The plot and character all seem very enthralling in the first episode. The plot of being stuck in a game and dying in it means real death and there is no escape unless you beat it is a great plot! However, this plot quickly falls apart after the third episodes and onwards. Our main character Kirito is what you might expect. A brash, somewhat arrogant, masculine and gets all the girls but doesn't seem to care, type of character. This itself is not the problem, it is the characters around him. The first girl you meet which is a cute girl with a dragon, you see her for two-ish episods and she never appears. There are numerous characters they could've expanded on, but didn't and the majority of the characters, you never see again for the rest of the anime. There is no real character development for Kirito, and its rushed. The romance is all right, it's a somewhat tsundere romance, but for some reason, they decide to get married not even 5 days into their relationship. The characters are very rushed and overall, everything is very rushed. There was a lot they could've expanded on, but didn't. They complete like 10 floors in one episode and the character is quite predictable. The reason why I gave the story a 7 was because the story isn't bad, its the way they executed it was bad.
The plot is very creative, I won't deny that, but the characters themselves are probably the biggest flaw in the series, along with the rushed part of it. Now, fortunately, SAO compensates that, for its relatively good soundtrack and good animations. The battles are lively and vivid and the sound is quite action-packed and energizing. These all stand a pretty good score of 8.
With that, SAO, is an anime that I find I enjoy even though I don't like the characters much. The reason why I enjoy it is because the story is quite good after Episode 15, when they complete the Sword Art Online game and begin another game to save *spoiler* Asuna. After that, the anime dives into the characters of Kirito's "sister" and the rest of the cast, but for the ones you meet in SAO, consider them seen once, and never seen again.
Overall, SAO is not a horrible anime. It had a lot of potential that wasn't used. The execution is quite bad, but the creative story, sound, art somewhat makes up for it, and plus after Episode 15, I found it much better.
