As in matter fact, i agree with other SAO fans in calling this first seasons poorly-written, and it just seems to assume that it can slap a bunch of tasteless and cruel shock value scenes in your face and just see what's mature. Unfortunately, nothing was mature at all.
But it doesn't help that Kirito in this first seasons was very unlikable, he was a lying and arrogant bullseye that treats his girlfriends like garbage, be overpowered than the actual villains and of course, we only have to deal with until the Phantom Bullet arc introduces us Sinon. To the point that her personality made me need an year of trauma therapy and i know nothing about the rest of the characters with the exception of Kirito and Asuna because you know, root the audience and cheat the villains!
And speaking of the villains, they was the main problem of this seasons, first we got the fairy king who raped Asuna just because "her hair smell like cookies" or even the main antagonist for the series who forget his actual motivation for why he trapped everyone in the Sword Art Online game. But what i do love about the series, is that we can really feel the charm behind the series with the creator apologizes for the bad writing and the sexual harassment, and really lush, creative and detailed backgrounds of the levels that really fit on the animation style, but most important at all we finally got an emotional ending in the Mother Rosario arc and an improvement over the Alicization arc by making the story more well written and Kirito turning intro a relatable protagonist.
