The idea of a Virtual Reality MMO is actually quite plausible. The idea of this Anime is pretty unique. It doesn't deserve the hate that it gets, but it's not the perfect anime either. Here is my review of Sword Art Online.
Story:
Ok, most Animes usually last around 12 episodes for a short 1 season story, or 24 for a 2 season or longer story. So initially, as I watched the first few episodes and got the grasp of the purpose of the anime, I thought, "yeah, I can see this taking 24 episodes", and having the final episode for an "epilogue" type episode. But knowing how a plot works (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), you can kind of feel when a story is about to end, and sadly, when I felt the climax kick in, I was a little disappointed and hopeful that it would pick back up, because it was around the 6th or 7th episode when I felt the story coming to an end. It was around the 13th episode that initial goal was reached, but then another problem kicks in, and the initial environment changed. Not gonna want to spoil too much in case you haven't seen it, but if an Anime is gonna be called "Sword Art Online", and the point of it is about a game called "Sword Art Online", you would think it would stay true to the title, instead of jumping around, or at least change the name to "VRMMO". Initially, on KissAnime, I saw SAO, and SAO2, so there being 2 seasons, and being at the 3rd episode, my mind was "ok, this will take a while. You gotta grind in MMO's, you gotta complete Quests in MMO's, 2 seasons seem reasonable". What I'm saying is the Story was great...but for it's concept, it felt too rushed and the second season felt unneeded. A better story would be having the first half, the first season, and stretching that portion out to show us more character development and hardships faced. Then have it end on a cliff hanger when Kirito finds out...the thing that sets up for the second half (don't want to spoil it. If you watched it, you know what I'm talking about.), and then have the second season replaced by the second half. Other than that, great concept, fair execution. So for Story: 6/10
Art:
The art from the Light novels/Manga and the art from the Anime, are vastly different. The Characters look more clean and crisp in Anime form, than in the Manga and LN. The Art is exceptional, and knowing the Studio behind this Anime, it's not hard to see why. A-1 Pictures picked up this anime, the same Studios behind other remarkable Anime such as Anohana, Your Lie in April, IDOLM@STER, Seven Deadly Sins, OreImo, and Fairy Tail. The animation rarely has any faults in it, and unlike the more mainstream Studios like Toei and Pierrot, A-1 rarely uses still images, repetitive scenes, and doesn't heavily rely on second layer animation, thus giving SAO and all it's other Anime a more lively and fluid feel to it. But SAO, unlike Fairy Tail or it's Brothers from the same Studio, has a Video Game feel to it, and uses CGI to create a Video Game feel when it comes to Particles, and the HUD. The fights are well choreographed and well animated. If you hate the art, you're either blind, or lying to yourself. So Art gets a 9/10
Sound:
Not gonna lie, Music-wise, it sounded exceptional. It was placed in situations where it was called for, and it fit in really well. Was it good enough for me to buy the OST? No...except for the Openings and Endings. But Sound doesn't come from the OST alone, what about the SFX? Every Sword clashes, swings and stabs sounded great and had great quality. None of the sounds were repetitive and cheesy, like what you hear in DBZ and other Action Anime (you know the sounds I'm talking about), and the volume control was done great. The Voices, overlapped the Music and SFX, but not to the point where it went to loud to be audible. Speaking of Voices, I have great ears, don't mean to brag. And it irritates me when an Anime's voices sounds like it was done in a fanmade fashion. Like it was recorded in a closet or room, and you could hear buzzing coming from it that cuts off when the voice's file ends for that scene. The voices not only sounded great, but they fit in with the characters, which I'll talk about in the next topic, so for Sound: 8/10.
Characters:
Want your characters to be rememberable, either make them do something we will never forget, put them in an anime we will never forget, or give them a unique name so we might never forget. Luckily for us, SAO does some of that. Most Shounen Anime should give their characters unique names so we never forget them, once we know who it belongs to. DBZ has Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, and Kururin. One Piece has Luffy, Nami, Chopper, and Zoro. Although SAO has names that aren't as unique, they aren't names you hear often in other animes, and that's what makes them stand out. You ask somebody "what do you think of Goku?", they say "strong". "what do you think of Luffy", "Stretchy". You see the pattern here? Everybody that has seen DBZ or OP, know the names Goku and Luffy, and what they relate to. Everybody that has seen SAO know who Kirito and Asuna are, even though Kirito isn't his real name. Although there are some characters who break that rule like Yui, which is a pretty common name, especially for characters in a HighSchool Anime that features a Light Music Club (K-On, TWGOK, etc.), and you can even say Asuna kind of breaks that rule to, just because of Azuna from K-On, but I'll let it slide because they might be spelled the same to us, but in Japanese, that one consonant makes a huge difference in spelling...kind of. Moving on!
Starting out, when I first saw the characters, they looked nothing like the Cover, and I was like "don't pull a DBZ on us and change the character's looks and designs halfway through", but then as I finished the episode I realized how it worked. But even if the Character Designs were or weren't changed, they're in a video game and they can be changed, as you will see if you continue on to the second half, and more-so in the second season. The Main Characters had their recommended amount of screen time, and it was nothing to complain about. What about the Side Characters? You bet I forgot completely about them. They were rarely ever seen, except for the Kirito's first partner, who shows up here and there, just enough for a side character. But there is a girl who falls for Kirito, who I'm pretty sure only shows up for one episode until after the season is over, this big buff guy who shows up to explain mysteries or just to help the characters out in general. They meet people along the way, but ultimately they get forgotten (except for Kirito's first group because plot needs us to be reminded of them). But when we encounter a side character with some significance to the main characters or plot, they have some development, even if it's just for one episode. The only Side Character that I actually fell in love with is this one girl that Kirito and Asuna meet. Her origins are a mystery at first, and she's the only character with somewhat of a backstory. This is around the time where Kirito and Asuna are "married" and this girl refers to them as "mama" and "papa". Not surprisingly, this is the only girl Kirito encounters that doesn't actually fall in love with him as...that. But sadly because of reasons (don't want to spoil too much), she dies, but leaves a memento for Kirito and Asuna. Luckily she's brought back for the second half, for reasons I forgot, but HEY!!! The girl you cried for is back. And she's more cute than before, so that's a plus. By the second half, she isn't really counted as a side character anymore. But ultimately, you see the main character and how they interact with each other, and the situation they're in. At first they panic in this world they're stuck in, but then, they get used to it and think of it as the real world, until they're reminded it's not. There are sad moments, but there it has no backstory to each character...unless you count for Kirito's "sister" and characters in the second season, but really, everyone in SAO are just regular people who happened to pick up a game and got trapped inside. Backstory wouldn't really be needed or wanted here. This makes villains and there motives kind of...bland. But Kirito explains that in games, there are people who just go around and randomly kill people for fun, and this being done to me in many MMO games, it makes sense. I mean they're in a game, you expect them to have some kind of vendetta on a person or something? The concept is virtual reality, and you are how you are in the real world, in this game world; Aside from some KOS players of course. A plus is this Anime has a romance, and it picks up pretty early in the series, but unlike those romance anime where once they start dating, they get all shy in front of each other and don't know how to act, the romance in here is an actual romance. They would die for each other, fight for each other, and love each other. They aren't shy, and you can tell when they start "living with each other" and "get married". Eventually they escape the virtual world, no big spoiler there, and even in the real world, there relationship stays true and the same, this is better seen as you understand the conflict in the second half of the anime. So Characters, if they gave the Side Characters more screen time and significance, it would be perfect, but because they didn't, 8/10
Final Verdict.
Sword Art Online. Great concept, but rushed story. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Action Anime. This Anime is similar to Fairy Tail, as in it gets un-deserved hate because of it's hype. If people say they hate SAO, it's probably because of SAO2, or the pacing. The Anime itself is alright, although the LN is significantly better. If you like Video Games, Action, Adventure, and Romance, Watch SAO...and then probably watch SAO2...I...meh.
SAO: 8/10
