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Sword Art Online, otherwise known as SAO, has become the subject of much criticism and praise this summer. Starting as a popular light novel written by Reki Kawahara and later being adapted into three manga, a game, and an anime- SAO has become immensely popular. After seeing several reviews for this anime, I decided to give it a try. Who hasn't wanted to escape from reality every once in a while? Why most of read books/play video games/watch anime is because we want to "escape to another world." However cliche the idea, Reki Kawahara handled it nicely. With interesting characters and the idea of actual ... life or death hanging in the balance, SAO is not your average cliche. A lot of times when futuristic or technological anime pop up, you're going to find a lot of loopholes. Hell, even more than loopholes, the story just won't make sense. You'll think the story was written by someone with no technological knowledge at all. It makes me wonder, "Why are you even in this genre?" Thankfully, that's not the case here. The idea of nerve gear and the whole beta-tester idea was very well thought out. I was constantly thinking I found a flaw in the story when they would point out, for instance, "Oh, the nerve gear has a built in battery pack, so you can't just unplug it."

SAO is an entertaining anime that I look forward to every week. Sure, it's no masterpiece (yet), but a large variety of people are going to find that SAO is worth my praise. Having only seen 5 episodes so far, I can't yet give you a 100% accurate review. From the 5 episodes I've seen: The art's great. The sound is nice. The characters are interesting, and it's very enjoyable. So far the story seems a little bit rushed, almost leaving you in a daze, but I think he could do amazing things with SAO in the future.

If you're looking for a nice, fun anime, SAO will most likely satisfy your needs. Even if you're not looking for a nice, fun anime, SAO also has it's deep moments. Because of this fun story filled with deep moments, SAO will appeal to a large variety of audiences. Whether your a comedy, romance, action or thriller lover, Sword Art Online is an anime that nearly everyone can enjoy.

Having watched many romance animes, I feel I can accurately give you a feel for what you should expect from this anime. Kind of "veering of the tracks" of normal reviews, I'm going to kind of explain to you what this anime is about and what you're going to feel while watching this anime.

Well, to start off I really liked this anime. I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but most of the time while watching a 12 episode romance anime I seem to drift off about halfway through and drop that anime. However, I never had that problem with this anime.

When I ... first read the synopsis, I immediately brushed this anime aside. After seeing it mentioned countless times while looking for another romance anime, I decided to give it a try. And I'm glad I did. When you first read the synopsis, or at least when I read it, it gave you an inaccurate feel for this anime. When you first read the synopsis, most of you are going to think, "Oh. Kid finds naked alien. Alien forces him to marry her. Alien gradually develops feelings for Kid, when they finally kiss in the final episode." No, okay? Just no.

Onegai Teacher is a little more mature than some of the romance animes you'll find. Dealing with deep psychological pain as well as the emotional implications of a developing relationship, Onegai Teacher is a must watch for romance lovers all over.

While you can see how much praise I am giving Onegai Teacher, you may have noticed that my overall is a low 8. Considering how I usually rate an anime on how it makes me feel inside after I've finished it, an anime with a happy ending like Onegai Teacher will never get above an 8 with me. Onegai Teacher was very enjoyable and a fun roller coaster ride of happiness and fun, with the occasional sad glimpse into the past. If you're looking for an anime that will make you go, "What is the meaning of life?" after you're done watching it, this might not be for you. However, please, give Onegai Teacher a try.

"Can one know happiness, without knowing sadness?" Throughout this show you're going to find many scenarios relating to this one statement. Can there be peace, without war? Can there be love without hate? It's also applied to more simpler situations such as where Hirono (one of the protagonists) has two girls going for him. He desperately tries to hold onto both of them, nearly leaving him with nothing in the end. Thankfully, he salvages his relationship with one of the girls and it all ends up, more or less, fine. It just goes to show that you can't only have peace. To have one, you ... must first give up the other one. This same theory applies as far back as yin and yang. Such a deep moral can be found throughout our every day lives, as long as we look.

Ef - a tale of memories(Ef for short) also deals a lot with memories. How is our personality defined? Are we defined by our memories, our choices, or both? If you where to forget everything every two years, would you be a completely different person at the end of the next two years? If someone where to change your past, would the present you change? I think after you watch this anime you're going to find yourself asking these same questions. Could you handle losing your memories every two hours, yet only holding onto fragments of memories every day? Honestly, I don't think I could handle it.

Ef, in a nutshell, is a tearjerker. I've never cried from watching anime before (and I've watched some sad romances) yet I found myself bawling countless times while watching Ef. Sure, Ef might not be for everyone. When I started watching Ef the idea of 2 protagonists threw me off. I really love falling in love with the main character, so I was kind of disappointed. However, I wasn't disappointed for long. I fell in love with many and almost all the characters. Being able to sympathize and cry with each character is a wonderful thing I've never felt in an anime before.

Of course, I was completed blown away by the art in Ef. It was new and innovative. It was like someone took an anime from the future and gave to us 10 years too early. When I looked and saw that this was aired in 2006, I was honestly shocked. The beautiful drawing angles. The color changes. The symbolic paintings. You could derive a lot about the story from the art alone. Another thing I've never felt in an anime before.

Overall, you're going to want to give this anime a try. My overall score for this anime is actually a 9.4. Honestly, I'm not really a romance lover. It's kind of a thing I do in my spare time when I'm not watching thrillers. For a romance to get this high of a score is a wonderful thing. I'm currently watching ef - a tale of melodies, and It already deserves a 10. As I said before, if you have any interest in romance animes, give Ef - A Tale Of Memories a try.

If your going through the romance genre looking for fast paced romances with lots of kissing and horndogs, then you might be a little disappointed with myself; yourself. Atleast, at the beginning that is. I don't mean anything like, "Once it gets rolling, it get's rolling." This is no school days. The characters don't turn from "I'm fine with just watching her" to, "I've got to have sex" throughout the series. However, I do love School days, and I also love Myself; Yourself. For most of you romance lovers; whether it's softcore romance with no kissing at all, or even hentai, this anime will not ... disappoint.

Story:9- I went into Myself; Yourself and by about the 5th episode, I honestly stopped watching it. As far as I could see, it was a stereotypical high school romance anime, and it didn't even have any sex!... However, I can honestly say now that I'm dissapointed that I didn't stick with it. I recently picked it up again and finished it in the same day. That's how interesting it gets, and it's all because of the character developement, which I'll explain later.

Art:10- I'm very aware of the art in animes. There are very few cases in animes where I don't like art and like the anime. The only reason I decided to continue this anime was because the art was just incredible. I mean, the characters are perfect, and I didn't see any repetitive shots. But what stood out the most in Myself; Yourself was the background art. And what even stood out in that was the sky shots. If you've already watched it, go back and review, and you'll see what I mean. ;)

Sound:8- As you might have noticed, or not, depending on whether you've watched this anime or not, there is no opening or ending song. I really feel like they could have done more and gave it a lot more emotion using a sad song in the ending. I remember I felt like I was going to cry at the end of a few episodes, and then all of a sudden they start explaining the next episode. It's like masturbating and then having your grandma walk in. Total turn-off, right?

Character:10- As I was talking about earlier, the story probably would have fallen to an 8, had it not been for the amazing character development. Just to elaborate on how amazing the characters where, if they were seperated into 5 different animes, all 5 of my favorite anime characters would be from Myself; Yourself. But, unfortunately, they're not, so I can't choose. All the characters make you feel like you can sympathize with them, whether you're anything like them or not.

Enjoyment:9- I really enjoyed Myself; Yourself. Although it wasn't a twist ending, I left with the same feeling I got in my heart after watching Death Note and Code Geass. It would have definitely became a 10 had the episodes 2-5 not been so stereotypical. The ending was almost legendary.

Ovarall:9- I think a lot of people will really enjoy this anime, since it has a lot of variety and aspect for admiration. Whether your a romance lover, a drama/psychological lover, or even both or more, give Myself; Yourself a try.