The last couple of episodes have pretty much killed my interest in the series. When most anime tackle themes of love it typically ends up being pretty bad and sappy, but this one.. it was just awful.
The world isn't well thought out at all, the writer didn't bother to lay down the rules of this MMO world, the pacing is INCREDIBLY off, they missed a LOT of opportunities to make fun in-jokes about online gaming, and it's a pseudo-harem. The harem element in it sucks. Not to mention they force down your throat "OH LOL IT'S NOT ACTUALLY HIS SISTER IT'S HIS COUSIN" because HEAVEN FORBID a single female character under the age of 20 in this show NOT fall in love with the main character- Just because you need to know how awesome he is.
It's a poorly written, super contrived self-insert fanboy story. One reviewer described it as "Twilight Saga for teenage boys", and I agree whole-heartedly.
There is NOTHING psychological about SAO-- There could have been, but they just didn't bother. It honestly feels like it was written by a 15 year old, and from what I've heard he DID write it when he was 15 and it very much shows.
I haven't heard anything of substance other than "WELL IT'S REALLY COOL AND STUFF". And for the record, I have watched 15 episodes. So it's an overrated show.
The biggest problem with the harem element in SAO is that it doesn't add anything at all to the story. It didn't need to be there. The very first girl didn't bother me because they kept going back to his guilt with her, so that was fine. Asuna was obviously fine because she's the main interest. But the beast tamer and Asuna's best friend AND HIS FRIGGIN LITTLE SISTER were all INCREDIBLY unnecessary and didn't add ANYTHING. Their only purpose is to make Kirito look better. Any of those characters could be replaced by male friends as opposed to female potential love interests.
The characters, as mentioned before, are bland.
As for the mainstream shows, they get plenty of hate and quite frankly they are all FAR better shows than SAO. I mean that in all seriousness. Every one of those has a lot of complexity to the show, fun characters, good story, some amount of thought required, and has a large helping of entertainment.
I may not like some of them but I can admit that at their core they are decent shows and I can see why people like them. There IS something to them, some kind of substance. Are they overrated? Sure, but they still get a TON of flack.
The writers for each of those shows put a LOT into them. Those shows stand out and have personality. There is no soul or personality to SAO. None. This There is no character development in SAO. NONE.
The end of the MMORPG arc was just about getting married in a computer game and random people complimenting them on how they were so happy.
What happened to the "Lets-get-out-of-this-place-no-matter-what"?
The plot became nothing more than You are 12 and I am 12. We should get married and have an 11 year old daughter. har har.
