Story: This anime is popular enough so that I don't have to do an in depth summary about the plot for you. If you're reading this review, chances are you already know what it's about. But, for those of you who don't know, this anime is about a VR MMO RPG that ends up trapping people in its virtual world and if you die in the game, you die in real life. Thus the main character, Kirito, along with most of the other players, try to beat the game so they can log out and survive the whole ordeal. Now, despite what I said in the opening, I don't actually have a huge problem with the plot. Hell, as a gamer myself, I thought it was a pretty neat. Yes while the latter half of the anime's story leaves some to be desired, I thought it was okay overall. It was nothing special, but it was enough to get me interested in the series.
Art: The aesthetics is where this anime really shines through. The visuals for SAO were nothing short of gorgeous. All the characters and monsters looked spectacular. The backgrounds were beautiful, being both captivating and interesting. Seriously, hats off to the artists on this one.
Sound: SAO's soundtrack was pretty good, but forgettable. There weren't any songs in particular that really stood out to me. Unfortunately, I'm not too well versed in what makes good music good, so take this part with a grain of salt. But, overall, nothing truly stuck with me.
Characters: Now, you're all probably wondering what the hell happened to that little rant at that beginning? Up until now, I have done nothing but say positive (fairly positive at least) things about this series. So, where did it go wrong? Why do I view this anime with such disdain? It's the characters. One character in particular, Kirito. This single character, along with a few others, ruined what could have been one of my top animes. Now, having your entire opinion ride on a single character may seem petty, but if a series' main protagonist is just unbearably awful and boring, how am I supposed to enjoy the series? Let me explain my problems with Kirito in the best way I can:
-He is FAR too overpowered. I mean WAY WAY too overpowered. While I realize being one of the best players in the game is part of his character, I can't help but feel annoyed when Kirito beats every challenge thrown at him without even breaking a sweat. This robs most fight scenes of any sort of suspense or excitement. It's my belief that a good character needs to struggle for victory, to experience failure and then improve himself to overcome it. But Kirito simply beats most everything the first go around, without even trying. Whenever he does seem like he (gasp) might actually lose the upperhand, he pulls some ridiculous shit out of his ass like dual wielding. Maybe that could have been justified if the anime didn't use so many time skips and we could have seen him training and developing the skill. But the simple matter is that moments like this feel like a cheap cop out to rob any suspense from a fight scene.
-His personality is SO SO boring. Kirito is your average nice guy/badass/loner/brave/has a troubled past/insert another cliche. I could forgive his OPness if he had an intriguing personality that I could get behind, but the simple fact is that he doesn't. He is too perfect and, because of that, he is extremely flawed. There doesn't seem to be a single thing wrong with the guy, which I find to be a huge issue. Because of this, he just seems like some power trip fantasy, which makes the writing come across as silly and immature.
-Kirito hogs the limelight. I know he is the main character, but side characters exist for a reason. Almost all of the side characters are completely incompetent. Even Asuna, who is introduced as a badass and independent female lead, is quickly shoved into damsel in distress mode so Kirito can fulfill his male power trip destiny. I would have liked to see some characters other than Kirito have more badass moments, like the guy in the red samurai armor that he meets at the beginning (sorry, his name escapes me). But, no, all characters must be completely incapable compared to our lord and savior, Kirito (sorry for the sarcasm, I know it's not very mature but this character bothers me this much.)
To sum up my issues with Kirito, he's a gary stu, and a pretty bad one at that. He was the main reason I could draw almost no enjoyment out of the series.
Overall, my opinion of Sword Art Online can be summed up in two words: wasted potential. The art was there, the story was there, the sound was there, but if I can't invest myself in the characters then I just can't enjoy it. I might not be so annoyed with SAO if it didn't have such incredible hype behind it. While it isn't complete garbage, it isn't even close to a masterpiece. A masterpiece anime has to deliver everything well, story, art, music, and CHARACTERS. When one is done poorly, it drags the entire show down. I hope future writers will see this as a lesson in the importance of characters and will try and avoid something like this happening again (though probably not since the series made absolute bank).
