Mm, your tears are so yummy and sweet!
Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! Yummy~
In a world where series' like Harry Potter, or other real abhorrent fanfiction tittles the likes of Twilight sells well enough for multiple sequels, it shouldn't be a surprise then, Sword Art Online's popularity skyrocketing that is. Pretty posters, familiarity, perhaps male power fantasies and the like, etc. There are numerous factors that play a part in a works' popularity; but it's hard to pin-point just what exactly got SAO such hype. Especially since it becomes apparent that it was already losing it's focus just after the third episode. In a similar vein to SAO's sister in terms of popularity still that very same year, Guilty Crown also had an (ostensibly) enormous fanbase even before it aired. It's a mystery really.
SAO is a clear indication that it's target audience are easy to profit from. Which is exactly why it makes it just the kind of anime that makes you wonder about where the anime industry could be heading. It is not a positive influence. And unfortunately for the supporters, SAO does provide with more than enough empirical evidence to tell them that it is garbage but, that would be unfair as there actually is entertainment value to be had here.
In the visual department SAO definitely excels, maybe not enough to make a graphic artist have wet dreams over, though. From the character designs to the very world which they reside in, it is all aesthetically pleasing. And while consistent and fluid in it's animation, it's a little rough around the edges during the fight scenes. There's an abuse of stills to express 'action', and distorted facial expressions used in an otherwise uneventful location (was that actually intended to be used for comedic effect? Welp). Of course, this alone wouldn't damper the experience. If everything else were intact, this would remain relatively unnoticed.
An interesting concept? A Charismatic main character? world building? SAO had just about everything working in it's favor to make it anime of that year. But even with the few legitimate merits it has it does away with them in favor of, well, to make our hero The Black Swor- wait, no one actually confuses to whom that tittle belongs to, right..? - Kirito, more of a flawless gary stu.
All complete with enough deus ex-machinas to make you puke.
Thousands of players dying? All off-screen and no one gives a crap about statistics. Boss fights? Essentially, a grand total of three and they don't re-spawn.You never really get a sense of dread in the world of SAO. Even the very first death was due to a player refusing to take a life potion. And that's all in the first half of the series. The second half? Not even going to touch it. Unless, of course, we're talking about Suguha's sugus here.
And as you can imagine, with it taking itself so seriously already, when it come to the uh... romance the end result is laughable. Later on, at one point Asuna said something around the lines of, "Kirito has changed me, everything I am as it is now is because of him". I started to cringe at that point, none of what she said happened. The characterization suffers almost as much as the writing; or vice versa. Every villain is cartoonishly evil and every supporting character doesn't fair any better either. All of the 'character development' happens during the constant time skips, successfully nullifying it and making for a heavily disjointed pacing. And It doesn't help that the script is akin to that of an eroge. Meaning: A) relationships take on a surrealistic fast pace. B) can't hear a confession a foot away from you. C) Being nice is enough to attract females from all corners of the land, etc.
SAO could very well be suggesting you to be a Infidelity-committing, sister-fornicating, misogynistic pedophile who loves rape as fanservice. Topped only by those slimy tentacles everyone likes. -- It doesn't encourage anything positive, it's too delusional to do so. All the gamer pandering, multiple relationships, etc. It only serves to further take away any sense of realism it might have had, including it's potential to construct a society within a virtual world; firmly planting it into wish-fulfillment territory.
Splendorous action - this is the only reason I can think of as to why I would recommend this show. And yet, despite all that, knowing that it falls off the rails, crashes and burns; it get's back on the tracks again, and again only to end up crashing.
It's fun, if only to mock it.
