Compared to the first season, Season II also has a very different tone. Much of the first seasons draw was the tension of being trapped in a game with real-world consequences and what this might lead some people to do. This is not at all what the second season is like and it does take a moment to adjust. Having said all this, before reading the review, if you haven't seen it yet, i do recommend watching it for yourself.
Story & Characters:
SAO s2 has 3 mini arcs that i will go over separately as they vary greatly in content and tone.
Arc 1: 7
Arc 1 involves Kirito being hired by detectives to investigate a player who is apparently able to murder other players through the game. Along his way he meets Shino who is playing the game as a method of dealing with her phobia of guns.
Eventually Shino's character and the murderer's character get fleshed out and the plot does go to some interesting places regarding guilt and fear (in Shino's case) and power play (in the murderer's case). The final battle was suitably climactic, although i could have been spared Kirito doing his thing for once. just once.
Arc 2: 4
Arc 2 involves Kirito and gang embarking on a quest to attain Excalibur in Alfenheim. To be honest, this arc felt entirely filler and I don't although not entirely unenjoyable really dragged the pace.
Arc 3: 9
Arc 3 is where the feel trains hit. Arc 3 involves a player known as the ultimate swordfighter (yes, even better than Kirito... maybe) who, it turns out, is terminally ill and asks for Asuna's help to embark on a final quest.
Art, Sound and Voice: 8
Once again, i don't have much to say about the art or sound - which is usually a good thing. Everything fits together fine to add appropriate atmosphere to the show. At times, it's light-hearted, at times expository and futuristic, at times emotional and at times dark and tense.
Once nitpick that i still have with the show is that it doesn't make sense that main characters have unique player avatars while everyone else looks drab and generic.
The voice cast continue to do a great job all round. This may be where i once again inject some personal bias as I simply love Miyuki Sawashiro.
Conclusion: 8
While i expected to hate this series, i came to appreciate the different tone that it went for. The last arc in particular hit me hard with the feels train and their where moments of tension in certain parts.
On the downside, Kirito still does his thing to every girl he meets. We get it, you think nice guys get the girls. I could have done without the romance elements, though thankfully it's not as heavy as in the first season.
Some nitpicks that i still have regarding this entire series is that gameplay elements are still rarely fully explained. In the first season, there was a scene where Players Killers couldn't deal serious damage to Kirito because he regenerated health faster than they could damage him, yet he never regenerates health again in the whole series. In this season much of the way magic, swordplay, skills etc still isn't particularly explained and the emphasis is placed instead on the emotional journey of the characters. I can't help but feel that these are missed oppurtunites for building a believable setting.
Throughout the show, the series brings up some light philosophical discussion on the nature of perception and reality. I'm not tech genius but perhaps the world is not that far off from when we are able to digitally recreate physical stimuli equivalent to what one might feel 'naturally'.
