So, lets get on to the breakdown!
Story - 4/10
I was very torn on how to rate the story of this show. The overall concept behind it, a virtual reality MMORPG was amazing to me. It's something I've thought about for years. However, it feels like something was lost when they translated this idea into a show. At first, things are too fast-paced, events move faster than I was comfortable with. But a few episodes in it was wonderful. The original action-based plan of the anime turned into a smooth more romance based one with action. The concept of losing your life in reality if you die in the game added a nice touch of suspense and drama to the whole story, though this only applied to the first half. There was a ten episode stretch where this show probably would have ranked a solid 8 or 9. Once the first arc ended, however, it just collapsed.
The second half of the season, which I honestly thought was a spin-off show at first, was a game changer and greatly took away from the quality of the show. If you're content with the story at the end of the first half, feel free to stop there. The aforementioned romance aspect took over and the show fell into the dark cast-iron mold of romance anime. Unnecessary aspects, such as ideas of incest, were also tossed in. The previous idea of dying in the game means death in life disappeared, removing a major piece of drama that could have been better utilized. The focus on romance took over the show and seems to have taken away from other story aspects - everything revolved around a single girl far more than what seemed appropriate for the show.
Overall, the story pans out to be about 4/10 ("decent") to me.
Art - 10/10
In contrast to the violently fluctuating story quality, the visual aspect of SAO was incredible. As to be expected from an anime produced in 2012, the artwork is crisp, clean, and smooth. The character designs are highly appealing and the landscapes portrayed within the story are beautiful. Based in virtual reality, any scene was possible and the ones shown were highly detailed.
Sounds - 8/10
Audio was appropriate in most situations but nothing made it stand out from any other show. I did greatly enjoy both openings, Crossing Fields and Innocence, though.
Character - 3/10
To me, this was the most problematic part of SAO. Due to the pacing issues, some characters initially introduced magically vanished for many episodes while others disappeared shortly after being introduced. With the concept of losing your in place for the first arc, you would expect many emotional moments to be possible, and they were presented. However, failure to develop character backgrounds and personalities allowed emotional moments to fall through. I'm generally a very emotional person so I can be swayed by these scenes pretty easily, yet they only managed to make me tear where I imagined I would be fully crying.
The massive amount of characters thrown in with off-paced story-telling just leads to disaster. Even the two main characters suffered from stunted character development and left me quite disappointed. Additionally, the final villain just feels utterly out of place and awkward to me. All this said, there still manages to be "enough" character development to allow the show to work but still only gets a 3/10 ("poor")
Enjoyment - 8/10
Despite the major issues in the story and sub-par character development, SAO manages to be a very entertaining show. At first, I somehow completely overlooked these flaws and fully enjoyed SAO at a basic level. It wasn't until I looked back on it that I realized how flawed it was. This is likely where the split in opinions stems from (once again, my opinion). If you're looking for something to just pass time and enjoy a show without any deep meanings, SAO fits the bill. However, if you're looking for a solid storyline with characters you can fall for, you probably want to look somewhere else.
Overall - 6.6/10 (6)
SAO was generally worth the watch and I did enjoy it. The artwork and sound are really holding this rating up (though I deducted a bit to give a 6). It's a show that had massive potential to be something amazing and fell flat on its face.
I took a bit of thought and self-coaxing to actually criticize this show since I enjoyed it quite a bit. Hopefully the time I spent mulling this over and analyzing was worth and you all find this review useful. Thanks for reading!
