Review of Sword Art Online
I just want to get the incest out of the way. That stuff's disgusting man they shouldn't have had it. All they had to do was make it step-cest and it would have been completely acceptable. Perhaps it's because this show was made before men of culture began to appreciate the value of step siblings. Anyway it's gross and weird and I don't like it. It's an incredibly popular show, but it isn't as critically acclaimed as most popular shows. It's well animated, has a great hook (virtual reality gaming gone to the extreme), and a cool online world. I like the earlier episodes, in whichrandom little stories involving the main character are compiled, with large gaps between the stories at times. It shows the maturing of the main character. But after this he does an important thing with another main character and the rest of the story continues more linearly. I saw a glass reflection review referring to the previous little stories as filler, but I think they are cool little thought experiments considering different elements of what living long term in a gaming world would be like.
About halfway the show and how it works drastically changes, I think for the "kind of worse". This is where the incest comes in. It's fairly enjoyable though. The ending is quite solid in my opinion, and I think closes the chapter of the show well. I think there wasn't a need for any more story after this, so it doesn't surprise me that the second season as a fairly mediocre rating. The later seasons are meant to be decent though, but I feel like the main character here just needs a rest after the first season.
Something to mention is the main guy, whose name is Kirito, finally googled it to remember, has a lot of plot armour. Sorry to spoil the first episode but if players die in the game world, they also die in the real world. But Kirito is never in risk, due to his high levelling, and prior experience as a beater tester. He is also considered a cheater even if he isn't, so they combined the words and called him a beater. Sounds like an inappropriate joke but fair enough.
Sword Art Online has clout and I can see why, such a fascinating premise. It's done well enough. It's quite a flawed show, and I think you could make a valid case for it being a 4/10. But for me, I think it's a good enough show, I'd give it a 7/10.