Review of Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online. I honestly didn't care for this show until my friends on Facebook constantly talked about it alongside AoT and the fact it managed to get a second season was what got me interested. Let me just put it in a simple way for those who want short reviews. This is a fantasy romance/slice of life story not a action filled AoT type show. Short review over. Long Review: Story 6/10: At first glance it looks like an awesome action filled anime worth your time judging from the OP alone. Then by episode 4 the hype dies. Due to the lack of budget for theproduction team there are alot of timeskips present in the first half of the series. Example: Kirito is level 10 in EP1, level 50 in EP2, has legendary items in EP3. Due to the timeskips character development is mostly focused on the two main leads while supporting characters get little to almost no screentime at all. If you were wondering why I said this show fits the slice of life genre is because somewhere in the show Kirito and Asuna spend some time together at a lake house alone. The lake house part last 3 episodes. What happened there? I guess only those who read LN might know.
Art 6/10: Fair enough for an anime of today not really anything to shout about
Sound 7/10: By sound I mean the OP and ED song played in every episode. I quite enjoyed listening to both ED songs. As for the OST played during intense scenes I honestly don't really pay attention to that.
Character 7/10: In the first half there is almost no character development present because of the timeskips save for the lake house part so I was prepared to give it a 6/10 if not for the second half. The second half give more insight on Kirito's family particularly his relationship with his sister.
Enjoyment 6/10: This was a tough one. As a fan of romance/slice of life I enjoyed looking at it as a love story but I am sorely disappointed at the lack action that was promised in the show.
Overall: SAO ends at episode 14. Episode 15 onwards is considered unnecessary and a waste of time unless you're a hardcore romance fan and want to see more Kirito and Asuna.