And I loved it.
HOLD ON, hold on. Let me explain.
Fast forward 3 years, and I rewatched the series again, and I must say- it's not as good as I remember. It was heavily flawed, with issues left and right. BUT, I did not hate it. It was good at many things, and bad at others.
The animation and visual style used for the story were lively, and beautiful. This is one of the complaints about the series that I have never understood. The colors were so lively, the images were so grand, and everything about the animation in the fight scenes were a stroke of genius. The action scenes still remain some of the prettiest in anime. However, the action scenes, which I did notice over time were a bit stilted and plain. Not an issue under any means, but they were absolutely problematic
The story is good in it's essence, but poor in it's execution. A story about a guy who gets trapped in a video game where if you die in the game, you die in real life? Awesome, right? Well, the series gets really lighthearted at many points in the series, which really took away from the drama, but to be fair, this is a character-centric story. The series that genuinely got the atmosphere thing right was Btooom! Btooom! genuinely got the atmosphere of the story right, keeping this horrifying tone throughout for each of the characters of life and death. But, to be fair, Btooom!'s setting is a lot more dreary, and much more difficult to survive. To be fair, however, I shouldn't be surprised that a TV-PG show wasn't able to delve into the true potential for it's horror-action concept like Btooom!, a TV-MA series. In contrast to that, they should have made this series at least TV-14, as it's premise alone is based on the concept of death. That atmosphere would work a lot better in a horror action drama like Btooom! a lot better than a shounen romantic-comedy like SAO.
Leading up to the story are the characters. At the story's core, they were easily the best things that this series had to offer. Though most of them HEAVILY lacked in any sort of any development, including my favorite character, they were likable enough. Our protagonist, Kirito, is likable enough, despite being overpowered to an extent in which few in the series can match. I think that he was lacking in a bit of backstory, which kinda sucks, but the character was likable enough for me to bypass that. He wasn't perfect under any means, but I did empathize with him on pretty much every level. The same goes for his main love interest in the series, Asuna. She was a great character, which is honestly a Tsundere being showcased in a realistic manner, to which she doesn't have the total "B-B-BAKA" persona going on. However, similar to Kirito, she lacks in backstory, and knowledge on her in the past, which completely leaves a major black eye on the character. However, my favorite character in the series was easily Klein. Despite the fact that he was lacking in any sort of development in the series concerning him, he was a genuinely likable friend of Kirito's who was funny in some parts, and sympathetic in others. He was overall a great character, who was wasted because of development (or lack thereof).
Another great thing about this series, which nobody can deny is the music. It was so lovely in the more dramatic and romantic situations, but really heavy and intense during the action scenes throughout the series. There was a bit of abundance of reused songs throughout the series, despite it being only 25 episodes, but that's not an issue under any means. It was quite serviceable, and that's what really matters at the end of the day.
Another thing I really want to mention, which is a bit of a tangent more than a criticism of the series, is talking about the decision to focus on Kirito and Asuna's relationship more than the action in the series. To all of the fans that dropped it because of that, hear me out; the romance improved it immensely. Romance elements can generally ruin an action anime, but here, they make the series better than what we were getting prior. They were quite adorable, and honestly, they were better than anything the action scenes had going for them. The emphasis on the romance elements was the hardest decision for the creators to make, but it was one that paid off in my eyes. The romance between Kirito and Asuna was a lot better than the battle with that Demon-goat thing in episode 9. It just worked...
However...
Many things in the series didn't for me.
The characters in the series lacked SO MUCH DEVELOPMENT. The #1 rule on making an interesting character, supporting or main, is to focus on the characters backstory, their development as a human being, and how they came to be. It gives us insight on how they became the way that they were. Almost all characters in the series lacked in any sort of development, which really killed them as characters. It may be a nitpick to some, but it's a game-changer in my eyes. This left a huge dent on this series.
Another thing that really bothered me in the series was the Harem elements. I used to enjoy Harems quite a bit, but now, they just seem like cheap ploys to get people to watch the series for an easy way for their to be tension in a relationship. However, they are used so poorly in most anime today, and SAO is no exception. The harem that was built throughout the series was so disappointingly bad in it's execution, as nothing really occurred to any of the "rejected" girls in the harem. In fact, we don't even see them until the last few episodes since their first appearance.
Another thing, that's a bit more of a nitpick than anything, is the continuity and plot holes. Some things are laughably bad when it comes to this series, not as much to do with the anime as they are to do with the light novels. For example, it has always bothered me that the NerveGear has "infinite battery."
*facepalms*
Other than that, I don't have a lot of issues with the series that I haven't already mentioned prior, so I think it's safe to say that though I had some major issues with it, I did not hate it either. I thought it was decent enough.
Anyways, it's 2:38 in the morning, so I'm finishing this, then relaxing for the next 12 hours.
Later!
