Review of Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online Review Sword Art Online is a very flawed yet very enjoyable show. Many people will often either deem it the best show in the world or the worst show in the world. I am a big fan of the show and it is currently my absolute favorite at the moment but let me start with the flaws that the series had. Flaws: Time Skips / Pacing I felt that the biggest flaw of the show was the inconsistencies with time gaps. This is mainly an issue with the first half of the series (Aincrad Arc). I had a friend that watched the second episode (clearing the firstfloor) and then the third episode (Kirito joins Moonlit Black Cats) and he called me to ask if he had missed a few episodes or something.

I suppose there wasn’t much that could be done because the light novel was sort of written that way. “Floor by floor” side stories were only added later which is why the first half of the series felt a little inconsistent episode by episode. Time would skip and we would be left wondering what happened on the floors that were never shown.

That was my only main issue with the first half of the season.

Not Enough Side Character Love
I loved all of the characters that were in this show but I feel that the flaw was that many were not given the screen time that they deserved.

Klein, for example, was setup to be a very important character based on the first episode but he quickly disappears for the majority of the series.

Many others only appeared in about 1-2 episodes and that was it.

Nerfing Asuna
I personally really liked Asuna as a heroine. It was cool that she was sometimes able to save Kirito too and that she had a high place in her guild, Knights of the Blood Oath. I did not hate the second half of the season (Fairy Dance Arc) but I felt that it was far inferior to the first half.

Asuna almost seemed like a totally different person. Her sexuality became her main attribute. I felt that it was totally unnecessary to have her be nearly tentacle raped. I do not watch hentai or anything so it was uncomfortable for me to see that.

Her escape attempt was also pretty pathetic. I felt that Asuna from Aincrad would not have been as careless and impatient.

Incest
This is also an issue with the second half of the season. I thought that it was just weird to have Suguha fall in love with her brother/cousin. I did end up feeling really bad for her because she just seemed like a confused hormonal tween that didn’t know any better but I still wish that that was not apart of the story.

Strengths:
Great Action
The action scenes in this show were amazing. Many people that mostly hate the show can at least agree that the fight scenes were beautifully done. I only wish that there were more floors shown so that there were more than just a few boss fights shown on screen. Watching the fight scenes always felt so intense to me.

Romance
Many people would see this as a flaw, but I honestly loved Asuna and Kirito’s romance. It was cool to see them get together sooner than later. Perhaps it’s just because it reminded me of my very first relationship because it was also very innocent and fairytale-like and many could not believe that it was happening because it seemed so unrealistic.

I am also a sucker for love stories.

Relatable Character (Kirito)
Kirito was very relatable to me in many ways. This may not apply to others that do not connect with him the same way I did. Ever since 2003, I have been playing a lot of MMORPGs with my friends. Everything from Runescape to Ragnarok to WoW to Guild Wars etc. I was never a god like Kirito, but my friends that I played with tended to consider me really really good so my friends always like to joke that I am the Kirito of our group in that regard when we are playing online games.

I am a very social person now, but when I was younger I was like Kirito where I was a bit antisocial and it reminded me of those times. He coped with situations in similar ways to how I did.

I also did not meet several girls that fell in love with me in video games, but in real life I have had my fair share of overly attached girls that have clung to me and I related to Kirito in that regard. My female friends say that I have no radar for crazy girls or girls that fall for me and I’m always oblivious to it so my friends always joke that I am like Kirito in that way too.

I am by no means a carbon copy of him or anything, but there were many aspects with his character that I connected with.

Variety of Story-lines
While the time skips in Aincrad made me sad due to wondering what happened on floors that were never shown, I always enjoyed the side stories. Some would have preferred if the show only stuck to clearing boss floors, I enjoyed the stories of Kirito helping out weaker players, or solving the murder case, or getting the dark repulser made. I thought it added a nice change of pace!

It also had a fair share of humor to balance the depressing deaths that took place in the game.

Music
The music is very enjoyabl. Crossing Field, the opening song for the first half of the season, always got me pumped up before the episode. It is one of the few anime intros that I actually do not skip regularly.

Also, the sad music always was so fitting for the emotional scenes, the fighting songs always pumped me up during intense fight scenes, and even the light-hearted songs for lighter scenes were always fitting too. I find myself humming the music from this series a lot.

Conclusion:
This show is nowhere near perfect and is filled with a lot of flaws. Despite that, the strengths of this show are so great and enjoyable that it outshines the flaws and I can highly recommend this show to you.

While stating that you dislike this show may make you appear to have a “better taste in Anime” due to its reputation, I would strongly suggest to at least give the show a chance and to not just write off.