think the reason why they ended the Aincrad arc early was that they didn’t have enough content to make a full season of the fairy dance arc (I could be wrong on this of course since I haven’t read the light novels), if that is the case then that is sad for reasons I will mention soon. I think this episode is good but is overall a weak finale purely for the reason that it feels like the arc was cut short.
Episodes 15-23 (Fairy Dance arc):
The fairy dance arc gets quite a lot of hate, I understand why and when I first watched the show at 12 years old, I too hated this arc. However, after rewatching the show this arc isn’t all bad, it does some major things better than the Aincrad arc. First of all the pacing is way better and more consistent and the writing….may be worse in some ways but is more consistent and better in other ways. For example, there is a clear villain in this arc, in the Aincrad arc there was no clear villain, initially, you may think “Oh Kayaba the creator of SAO is the evil villain” but first of all, he doesn’t act evil or even generally dislikeable at all. Second of all, he isn’t even hated by Kirito and Asuna. Third of all, he is more helpful to the main characters than he is harmful, so overall he isn’t a compelling antagonist. However, in the fairy dance arc, the main villain is so clear and compelling he practically screams “Hey I’m the evil main villain” in the first episode, which is more investing than Aincrad’s lack of a villain. And if there’s one thing the FD Arc doesn’t suffer from it certainly is pacing issues. And Kirito actually gets a nerf in the form of him not knowing what he’s doing and requiring another player to help him learn the game, he learns everything he’s taught without struggling at all but at least he has to take the time to be told how to play the game and not one-shot everything. But there are valid reasons why this arc generally is not the most well-received one. Everyone mentions it but the attempted love triangle-esque plotpoint that this arc attempted was garbage. Essentially Kirito is revealed to be adopted because of that his “sister” is actually his cousin and she found this out while Kirito was stuck in SAO. So naturally since Japan doesn’t consider dating your cousin weird, she falls in love with him. It’s about as stupid as it sounds, and she even has the audacity to partially blame Kirito for this, sparing the details it’s stupid as shit. Also, Kirito's “sister” as a character was done pretty poorly, she is very obviously just a device to keep the viewer engaged and provide fan service. The amount of times the camera zooms in on her ass and boobs for no necessary reason is ridiculous, and her virtual avatar also makes this even more clear because of the size of its cleavage to say the least, Sugu did have a clear foundation to be a good character but she ends up being used as a tool to attempt to get ratings higher over anything and because of how she bitches about loving her "brother" it makes her very dislikeable.
On a related note, a problem I have with this arc is the amount of what I call “Anime-Camera-Syndrome” or ACS for short, which is basically just when the camera pans/zooms into a character's butt or boobs for no reason. In the Aincrad arc, I can only think of 3 fan service moments that occur and the camera generally stays put, not in this arc, the camera frequently wanders off into no man's land and some of the examples are so egregious that I almost applaud their boldness, but I don’t like it when anime uses sex for unnecessary reasons such as fan service and because of that this arc is a lot more difficult for me to enjoy because of the obnoxiousness of it’s ACS.
Episode 24-25:
So the last 2 episodes are also a mixed bag, for one there’s an NTR scene, which does make the villain even more dislikeable, but at the same time, this is a PG-13 anime, not Berserk. Yes the main antagonist was obviously a creep from the start but they went a bit too far in this scene in my opinion, some may disagree with me but I don’t feel it made the show or arc better. The ending is also sort of anticlimactic, like, Kirito you just spent 2 years in a game, got married in it, promised your virtual wife you’d meet up and get married in the real world, and then had to fight to get your wife back again and what we see is Kirito and Asuna kicking in one scene and then suddenly back to Kirito playing games and acting like what happened was no big deal.
Overall SAO is a good anime that is easy to watch, however it’s not a great anime. Its writing has major flaws, the quality is inconsistent, and a lot of important stuff was cut. But on the other hand, the show doesn’t take itself too seriously which leads to a lot of really funny and cheesy lines that characters say with dead seriousness, which makes it even more funny. The story is a great concept which is engaging. And the characters are generally likeable once they’ve had time to develop. I would recommend everyone watch SAO because it is a fun time and the series does get better over time (well, the middle of Season 2 is awful but Seasons 3 and 4 are god-tier). So my final verdict is a 7.2/10, not great..but good.
Jan 14, 2024
Sword Art Online
(Anime)
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Spoiler-less TLDR:
Season 1 of SAO is a mixed bag full of good and bad parts, however overall it is enjoyable and easy to watch and I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. After watching every season of SAO, the progressive movies and Ordinal Scale. I can safely say that Season 1 of SAO ranks in the bottom middle of the series' tier list, it had the potential to be really good, but its quality is not very consistent. So because of that, I’ll go through this season section by section. Episodes 1-4 (Aincrad arc): The first 4 episodes of the show are a complete mess ... 
Jan 8, 2024
Kenpuu Denki Berserk
(Anime)
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Spoiler-less TLDR: If you haven't read the manga I would recommend watching this first anime first. Berserk is a fantastic, short and sweet, anime about the human spirit and man's deep seated desires. Seeing the characters evolve and change is one of the strong suits of the show. A must-watch in my opinion.
A lot of people seem to rate this anime lower because of the quality of its source material, and while Berserk being the best manga of all time is a sentiment shared by many including myself, the anime isn’t necessarily leagues below it like some people imply. This anime is faithful to ... |
