It is the year of 2022, by which, humans have created a technology known as FullDive, in which every person can get inside a game and control the player as if themselves are in the game. All they have to do is put a helmet-type machine known as the NerveGear on their head and order the game to start. A new genre of games called VRMMOs (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online) has been developed, and the first game to develop is - as the title states - Sword art online. Our protagonist, Kirito, a hardcore gamer and former beta tester jumps into the game for another time (it's not his first time inside the game as he was a beta tester) and as the first day inside the newly released game ends, he, along with the other 10.000 players finds himself trapped inside the game. You might be thinking by now that they could just simply remove the NerveGear off their heads and they would be back to normal life. Here's the catch though! In case the NerveGear is removed from a person's head while it is operational it also damages the brain, thus the person CAN'T leave the game. The only way for the NerveGear to be deactivated is by clearing the game, which isn't as easy as it sounds... The second catch is that if you die inside the game, you die in reality as well AKA: NO RESPAWNS!
Story:
The story divides into two halves: The SAO half and the ALO half. The first part got me HOOKED. It did have a lot of filler though and that made me lose my interest, but then I got interested again as the story progressed. While it is rushed, you will most probably like it. It is filled with emotionally intense moments, intense action-filled scenes and the whole twist made me want to watch the second half like crazy.
Now for the second half:
[SPOILERS] The second half takes place after the game has been cleared, where our protagonist dives in a second game in order to save his beloved one. [/SPOILERS]. While it wasn't NEARLY as good as the first half it did drag me, but what really disappointed me is [SPOILERS] that our female protagonist turns into a "Princess in distress" situation(explained later in the characters section)[/SPOILERS]. This alone made watching the second half less than pleasing...
Score: 7/10
Characters:
In terms of characters the show was less good than I originally thought. The whole cast consists of 2 main characters and later a two more (the first one got me pretty pissed off...). There is our hardcore gamer and solo player protagonist Kirito, wishing to protect his friends from any harm, all while fighting on the front lines and contributing to clearing the game. Then there is our main female character Asuna, a strong warrior joining a guild and fighting on the front lines, and then there is Yui, an AI character that helps Kirito and Asuna in various situations and later on acting as a navigation pixie in the second half (This is the part that pissed me off...). In the main cast, the final character is Suguha, Kirito's sister.
During the first and the second half the development is minimum to non-existing, as the story is fairly rushed and displayed in a really quick way, all while many side characters jump in (and out) of the show and not leaving their "footsteps" behind. Needless to say, this made them easily forgetable.
Another thing I need to add, as I said in the Story section, is that our female lead turns from a strong warrior who would really fight whenever it was necessary to a "damsel in distress" situation. She becomes really weak and cannot do anything in the situation she's stuck in. This ruined the experience even more for me...
Score: 4/10
Art:
In terms of art, the whole show is crafted really well and could even be called a masterpiece by some people. The atmosphere is really well made and suits perfectly the scenes, all along with good animation during the fight scenes.
Score: 9/10
Soundtrack:
The OST was really fitting for the whole show, covering all scenes with good music. The first OP was really well made along with the second ED, and got me to remember them even after I finished the show.
Score: 8/10
Recap:
While the story did start well and progressed well, the presence of the side characters and the non-existing development of the main characters made the whole experience pretty boring. While there were good parts that got me hooked on my couch, the most part was pretty boring and didn't give me a good feel after finishing an episode. If you are a gamer though, you will pretty much like the whole plot. In terms of enjoyment it did give me a nice feel and made me forget about the filler episodes. I would recommend it, truth be told, but not as much as some other series.
Score: 6/10
