- Every now and then we get a new series with a cool premise that sweeps off the audience and boosts its way to the very top. Such was the case with Naruto when it first aired and it is still, probably, the first Anime any inexperienced Anime viewer watches as he enters the animal world.
The case is pretty much the same with Sword art Online. Concept, idea and premise of the show were great; they were promising, indulging and above all, I thought I'd finally find a jewel in a pile of crap when it came to this type of genre - oh boy was I wrong.
- Any gamer's dream, a virtual machine which allows you to visualize yourself in a place of your character in a vast world and experience the adventure first hand came forward in this anime. I was excited; I wanted to see what it'd be like if I were to be one of those people. However, the story falls short and flat-executed almost at the very beginning. Considering the amount of time skips (one or two are variable, but you have to know the limits), you're basically sprung over the countless points in the world which are never explained and you simply can't attach yourself to anything that's happening on the screen. The story basically follows Kirito, an online gamer throughout his journey. The story is fairly simple; it's basically any survival horror set in a wide-ranged world with countless possibilities. How can it fall flat then? With such variety of possibilities, I couldn't even think of the Anime failing - but, unfortunately, it did. As the show progresses, the story keeps making less and less sense than it previously did. All the little details suddenly contribute to the story but all in the wrong way. Hacking ability appears just when it's needed without previous mentioning of it and then it disappears as it never existed and all of these other plot holes that make the story simply ... blank.
Another bad aspect of the Sword art Online are the characters; don't get me wrong, there is development - it's just that we don't see it. Most of the time characters "grow" or "develop" is during those time skips. We see that they've changed and developed, but we don't know why and how. Time skips are fine when it's a long ongoing series and it began falling and slows so writer needs to fasten it up a little bit, change the world so that the viewers won't lose interest. However, it doesn't work in a 25 episodes show. And romances ... oh the romances. I've actually read that Kirito and Asuna are the best possible couple ever created - no! Aside of Asuna, there are also some minor other characters but who can really take two teenagers in love seriously? And they're not even out-going teenagers but rather that period when the puberty just starts to kick in. It's obvious that the writers wanted this show's strength to lay on impact during the death of those characters, but that simply doesn't work because the moments are far out of the place and they're far too dramatic - they simply try too hard. Other than two main characters, there are also a few others that get developed but, again, it's during those annoying time skips. All in all, characters at the end simply fell flat and rushed even though they had a great time to get developed even without the time skips. I'd rather have a full-blown season of, let's say, first 20 levels in the game where the characters are actually developed, and then the second season with a time skip to catch up a little bit and fasten it up. This way, the characters, even though interesting at times, simply fall flat at the end.
When it comes to art and sound, I think that these are the best aspects of the Anime for sure. Art is above decent; it's colorful, even beautiful at times, but it's also repetitive, the characters look as if they've been drawn from one shape with just different eyes and hair (even Kirito and Asuna look like a brother and sister) but it really has some great moments. The fights are decently animated, there are some great effects but the usage of a CGI felt vaguely out of the place. When it comes to the sound score, anime has solid background music but what impressed me the most was the voice acting. Trust me, it's nothing mind-blowing, but it's believable and the dialogue (which, by the way, isn't something you will remember) was delivered with a sense of reality.
I'm really picky when it comes to the fantasy genre; I was excited about this anime but, at the end, it simply failed to amuse me. The first half was decent; it was watchable and it had its fun moments, but then it simply got lost trying to be too many things at the time. Trying to be funny, sad, full of action, dramatic, beautiful ... and, at the end, it wasn't anything really.
I'll admit that some fights were actually intense and you never knew who's going to die but, at the end, you really didn't care because you didn't know the characters that well. One moment, however, stuck in my head and it was quite funny; when Kirito and Asuna were in that cabin in some sort of lower-level stage and Kirito suggested that they sleep together which Asuna misunderstands and gets half naked. Other than that, I barely remember much from this show other than some mayor plot holes which I won't mention since it would've spoiled too much of the series.
All in all, anime full of potential that simply failed to deliver - it should be a example that trying to be too many stuff at the same time doesn't work as intended.
