Review of Sword Art Online

I gave the review a 9 at first. After that I watched people's reviews, I read the light novel, and gave some rewatch, I take it down to 7. It's still one of my favorite anime and it's still fun to rewatch, but this is the kind of anime that you watch along with your meal, skip to the action part maybe, and just chill. This is not one that you try to immerse into the story. Story: 5 Full-dive VR MMORPG turned into a death game of some sort caused by the developer whim(?). The setting is good, with despair portrayed by the breakdown of theplayer when the developer was explaining the flair of the game. What's not to like? And boom, a lot of "side quest" appear which leads the story to strays further from the main plot. It then tried to get back into the main plot, succeed in my opinion, and boom, strays even further. The worst thing that I noticed is there's a little story that is in the light novel but they didn't adapt to the anime, but they mentioned.

Art: 10
This is one of the selling point of SAO. The art is so good. Fantasy world of 100 floors dungeon with cities for the players to live, monster zone for grinding, dungeon to look for the boss and move to next level. All is drawn with absolute beauty that is certain to make anobody (or at least anobody that's a gamer) to think "I wanna be there!". The battle scene is so top tier to make anyone watching to drop their jaw. This is the one that got me hook, line, and sinker.

Sound: 10
Imagine Pirate's of Carribean battle scene with that iconic theme song. Or Sephiroth's One Winged Angel. This is what it felt like for me. I always loved classical music or some choir music of some sort that make a battle scene to be twice intense. Then you see a lake at the country side with trees and blue sky, paired with some chill harp instrument playing that calm your soul. All of that is enveloped by top tier opening and ending songs. This anime really spoil your ears.

Character: 3
Main character is too overpowered. Yes, he got some experience from the beta test (explained from the start), but he started from zero again like everyone else. He tried to be some lone wolf but somehow all girls fell in love to him "at first sight". The girls hold little significant to the story and felt like they're there just to make a harem to the MC. Most of the characters are there like only on one episode somehow disappear.

Enjoyment: 7
This is a bit hard. You will really enjoy this if you just shut your brain and just watch it for the godly battle scenes. But because it really emphasize the story from the beginning, you definitely will seek it, and that's where you'll be dissapointed. If this is a game, this is one of that game you play for its high graphic, cool gameplay, but not the story. If you really want to know the story it's better to read the light novel.

Overall: 7
Despite what other people said, I will still recommend this anime to watch. After all even with all that negative points, it's still fun to watch.