First and for most I love the concept of the story even though it has been done multiple times before. The concept has always had this soft spot in my heart because of my passion of video games and how cool virtual reality would be. But when you milk the concept for too long it makes it become less appealing and a complete hassle. The first arch is decent and acceptable, then the second arch just takes the story into a irritating and unnecessary turn. If they would have thrown away the second arch and focused on putting more depth into the first arch it would be a decent story. However, they didn't and it was really just a big frustrating hassle.
The animation was good for the most part. Although, I could find instances when it did lack such as the less important moments or sometimes in fight scenes but mostly it is good for the majority of the anime.
The characters were awful, they had barely any development making them feel like people you just wouldn't really care if they died. The relationship between Kirito and Asuna wasn't developed or executed properly they just felt thrown together. Granted they did have one episode to build upon their relationship but other than that the relationship relied on what they went through that episode. I will say that probably the best characters are the antagonists, especially the second antagonist he was such a jerk and disgusting guy you wish he would get punished from the get go. If you are watching Sword Art Online for the characters you'll be very disappointed.
Sword Art Online is a good concept executed poorly and milked beyond the limit that it starts to feel like a hassle instead of a well put together anime. I would recommend to watch it on Netflix rather than buy it, especially for it's outrageous price.
