Story: 8/10. Much, much better than the previous arcs. That said, there still are writing issues, most of which stem from the author's tendency to portray Kirito as the overpowered, perfect harem master. Thankfully this time, there is a second protagonist, Eugeo to save the day. More on this later.
Another big improvement over the previous arcs is the stakes. After the first arc, it was really hard to care about anything going on because in the end, this is about some kids playing a stupid video game. This time, however, I cared. The virtual AI's have feelings, hopes, and dreams just like real humans do. Even though the setting is a virtual world, the anime does an excellent job of making it feel real in an organic way.
Art: 6/10. It could have been great, but it's meh. The character designs look good, but that's where the pros end. There are frequent animation errors and serious blips in the presentation (especially pronounced during some action sequences). If you liked the Light Novel style illustrations, you won't find it here by the way; the art style is quite different.
Sound: 9/10. Great.
Character: 9/10. Huge improvement. Eugeo is well written. He actually has flaws and believable motivations. He develops as a character throughout the story. I also liked the way they wrote Alice, the main girl of this arc. She's not just caught and imprisoned in a cage sucking her thumb like Asuna did in arc 2, nor is she useless/boring like all the other heroines. Moreover, the main villain is WORLDS ahead of Kayaba or the other villains whose names I didn't bother to remember. The extra characters felt fresh and intriguing as well, which is a first for the series. The only cons come from it being... SAO. Kirito is still boring and previous girls (Asuna included) are useless.
Enjoyment: 10/10. Because of the massively improved writing and characters, in addition to the plethora episodes the animators have to work with, I enjoyed the anime immensely. I hope this continues into future cours.
To sum it up, if you absolutely hated all of SAO, this probably won't interest you. But if you saw potential in the early episodes of SAO, I would recommend this series. It's what SAO should have been from the beginning.
