Now don't get me wrong - I think SAO is one of the worst animes ever made. Why a 5 then? Ok, so here's the deal: I think if you look at this show as a homogeneous topic, it could not be better than a 2.
Why give it a 5?
The premise is really good - VR MMO is an interesting topic to explore and it seems the show in the beginning does not shy away from showcasing who and why would get into a VR MMO - you can see both sides of the coin, giving it a unique flavor - compared to other shows or novels with the same material, I did not see that much exposition/care for the 'human' world, only for the MMO. (Naturally, they ruin this later)
The show looks good. Detailed backgrounds, good character design, but to me it did not look nowhere near good enough a high production quality anime (like Haruhi).
I did not care much for the sounds / music (to be honest I still can't remember if there was any interesting music whatsoever in it). I can remember SAO ending songs were actually better in my opinion than openings.
Characters are straight up insane. Motivations and actions don't correspond with their original introductions and character development takes 180 multiple times (like that fairy guy that loves Kiritos sister - he's displayed as useless, then he becomes useful and important by spying on the enemy, then he becomes useless again when meeting them at the tree, then he becomes useful again inside the tree and sacrifices himself /something that btw no one else though of throughout the entire series, but could very well be the easiest way to win/ and then the guy is never MENTIONED AGAIN. wtf) Yet again, the setting would be good, you have a couple anime archetypes and actually multiple tsunderes (why?) who are all really friendly with each other for some reason, but use their masked personality with the protagonist only (?).
So then what did I enjoy?
I guess the potential of the story and this world. If you like MMOs or just entering games as a sci-fi premise, it is really easy to get into. Furthermore sometimes I felt there is so much more in the show than what they brought out. If you start watching it with set expectations (e.g. be a shounen, be a romance anime, be an OP anime like one-punch) then I don't think you can expect more than a 2/10 overall end result. It's none of those. And what it does it generally does inconsistently and that messes up the quality.
Here's a couple examples on what I liked (all of them are merely temporary):
I liked really that they did not shy away from showing a healthy relationship in anime, and originally tried to make it an equal relationship, where both are equally contributing in fights and are not heavily reliant on either (show throws this out later, though). They seem to shed their tropes as well (no tsundere bullshit when they are just between each other).
I also liked how they tried to explore the psychological effects on the characters. This would have benefited from showing real-world side stories though, contributing to a grittier, heavier atmosphere for the show (I think ultimately that's why they didn't do that). E.g. showing how the families are handling this, how their friends realise that they were into MMOs or that families even break apart due to comatose members. Nah, this doesn't happen but you can sense the empty story branches for it.
Against public opinion I really 'liked' they Asuna scene from the ALO arch. Under liked I mean I hated it, but I only felt like that back with Berserk. That scene has nothing to do with the overall feeling of the show, but I think it's a great scene in itself. The conclusion of it is really bad, but the way it starts off contributes again to a deep psychological thriller-like feel (it ruins it, with OPing Kirito and overcoming the situation, whereas it should just really go with the story and get to the point where they will need to bring that scar back to the real world and sort it out there).
Here's a couple things that I thought could've made it more interesting:
- They could've explored the reality-bleeding more (I think it shows up in one of the OPs, or maybe the last EP, that they see their avatars in reality). That had huge potential.
- They could've compressed the story into 12 episodes per season and that would've made it 2 points better. It's just way too tedious.
- Cut back on the harem. Why the fuck does everyone love Kirito and why are there no other males to like? Give more male protagonists / introduce relationships between girls and NOT KIRITO. Klein is only oil to the fire.
- Kirito to be GANTZ-ified. Make him a legit asshole instead of a secretly kind person. Get him to actually enjoy cheating and using exploits and have him overcome his facade to character development. He can still be OP, but he would at least be a person. This is just unrealistic. As long as he spends helping others, other people could have spent way more time leveling and easily passing him by.
- This is an MMO. Show me GRINDING! Could have made some really funny scenes when they go out to grind and chat meanwhile.
Right, let's finish this; SUMMARY
Altogether I don't recommend watching this show. For all these fun 5 minute pieces I just told you will suffer through 25 episodes of Naruto filler quality story and no catharsis whatsoever. There is no feeling of risk and thus, there is no reward either.
However I can't say I didn't watch it through. I mean I would still watch it the first time. I would not rewatch it, but it was just interesting enough to keep me from stop watching it. That's already a 3 to me. 1 for the story, 1 for the graphics and 1 for the characters (but rather just some parts of those). I'm adding one more for the sometimes good scenes to story and one for breaking some traditions (Kirito's relationship not unravelling within 2 episodes - although not because of him, or some key people not dying or going insane due to things they experienced - I'M LOOKING AT YOU BERSERK!!!!)
I'm not gonna lie, it was sort of gratifying to watch a wish-fulfilment anime for once. I mean that genre is really easy to get wrong. I don't like major characters dying or relationships breaking apart for artistic impact only. I watched a couple romance animes recently and all end on a vague or bad note. I'm not watching these to break my own heart FFS.
Yeah so to me, solid 5/10. Don't watch it. Watch the others instead with less episodes about the same topic, done well. 50 episodes of Naruto filler is not worth your time. Get this into a movie or 10-12 episode serious and I would recommend watching it as a 7/10 (even with the plot holes, etc.)
