I usually dislike VR anime because of the game/everyday life split, as the out-of-game stuff feels twice as boring and trivial compared to the action and adventure of the game world. That I like this anime is proof that such is not the case here. In the first eight episodes, it seems like the anime is committed to giving minimal attention to the out-of-game stuff. The action animation is the main draw here and is exciting. 90% of this anime is MC figuring out the world, battling above his weight class, and discovering interesting lore and features within the game. I would say this anime is like an interesting blind walkthrough of a VR game.
The story provides solid dramatic beats and an insert-MC who doesn't have any annoying habits or try-hard humor gimmicks, while the cliched characters are far less annoying than you'd expect them to be. For instance, school acquaintance with a crush and rabbit girl NPC both seem like shitty fanservice distractions from the MC, but here they are completely complementary and involve no fanservice at all (so far). The show's focus is thoroughly on the MC and the secrets of the game, which I think is a definitive positive direction. We've seen this premise fail again and again because the show is either harem garbage, edgelord power fantasy, or doesn't actually care about the world--SLF avoid all the major pitfalls while being excellently animated, entertaining, and including an interesting world for us to follow MC through.
tl;dr: The lack of the negatives usually associated with this premise and enjoyable action execution make this the standout adventure anime of this season.
