Review of Sword Art Online

I was absolutely amazed by SAO. Considering the general setting (the fact that players killed in the game also die in the real world) the story is rather lightweight (there won't be many surprises here), and it could have been way darker and sadistic. Instead, it's rather an action-romance. In terms of art-style, character design and sound there isn't much to say. The animation is awesome, the sound effects and music synergize very well with the situations. The characters are pretty straight forward again, not much of hidden pasts, traitors or anything like it. It takes a few episodes until the "main" anime starts, as that is(in my opinion) when Kirito and Asuna actually start hanging around together. So if you are unsure while watching, I would at least wait until those episodes.

Shortly put:
You accompany the two protagonists in getting to know eachother, fighting their way through the game, growing closer and falling in love with eachother, until they finally get to meet in the real world. Both are strong characters, which also is a nice difference to the "strong male lead saves the lady" you see every so often in other animes. This, combined with some emotional dialogues and situations make for an awesome romance between those two, in the end you just want them to finally have their happy end.

As already said, it could be a lot darker considering the general setting, and that probably is what disappoints some people, since it mainly is a romance after all. But for myself, as a fan of action-based romances, SAO is #1 for me. Shedding tears in one moment, and enjoying seeing them beating up enemies as a team in the next.