First of all, I REALLY loved the FIRST HALF of the story. It was full of action, and the whole kind of idea of being trapped inside a medieval game was designed to seem more original than it actually was... (AHEM, Spy Kids 3D, though that movie sucked.)
Kirito was a fine character. If the anime revolved around just him, it would've been awesome. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Like every fantastic shonen anime, it had to be ruined by a sensitive, emotional girl who couldn't do shit for herself and only got in the way most of the time. This girl, Asuna, wasn;t a problem at first. I figured she'd just be some kind of fighting partner with Kirito, but again, that wasn't the case.
In the second half of the anime, it started to go from "actioney" to "sentimental" and "cheesy." And that ruined it. The characters were the weakest point in the anime. I was really disappointed with their development. Most of them really got in the way of the actual storyline and just seemed superfluous to the anime altogether.
The cheese got so overwhelming in the second half, I just had to drop it, asking, "Where did all the action go?" I was disappointed because this anime had a lot of potential.
Overall Rating: 5
