When I first heard of this series, It sounded like one of the best in terms of setting and story line, and frankly, it did not disappoint. I waited for the dub to be released on Toonami to watch it so I had also heard plenty of criticism of the series before watching it, which I also kept in mind. Afterwords, I re-watched the entire series subbed about a week later.
The story of the series was amazing. While it was not on as large of a scale with something like Shingeki no Kyojin, it was able to keep me on the edge of my seat from episode to episode. A common criticism that I saw against the story was due to the lack of boss fights, since there are 100 floors in Aincrad, yet they only showed four boss fights. I definitely kept the series from getting boring as showing 100 fights would get very repetitive. Only a few are necessary to show. The same goes for the time skips.
The art was phenomenal, the action was amazing, and the setting was beautiful and diverse, in both Aincrad and Alfheim. The character designs were creative as well.
The sound, particularly the voice acting, was top-of-the-line. This goes for both the original Japanese dub and the English dub. The English dub specifically was extremely well done.
Okay, the big section; characters. One common criticism I had seen was that while the list of characters was diverse, there was a lack of development in almost all of them. I, for one, liked the fact that the series focused on the three main characters, Kirito, Asuna, and Suguha. While there were many more characters, I feel that they effectively acted as catalysts for the advancement of the story, but mainly I saw them as foils to the characters and mirrors to yourself. I definitely could relate to them at times, and see the contrast between the main characters and the supporting ones. I feel that the series didn't need a huge cast of fleshed-out characters to be amazing. It could do it with a few.
One of the few flaws I did see was in the second villain of the story. To avoid spoilers, all I can say is that he seemed very generic and cliche in terms of his motives, however his ultimate plan did make him seem very diabolical, as the power that he held gave him a lot of leverage.
I enjoyed the series immensely, as it hit my sweet spot for MMO's and my heart. I especially liked the direction it was taken, while I see many people did not. I personally preferred that it took the series in the direction of inter-personal relationships rather than pure action and a fight for survival, which would not fit well. The romance was especially great (yes, it is my favorite anime genre) and the series holds one of my favorite anime couples of all time, second only to Clannad.
Overall, the few flaws are vastly outweighed by its strengths. I personally think of this series as a masterpiece and my current third favorite series of all time.
If you read the entire review, I thank you for your time. Also, if based on my review and opinions you think I should read the light novels, message me on my profile because I'm still unsure as to whether they will appeal to me since I have only seen the anime.
