Story 4/10
The story is about a boy called Kazuto Kirigaya who enters Sword art online, a VRMMORPG.
The story is split up in two arcs, Aincrad and Fairy Dance arc. Both Arcs have 12 episodes.
The anime starts out pretty good, an interesting premise. That being said they poorly executed the story. The time skips are just painful to see, because you have this great world to work with and you skip large parts of it. Almost everything was rushed, they didn't even give the time to flesh out the world. At the end of the first arc, it pulls out a Deus ex machina, just so that it doesn't end in Aincrad. The second half is our hero Kazuto trying to rescue Asuna. He instantly jumps in another VRMMORPG because being stuck 2 years in a game isn't enough and the anime ends.
Art: 7/10 Sound: 7/10
The art is awesome.
The soundtrack is awesome.
Awesome boss battles and the animation make every boss battle delightful to watch, honestly I needed more of this combined with the OST. Honestly this is the only redeemable quality of Sword Art Online, it can take pride in its soundtrack and animation. The sound effects were super.
Character 3/10
The characters in SAO are dreadful. There is nothing to say, Asuna goes from the heroine to the damsel in distress tsundere, Kirito is a walking chick magnet, the other female characters are just there to fit in Kirito's harem. Really I could just scream, every character got 1 episode of screen time and instantly falls in love with our hero Kirito. It becomes painful to watch at one point. There is almost no character development, the second half becomes laughable. Asuna becomes even more a damsel in distress and Kirito is there just to save the day.
Enjoyment 4/10
Was the first half enjoyable? Yes, the epic boss battles and soundtrack made me stick around to the end. The world setting is great, and honestly if they spend 25 episodes in Aincrad it would've turned out better then it is now.
Did the second half choke the first half? Yep, the second half made those 12 episodes seem meaningless, I just wanted to stop at one point. Episode 22? I was laughing, can't take this seriously anymore. However the good moments in the anime were enjoyable, this anime could have been much more.
Overall 4/10
You might want skip this one or watch until episode 12.
