Review of Sword Art Online

When I first watched Sword Art Online I loved it! But once I thought more about the plot and development of characters, I felt SAO really fell short of what it could have been. Despite its issues, I still think SAO an enjoyable anime to watch. I am going to be reviewing both the first and second season separately. Please knowledge that all of this is my opinion :) It has been quite a while since I have watched the actual series so I am sorry if some of the details are a little off. JUST A NOTE: I have excluded sound (it was good justnot much to say) and my enjoyment level of the series is clear if you read about it :)

Characters

This is an area that SAO fell very short in. Despite some interesting designs and concepts, I felt like most of the characters were very poorly developed. In both SAO and Alfheim the characters (with exception to Kirito, Asuna, Suguha, and maybe Yui) hardly got any development past first impression. I was disappointed that side characters hardly got any screen time or development throughout the 25 episodes, which could have greatly improved the series. For example, Klein could have been a great character, and I would have loved to have seen an arch featuring Klein and his clan/buddies. Instead, his character was abused and he was pushed to the side as being some sort of weak comedic relief. Even though he appears in multiple episodes, Klein hardly has any dialogue. This is also true of the other characters, like dragon girl and sword smith girl. They have no essential role in the story, despite how much they are advertised in the opening. Throughout the series, only Kirito and Asuna had some good development, and even then the series mostly focused on developing their relationship instead of developing them as characters. Yui actually has a role and purpose in both parts of the first season, which I actually liked, although her role seems to shrink to almost nothing at times, as her dialogue disappears. Overall, the characters had an interesting base, but for the most part, they were never really developed and suffered from the main protagonists domination of screen time. I also want to mention the poor and little dialogue that the side characters got. The antagonist (creator of SAO game) was actually a character that I enjoyed the concept of. Sure I find it a little stupefying that he made the game to close to no reason, but I believe that something about that aspect of his character sets him apart from the rest of the cast. Although he was a technically a weak character, I enjoyed him because he is unique to the series. The second antagonist (guy who wants to marry Asuna) is simply a horrible bad guy. First of all, his motive is weak and without a strong emotion. Second of all, he is not likable in the slightest. To make a successful antagonist, the character needs to get at least a little bit of development. Some great antagonists like Meruem from Hunter X Hunter and Tsukishima from Tokyo Ghoul are able to be likable to the viewer because they have both a motive and development. Nobuyuki (I had to look up his name) is a trashy antagonist with zero appeal to the viewer.

Art & Animation

I actually believe that the art style and animation are the things that saved this anime. If the series had terrible animation, there would not be nearly as many fans of the series. All in all, there is not much to say about the art, other than it is very well done. Much of the scenery is beautiful landscapes of the lovely worlds of SAO and Alfheim. I think both give the anime a very video game feel, while also matching the animation itself. The character animation is quite fantastic. The fight scenes in particular are close to jaw dropping. I think that the art and animation are the strongest parts of the anime.

Story

The main pitfall of the first season as a whole is that the pacing is far too inconsistent and results in weak character and plot development. The SAO part of season one was actually enjoyable, despite some of the problems with character development, as well as some other problem that I will dive into momentarily. The story of the SAO arch is actually quite innovative and was executed in a decent way. I think the series could have been significantly stronger is the SAO arch had encompassed the entirety of the first season. If the producers had expanded the first part, there would have been more room for side character development, without milking the show. The major downfall of the first season was the large contrast in the pacing from episode to episode. The SAO arch did a decent job at keeping the pacing more even, but the Alfheim arch was a mess. In the SAO arch, there are some episodes that are significantly slower than others, but in general the pace keeps it together. Despite the strong first half of the anime, SAO takes a turn for the boring and average in part two. Part two, for lack of better words, is a disaster. Although I'm not a fan of incest, I thought some of the development with Suguha/Leafa was actually good. With exception to Leafa, the rest of the series is incredibly weak in comparison to the original SAO arch. First of all, Kirito is ridiculously overpowered, as he never dies (is this right?) in all of the Alfheim arch. Somehow Kirito is able to just defeat players that have been playing Alfheim for years right when he starts. Kirito's overpowered character makes a lot more sense in SAO because he was one of the trial people for the game. I really hate this part about the Alfheim arch. Yes, Kirito got his stats from SAO, but the fact that he is head and shoulders ahead of everyone already in the game detracts from Kirito as a character. The pacing in the second part was also a mess. Some episodes there is a (weak) attempt at deep dialogue. The ending was actually satisfying, and tied up the lose ends in a decent manner.

Overall

I would have loved to see more development of the characters while they were actually in the game, fighting for their lives. Instead, most of the details not concerning Kirito and Asuna are rushed over, resulting in the SAO arch to end just after the halfway point. I felt the series could have been significantly stronger if the producers had expanded the SAO arch to encompass season one. The Alfheim arch fails to uphold the potential of the anime. The terrible pacing and lack of side character development really affected the quality of the anime.