When I first watched Sword Art Online (commonly nicknamed 'SAO'), it was because my friend, whom has an anime taste basically identical to mine, recommended it. At this point only two episodes had been released, and it was my first time watching an anime week by week, instead of watching it all at once like I usually do. I watched the two existing episodes and enjoyed them, but as the weeks went on, both my friend and I were left wondering why he recommended it to me in the first place.
Story:
The story is definitely nothing new. Kid plays video game, kid gets trapped in video game, kid has to escape video game. Of course, this kid (Kazuto Kirigaya, better known as his screen name 'Kirito') got the opportunity to beta test the game for like a day, so obviously he's better than everyone else. The entire show is just Kirito doing cool things, beating bosses alone that people can't even do in groups of 200, and meeting new "friends" that only have a few minutes of screentime but still end up considering Kirito their bff. There are ridiculous timeskips, leaving no room for character development, and episodes 3-7 are just filler to make Kirito look cooler. Of course, these episodes, like everything else in this anime, have the potential to contribute to the plot, seeing as he meets some new people. But again, like everything else in the anime, they don't. The characters never show up again until the last episode where they're celebrating Kirito's existence. The show starts out with everyone being trapped inside the game, which develops this fear, because hey, if you were trapped somewhere and if you died in there you died in real life, it'd be kind of scary. But of course, the fear weakens when Kirito easily conquers every boss with no struggle, it weakens even more with the frequent timeskips, and it's completely eliminated when they escape SAO and start the second game, where you can leave any time you want. That's right. In the second arc/game, you are a fairy prancing and flying through the forest, the ultimate goal is to be able to fly forever, and you can log off whenever you want. It completely destroys any suspense there was left, and sucks the fun out of it. Of course, they add one more element in an attempt to add suspense: Asuna is a damsel in distress and Kirito has to save her. Really, really lame.
1/10. SO much wasted potential, it's sickening.
Art:
The only redeeming quality of SAO. The art style is very nice throughout the first arc. It's very pretty and fun to look at. Of course, visual stimulation will only get you so far, especially when they get lazy and start cutting corners in the second arc because they have people hooked already. But in the first arc, the art is very nice, and it was definitely one of the big contributors to my watching it. I wish they would have kept the niceness throughout the second arc, but hey, we can't really expect much from this anime.
8/10.
Sound:
OST is gorgeous. I really enjoyed it. The OPs were fantastic (especially the first one. LiSA is fantastic.), the EDs were good, and the OST as a whole was very, very well done. Voice acting was average (referring to the sub, I'm not going to bother with the dub because that means I have to 1. watch a dub, and 2. rewatch this monstrosity), I don't really have many complaints in this department.
7/10.
Characters:
This is going to be a long section because this is the absolute worst part of SAO. It's not that the characters were bad, none, for the exception of Kirito, were bad characters. But the characters only show up for about five minutes before Kirito decides he's too good for them and moves on. (Though even after he ditches them, they still fawn over him and think he's the *~*~*~~*coolest guy evarrr!!!!!!~*~*~*~. This is literally the entire point of all of the characters. To make Kirito look cool.) Early on, we're introduced to Klein, who in any other anime, would actually contribute to the plot. In this anime, however, he does not. He hangs out with Kirito for the first couple episodes, has Kirito show him the ropes, and then goes on his way. He runs into Kirito a few times throughout the anime, but he contributes almost nothing. Which is extremely disappointing, because I thought he was pretty funny. This is the case with almost all of the other characters Kirito meets (with the exception of Asuna, whom I will get to soon). Kirito meets the character, Kirito helps the character because Kirito is better than everyone else, audience is left expecting the character to join Kirito on his quest because hey, they're on the cover art for Pete's sake!, audience is sorely disappointed when they never show up again because Kirito is a "lone wolf" (aka he's too good for everyone and doesn't want to waste his time with them). This happens for a while with the closest thing we get to a heroine, Asuna. Asuna herself, I thought was very cute, and I enjoyed her. But of course, along with all of the other characters, she is only there to make Kirito look cool. They meet, hang out for a while, they part ways... but then they meet up again about two years later. At this point, everyone is like, "Holy crap! A character besides Kirito that has more than two episodes of screentime!" and it is a glorious occasion for all. The two hang out for a bit, and suddenly, they're in love! I don't know about you guys, but I don't meet someone, not see them for ~2 years, find them again, spend a day with them, and then fall in love. But Asuna did, and it was one of the worst things to happen to the anime. Asuna was a very enjoyable character until her and Kirito got "married", got an in-game house together, and adopted a kid who was probably only a few years younger than them. A good chunk of time is dedicated to the two playing house together, and of course, a good chunk of THAT time is spent trying to make Kirito look cool. Asuna then becomes this lame woobie damsel in distress whom Kirito has to go save. Extremely disappointing. Literally every single girl character, except for *maybe* Silica and Yui because they're like 8, falls in love with Kirito. Including his sister/cousin/who even knows anymore. Yes. You read that right. In the second arc, the main female character is his sister/cousin who is in love with the real world Kirito, but of course, to get over irl!Kirito, she falls in love with gameworld!Kirito. Who is the same guy. This, of course, upsets her greatly because who wouldn't be mentally scarred if they realized that they were in love with their brother? But Kirito doesn't really care. He just likes to look cool.
Due to the fact that every single character is only there to make Kirito look cool, I give characters a 1/10.
Kirito:
I hate this kid so much he gets his own section. Kirito is a teenage boy who likes video games, just like every other teenage boy. He beta tests SAO for like a day, and of course, because of this, he's the SAO master. He can beat anybody in a duel, can solve any mystery, and get any girl. He doesn't join any guild (well, he briefly joins a tiny guild full of people who don't know what they're doing, but they all get killed because Kirito is cocky as hell), which would mean an instant death for any other character, but of course, since Kirito is the best player in all of SAO for some reason, he doesn't need a guild to beat ~75 bosses and the final boss. He just does it all himself, no biggie. Now anybody who has ever played any MMO ever, would agree that this is ridiculous and extremely unrealistic. You play WoW and go into a dungeon alone, you get slaughtered in less than a minute. That's just how it works. You're supposed to go in with a team. But Kirito is too cool for school and goes it alone. And of course, he succeeds. No big deal. Oh, also, he has an ~**~*~ultra secret rare skill that nobody gets but him~**~*~*~. (Aka he gets to wield two swords, which isn't that big of a deal but of course since it's Kirito it means a ton and everyone is amazed. I'm not that surprised that the other characters thought it was cool that he got two swords, since it is an ~**~*~ultra secret rare skill*~**~~*~ that nobody else gets, but they act like he's a god walking among them. But of course, that's no surprise because that's how he's portrayed throughout the entire anime. As a god roaming the virtual streets of SAO.) As previously mentioned, every single girl falls in love with him instantaneously because he's oh so cool and oh so badass. It's ridiculous, unrealistic, and nauseating.
If I could give negative scores, I would give Kirito a -6000/10. But because I have to pick from 1-10, I'll give him a 1/10. That's being pretty generous.
Overall:
SAO is the definition of wasted potential. Kirito is the definition of a Gary Stu. Characters get very little screentime, and are only there to serve the purpose of making Kirito look cool. This is definitely the most disappointing anime I have ever watched, and I feel as if if being exactly like Kirito wasn't every nerdyboy's dream and Asuna wasn't every nerdyboy's dream girl, this anime wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is.
Don't waste your time. Popular =/= good. Overall score: 3/10.
