When you finish an anime and you feel complete in all levels but still wish there was more, then you know the developers must have done something right.
The story was pretty original and the developers did their best to express how serious the situation the characters got into was. The qualities expressed within the anime, the power of the human will, the will to survive, to protect the things you care about, and to live a normal life despite the circumstances, all these were shown perfectly on this one. The battles were great and the atmosphere was perfect.
And in addition to all that, there is also the element of romance (which I really enjoy in any Action/Adventure anime i watch). Normally I would be satisfied with the romantic relationship just developing in the last episode but this anime went way beyond my expectations. To be exact, it gave us a lot more than that and in the perfect balance. The relationship was developed many episodes before the final one, and it was a serious relationship at that. During the last few episodes, the main character also had to fight for his girl. It was the element of romance at its finest, without it shading the whole action of the story.
I dont really know why I stuck to the (still very good but not perfect) 9/10 when grading it in my list. If I had to find a thing I did not like as much, then that would be (WARNING, MINOR SPOILER) that I did not like the second MMO game, Alfheim as I did with Sword Art. In SAO I really wanted to be part of the game, to actually have the chance to play it, while in Alfheim I just watched to see how the story ended without admiring the features and the game itself as much.
To make a long story short, Sword Art Online litterally "raised the bar" for me as for what to expect of an anime. Watching this has been a pleasant experience for me and I would certainly consider rewatching it in the near future.
