Review of Sword Art Online

Now reviewing the first season of Sword Art Online (SAO for short). SAO had a real impact on the anime community back in 2012, managing to create true factions between people: some praise it and believe it's the best anime ever been and ever to be, some others believe it's the spawn of satan himself and ruined anime forever. Me? I have the luxury to stand in between these two groups, and the prospective is hopefully allowing me to have a tiny bit more objective view on the show. So now let's dive into the actual review. Let's start with what i liked about SAO. The show ismajestic in terms of art and ANIMATION, the characters move fluidly on the screen and display true emotion through facial expressions, the bright colors of the cartoony virtual world never cease to amaze me, and the effects are dealt with in a marvelous way too. The SOUNDTRACK is well thought out and fits the scenes at all times. These two awesome qualities of the anime are even better noticed in the action scenes, the epic boss battles that made fanboys and fangirls all around the world cry and shake hysterically. We are talking about a piece of fiction that should always be emulated and taken in consideration when it comes to any aspect of animation and sound.

Now let's talk about what i did not like of SAO.
I am a big videogame fan, i play games all the time and have quite a culture on the game industry, i thought i was gonna love this show no matter what. Unfortunately this was not the case. The overall PLOT starts off very well, but then never fully delivers, it just gets lost episode after episode, and the great premise of the beginning feels like a betrayal the more you go on into what seems like bad quality fanfiction. Of course i cannot dive in the plot too much without entering the spoiler realm, but let's just say that the first half of the season was average but still enjoyable, while the second half is just mayhem and plotholes and... tentacle hentai.
The CHARACTERS, unfortunately, fall flat as well. In the best case scenario you will tolerate them. Me? I found myself despising most of the cast. A main character that is so unlikable it is hard to believe who still manages to create himself his own harem of beautiful (and borderline braindead) young female. Sigh. And don't even get me started on the main villains of the series!

So, time to state my FINAL JUDGEMENT:
SAO is a very naive series, it will be a very good time if you are new to the medium, if you are very young and/or if you just want something to watch with your brain off. I would never recommend this to anyone looking for something mature such as a real story with real characters.

FedeSakata for MyAnimeList
Sayonara.