Review of Sword Art Online

I kept weighing up whether I should watch Sword Art Online for a few months, and it wasn't until a friend coaxed me into it that I watched it. And I was not in the least regretful of that. I truly enjoyed this series and would highly recommend it, and despite the large amount of conflicting opinions, it does hold it's ground. Story: 8 The premise is one of the main drawing cards of SAO and I think most people will agree that it at least lived up to expectations in that respect. The concept of around 10,000 players being trapped within a MMO where in-game deathmeans real life death is not entirely brand new, but the way it is portrayed is very well done. Guilds, Bosses, Grinding and pretty much everything you'd expect from a MMO is all there and it is implemented realistically into the game. However, though the setting is done really well, one thing that is done pretty badly is the pacing.

The jump from episode 1 to episode 2 is one month and it's pretty off-putting, especially so early in the series. This would be ok, if it didn't feel like you were missing some important plot points or if it didn't happen so frequently. You can really feel this in the first few episodes and when it's coming up to the end of the first season. An example of this is Kirito and Asuna's friendship and how it feels really disjointed. One episode they don't like each other that much and the next they treat each other like friends, and though it feels like they practically had no time in between, they would have actually had a month or so that the writers didn't show you. It's not detrimental, but it does make the show feel very disjointed and like you are missing out on a lot of potential.

Characters: 5

The main two characters in SAO are Kirito and Asuna and there is certainly no doubt about that. And while they are certainly likeable, they are the stereotypical perfection characters that really don't have any in-character personality flaws. This really doesn't matter to me, as I still love the characters and that's what counts in my mind, but I definitely know that lots of other people would not like that. Kirito is a guy who works hard to keep up a tough persona to the community as a whole, while opening up to people he actually talks to and Asuna is a girl who keeps up a tough persona to distract her from the situation. The two characters grow in their personalities slightly, but generally stay the same throughout the two seasons.

Half of the focus of Season 1 and Season 2 is the relationship between these two, and I must say that I think it was done pretty well, excluding the time gaps. If you assume that lots of development happened in gaps, the relationship is actually pretty believable. I also liked how they kept their relationship rationally appropriate instead of going on a fanservicy route for no reason.

There is however a detracting point in the inclusion of most supporting characters. Without going in-depth about them here, the characters are all pretty likeable. Despite that, the two main characters are Asuna and Kirito and every other character barely sees the light of day as a result of that. There are some great potential people who would have made the story more enjoyable that had a whole episode based around them, but that was it. For characters like Lizbeth and Silica, they spend an episode with them as the central focus, and then they never appear again until the end of each season. Even then, it's just a cameo appearance really, with maybe one line. There were some characters who had a tad more prominence like Klein and Agil, but they still only had a few appearances. What made it feel even more like the potential of these characters were wasted, was how the show treated them like they had been main characters for the whole thing, whenever they appeared. This also is also attributed to the pacing, as you missed any extra interactions that occurred in those gaps.

Sound/Art: 9/8

The art is very beautiful and suits the setting really well, but it's nothing utterly amazing that you would write to home about. The animations for stuff like players dying and items expiring is pretty, but other than that it's just plain good. Nothing extraordinary, but still very nice.

As for the sound, SAO has a nice OST, but once again nothing out of the ordinary. I loved LiSA's performance with Crossing Field the best, but Innocence and Overfly are really great songs as well. The voices are well suited toward the characters, and gives a very clear representation of personality even if the character isn't developed, such as Klein.

I've stated a lot of flaws and stuff, and though it may seem that I don't see this show in a positive light, I really did love it. I didn't mention a lot of the good points and avoided talking about Season 2 that much, as it's just something you have to watch, instead of getting spoiled with anything. The plot isn't anything explosively superlative, however I really enjoyed it and would really like the other Light Novels to get adapted as well.

All in all, I'd say that SAO is something that even if you don't think you would enjoy it due to it's flaws and the hate that it gets, you can enjoy it a lot if you can look past those things. I'd encourage everyone to try it at least, even if you don't enjoy it.

(Sorry about the bad reviewing skills. I just felt that I should put my two cents worth out there. Also, my score is really based on enjoyment rather than the technical side of things, in case you were wondering)