I'll begin with the story. At the beginning I became quite positive in regards to SAO as the first couple of episodes had a decent beginning which caught my interest. It passed as a start for the series and I was interested to see where this was head. Sadly, it did not last for more than two episodes. Suddenly the pace became quite ridiculous, there were major plot holes throughout the episodes and some seemed more like fillers than actual story and the quality simply dropped, with an abrupt ending of the first Arc that was not at all satisfactory. In the second Arc, it took a turn for the worse. When I thought that SAO could not become worse, the second Arc appeared with an even worse story, progression and even added fan service which was not at all tasteful. It's a shame, but the quality of the story simply became poor.
While the story was quite the disappointment, the art was not. It was more than decent, even good and I found some enjoyment through that. It isn't perfect, but was quite suitable for what SAO attempted to be.
Once again, a positive side to SAO. I cannot say that I have any complaints about the sound, not the sound effects nor the voice actors. It may be the case that the sound was the best part of SAO. I cannot consider the sound effects to be too unique, the voice actors to be outstanding nor the OST to be a masterpiece, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, one of the most positive sides to the series.
Unfortunately, there is another part of SAO that I cannot adress other than being negative about it. I am now talking about the characters. I'll adress the main characters, and a general review of supporting characters and villains:
- Kirigaya, Kazuto. Sometimes you can meet unique, interesting characters that really catches your interest which leads to you wanting to see where this character's story leads. With Kirigaya Kazuto, or Kirito, this is not the case. Quite the opposite, Kirito is a generic hero without being unique even the slightest. In fact, there is nothing unique about him. He is the main protagonist, the hero, the prodigy, the ladies man, every generic aspect you can get in a character, Kirito has it.
- Yuuki, Asuna. Tsundere. You may as well forget about the character names and simply give them names by their character progression. Asuna is without a doubt the generic tsundere of SAO. She is without character and while her voice actor does a good enough job, that does not help this lost cause. You all know what happens between the generic hero and the generic tsundere.
- Yui. I suppose the point is that we are to be charmed by this young girl. Personally, that was not the case for me. I guess she can be called the generic moe out of the main characters. It is likely the best description to serve her.
- Supporting characters. I really want to say that the supporting characters of SAO are redeemable, but they are not. Once again, the supporting characters are generic and without qualities that deem them unique or anything special in particular. Generic males from short, skinny and geeky to tall and buff, as generic as can be and the females are no different from characters that appear strong but are not, to characters who are also moe.
- Villains. In SAO, as a setting inside a game, there are boss fights which then excludes the opportunity to introduce a large amount of villains. This should be a positive thing, so that those who are the actual villains can become well-developed. This is not the case. Just like the other characters, the villains are also poor and generic, and the main antagonists have nothing unique about them.
At best, the enjoyment I got out from SAO was decent but for the most part that was not the case. Despite that the setting is in a game, it did not even feel like a game at all. While there were a few points in the first Arc that made it slightly redeemable, the second Arc ruined most of that to the point I rolled my eyes due to the pace, the plotholes, the characters or even the fact that plenty of scenes became predictable. Overall, Sword Art Online does not deserve all the positive credit it has received, instead appearing to me as a poor and wasted attempt at a concept that could have been a lot more interesting. It's a shame.
