When I think of how Sword Art Online (SAO) was, the thing that comes to mind is that it was...well...okay at best really. You get the basic rundown of a player of a large scale VRMMORPG that requires high-tech to use, to later find out that this game is not your average computer game. Its a game of Life or Death. Clear the 100 floors in SAO to escape the game but if you die there you die in real life. And I like that concept. But no anime is without its flaws. In this case a lot of flaws...
Story: 3 out of 10
The story in my opinion was good to begin with as it gave me the impression that it would be a good action filled anime with plenty of plot development, but boy was I wrong. I feel as if it was rushed as in a lot of parts. You see the main character 'Kirito' go to different areas of the game and skips through many months throughout the first few episodes. The story of SAO goes from bad to worse because it jumps away from the main plot to go more in-depth about Kirito and the second main character 'Asuna Yuuki'. A Crappy and boring romance that seemed forced and 'too perfect'. I mean come on -.-.
But as soon as the 2nd season starts, that's where everything goes even more downhill. During this time a completely new concept is added from a Survival Mission to a Rescue Mission which is just really silly because they moved away from the main reason behind the anime.
Yet another love interest for Kirito shows up making this seem like something that was just not needed at all for the plot at all and got me a bit annoyed.
Art: 8 out of 10
Now then away from the negatives for a bit. The art work of SAO is very well done. Each of the character's features (such as facial features and costumes) and backgrounds are well done. That's one of the main things that drew me towards this anime after it was recommended to me.
Sound: 8 out of 10
Ok the OSTs of this anime are amazing. Especially the openings: Crossing Field and Innocence. Each track that was used in the anime were well inserted and since they were used in the right place it gave it a higher overall effectiveness depending on the situation at hand.
Character: 2 out of 10
Alright here is one of the main problems here for me. The character use. I like the variety of characters used in SAO but its what happens to them and what they do that bugs me the most. Problem One: You have Kirito; the main guy who is meant to be in every episode but is overpowered in every sense even defying the game physics (how the hell does one do that?) and is a fricken chick magnet which has nothing to do with the plot whatsoever.
Problem Two: Asuna. She is meant to be the second main character in SAO but instead of fulfilling that role she is seen as more of a meat shield for Kirito. The only times she seems to really shine is when Kirito is in danger or when she cooks (do people in a game really need to eat?). Thats about it. A typical and annoying Tsundere. Nothing more to be said here.
Problem Three: Other Female Characters. I'm not even joking about this. They are given a role for like 1 or 2 episodes and are then forgotten about. They may do something for Kirito or Kirito does something for them. And they all seem to have a thing for Kirito as soon as they see him. They always seemed to get embarrassed when he smiles at them or typical things like that. But even so after seeing this, this kinda got me thinking that this had a bit of a Harem element inside of it, which again just wasn't needed at all. Because of this I feel that each of the female characters aren't developed much at all because of how they are just ignored.
Enjoyment: 6 out of 10
This anime may have had its flaws but I still enjoyed watching it. Its just that the whole 'harem' kinda thing was kind of annoying as it had nothing to do with the plot and was pretty much a waste of time. The boss fights were pretty cool and flashy and kind of memorable in a sense, It had its funny parts, sad parts, and 'what the hell' moments. But yea I enjoyed this anime.
Overall: 5 of out 10
Again it had quite a lot flaws but the battle scenes kind of lifted this up a bit but not by much. Honestly, SAO is hugely overrated. Would I recommend this? Only to those who could look past the many plot holes this anime has just for the enjoyment, if they find any.
Well if you're here that means you read all of my review. Thanks for taking your time to read this :D
