Review of Sword Art Online

When I first watched SAO I never would have guessed how seriously it would try to take itself. Thats not to say that what I watched was bad.... Just that it was flawed and went at it with little to no knowledge of what angle they were taking. Also this anime isn't very representative of genuine human behavior... Just saying, I don't want to spend my life with someone who I did a dungeon with in World of Warcraft. Nor do I plan on f*cking someone who brings me legendary chicken for dinner. Story - The quality of the story seems to fluctuate... a lot... like.... roller-coasterstyle.
Sometimes, the story is really fun, intense. The first few episodes are pretty good, they have everything you need to establish a serious environment. Then it just goes f*cking mental, your main character becomes an emo and now hes fighting Santa Clause.... and i'm just sitting here thinking 'did i miss something?'.

Somewhere along the line, we meet Asuna, who I will go into detail about later. She seems to pick up the plot a bit but after half way through the writers have no idea what to do with her and the story starts going downhill again.

Its very difficult not to spoil anything when writing about the story because anywhere beyond half way through can be considered spoiler territory. So just know that its a bit dodgy here and there, has its moments, its letdowns and its WTF moments but all in all I don't have a problem with the core elements of the story.

Art and Sound -

I don't remember all that much of the sound track, there's nothing that I wanted to add to my playlist that is. Opinions in music is subjective but what I can tell you is that its used well and it does its job of establishing an atmosphere. Same goes for art, where it can. There are no specific quarrels but its not like I had an art exhibition at my finger tips. Although there are some pretty unique, imaginative and beautiful areas that derive from having a fantasy world at your disposal.

Characters -

MMMmmmmkay..... Time to get my Rant hat on.

I have no problem with Kazuto, he can be as emo as he likes whenever he likes. He could be a bit less serious about MMO's every now and then but hey, you're living in a death trap, i'll give you a free pass.

What I have a problem with is Asuna. It seems as if nobody knows what they want her to be. First she's independent and mysterious, then she's strict and commanding then she's dependent and warm then she wants to be 15 and pregnant then she's independent again. Stop. You could argue that this is character development but this sh*t happens in-between episodes. As well as this, they can't decide if they want her to be a heroine or a victim. She's completely passive at one point and then ready to throw down within minutes.

What i'm trying to say on a grander scale is that the relationship that this show is centered around is inconsistent because one of the characters is also inconsistent. Similarly, the relationship is used in so many different ways you can't tell what kind of relationship it is.....
To be totally honest it may even be an illegal one.

Enjoyment -

My enjoyment was kind of cut short half way through when the show decided to turn in the other direction and start again at episode 1 (except the goofy guy I liked is replaced with some whiny preschool student). But in the end, it was kind of fun. The idea was entertaining to indulge and when the writers got the relationship right it was actually pretty effective.

In Conclusion, watch this if you want something to kill time with, don't expect an award winner, expect to find out where a load of anime memes come from though.