Review of Sword Art Online

SAO is likely the finest example in anime of presentation pulling bad writing out of the gutter. Production standards are high and the series is more or less built around spectacular set pieces, usually fights, with terrific animation, rousing music and committed voice acting. But those set pieces are indicative of the fundamental flaw of SAO that has been present in all four series so far, which is that the writing is built around these moments as well and almost all of the scripting and plotting and dialogue that holds them together is poor. Less a polished turd than a turd with gemstones in it. Time andtime again when you watch SAO a 'moment' comes up and in the back of your mind there is doubt. Something about the way things came about didn't really make sense, or broke your sense of verisimilitude. A well known example occurs during the first boss fight, when a character dies. Presumably the writer thought it could be a touching and dramatic moment of loss, but for the viewer it is spoiled somewhat by the health potion Kirito tries to give him. As the fan tribute/parody 'SAO Abridged' puts it: "Drink the potion... Drink the goddamn Potion!... WILL YOU JUST DRINK THE POTION ALREADY!"

In-world this character does not need to die. It's a computer game and there's a health potion right there being offered to him and he only dies because he doesn't just drink the damn potion. Was the writer really that committed to the moment that he couldn't think of a better way to do it? All it would take is for there to be no potion, or for someone else to have used the last potion or... something.

Let's take the most basic facts about the plot: 10,000 people are stuck in a new MMO. For two years. Really? A new MMO is stable and online for two whole years. Yeah okay, what's that, you've got a nice bridge to sell me?

Still not lost your willing suspension of disbelief? How is it that no-one can remove a helmet from anyone's head for two years? At least they try to explain that one with 'microwaves will fry your brain', but come on. No one could figure out how to foil a simple booby trap for two whole years? Pull the other one. This show really needs a better sense of realism, a grounding that make better use of the primary conceit. As it is, you are watching with the ever-present sense that it just isn't thought through properly.

Another major problem is characters: the archetypal amine protagonist Kirito isn't really the problem, he's bland, but that may well be the idea, many people think 'self-insert' heroes are spoiled if you give them too much personality, so Kirito's only real personality trait is that he's a loner. The trouble is that he is the only consistently present character for so much of the time. In a show that is known as something of an ensemble and for following harem stereotypes, SAO has a habit of introducing characters only to ignore them.

Klein pops up to say a few sentences about once every five episodes. One girl dies twenty minutes after we meet her. Liz the Blacksmith has a nice moment with Kirito and is then largely forgotten about. Silica is in one episode and then I don't remember seeing her again until arc 2. Only Asuna bucks this trend, but only in arc 1. In arc 2 she is literally locked in a cage for half a dozen episodes.

The problem with the lack of screen time for almost all of Kirito's support is that those little moments of interaction that makes characters interesting or relatable are missing. In some shows that would be fine, but not in one where these people are canonically becoming the MC's best friends for life. These interactions could also help with the bizarre pacing - making new friends and overcoming challenges at low levels is a gaming trope from tabletop RPGs to MMOs, but here Kirito is level 1... level 16... level 42.. level I-don't-know-what but he can just stand there letting half the player-killer guild batter him without his health bar going down and the whole time we are missing out on everything other than those few chosen moments the writer decided would be cool.

Finally (at least for a reasonably short review), there is the manner in which the first arc ends. A satisfying ending feels earned in some way by the efforts of those involved, but this... just ambushes you out of absolutely nowhere, as though the author suddenly got bored one day and thought 'screw this, i'd much rather write about the next arc' (and trust me, you are going to disagree, but let's not go into that in this review). We don't get a build up to a climax even for a few episodes, we are in the middle of business as usual and then "Hey you over there, I deduce that you are actually the final villain!", "Oho you've figured it out have you? Let's duel!", *clashing of swords*, Kirito falls! "Oh no the bad guy beat me, but..." *Cheat mode on*, *You have won the game* ....... WTF???

Seriously? This had the most jarring, unsatisfying, ridiculously airlifted in conclusion imaginable. And the worst thing is? Every time I watch a series of SAO I hope it is going to be different, but it never is. They are all the same.