(Minor spoilers ahead)
The first season of Sword Art Online was released back in 2012, having seen that series a long time now for about more than three years ago. Finally, I got the chance to re-watch this anime series for only two days to see how this series still holds up in 2020. The reason as to why on giving this anime another go is that whenever I always search up on YouTube about Sword Art Online, the first results that would most likely appear is from popular anime YouTubers. As a result, I felt antsy towards myself thinking whether or not the way I reviewed the series was right back in 2012 because I thoroughly loved Sword Art Online and has since then been one of my favorite anime series of all time. And so that is why I gave Sword Art Online a second watch to see whether or not my judgement of the series will change after hearing a lot of opinions from popular YouTube people and from my friends and what do you know, I still love this series.
Sword Art Online has not only been my gateway anime series, but as well as made the reason why I loved anime in the first place. Almost everything about the first season of Sword Art Online did a great job in handling the psychological effects a person can face while being trapped inside a virtual reality game such as suicide, depression and emotional breakdown which was very intriguing for the series to do. The animation of Sword Art Online done by A1 Pictures is absolutely stunning to look at as if you are in a virtual gaming world that knows how to utilize some gaming elements from real life gaming and every element in the background were done nicely. The way how you see the characters interact with people and objects does make it feel like an MMORPG game. The first half of the season was very good as it focuses more on Kirito’s challenges between gaming and reality while the second half of the season focuses more on his chemistry with Asuna and Suguha in which almost each episode did not bore me at all and doing anything else while watching.
One of the series’ biggest strengths is Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya who is one of the most badass characters I’ve seen and I can’t help but relate him to Guts from Berserk because they both have similar qualities such as sword skills, cold personality and anti-social in early episodes but slowly develops to becoming more social to the people that wants to be with him throughout the game and tries to overcome the fear of losing his party members by using all of his efforts in sword skills. Asuna Yuuki was also very impressive with how she handles her personality: one is being her badass side in the early episodes but then softens up because of Kirito’s feelings towards her which is why they make both a great anime couple. Suguha Kirigaya / Leafa, the cousin of Kirito, I definitely sympathize for like I feel the problem she is going through towards her relationship towards Kirito that I wish she would eventually give up those feelings in order to be happy. I got to relate to all of the main characters so much that I relate with them so much that I wish they will always win in every situation and obstacle they face. The rest of the supporting cast were also great whenever they appear in the series such as Klein – the first player Kirito meets, Yui – a support character with an artificial intelligence, and Silicia – a beast tamer, Lisbeth – a proud blacksmith.
As for flaws in the series, I noticed the pacing in the first half of the anime series felt somehow complex and more episodic in a way that the flow of the story executed made me very confused at times. There are also some narrative plot holes that sometimes there is something wrong with how the characters do something that may seem impossible and unbelievable that would leave me skeptic towards it in the first half. People may also feel that the supporting cast does not get big attention that much in the series which may be a big criticism for them. However, for the latter problem, I felt that the series did a pretty great job in focusing more only on the three main characters (Kirito, Asuna and Suguha) but mostly on Kirito, because what they did is that they explored on the psychological impacts that the three leads receive because of the virtual gaming. It has the same situation such as films like Ad Astra, Uncut Gems, and The Invisible Man, all of which explored just the main protagonist that carries the enjoyment throughout the film which I think is an impressive thing to do: more like a character study.
Overall, I had such a great time re-watching the first season of Sword Art Online that even made me defend the series more because of the hate that the series doesn't actually deserve. For those who are calling the series as one of the worst in the anime industry, this is not even close to Mars of Destruction and Skelter+Heaven and is one of those great anime series (especially if you finish season 3 which I will do a review later on). I just watched this series with no expectations yet have a standard towards liking an anime and the first season did not disappoint me at all. As the more I enjoyed watching the series, the more its flaws subside and had no problem watching the series at all. Sword Art Online is one of those anime series that I think if people did not overhype the show too much, it would not be considered as an overrated anime by the toxic anime community in the first place. I am not saying that this show is perfect in all aspects but I feel that this show deserves decent respect and greatness towards people who can truly like or might even appreciate this show, please give the series a chance and don't judge a book by its cover. I am very glad that Sword Art Online has been one of those great series I have watched and is definitely in my Top 100 Anime Series of All Time.
