Review of Sword Art Online

The biggest flaw of this anime is the pacing. I'm sure that if you've read or seen other reviews of SAO, you've seen this comment before. The story is incredibly choppy, finding entirely too convenient scenes to show while disregarding character development in favor of fan service and really, focusing on the wrong things. Most of the episodes feel like fillers while the most important stuff seems to happen off-screen. The art, on the other hand, is pretty good. The fight scenes are great, as is the way the virtual world is integrated into the setting. The female characters, of course, are pretty sexualized, andsome of the armor seems questionably "powerful" as it's made out to be. Otherwise, no complaints.

The music is pretty much the best thing about this anime: especially the OST and the first opening. It's well integrated into the story, and makes the epicness of the fight scenes seem more epic.

The characters are flat. Asuna seemed to have potential but was then crushed back into being a stereotypical Princess Peach. Kirito is Eren Jäger. Most of the other characters, especially female ones, exist solely for convenience's sake. Also, incest.

However, I enjoyed watching this show – for who knows what reasons. It's a good mindless anime to watch when you're bored that has its moments.