I am one those haters, and this review will contain some major spoilers.
Let's start with the good part. The first episode and the background images. That's it. Nothing else.
The story is divided into two arcs. The first arc starts with our hero Kirito logging in the Sword Art Online game using a virtual reality helmet which allows players to control their avatars with their minds. It's a VRMMORPG game that sold only 10000 copies(not much profit in it, is there?)
Soon after, Kirito and his newly made online friend Klein find themselves unable to log out. The villain announces that he has trapped all the players in the game. The only way to get out is beating all 100 floors. If they die in game or try to forcibly remove the helmet they die in real life.
Playing MMORPG is no longer fun and one would expect to see an epic survival story with awesome battles. But no, SAO says 'fuck you' to all that.
Instead what we get are stupid characters, wtf plot conveniencies, major time skips, forced romance, harem, cheap drama and the oh-so-cool badass stupid kirito....oh and fanservice to complete the circle.
The first two episodes were good. Kirito swears to free all the players...SOLO!!! How the hell can someone complete an MMORPG by soloing!!! Then we have a sudden major timeskip and Kirito is suddenly an overpowered badass high level player and more than half the game is complete. Where are the boss battles? 4000 players have died? How and when did they die? They just say that and expect us to believe it. If that's not lazy I don't know what is.
The characters are easily the worst. They are mostly girls who exist only to add to Kirito's harem. They have no personality and no reason to exist other than say how cool and heroic Kirito is. Even Asuna, who actually was a promising character in the first two episodes falls prey to it and become the most bland and stupid female characters I have ever seen. There is also the incestous sister/cousin Suguha and Asuna becomes rape material in the second arc. Every other side characters don't get enough screentime for me to actually remember their names.
Kirito is the very definition of how NOT to make a character. He has absolutely no personality and his only defining feature is that he is overpowered. He can win any fight within seconds. Everyone loves him, everyone wants to be him. That takes away any tension the anime has to offer. Because there is no way the hero can lose. He is the wish-fulfilment character you commonly find in hentais.
There is forced romance between Kirito and Asuna involving marriage, sex, honeymoon, and adopting a rouge AI daughter(Dafaq), while people are dying trying to clear the game. They are supposed to the protagonists?
The villains are stupid as hell. The first villain forgot what his motivations or goal was by trapping and killing thousands of people. This would have been acceptible if the anime acknowleged that it was bad. But they showed it as something DEEP and philosophical. How the fuck is something like mass murder philosophical!!!
The second villain is a complete joke. But he has some motivation...trapping Asuna in a cage and raping her?(yup, nice use of power and money) I personally liked him better because he was able to stab Kirito and make him bleed(YEAH*fistpump*)
For something that calls itself an action anime it has a huge deficiet of action. There are few fights and even fewer fights that contribute anythong to the plot. Most fights are over within 30 seconds with Kirito overpowering them. No tactics, no strategy, no effort. This anime seems to have forgotten that this is a MMORPG game where working together as a team is the only way to play.
Also, the plot holes? Like Asuna somehow be able to move after being paralyzed? Kirito coming back to life after dying? The freaking in-game war between two races in the second arc (WTF)? People using the same technology as SAO to play another game just as dangerous? My suspension of disbelief can only go so far!!!
Is there anything in this anime that I actually liked? Yes. The over the top expressions when they fight, the hilariously stupid dialogue and Suguha's love triangle involving her brother and his online avatar(I laughed at it so hard i even gave it a name- THE TROLL TRIANGLE).... Oh and kirito getting stabbed(YEAH*fistpump*)
Overall, it's a complete waste of time. It's insulting, offending and only appeals to people who have never played any MMORPG or seen any action anime or is just a plain loser.
P:S- What makes me even more angry is that this anime has a large number of hardcore fans. They go as far as saying that it is the smartest anime they have seen and other animes should learn from it. What they actually see in this anime will always be beyond my comprehension.
