1. The storyline of creation
SAO is not something you can judge based on your many years of watching anime and having knowledge about them but based on your experience in life and costs that you have paid for your choices. Yes, in my opinion SAO is not merely another fantasy anime but a deep story about the creation and existence of humans and this world. Based on my religious beliefs, humans are a form of high-level spiritual existence originated from God himself who at some point of their lives accept to enter this material body and spend a definite period of time on earth to show if they are qualified for that original high level life or not. So, basically this physical world is a virtual world and our bodies are our avatars. We logged in when we were born and we will simply logged out when we die. And, OMG, isn't it the same storyline in SAO? I love when Kirito says to Leafa that anything you do in this virtual world will eventually affect your true character. This is exactly what I believe, whatever you do in this world, you see the result on the other world. In one sentence, SAO is about birth, life, and death as a rebirth to another world.
2. Love is everything you need
Isn't it? My thirty years of life tells me it is and so does SAO. You live, fight and even die for the sake of your love. Isn't it what Kirito and also Asuna do. How beautiful is their effort to protect the other during battles when they put their swords on top of each other and how believable is their competition to die before the other one in episode 14. How were they able to picture Kirito and Asuna's love such pure and innocent on one hand and mature and respectable on the other hand? I ask from any woman in love, don't you watch your husband's face when he's asleep and admire him without him knowing, the same thing Asuna does in episode 11 after their marriage? Maybe the depth of this love is not touchable for you if you don't have the same real experience in your life and because of that maybe what I say looks funny. But, with no doubt, the love that's pictured in SAO is completely true.
I have lots of other things to say but I think it's better to stop here. I only want to it add once more, SAO is a masterpiece if you watch it from a proper point of view.
