This anime probably gets a 7:2:1 ratio on its enjoyability. What does that mean? Well, out of let's say 10 people, 7 are going to absolutely love this and will wait each week for it. 2 are going to start out all hyped up, but will be disappointed somewhere along the way - but they'll still watch it. And the remaining 1 will drop the series somewhere along the lines.
One of the biggest problem this anime really has is that people are/were too hyped up about it. Many went into it feeling anxious and curious, as if they were expecting it to be something like they've never seen before - and came out disappointed. Majority, however, went in excited and went out even more excited.
I, for one, really love Sword Art Online - not because of the anime, but because of the Light Novel. So I highly recommend the LN for those who left somewhat disappointed with the anime to the Light Novel since you can "connect" to the characters a bit more. Among the complaints, one of them is the time skip. Ep 1 ~ 7 is just a cluster fu*k of time skip. Of course, you don't have to worry about that in the LN as the LN is 'In Medias Res'. The anime producers obviously wanted to do 2 things with the time skips. One, make the anime longer and two, make the viewer able to empathize with the main character, Kirito, a bit more. This didn't work out quite well as many people wanted to see more of the stories in between floors and not just floor skips throughout the entire anime. But what can you do? The stories had to fit somewhere and it could only be the beginning.
Let's break it down with Pros & Cons now, starting with Pros, then Cons, then analyze:
PROS:
-Very nice graphics even in the 2012 standards.
-A very good example of "action romance" anime.
-Badass main character / heroine
-Wincest...?
-Harem... -ish
-Adventure-ish
-Original
-Nice sounds (OP/Ending/Soundtracks/Voice Actors and Actresses)
-Much better overall when compared to some other available anime choices you probably have
CONS:
-Time skips can make you feel left out / disappointed
-Badass main character / heroine
-Too much romance (depending on your taste)
-Things feel rushed
-Makes you question what the characters' existence is for (like Silica's)
Alright, let's begin analyzing.
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There's almost nothing to complain about the art. It's nice to look at - the characters are very well done (although the faces look distorted sometimes) and the overall "world" is in very high graphics.
Almost nothing to complain about the sound either. The OP is nice for both seasons and so is the ending. The voice actors and actresses did a fantastic job. Even the scenes with crying involved is very well done. I hate it when the crying voices seem so... unnatural.
Off to characters.
The main character is very... over powered. You either really like it or don't, but of course the main problems, arguably, is that no scenes of him actually getting stronger is shown - which also is either to your liking or isn't. The heroine is also very overpowered - but mainly serves to make the MC, Kirito, look more badass, since he'll have a cute girlfriend by his side. The 2 main characters will be either a hit or a miss for you, with of course, 7 being a definite hit, 2 maybes, and 1 NO. I don't really like this labeling of characters as "main" or "support" since their role definitely changes throughout the SAO series. Suguha for example is definitely a MC in the ALO arc, but reverts back to support in the other arcs. Kirito is the MC in almost all arcs except Mother's Rosario and Asuna is a support in GGO arc.
If you watch the anime, you'll probably think "whatever happened to that one girl Silica? She was literally there for just 1 episode even though her character design made it seem like she'll stick around". Well, she's a character used in later arcs and she literally has no appearance whatsoever in SAO and ALO so there you go.
You technically need 3 girls to make a harem, but technically 4 (as of now) likes him even though only 2 are leading roles in the anime. So harem is there... and of course, wincest.
Let's head on to Story.
The story is a very debatable topic. The story was written way back in 2001 or something when the author, Kawahara Rek,i didn't even think about publishing it so he just put things to his tastes. You either like it or you don't, but it's definitely more on the romance side of the whole "action romance" theme than it is to action - so the synopsis probably tricked you.
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Overview:
You'll probably enjoy this anime if you don't go into it thinking it'll be a masterpiece like you've never seen before.
If you ARE hyped up about it or have read the LN, you'll probably leave being disappointed.
You should really watch this mainly for the romance between the two MC, especially since it has nice sound and graphics. Action is really just there to provide story so things develop more shounen style.
If you really want to get more into the actions or the characters, you should probably read the Light Novel (watch the first 7 ep though since the LN starts at ep7). You'll be able to empathize with the characters better and you'll find the LN MUCH more satisfying than what the anime presents. Really, the anime should be more of an Eye-Candy. The Light Novel will be your steroids.
Thanks you for reading!!
