1. Story: 10
Wait before you guys that have looked at my rating for the show attack me in unpleasant ways let me explain. The real reason SAO isn't a 10 overall is the progression of the story (see #2). SAO takes place in a video game world with a potentially complex storyline. The story itself is actually not half bad. There are very few stereotypical aspects in the anime besides the simple fact that it was made in 2011-2012 which forces it to have some lame, poorly developed romance, tryhard male protagonist, pseudo incest, and unnecessary fan service, but that's just the industry now (don't quote me on that). The idea of putting an anime in a medieval game (well sometimes medieval) world is absolute genius and I commend the authors for it.
2. Progression of Story: 0
The problem with this show is its progressions are forced. Jumping from level 70-something to game complete was a mistake, a major mistake. My rating at the time went from a 10 to a 4 although I should've seen it coming when the creators announced how many episodes the series was going to be. This anime is a 200+ episode anime. I am so serious, each and every floor they were on should have had a mini story. They jump 20+ floors in some episodes. Now I've personally never read the novels or mangas or w/e else but more than likely the progressions are similar. Just think about it though the period inwhich they were taking a break from trying to complete the game should have been 25+ episodes. Could you imagine the kind of character development that could have occurred within that time frame? How Kirito and Asuna could have developed a deeper relationship? And finally the part where they started playing that new game should have been a second season all together and also should have shed some more light on all the characters from the original game. Like forreal (real talk for a second) how did Kirito just so happen to find that bartender guy outside of the game? And how did everyone just so happen to like within a apparent 10 mile radius of him? This kind of stuff can be explained it's just that the series lacked the episodes to do so. I can't even give this a 1.
3. Art: 8
The art in respect to characters is very basic and very stereotypical (fitting the 2012 mold perfectly). The real beauty in this show comes from the game and the combat and interfaces within the game. The battle scenes were breath taking, but usually occurred a bit too often (and early) for my liking. The art overall was an 8.
4. Music: 6
The music was very average and sometimes contradicted the game feel the anime was initially giving off. The battle music was basic at best and didn't do much to enhance the scene that much. The music used elsewhere neither wowed me or made me say "What the hell?" The intros were what I expect from anime now. Overall the music gets an average 6 from me.
5. Characters: 1
Just eww? These characters completely lacked development, some guy would just become the bad guy or Kirito and Asuna just fall in love or some error with no basis occurs that results in some supporting character (that become very irritating after like 2 episodes of her *couch* Yui *cough*) appears out of nowhere. Although I was very harsh just then I would like to say the majority of this problem comes from how few episodes there were and how quickly the story had to progress. But to me Kirito seems like he's some annoying gamers whose got his boxers on too tight and his corduroys to high. He seems to high and mighty and hasn't had much to humble him throughout the series resulting in a bland and predictable character. Asuna. Who the fudge is she? Like what the hell, the amount of light shed on her is a little bit better after they "beat" the first game but in reality she wasn't given time to develop and therefore just did stuff (I'm so serious) that characters in anime with this much potential don't do. And there's his obnoxious sister too. Just had to do that didn't you? Could've been anyone else. School friend, IRL girlfriend, even a muthalovin childhood friend. But noooooo you had to go with the BROCON. Das dead (that's all I have to say).
Basically that's the jist of it. A show with so much potential just thrown away.
