Review of Sword Art Online

Review of the English Dub l CONTAINS SPOILERS l This series starts off when a new game (sword art online) is released to the public. It is the most anticipated game and the protagonist (Kazuto Kirigaya) is a beta tester. The day of its release, the players soon find that the logout button has been removed from their in-game menus. The creator of SAO soon announces that it isn't an error but the logout button has been purposefully removed. They must complete all 100 floors of the game in order to escape, but the trick is, if they die in the game they die inreal life.

For starters, SAO's plotline already had me intrigued when I started watching the series. I have currently completed the first season of SAO and 3 episodes of SAO II. What I noticed from the beginning is that the main character is likable, and gives off the "we should stick with him" vibe wherever he goes. He has prior experience with the game (since he was a beta tester) and becomes a lone warrior who fights on the front line. This series in a positive light has many great characters as well as an amazing story line. Each episode leaves you wanting to see another one. The art work is great and really makes you want to explore the fantasy world of Sword Art Online. I really enjoyed watching this series.

Now to the negative. Where Sword Art has its perks it also has its downs. One thing that I noticed when watching SAO was how crammed it seemed.

SPOILER: It manages to wedge them getting trapped in SAO and entering Alfheim Online into a span of 25 episodes. So the characters are supposed to escape 100 floors (which seems like a lot of detail needed) in the span of 14 episodes WHILE leaving room for a complete other story in the 11 episodes they had left?

It seems as if they should have broken Sword Art Online into 1 season (25 episodes) and Alfheim Online into another season instead of splitting a season. This is the main problem the series struggles with.

Secondly issue I see here. Character development seems kind of rushed also. Kirito never really changes at the beginning of the story. It seems like an abrupt transition when they made him more lovey-dovey later on. Overall, the romance in the story kind of got on my nerves.

SPOILER: It started out nice enough by slowly showing the change in emotions between Kirito and Asuna, but then it just out of nowhere throws in "lets get married."

This certainly took me by surprise. It didn't build up to this big transition but just kind of threw it in there. (opinion)

Overall, I would recommend Sword Art Online because its plot and art definitely make up for the holes in the story line. This was an enjoyable show for me and I would recommend watching an episode or two before judging the story.