Story: Note, this will contain some slight spoilers. We start our first episode in a totally new fantasy setting that SAO had never seen before and there was no mention of the other SAO cast. But this world is also a simulation created by a new technology called Soul Translator, which basically enters the person in to a state of sleep and the whole thing is basically a dream. But then the segment ends and we are greeted by some GGO gameplay. After that was done Kirito, Asuna and Sinon go to Agils bar and discuss the games but after that comes a horrible incident, while Kirito and Asuna were walking home they were greeted by Johnny Black who was an ex Laughing Coughing member who manages to inject Kirito with the same poison Death Gun used in SAO II. Kirito was rushed to a hospital but that was not enough, So Kirito got taken to a facility owned by Rath who created the Soul Translator and Kirito got taken to it and put to the dream like state and entered the same world he was in the first segment. And rest of the story takes place there. The objective of the "game" is to create human like A.I. Kiritos mission there is to find a person named Alice with his new friend Eugeo. Along this trip they encounter monsters, strong knight and even a few rapists.
Characters: Kirito: Well, he is still mostly the same, he still does dumb stuff from time to time and gathers new members for his harem. Kirito knows how to exploit the game mechanics and he does. But he feels more like a person than ever before. Eugeo: He is Kiritos friend whose life work is cutting down a tree. Well, in the end he manages to do it and starts to pursue the way of the sword with Kirito. He was a childhood friend of Alice. He an NPC but does stuff that no NPC should do but thanks to Kiritos existence he manages to break the NPC rules called the Taboo Index. Alice: She was the first NPC to break the rules and got punished for it. The next time we saw her after his punishment he was a being called Integrity knight which is basically a strong soldier created bv the Pontifex. She acts like a tsundere before and after getting her memories back after being turned to an Integrity Knight.
Art and Animation. Well, the art looks the same as before but the new colors and stuff make it feel brand new. The animation has never looked better. It is smooth and the fight scenes are usually well coreographed.
Music: Both of the openings are quite good and made by some very popular artists. Background music is usually also darn good and the fighting ost from previous seasons has made a comeback, so that is also very nice.
Overall: I never really imagined that SAO could be enjoyable. There are still some problems with it such as Kirito still is quite bland and the rape. Well, this time the rape actually had something to do with character development and understanding who the rules of the world could be exploited and the problem with NPCs following the rules to a t. I was also surprised to find that this was the goriest season of SAO so far.
I would recommend checking this out if you have seen the first 2 seasons.
