Review of Sword Art Online

Reviewing SAO in 2021 is like beating a dead horse but I'm gonna do it just for the sake of it. --Minor spoilers for a 2012 amine-- Story : 7 The first arc was painfully alright. As others might suggest, the first two episodes were great compared to the rest of the season, as it sets the tone and story initially. After that, however, for five episodes straight we get a string of vignettes of our boi Kirito travelling around the world that is SAO (I forgot the name of the world and I don't feel like looking it up) and meeting different side characters that will definitelyplay a big role in the rest of the series *wink wink*. Contrary to what others might say, for all its faults, I enjoyed the "mini-arc". The characters, for what they are and how they appeared, were fun and nice, and the world building in this series is one thing I'll give praise to. It does its job to convey the rules of the world and the world itself decently, and I respect that. That being said, these side characters are mostly used for shaping Kirito's character into a realistic and likeable character.

Somewhere near the end of this mini-arc, the series decided to suddenly return to the main plot. The shift, however, is done in a way that will make you feel like you missed an entire season somewhere in between. The tone goes all over too, from lighthearted to mysterious to action packed all in the span of a few episodes. And this is just the first arc.

The second arc is very forgettable and one of the things that really brought this anime down. The short IRL section in the beginning and the end of this arc was quite nice, I'll say, but 90% of the second half I could barely remember. It feels repetitive and lacks a lot of things that made the first arc watchable, and I'll put it at that.

Art : 8
The animation and general art is lively and great. Not much to say in this regards.

Sound : 9
This is my favorite aspect of the series. The sound during the action scenes are beautifully crafted and is one of the things that sets the fights in this anime from most OP MC isekais out there.

Characters : 3
The two MCs, Kirito and Asuna, are the most cardboard MCs I've seen in anime.

Kirito, our male lead, is the overpowered MC type. Not necessarily a bad thing, I myself may or may not have a certain bias towards this type of character, but Kirito here has nothing that sets him apart from other isekai MCs out there. No personality, no unique dialogue/voice, heck, he even looks generic, nothing. The only characterisation he gets are from the five episode mini-arc from just about the start of the series, and even then he barely ever learned or grew from them. You can argue that the mini-arc was mainly for worldbuilding, and I agree that it does great in that regards, but it is a wasted opportunity for Kirito to not grow during this section, as this arc basically revolved around him. (spoiler) The one tiny bit of characterisation that barely stayed with him is about his regret and inability to save his mates after they died, but that feeling of regret he carries comes on and off every so often. It's like it's made just as a garnish instead of an main ingredient for his motives.(spoiler end)

Asuna, on the other hand, is female Kirito, but with even less character. Nothing much else to be said.

Suguha, Kirito's cousin, is just there, i guess. I barely remembered the second arc I'm not gonna be able to spew out much about her.

This aspect of the series isn't a pathetic 1, however, because for all its faults, the chemistry between Kirito and Asuna works surprisingly well and are more often than not fun to watch. Shame they are pretty much nothing without each other, though. The side characters aren't bad either.

Enjoyment : 6
It's not often that I watch shitty isekai amines with intent to absorb the story and not just as background noise for doing homework, but even when I payed full attention I still can't enjoy the second half of the series. The first half, however, isn't bad by any means, but it is miles from good.

Overall : 6
It's fine. If you're curious about whats the hype with this overly popular series, yea sure check it out, you'll find an alright isekai in the first half and an afterthought in the second.