Sword Art Online.... one of the most controversial topics in Anime. If you bring it up anywhere related to Anime, you are sure to expect a ton of haters, and a ton of obsessed fans. I seriously do not get why people like this Anime so much. Compare this and Accel World. Who wins by the milestone? Obviously Accel World. Accel World wasn't super or anything, but still enjoyable, but I'll make a review for that some other day.
Story - The story is about our main protagonist, Kirito, and his friends trying to survive in a virtual world. It has many flaws, from which I will list out. Kirito basically just fights a ton of people, finds a girlfriend and some friends, and DONE. Barely any backstory for the other characters, for example, Silica. Literally.. The first arc was somewhat OK, giving credit to the actual fact that it took place in the game "Sword Art Online". The second arc. Ok, I'm just gonna stop right here. What the actual fuck? Alfhiem Arc was horrible, completely horrible. Kirito, teams up with Leafa, goes in there and slams the hell out of everyone. He takes on one of the best players in the game, and defeats him, even though Kirito has only been in the game for about 3 days? For most of the part, Asuna was just acting as a reason to even make a stupid arc like this, having to save the damsel in distress blah blah blah. Gun Gale Online, I must declare, was the best arc in the series, which sadly isn't saying much. Kirito is hired by the government to go on a mission to find this killer who supposedly kills people in real life from the game, Gun Gale Online. He teams up with the best sniper on GGO, Sinon, and has to fight with her through the Bullet of Bullets. Sinon gets a decent amount of background information about her past and her fear of guns. The Excalibur Arc, I can't say much about this considering it was only 2-4 episodes. In fact, I thought it could act as an OVA instead of an actual part of the story. Now, the last arc, Mother's Rosario. This arc I thought showed the emotions of this Anime. Asuna teams up with Zekken, one of the best players in Alfheim. The two bond together, and Asuna joins Zekken's group. They together fight against bosses, and celebrate etc. But then, we figure out Zekken has a condition, that costs her her life. Many tears were brought from this point of time in the Anime. Rating - 6
Art - Marvelous, I must say. Great animation and scenery. Rating - 9
Sound - The soundtrack was outstanding. I loved the music during the parts building up to the fight, and the fights themselves. Rating - 9
Character - Well, this is the worst part of SAO. Kirito is portrayed as an undefeatable player, able to wipe out a single high level boss by himself. As many others have said, he is just way too OP. Asuna was strong and courageous in the beginning, but then became spoiled by Kirito. She, later in the series, just became a damsel in distress for Kirito to love. Kirito is somehow a lady's man, despite being outside very much. Kirito, for the most part, doesn't display any emotion, besides that serious look on his face. Asuna barely displays any emotion, besides the fact that she loves Kirito. Silica, Lizbeth, Klein, and Agil didn't get much attention, especially Agil. They were just additions to show for some more people to make it not look so empty. Suguha... why is she even in SAO? Rating - 4
Enjoyment - For the most part, I definitely enjoyed this Anime, not because of it's greatness, but because of it's stupidity. I can't say much more about this though, so bare with me. Rating - 7
Overall - Overall, I thought this Anime had more than enough potential to achieve greatness, but failed to do so. It had the right budget, and decent story line on first impression. It couldn't incorporate the necessary features to make a good Anime. I guess this wraps it up for the SAO review. Rating - 6
PS: FOR ANY ONE OF YOU WHO IS PLANNING TO WATCH SAO, PLEASE WATCH ACCEL WORLD FIRST. ACCEL WORLD ISN'T THE BEST ANIME OUT THERE BUT IT IS A WHOLE LOT BETTER THAN THIS ANIME!
