-Some random guy on the internet
I've been putting this anime off for literally 4 years because all the rumors on the internet saying SAO2 was horrible. I've seen so many anime that I've run out of popular ones to watch, so I finally decided to check this off my list and write a short review.
I'll start off with saying that if you didn't like the first season and don't like the MMORPG scene then Sword Art Online 2 probably isn't for you, and the same can be said for this short review since I'll be writing on the assumption you've seen and liked the first season and also like MMORPGs.
The plot summary on MAL to SAO2 really only applies till the end of episode 14. After that it's pretty much just a wrap up for the series in ALfheim Online (ALO), the fairy virtual reality world. Episodes 1-14 are in Gun Gale Online (GGO) which has a more serious atmosphere and where you get to see Kirito (Kirigaya) do his typical badass stuff.
Basically what happens is some guy is able to kill people in the real world in GGO, someone with the government is assigned to deal with it, luckily this person is acquaintances with Kirito through the SAO incident, the government man goes to Kirito since he knows Kirito is experienced with the virtual world, and gives Kirito a job to stop Death Gun (the guy killing people in real life through the game).
It's a gun type MMO but Kirito chooses a light saber type weapon. A lot of people complain about this and how it's crazy how Kirito can just run at people shooting him and knocking their bullets out of the air, but it honestly made sense to me. All the virtual worlds are based on the same "world seed" from SAO which makes it possible for people to convert their accounts over and retain their skills/levels. And as we all know, Kirito was a badass in SAO and ALO, being a speed demon among other things. There could also be other factors like GGO using different variables for bullet speed than in real world. You see it happen all the time in gun games. It makes the game more fair.
The story for the first half was pretty nice. I was entertained and we even get introduced to a new character called Sinon (Shino). The anime kept focusing on both her and Kirito but it worked out pretty well. The other half (episodes 15 and up) was a nice reintroduction to all the characters. It was like a planned goodbye to us. At the end the feels were real, man.
The art was more or less the same old. They did have pretty CGI though.
Sound was normal. Voice actors, the music, all of it.
Characters could have been better, especially when it came to Kirito. It felt too forced on him when they were trying to make him "grow" but it's easy to ignore since we already know how much growing he did in the first season. Shino and Asuna felt more realistic though. They overcome their hardships instead of trying to rely solely on other people, and grow as a result.
I enjoyed Sword Art Online 2, same as I did for Sword Art Online. Maybe it's because I enjoy MMORPGs and am hoping for virtual reality that is as advanced as it is in this anime to become real. That and I just love badass main characters that take everyone by surprise with how powerful they are after the enemy underestimated them. Guess that's why Overlord and Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu are my favorite "overpowered MC" type anime.
tl;dr if you liked Sword Art Online then you'll like this second season since the first arc focuses on Kirito being a badass with a light saber in a gun MMO to find a murderer and the last arc is a beautiful farewell to us from all the characters we know and love.
