DESCRIPTION

CAST

NOVEL ActionSword Art Online
SPECIAL ActionSword Art Online: Extra Edition
ANIME ActionSword Art Online II
MOVIE ActionSword Art Online: Progressive - Hoshinaki Yoru no Aria
SPECIAL ComedySword Art Offline
MANGA ActionSword Art Online: Aincrad
MANGA ActionSword Art Online: Fairy Dance
MANGA ActionSword Art Online: Re:Aincrad
MOVIE ActionSword Art Online (Original Movie)
ANIME ComedyEromanga Sensei
SPECIALSword Art Online: FULLDIVE - Opening Eizou

REVIEWS

• 

  aabir

  39/100
  I bitch and whine about SAO's shortcomings for 3k words.

  Sword Art Online (or SAO) is an entry level series for all those that aren't really into watching anime. For seasoned viewers though, its an absolute train wreck. While SAO does function better than most anime on some levels, its weak story and pathetic characters all but wreck the series for the veterans. On the other hand, the new kids on the block are too enthralled by the pretty colors to look past the facade that passes for a story. Now, I'm not saying SAO is bad it has plenty of strong points even the haters will falter against, but that doesn't make it good, now does it? I mean more along the lines of "the cons overweight the pros" in the case of SAO.

  I'm pretty sure you have heard this term overused to kingdom come, but SAO had potential - potential it wasted.

  Note - This review is spoiler free, it might appear that I'm treading into spoiler territory, but I won't. You just gotta trust me on this, okay?

  Artwork and Animation (8/10)
  The artwork is by far the strongest field of SAO, but let's proceed in order here.

  Character Models - After all, what is an anime without a pretty face? The character model hits spot-on with the flagship of Asuna and to a lesser degree Kirito. Both of whom are created quite well and both attract great amounts of fans from either gender. Still, the level of detail in facial features is quite lacking.

  Environment - The environment is lush and green with sprawling cities and major architectural structures which greatly add to the entire "town" atmosphere. With its great amount of detail, it is evident that the entire environment looks great.

  Animation - Broadly speaking, the animation is also quite good - this is especially the case during the fights in which the animation probably plays the biggest part in the immersion. While that may be the case, I noticed that some day-to-day activities seemed to be....cluttery and unsynced (one of many examples would be ep 10, around the 11:42 mark). Now, while that may be an uncommon occurrence, it is still there, and it is helluva annoying when it happens since in one deft move it completely destroys the immersion (and please don't say that animation hadn't progressed that far in end-2012, cause it had, take a look at KSnH, tell me if it happens there). Still, considering how great it is overall, it almost feels like my complaint is nitpicking.

  With all that said, I still won't go as far as to call SAO eye-candy. There are plenty of anime that were released earlier or almost with SAO that look much better than it in terms of Character Models and Animation (KSnH, Durarara, Psycho-Pass, etc). Still, it is undeniable that its environment is among the best of its kind.

  Sound and Music (7/10)
  Some people count the music as one of the stronger points of SAO, while I don't disagree, I don't agree either.
  I agree that it is one the stronger things about SAO.
  I disagree with the implication that it is great - for the sole reason that it isn't.

  Voice acting - I have no qualms about the voice acting and I'm fine either way with voice acting since I don't honestly speak the language. Still, I can feel the emotions in the voice across a totally (not totally, but still) unknown language, and that part is spot-on. Despite that, I don't exactly feel connected to the characters in any way, but that is probably the stupid plot's problem.

  Environment - Now, by environment here, I mean noises in the background, like town chatter or the sound of insects, even the clash of swords. And all of this felt....artificial. And faint, mostly artificial though.
  Now, it is obvious that the cast didn't get real swords and clash them in from of a mic, but still, having such hollow sounding noises just doesn't allow one to immerse themselves in their surroundings. Then, there is the fault of faintness. The background noises are so low below the general talk volume that it almost feels neglected.

  Background Music - The background music is mostly just violin and guitar, which sounds perfect for more...emotional scenes, but for the action scenes, there isn't any strong or intense BGM to really bring the feel of the battle. Yeah, there is some light drumming and something that sounds like a faint and repetitive dong, but it just doesn't quite do its job. If you would better have an example, then try watching ep10 or ep14 of SAO, skip to the fight scene, watch it, and then watch ANYTHING from SnK. You will understand the difference something like background music can make.

  OP and ED - The OP01 (Crossing Field - by Lisa) wasn't quite good enough. It was good, but not good enough. Yeah, it had a great AMV, but other than that it gets boring really fast, and even then it probably wasn't worth adding to your playlist anyways. The other memorable entry in the music section is ED02 (Overfly - by Haruna Luna) which is just great. Its definitely worth listening to, even though it has a somewhat weak AMV. The others (OP02 and ED01) were both fairly average, nothing that I will waste my time with though.

  Sorry, couldn't find the AMV, but I linked the official video.

  Story (10/30)
  The story section marks the beginning of the downfall of SAO. Yeah, we were at the supposedly good sections before.

  Premise - The premise relies around a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called, well, SAO which is supposed to be a real craze, and after the release everyone buys it in a hurry. Sadly, after just a short while, they realize that they can't log out and return to their normal lives, they are forever trapped in the game because the creator conveniently backstabbed them into staying in the game forever and if they die, they die forever. Because game developers totally destroy their own lives and deconstruct their hard work by creating a game which allows them to annoy totally random greasy neckbeards for reasons unknown (and never revealed)

  Still, I can't deny that the premise has potential. Plenty of potential in the MMO genre considering that most of the anime viewerbase plays one online game or the other, and it is always fun to watch something you can directly relate to. Sadly, SAO took all that, built people's hopes until episode 2 and then cut those hopes to little bits.

  Execution
  The execution is just that - an execution. An execution of all the potential and the hopes that were put into SAO by viewers everywhere. It is almost as if SAO as a series is a facade that does exactly what it portrays happens - A creator destroys the hopes of no-lifers everywhere. Despite its rather solid premise, SAOs power lasted only until ep2, after which the next few episodes were just filler crap about how Kirito can steamroll over everything ever - and all by himself! As any MMO player ever will tell you, going solo is the best way of getting killed, no matter what your skill level is. It is an inherent fault in humans as a whole that they will make mistakes. One wrong step, one slow dodge, and you are dead. Forever. This is especially true at higher levels with more and more intelligent and powerful enemies that just can't be taken down solo. Despite being an advanced gamer, Kirito doesn't understand such basic things and goes solo against great odds- and wins where entire teams of his level fail. Because why the fuck not, he is kirito.

  Honestly, that is the explanation for all of the events in the series. "Why the fuck not, he is Kirito" Nothing else is needed, he is stronger than dozens of people of his level and he can break the game using sheer rage as his weapon. Because why the fuck not, he is kirito.

  This is literally the only thing that happens until Episode 9. After that, the story somewhat continues, but having already broken its momentum, it falls straight on its face, because, let's face it - Nothing happened the past few episodes. Episode 10 seems like it will finally be able to recreate, maybe even rekindle SAO's flame -and it does to some point- but then comes episode 11, which destroys even that and goes back to its filler bullshit.
  and stays there until it thinks "oh well, maybe I should end this arc". Then it does some stuff and the arc ends. Just like that. The next arc is totally spoiler territory, so not gonna discuss it. If you want a concise description though - Its shit. Even worse than the first arc.

  Now, let's do a quick review of its genres and how well they were pulled it off.

  Action - Mostly okay-ish, its lacking through the entire series and the biggest reason for that (besides the BGM support and the filler crap) is that it ends too quickly. And there is honestly nothing to lose, we all know Kirito is gonna lolwtfpwn everything, hardly makes me give a crap or even get excited.

  Adventure - Don't know what classifies as adventure in your books, but pretty sure its supposed to be a challenge.

  Game - Well, its in a game...so, yeah.

  Romance - Terrible, terrible romance. Mostly because the time jump (forcing two and a half years worth of stuff in 5 episodes) really messed everything up and doesn't allow for a sensible start (or end) to the genre. The romance is therefore extremely rushed. It resolves, but who gives a crap if it isn't gonna build up?

  Shounen - Big boobed pretty gamer girls and wish-fulfillment OP MC who every girl digs Yeah, sounds like shounen to me.

  Characters [4/30]
  The characters are, by far the weakest link in the chain of SAO. The characters are bland, unbelievable, undeveloped, and if they aren't Kirito or Asuna, probably pathetically weak. and most probably dead by the end of the episode they appeared in.

  Kazuto Kirigaya (also, Kirito) - He acts as the MC and also as the Gary Stu. As I already pointed out, he rolls over everything and anything. He is probably the height of a wish fulfilling character. He is strong, everyone depends on him, women love him, he is cool as shit (doesn't use a shield, uses a single sword, goes solo and doesn't afraid of anything) and he gets all the girls. Like, ALL of them despite actually being a shut-in betafan. Once again, because why the fuck not? He is kirito.

  Asuna Yuuki - As someone who loves a strong female lead (and even reads crappy shoujo if it means having one) I loved Asuna from the get go, she seemed strong, independent and pretty cool (okay, I sound like a feminist now, I promise I'm not) but then her character changed (one of the few character to have a character development, btw) and then she became a 1860's housewife. Like, really. Her entire point was to look cute, and be a total burden to everyone around her by being absolutely useless. After the first two episodes, she always needs kirito to save her. in episode 10, when kirito is paralyzed by the poisoned water she comes to his rescue, but then it is kirito that finishes off the enemy, not her. Then of course, we have ALO which was ridiculous from her point as she became a damsel in distress.In ALO, you could replace her with a shiny sword that kirito REALLY wants and the story won't change the least bit.

  Suguha Kirigaya - Cousin and adoptive sister of kirito and pointless other than as a imouto type character who looks cute and shit while kirito kills everything. She also has a incest subplot or some shit that never really resolves or whatever (I told you ALL the girls love him, right?)

  Other than that is the support crew which don't achieve jack shit and just sit around (or die), none of these have any developments at all, and I would write more, but shit's been giving me a headache.

  Enjoyment (10/20)
  While SAO is enjoyable if you close your eyes and make yourself oblivious (on purpose or otherwise) to its faults, it really doesn't have anything of substance. It does its job as a starter anime quite well by roping in people who don't care about anime, but that is really all SAO is, it holds nothing for a viewer that appreciates a story or even wants something interesting. Because even though SAO tries very hard to mask its faults (and succeeds against most of the people that watch it), upon hindsight, you can't help but glare at all the holes and say "Did I honestly enjoy this piece of crap?"

  That only applies to the first arc by the way, the second arc is so shit it isn't even masked anymore. It holds nothing for the educated viewer, but it still holds the world for the oblivious one.

  Final Verdict - 39/100
  Its shit.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  Deoran

  74/100
  SAO re-review (original was 3 years ago) [Old Score: 6.2] [New Score 7.4]

  Sword Art Online Review – 3 Years Later - Written on 18/3/2016

  (Edited on 21/08/2016 to correct spelling errors, phrasing and typo's)

  Now, that is an interesting title, isn’t it? What on earth do I mean by, three years later? As I write this, here is something I thought I would never actually bother re-writing or even re-watching. I had an opinion of it about 3 years ago, my first review actually, back when I was around 14, going on 15. I reviewed the show shortly after it aired, about 6 months after, and well, let’s just say I was quite harsh on the show, the characters, and some of the plot points. 3 years later, as I am just shy of turning 18, I decided to re-watch it. And I did, both seasons, and within a week or so. Do yeah, kind of like a weird, split binge watching thing.
  Look back and reading the review I wrote then originally on MAL, which I brought over here, I have to be honest. It was pretty terrible. Not just the writing, but after re-watching the series, I realised in terms of several factual pieces of evidence I used were, well, how shall we put it. Kind of wrong…. Mainly it was only concerning the first half in which I had issues with the problems with the facts I brought being slightly factually incorrect, but I also felt I was too brief on my talking about the second half of season 1. I have yet to review season 2, so that will be done later I gave it a much higher score, so I won’t feel any need to edit or modify it. I feel, in my idea of expecting way too much of it when I first watched it, due to the terrible thing we call ‘over-hype’, as well as the fact that I feel being younger, and much more influenced by popular opinion, and my annoyance over the fact of just how amazing it could be, slightly skewed my review, and my general thoughts on the show. Also, I never thought I would be saying this, but dear god, I felt I was a little too harsh on Kirito. Yes, I said it, and sadly he has to jump off my hated characters list. And, so I decided to re-write it. Given the show, this is going to be very different from a review I usually do. It is going to be much longer and in a totally different format. It is kind of not only a review, but a discussion of the basis for the fact that I changed the score I originally gave for SAO season 1.

  Score 2013 – 6/10
  Score 2016(after re-watch): 7.4/10
  

  As you can see, that is a fair bit of a jump, and since changing a score like that is quite weird, I felt like I needed to pen my thoughts on this particular issue. Forget the hate, forget the love, forget popular or unpopular opinions. This is purely my own thoughts, and something I felt I had to write given what a polarising show this was when it first aired, with the haters, with the lovers, and those in-between. It was an interesting, and sometimes quite, ahh, shall we say, ridiculous thing that happened when people started arguing like little children over in reality, what was in fact, fiction. A made up story, meant to watched, to be enjoyed, whether you enjoyed it or not is beside the point. It was what it was, and whatever you say is not going to change that. The past will not change, but it will affect the future in some ways. That seems like not only a very vague and weird statement to utter in a review of what is in fact, fiction, nothing that is really important to the world, or the grand scheme of things. But it illustrates the point I am trying to make. There is no use crying over spilt milk, we just need to make sure we don’t knock it over again. So, settle down, it’s a long read, and hopefully it will be an interesting one.

  Plot and Story:

  So, we know the setting. Any geeks, I am joking, of course, I meant any gamers wildest dreams and something frankly I would love, just utterly love to be a part of. Virtual Reality, specifically speaking, a VRMMORPG, or in layman’s terms, a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. What a mouthful. We will just call it Fantasy World, because that is pretty much what it is. Or we could use the game actual name, you know, Sword Art Online. The latest craze, the anime’s version of World of Warcraft, or League of Legends. People line up for days, spending time that could definitely be spent doing better things, but screw it. Let’s play some Virtual Reality games.
  And so, when they load in this wonderful world, oh, how magical it is. Until fate decides to turn it into some sort of warped survival game. Yes, the creator locks them all in the game, removing the logging out button, and essentially turning the concept of death in a fantasy world to reality. When you think about it actually, from a product standpoint, the NeverGear was terrible. Everything from being able to be hacked, to being able to kill you thought microwave signals. You would think they would work out kinks like this before the sell, but I guess not.
  Enter our main protagonist, our ‘Lord and Saviour’, Kirito. Or Kirigaya to use his real name. I am obviously joking about the Lord and Saviour part (see obvious quotes), but given how OP he is made during the entire run of the show, it might as well be true. But that will be discussed later. Said Kirito is a loner, an introvert of sorts who locked himself away in a virtual world, only to be quite shocked when he ends up being trapped in one. He is also a Beater, or a Bata-Tester, hated by several in-game players, who are all now trapped as they believe they left them alone to die and took all the good places.

  Clearly, they were all utter idiots. Anyone knows that Beta-Testers are the main reason we can sometimes have games with several kinks worked out, having pre-gained knowledge for all the new characters, as one specifically points out. Anyway, I am meandering a bit here, but the goal is to clear all 100 floors, progressively getting harder until they beat the final level, and gain salvation and freedom, being able to escape the game. That is essentially the story more or less for the first half. And before I go into detail in the meat of this thing, let me just say, with only the first half of season 1, this would be scored higher than it already is, around something like an 8.4/8.5. So we quickly go through some brief one-episode character arcs from episode 2-4 roughly, and episode 7, introducing four new characters, despite the fact that only three of them actually got a mini-arc/episode dedicated to them.

  There is Silca, the Dragon-Tamer, slight stereotypical Tolkien like character, Sachi, who has a few emotional moments, Kline, the swordsman who sadly we don’t get to really see much of in terms of a story arc, and finally, the blacksmith Lizbeth, or as it should actually be, Elizabeth. More or less, for one reason or the other, they fall in love with Kirito by the end of their one-episode arc. Knowing how the plot is going to go given how simple it is to guess, you know they have absolutely no chance of ending up with the main MC. They, as much of a stereotype as some of them were, still ended up being enjoyable characters, and ones I frankly wanted to see a lot more of. More of that on the character part. They more or less disappear for the rest of the show, while we focus for the episode 5-6,and 8-12/13 episodes on our main duo, Kirito, and Asuna, and generally the romantic plotline between them. It was actually pretty decent, if not a bit rushed and feeling forced at certain points. We then conclude the first half with the climatic and rather interesting ending between episodes 13 and 14.

  We then move onto the second half, Alfheim Online, or Fairy Dance. Here is where I feel things started to go slightly downhill. Due to spoilers, certain events happening at the end of the first half, Asuna is more or less relegated to a supporting role, and we focus heavily on Kirito, and his cousin, Suguha. Slightly spoiler territory below. As weirdly common in a fair few anime, no shit, she likes her brother or cousin. They keep on using the words interchangeably despite the fact that they both know that they are in fact, loosely related. I still to this day find the whole idea of this sibling/cousin love, call it what you will. To this day, I seriously consider asking myself, ‘Is this a common thing in Japan, this idea of forbidden love?’ I know they are not related by blood, so it isn’t really, but still. It made to wonder, sometimes, why? Is it normal Japan? Doing things, the full Oremio route and going with the vague, ‘incest is wincest’ mentality? It does not apply here too much, given they are cousins, but they still are family? I felt they could have actually kind of explored that idea, but we all know, regardless, she had no chance in hell, not with Kirito fawning over Asuna, seemingly blinded to the fact that he is indeed, rather popular, and being dense, he fails to see so…. That’s nothing new, so I won’t elaborate. So it ends, on episode 25, and SAO S1 is done, and Asuna through the plotline is relegated back to the main character. So, now onto the most interesting thing. The characters themselves.

  Characters:

  The characters, like Kirito’s love interests, come in all shapes and sizes, with varying degrees of attention paid to them. Apart from the falling plot in the second half, the characters are where some of the major problems lie. With Kirito’s OPness, how they slightly ruined Asuna’s character in the second half, and how underused the supporting cast was. Of course, by supporting cast, I am talking about Silca, Lizebth, Kline. You will notice I missed one. Spoiler-wise, something happens which renders her not to be put in the same bag as the rest of them. That is a spoiler if I told you.
  My problem was the fact that they were slightly interesting characters, and they could have been fleshed out much more. As far as I know, yes, I know their arcs are actually compressed all into one light novel volume in the original source material, but go that extra mile. Why did we see so little of them? Putting season 2 aside, where we do eventually see more of them, but apart from the ending episode, we don’t see them. Not at all……….

  That frankly was a shame. They could have really been interesting characters, ones I could have liked and connected with, yet they were ignored. They were given one episode, one god-damn episode, and the shelved. The dynamic between them and Kirito, while predictable, was still a dynamic of some sorts that I enjoyed. When you create characters that have the ability to be seen as possibly being interesting people, and then you ignore them, what the hell was the point of adding them? To make Kirito get a harem? To help him get over his introverted self? To help heal some past wounds? Give me a point god-dammit. I want to know about these characters.
  What about Kline. Sure, he pops in here and there to make sure we know he did not die, but still, why not have a short arc for him Why not have him and Kirito go on some adventure, some quest to help clear the game in the first half? Why did we choose to ignore him, to not see any of him? They could have easily made the first arc, SAO, longer, and fleshed out these characters. Sure, Alfhiem Online might have had to be pushed in later, but then why not make it longer than 25 episodes. I have not read the light novels, so I do not know if this was a material adaptation issue, but they could have spent more time in SAO, fleshing out the world, the characters, making it feel more alive. They could have done that, and they didn’t.

  Even in the second half, when they have mostly all escaped SAO as the game was cleared by Kirito, they never appear. I know it is meant to focus on Suguha, Kirito and Asuna to a lesser extent, but why not at least give us more of these characters before the ending episode. We know they won’t be love interests, as Kirito only has eyes for Asuna, so why not give us some character building. Give us some reason to believe, maybe even vaguely that they have a chance. Maybe they felt like they could not play an MMO for a while, but given how acted in the final episode, clearly, that was not true. Even if it was, why did we not at least get some good, real-world experiences with them? They were trapped in the game for 2 years for crying out loud. It was a simple thing that could have been great, but we were never given it. And to me, that was a true tragedy.
  Onto a lighter note, the dynamic between Kirito and Asuna was actually pretty good. I really must have had my eyes closed the first time, as for some reason I felt they hooked up and fell in love in just two episodes, but there was a variety of scenes that occurred in the six episodes before the final two that show them working more with each other, and growing closer. I do feel the ending of that thing was slightly rushed, but it still was enjoyable to watch. Despite my distaste for Kirito being too OP, they were an enjoyable couple to watch. There I said it, I actually enjoyed the romance slightly between them. It was nothing amazing, but it was not terrible either. They played off each other a bit, even if it did feel like they were playing House for a while, in like episode 11 and 12, where they introduce a new character, Yui. While there were some emotion scenes with her, I found it nice to see that in only two episodes, I slightly felt an attachment to the character, so much that I felt sad at a certain point when shit hits the fan regarding her. I know she is a core plot device to further both Asuna’s and Kirito’s relationship, and that is why she was given at least two episodes, but even if the other side characters mentioned above were given just two episodes each as well, it would have probably been much better.

  Even our villain, the creator of SAO, even masquerading as one of the players in the game was an interesting and decent villain. I do feel they did not give him the credit her deserved, though. I expected them to go more into detail into his reasons behind SAO, but they just lightly beat around the bush and end it there. They did go a bit into the meanings, and the reasons behind his actions, but they could have gone much better.
  The thing is, for all that I complain about the problems, the benefits, the great music, the amazing art outweighed that. The interesting, but ignored characters take a hit to the score, but the awesome character of Asuna and the tolerable character of Kirito gives it bonus points. My only beef with him and the light novel author is how terribly OP they made him, to the point of the only thing you think about is, ‘How is Kirito going to win’. Because him losing for some reason, does not compute… It made it so much harder to connect with him as a character. He acted more like an object, a plot device to move the story along many times, rather than actually being a life, breathing character. He had some of his moments, but they were greatly outnumbered by his OPness, and the ability to magically cheat the system many times. It is not believable if he always wins…

  The second half is where shit hits the fan. Mainly for four reasons. Asuna, Suguha, and our terrible, terrible, melodramatic villain, and a plot that matches such a terrible character. I don’t know how the light novel was, but if it was the same, I fell, it is kind of sad. For one, the plot line itself is so cliché, it’s not funny. It really isn’t, it’s just downright nauseating. Not only that, they ruined some of the characters. Asuna goes from being an awesome, OP badass person to someone who has to be saved by her man, Kiriro, and pretty much delegates to the Princess Peach role. That is meant to plot, so I can slightly forgive the anime as it is only following the source material, but still, even given the story, they could have done it in such a way that it did not downgrade the character. What about that rape-esque scene near the end of season 2? We know the villain is kind of like a sexual deviant, a crazed one at that. It just felt melodramatic to me. Like it was shoved into the make the thing seems more serious, or to anger Kirito? I don’t really know. To me, it felt really like a forced way for you to just hate the main villain more. More on him later.
  Now moving on to Suguha. I don’t have too many problems with her, but rather the same thing as the other supporting characters. We see her relegated to just another girl in Kirito’s harem by the end of it. And through the course of it, it is her coming to terms with the fact that her cousin/brother is indeed in love with someone else, and that she is not even close to a relative competitor for that affection. To be fair, it is nice she realises this at the end, which is good, but why was this the plot device that we needed? Could they not have done it in a more interesting way? Yes, I still enjoyed the episodes of Fairy Dance, almost all of them, even with their problems, but it could have been a much more interesting, a much more dynamic story than just another day in Kirito’s growing harem of girls who clearly have no chance of getting together with him.
  So why do they only focus on a romantic point of view? You know, male and female, they can be friends without this thing called ‘Love’ getting in the way. The characters are clearly aware they have no chance, so why did they not explore them in other ways, other avenues? I can’t fault them for not doing in SAO, as they had to make time for Kirito’s and Asuna’s relationship, but that was not an issue in the second half. It was established what the status quo was, so why could they not be brought in alongside Kirito and Suguha. You could still focus on her plot line even with allies, friends, not love interests working together, playing off one another, keeping a team dynamic. Given some of the relationships between these supporting characters and Asuna, would it not make more sense to have them help with the plot-point of the second half? Those who have not seen it ​will understand when they watch it, and for those who have, I am pretty sure you know what I am talking about. Which two characters I am talking about.

  Now, onto the final point of this part, and the end of the review before the conclusion. If you have stuck around this long, well, I appreciate you taking the time to read it. The villain for the second half who shall not be named. What an utter retard! Seriously, he fails fundamentally as a villain. He is the main reason for the second half taking a downward spiral, and the way the plot also plays a role. A villain, no matter how evil, needs to be effective. To be effective, they need to be believable. To be believable, they need to have a motive. The villain for the second half lacks each and every single regarding that point. If the show just wrote off his actions as a crazy, psychopathic, sexual deviant, I could understand. There would be no reason, he is just plain crazy. It looked like they tried to do that, but I doubt it. I might be giving them too much credit. I would have no problem with such a motive, you know, just being crazy, but we need to know why then. What made him into the deranged individual he was? What made him act the way he did, do the things he did. If that is not the case, then what, pray, is his motive? We never learn this, we never get this explained. All we are told is he is evil, and that’s it. So, why? He comes off so cliché that it is laughable, pitiable. Especially with the pseudo-rape scene at the end, why? It was just another way to say he is evil. Or look, he is doing this bad thing, and this bad thing, and this terrible thing too.
  I will not mention them, as they are plot spoilers. If you want an effective villain, he needs to be believable. To be believable, he needs to have what we call a backstory. We don’t get one. He is evil, simply because he is evil, and that is all there is to it. That is the problem. A lot of the second half revolves around stopping his actions and his final goal, and that is it. End of story, drain the plug, close the flood-gates. There is no need to learn how a dam is built or works, right? All you need to know is what it is used for. That is not right, and that is perhaps the biggest, monumental plot hole the entire second half has. It is the main reason the score was knocked down because of the second part. Because, without context, without reason, it simply makes little to no god-damn sense. It feels really nice to get that out on paper.

  Conclusion:

  You will notice I omitted the Art and Sound portion of this. There is no reason to talk about it, as it is A-1 Pictures, so the art is as you would expect. One of their best works, with a soundtrack to match. Amazing visuals that I could watch all day. That is all you need to know about it.
  So, my final thoughts are this. It was a decent series. It was not as bad as some made it out to be, and nowhere near as good as the people who praised it like the sun. It had good, it had bad, and it had terrible. But at the end of the day, I would still recommend someone to watch this. Why? For one, to see how certain aspects can prevent a show from shining like a diamond in the rough. The other thing I could sit down here and write a much longer essay in detail on the bad, and the good.
  The thing is, there are good things in this series, things I really loved. It is just there is unfortunately negatives that simply get in the way. The reason why I recommend it is because, even if you find problems with it, even if you see it’s flaws, at the end of the day, I would be lying to you if I did not say I enjoyed pretty much most of the episodes. I enjoyed, I had fun, and I don’t feel my time was wasted. I can complain all I want, but at the end of the day, that does not change the fact that I enjoyed it, the fights, the characters, the art and sound, and several plot points and elements. My only regret is that it could have been so much more. I don’t know if it was the studio, the source material, or both, but it had the potential to be one of the most amazing shows released in the year. Sadly, it fell far from my that, and that, ladies and gentlemen, and readers of this long review-ish thing, is truly a shame and a tragedy. So, if you stuck around this long, congratulations. Go see it if you have not and make your own decision. It had its problems, but at the same time, I won’t say my time was wasted watching it. Because it wasn’t, and despite the negatives, I did enjoy it.

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• 

  kiriash

  80/100
  A thoughtful, incredibly long review from a person who really enjoyed Sword Art Online.

  THIS REVIEW IS 100% BIASED (and there are spoilers so be warned)

  (I updated the "final score" to reflect a more subjective view of the anime without personal bias)

  Well, now that i've gotten that out of the way, here is MY PERSONAL review of the anime Sword Art Online. It probably is unfitting of what most people say (I've heard every negative thing said about SAO). However, there is a reason why Sword Art Online is my favorite anime to this day. I'll start with my personal reasons on why I gave it a score of 10.

  To put it simply: The rating of 10 comes from personal enjoyment. Was this anime perfect? No. Was this anime flawed in a lot of ways? Yes. Do I care? NOPE! At the time I decided to watch SAO, I had previously been unexposed to the action genre. Being a young ish (16 yr old at the time) female I typically enjoyed romance and shoujo anime. So SAO was something quite new and exciting for me to pick up. It was nothing like I had ever seen before, so of course at first I did not notice the flaws in storyline and progression that everyone seems to point out (at first anyway). To me, I simply adored the mix of action and romance, considering I still loved watching romance in anime. I will go into more details about this when I discuss characters, but my point is that the combination of action (something new) mixed with romance (something I loved) in a cool stuck-in-a-game setting was REALLY EXCITING to me. I soon fell in love with almost all the characters (talking about you, Silica...) and became a huge fan of the series from then on. I have re-watched the whole anime (both seasons) 4 times, so as that shows, I definitely know my way around the series.

  Now with that aside, I will rate some aspects of the anime like music, characters, story (with some bias obviously, as I stated above)!

  Animation
  This one is a 10/10 stars for me. SAO had (and has) a pretty large production budget. When you compare it to anime like Log Horizon, you can tell the difference (not to bash on Log Horizon). Many talented animators were brought in to work on this anime, and it is especially apparent with its brilliant action scenes, lively colors, and beautiful landscapes and scenery. I could go on and on, but I believe I have made my point.

  Soundtrack
  Again, a 10/10 for me. The main battle theme Swordland is very memorable, and to this day gives me chills. It is no surprise that SAO has excellent music, as very talented Yuki Kajiura provided works for OST. Most people probably know she's done music for other well received anime such as Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero and so on. Every theme is fitting and I still listen to the OST to this day. All the openings and endings are catchy and I personally enjoy them. Overall, a stunning soundtrack for a stunning anime!

  Characters
  Oooh boy, one of the places where SAO gets bashed a ton. "Here we have the main protagonist: completely lifeless, pointlessly overpowered, boring personality. Then we have the badass female lead who turns into a cookie-cutter tsundre". I'm here to explain why I believe that those characters are more than what people negatively say about them. Personally, the characters section gets a solid 7/10. While there are some good characters, there are definitely places where this anime fails to deliver in its characters. To explain, let's start with the good: none other than Kirito (let me remind anyone reading again that this is my personal opinion)~

  Kirito is my favorite character in the series. At the start, his personality comes across as a cold, introvert. He has trouble making everyday small talk, and this is portrayed very well. As he is a loner, he enjoys playing solo and does not like forming parties (he has trouble finding a partner for the first boss raid). However, we can see that as the course of the anime goes on, certain things happen to him to shape his personality. He goes through heartbreak, does things he regrets, and finds it within himself to beat the death game for a very compelling and heartwarming reason. In my opinion, Kirito is the most interesting character in the whole series. I do not find him boring, and despite all things, I actually find him somewhat relatable. People criticize saying it is hard to empathize with someone who is too perfect, but I disagree. During all his hardships, I truly felt his pain, I could feel real emotion from him as he fought battles and escaped near-death situations.

  So maybe he is a tad overpowered for his own good (hacking the game console, really?) However, is that REALLY bad? I don't find it to be. Sure, it might have been cool to see some progression from when he started off as being a "noob", but hey, he was a former beta tester after all, and seems to have a decent knowledge of games in general. That alone can explain why Kirito is a much better player than the majority of the 10,000 who are trapped. There are (unfortunately) some major time skips that happen which fail to show any progression from his character (more on this in the story section), and after a two year time skip, he is leaps and bounds better. Unfortunately, we do not get to see this development. It just happens. However, I don't feel like this limits his character. You can still see his character develop in other ways as he finds his romantic interest, and begins to see a future that involves her. His personality is shaped by the interactions he has with the people around him, and the experiences he goes through. From his guilt of killing the moonlit black cats, to facing Akihiko Kayaba at the end, to nearly dying by a laughing coffin member, and so on. You will start to see how his mindset goes initially from it being all about himself and how he was going to survive... to turning the focus on saving Asuna. A shift from selfish to selfless. This continues to show through in the second half of the first season all the way to the second. He is always determined to keep his party members alive. I loved his determination, how he never gave up. His sheer passion for what he was doing was incredible to watch. I could really see how much he loved Asuna, and how much he was willing to do to clear the game.

  Another negative aspect that people say about Kirito is that he gets a special skill: Dual Blades. How could this be? Why is he the only one? Well, Kayaba (the creator of SAO) stated very clearly that this skill was awarded to the player with the fastest reflexes, or someone that he thought would be the one to beat the game. That may not reflect how games are played in real life, and to that I say SAO is NOT a typical game! This is a fantasy game, in a fantasy world, and of course, it does not need to reflect how things are done in our real world, period.

  Before this gets too long, I want to state that I do see where his character has flaws, but to me, the good outweighs the bad. It didn't stop me from absolutely loving him as a character. I know not many will agree with me on this, but this is what I truly believe.

  Asuna is another great character (my second favorite). We can see some fantastic character development in the first season as she goes from seriousness, to learning how to love the dire situation she was in. Although she was trapped in the world of SAO, she didn't hide herself in the town of beginnings, but rather ventured out to clear the game. Even though she had never played a game in her life, she decided that living in fear wasn't going to be an option. In my opinion, that takes courage. In the Mothers Rosario arc, we also see lots more much needed back story of her home life, and we can see how the effects of Sword Art Online make things troubling at home.

  Overall, I can see how people say that Asuna is a "cookie cutter character", however, I think she has more complexity than that. For critics, she is too "tsundre", but again, is that a bad thing? (Toradora's Taiga... hello?) It may be typical and not unique however, I think Asuna goes beyond her "lackluster tsundre trope". For one, she is essential to the story, not only as Kirito's love, but for the sole fact that Kirito and Asuna are a great team. We can see how her experiences in the death game evolve her personality into becoming someone who would risk her own life to save the one she loves. I personally enjoyed her spunk and and feminine, yet badass personality.
  I loved seeing such a strong female lead in this anime. At times, she may be slightly shadowed by her counterpart Kirito, but that does not make her any less of a character (more so in the second part of the first season). She and Kirito make a fantastic couple. I was delighted while watching the romance between them ensue. They might have been young, but it was pleasant, and heart-warming to see.

  Finally, I have a very quick note on Yui. Personally, I found her as an addition to the family to be extremely cute, which further bonded Kirito and Asuna's relationship. Yui could be seen as a cheat device, but I think the complexity of Yui being an artificial intelligence, yet seemingly having real life emotions adds to the futuristic setting we are in (2024). Yui was created to assist players with mental health problems, but she was attracted attracted to Kirito and Asuna because they were among the few players who still managed to laugh and be happy despite dire situation they were in. She managed to defy the game master and help Kirito and Asuna, something that goes beyond what a normal AI should be able to do. I found that connection between them to be adorable especially the fact that she was their adoptive daughter!

  Now, to try to wrap things up, I'm going to quickly say a few things about the rest of the characters in general. Unfortunately, I believe that some characters were useless in SAO. Silica and Liz are the two that stand out in this category. To me, they did not add much to the story of value, and seemed to be more filler than anything. Other characters like Klien and Agil were great, however, I wish they had more screen time.
  Sinon and Yuuki were well fleshed out characters as well, however, this review will become way too long if I start talking about that. Suguha, or Leafa is another character that had complexity, however, I personally was not a fan of her incest love for her brother. Some of the villains are too stereotypically villain-y (at least that is what most people tend to say), but it did the job (and made me hate them). Overall, there were some issues with characters, but for the sole reason that the two main characters were great, I still can find enjoyment with the rest.

  Story
  This one gets a 10/10 for me. It has a fantastic plot. I mean, come on, trapped in a VIRTUAL REALITY video game? That with the added "if you die in the game, you die in real life" factor makes this incredibly fascinating to watch. It was a concept that I had never thought of before. That is one of the reasons why I loved it so much the first time I watched it.
  Moving on to the second half, the whole story of saving Asuna is loathed by many, but I found that half to be very moving and driven, as you can see Kirito's determination very apparently in this arc as well (especially when he makes attempts to get to the top of the world tree). I did not mind that Asuna was a "damsel in distress" in this case. I loved seeing Kirito's love for Asuna continue to shine through his actions. The downside? It took the compelling death game aspect away, which lowered the stakes in a way. It wasn't a huge problem for me though.

  The Gun Gale Online arc attempted to bring back the death game aspect with death gun (who looks and sounds way too much like darth vader by the way) It was enjoyable, but there was a lack of Asuna which wasn't my favorite, especially since Sinon was a LITTLE too comfortable with Kirito in that cave....

  The 3 episode arc in between GGO and Mother's Rosario is nothing special. Basically a side quest for a sword. That's it.

  The Mother's Rosario arc featured Asuna and some new characters. Easily the second most emotional arc there is in SAO. I really loved the focus on Asuna, and how much emotion and character development there was. (Sorry about the shallow reviews and summaries here, but I've been at this for two hours and I'm starting to feel like this review is too long!!)

  Plot Execution
  The worst part of SAO in my opinion (however, this does NOT influence how I feel overall about it). I give it a 6/10. Like I mentioned earlier, there are too many time skips, too many pointless, filler episodes, and I sometimes wish that the anime could be redone but using the progressive novels instead of the original light novels. I also wish there was more focus on the Aincrad arc. Stopping mid season felt so unfinished (although, it was an interesting plot twist. I definitely was not expecting that), as even critics agree that the Aincrad arc was easily the best part of SAO. So with those critical flaws, the ideas and story were great, just poorly executed in my opinion if I will be honest. However, this does not change how I feel about SAO as a whole. As I stated above, my 10 score is based on my enjoyment I have had for the anime, so the negative aspects don't bother me!

  I'm going to go ahead and end the review here. I could easily continue writing this and polish my thoughts even more. However, that is for another time. Kudos to you if you read this far. I bet you're a hardcore SAO fan like me, haha (or heck you might be a hater trying to comprehend how I could even think the way I do). Anyhow, I hope this shows you why I personally loved Sword Art Online so much. Even though I know lots hate it, there are also those like me who love it. Here's hoping this essay explained that thoroughly. Until next time!

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