Part 1: Aincrad Arc.
Story: 1/10
I feel as if this whole anime's story was a huge waste of potential. This first arc covers the first 15 episodes of this anime, and about 4 of them have any plot development in them. I think the makers were very confused about what story they actually want to tell here, the first two episodes imply the show is about a video game death game where people have to fight with stories, but really the majority of the show is not about that. Really it is a romance set in a video game world, where the male romantic lead is distracted by other women at the start. There are a number of pointless episodes about side characters that takes the story no where.
If you were judging the show on the first two episodes, it would seem as if it were going to be extremely good, but it goes off on a tangent, that nothing can really pull it back from. In the last few episodes they pull it back onto the whole defeating the death game thing, but by this point it is really too late.
I find another huge problem with the story is the way that is told, the viewer is not shown thing, but rather told. We are told Kirito saves this certain guild, we do not see it, we are told 2000 players die, we do not see this. Telling the viewer instead of showing is lazy.
I will pull setting into this as well. Most good RPGS have a brilliant world, this one, not quite. It is meant to have 100 different floors which are all unique, the first floor is the only one that gets any real development, and even then, it looks like a bland, stereotypical medieval-fantasy setting.
Art: 7/10 This anime was made by A-1 pictures, known for their work on Fairy Tail, Ano Hana and other popular animes, their art here is not the best that they have ever done, there is nothing overtly wrong with it, the costume designs are nice, but the direction is bland and most of the characters have very similar looking faces.
Sound: 6/10 The music is composed by Yuki Kajiura, famous for her work on the soundtracks of the '//Hack series and Madoka Magica. The music is SAO is passable, but nowhere near her best work. Some of the battle themes are pretty good, but a lot of it is extremely bland and forgettable.
I watched the English dub of this show, and it wasn't great, Kirito sounds bland (though I guess it suits the character), Asuna is irritatingly nasal sounding and most of the cast sounds as if they were not really trying.
Character: 1/10. I feel this to be the show's main weakness. As SAO is more of a romance story than an action show, the viewer would expect the main couple to be interesting characters, but they aren't.
Kirito: Gary Stu and a half. Kirito must be one of the worst protagonists ever, he is so bland. His dialogue is uninteresting and uninspired, he is either explaining the mechanics of the game, stating his love for Asuna, or being angry. His morals are bland and white, never doing anything that the viewer would disagree with.
He makes a big deal of being a solo player, when he is usually in a guild or teamed up with someone, so this is just pointless.
He is more powerful than all of the other players and it is never really explained why. All of the female players fall in love with him, despite the fact that there are probably way more male players in the game, and the girls would have the pick of them.
He is never made out to be interesting, he is just over powered and extremely boring.
All the women love him, villains are jealous of him, and all the guys want to be him. He is wish fulfillment garbage.
Asuna: More wasted potential here, initially she seems mysterious and strong, she could have been one of the few strong female characters in modern anime, but the makers screwed her character over and made her a tsundere waifu to Kirito. Her whole purpose is to make Kirito look even stronger and more amazing.
Silica: Token loli, she falls in love with Kirito.
Lisbeth: Falls in love with Kirito.
Klein: He could have been an interesting character, but his is dropped early into the series, and crops up occasionally, never leaving an impact.
Villain 1: I won't spoil who it is, but he has no motivation to speak of, rendering the ending spectacle without the payoff.
Enjoyment: With plotholes, pointless fanservice in serious scenes, and no pay off at the end. The plot goes all over the place, focusing on a bland guy having a bland romance with a bland girl, meaning that I did not enjoy this show.
Arc 2: This arc gets bashed even by fans of the first arc, but I did not see what was meant to be so much worse about this arc in comparison to the first one.
Story 1/10: I won't spoil it for people who haven't seen it, but the plotting of this arc actually seemed slightly better than the first arc, with Kirito not wandering off and doing as many random side quests as he does in the first one.
Character: Kirito's sister: Again, could have been a semi decent character, instead she is fanservice and falls in love with Kirito.
Side Villain: I have no idea why this guy was in it, so pointless.
Main villain: hilariously bad, the first guy had no motivation, this guy is just a pantomime villain with a hair fetish.
Enjoyment: This arc is more funny-bad, with the first arc being just bad. the second arc also has incest and tentacle rape, if you like that kind of thing.
Overall: 2/10
There is little to enjoy in this show, unless you like fanservice and bland romances. I had someone I know say that he watched it for the sword fights, there are like 4 in the whole show, go watch Rose of Versailles or Chevalier D'eon for sword fights, not this.
This show has no respect for the intelligence of the viewer, Kirito is over powered, and there are so many asspulls. It would be okay to enjoy this show as a guilty pleasure, but never for one minute pretend that it is good.
