Story (8): The story and premise in general are very good and in fact unique, it leaves a lot of room for expansion and opportunity and also draws in the audience. The protagonist is a teenage boy who beta tests and becomes immersed in a new MMORPG release titled "Sword Art Online" (SAO). The scene is in the future where video game technology has progressed with new hardware called "nervegear" a physical attachment that allows players to become fully physically immersed into the video game, allowing for more realistic combat, interactions, etc. All well and good. So far at least. The first 10,000 players that receive the release are trapped inside by the ominous game-maker who states that leaving and/or dying within the game results in a real life death for the player, and that the only way to escape is to complete the game by clearing all 100 floors of Aincrad, the main MMO city, and beating the final boss. You would think that in the future where such video game production quality is available that a designer could come up with a better game progression system than a layered dungeon. Come on.
Art (7): Not much much to say in this respect. Lots of vibrant colors and a good landscape design for the world of Aincrad. The art is pretty standard and similar to that of other releases currently.
Sound (6): Here's where I can be a bit picky. The BGM is okay, nothing that stands out, and the OP/EDs are the typical boring upbeat Jpop bullshit. Been there done that. I just wish that every anime could have great OP/EDs like Tatami Galaxy, Gurren Lagann, Zetsubou Sensei, to name a few.
Character (3): This is where the entire anime falls in quality. The main character is un-relatable, lacks emotion, and is just good at everything and lacks any physical or mental flaws. The writing also makes his decision making hard to understand and leaves the audience bored. He meets another player, who is magically the most beautiful and skilled and has about as much to say or do as Bella from Twilight. Nothing. Then you have the actions of the rest of the players. You would think that with your life on the line you would at least try to stay alive, but no. The leader of their first expedition to the first floor decides to throw his life away for no discernible reason, when he was offered the choice to survive at no cost, he instead chooses to give up his entire life, worth, and meaning. Great job writers, great job. Then the main character after being named a hero and all that shit, turns into a huge dick and sneers at the rest of the players, declaring his dominance and their inferiority. He goes on to talk about how he is a cheater and a hacker (with no evidence to back it up). And goes out strutting his pompous ass, without a single explanation or care from the writers.
Enjoyment (7): As with all shounen/action genre releases, the anime is well paced and won't leave you hanging at drawn-out slow bits, but the enjoyment of the action is broken with consistent contradictions and more plot holes than you could count.
Overall (5): With such a quick growth of fans and 10/10 ratings/reviews, you would expect more from this release, but that is something an intelligent viewer just can't do. Many would just take a look at the surface art/story premise and call it good, but few would take the moments to delve into the behaviors of the characters and the shape of the story, to see where all of the great issues lie. And these issues spoil any enjoyment that you can find in this candy-coated money sink production called "Sword Art Online". Even with only viewing the first 3 episodes, I have little hope for the future of this anime, as I can see little opportunity or skill that the writing staff could use to save this imminent train wreck.
Please don't take my review too harshly or critical (although it very well may be that!), keep in mind that I have only seen the first 3 episodes and am coming into this viewing with an open mind and neutral observations. I am not doing this to spite anyone, I just find it funny that people are so quick to praise this, and I would like to offer contradictory evidence.
Thank you for your time.
