I've been wanting to write a review on SAO for awhile now as it was one of the first shows that I watched, personally I would've given the show a 10 just for enjoyment however as this is a review I tried to be as objective as possible. SAO is no doubt one of the most popular shows, and also has one of the most divided opinion in the anime community between people who either absolutely love it or hate it with a passion. While SAO is definitely not the worst show out there, its also not the masterpiece that many people are making it out to be. There were a number of major flaws which would've ruined the show for many viewers.
What I hope to do is to try and provide a more neutral and objective review for other people who are thinking of picking up SAO.
STORY: 5
I don't want to go into details about the story because its quite well explained in the MAL summary. The first few episodes were very solid and does a good job in building up a nice premise for the show. However, as many other reviews already explained there are significant pacing problems where time and events skip between episodes to the point where I lost track of what was happening. This was largely because instead of giving valuable episode time to develop the actual plot or exploration of the Aincrad world, the directors decided it was a better idea to dedicate a few "filler" episodes to build up Kirito's harem, even though most of the female characters who had affections for Kirito were never developed nor had any major significance to the plot of the anime.
As an big fan of MMORPGs although the idea of the show appealed to me, the execution fell severely short of my expectations because I would've liked to see alot more development on the Aincrad world and SAO game mechanics itself. The main character goes through the game without facing any significant challenges, often through tricks or abilities that are not available to other players. The fact that he's even SOLOED boss fights on many occasions show a severe lack of awareness or basic knowledge about MMORPGs on the writer's part.
It would've been much more interesting to see the way that different players interact and cooperate through strategy to overcome challenges, without having the main character always taking the spotlight. Another anime which addresses these points very well is Log Horizon, although I won't be going into more details on this in the review.
Now if the anime actually ended here I would've probably given the story a higher score, however sadly the fairy dance arc was even less well executed - consisting of many forgettable episodes, and a confusing and inconsistent plot in general. In other words if you're looking for an anime with a very strong and well developed story, I'd suggest you look elsewhere.
ART: 8
Now this is one of the stronger aspects of SAO in my opinion. The art was generally well done, there were many beautiful and enjoyable scenes and I liked most of the character designs and animation.
SOUND: 8
Another good aspect of the show, the songs was good especially the OP for the Aincrad arc - as well as the other soundtracks which added atmosphere to alot of the action scenes in the anime.
CHARACTER: 5
Easily one of the biggest flaws of the show. Even though I personally liked Kirito's character, its undeniable that he's very one dimensional, and doesn't have anything particularly special or interesting to him. Even though he's given a somewhat interesting back story and development, this really doesn't add much depth to an already bland character.
Asuna is one of the most disappointing character in the anime. As a viewer, it was frustrating to watch her "develop" from a strong and independent female protagonist at the beginning into a weak damsel in distress after a few episodes. In my opinion, this was probably because the writer decided to focus solely on Kirito's character, at the expense of Asuna's development. Where she took the back burner and became the incapable and weak female protagonist for him to come and "rescue".
Unfortunately, the other characters were also forgettable and lacked any development for them to have any relevance to SAO's main plot. I don't feel the need to go into further details about them because sadly none were interesting enough to warrant any discussion.
ENJOYMENT: 8
Despite its many flaws, SAO was personally a very enjoyable anime to watch. I don't know whether it was because I was able to look past these flaws and enjoy the show as a whole, or because I started watching it without any strong expectations.
Overall, I think many viewers will probably enjoy SAO (as I did). I personally gave the show an overall 7 because having many major flaws doesn't automatically make the anime less enjoyable. But because the flaws are there, it probably means that its not a show for everyone.
