Review of Sword Art Online

Hey guys, since this anime was either hated or loved by everyone, I decided to make a review with a little more love for the show. Don't get me wrong, this show had some big flaws, but overall I say I loved it more than I hated it. Story - 8 then 4 To start off we have the story. 10,000 people have been stuck in a video game. This reminded me of the movie 'Spy Kids 3' at first. Soon we find out that if you die in the game you die in real life. I like the plot, sounds good and interesting. Our maincharacter is determined to conquer the game and beat all 100 levels and survive. Our character falls in love and they fight together. Perfect amount of Romance and Action is in this show.

The second Arc was rushed, messy and very illogical compared to the first half, if they had taken their time and made it into a well written second season all together it would have been better and would have given everyone a good taste in their mouth after the first arc as they wait for the second arc.

Art - 9

Everything was beautiful from the scenery to the fighting scenes to the characters. Characters were a bit off at times but nothing I can really complain about for the overall quality of the art.

Sound - 9

90% of the time, I dislike an anime's opening song. Sword art online has a fantastic opening song and it was very catchy and I loved it. The second arc and it's opening song wasn't as good, but I didn't disappoint me honestly.

Character - 9 then 3

I loved Kirito when he first started, being a ruthless master of the game, defeating bosses 10 levels higher than him alone without any defense. No time for friends no time for allies he had to get out of the game. He seemed like a man that would carry everyone in the game, and save them all leading them to victory, but I feel when Asuna (Love Intrest) comes in he loves the 'bad ass' attitude he had before. Now he does it for her and for their future. Don't get me wrong, that was great of him, I would have just enjoyed it more if he stayed the silent cold solo man everyone knew him to be.

Asuna is a love/hate character for me, I love her because she is strong and confident and a great fighter, a perfect match for Kirito, but like I said, she made him from the bad ass fighter that wants to destroy everything, to the loving kind sweet-hearted husband. Don't get me wrong, Kirito still does what he does best, but how he does it is completely different which kind of made me sad.

Yui, 'daughter' they met in the game which made the relationship tighten, her appearance is quite random and her presence was unneeded. She was added simply to make it look like they were playing 'house' she was completely unnecessary but played a huge role in the second arc.

Now for the part which everyone hated. Side characters, there shouldn't have been such a thing as a side character in this show. Kirito at first meets Klein, looks like its going to be a good friend for the rest of the series, he teaches him how to play the game and they make a quick friendship that looks like they will last in the long run, but within the first episode Kirito turns down his offer to go solo, that's great, you want to be a solo person. But then Kirito keeps running into him time after time for no apparnet reason at all. It seemed like they needed to waste some time so the decided to throw Klein in there for 2 minutes and wait 6 more episodes before he gets another 2 minutes. Same for the strong looking black man Agil who's job is nothing but to do what Kirito wants (Slavery)

For all the girls Kirito interacts with, Silica and Lizbeth. I love these characters they are great and their episodes are great. Only problem they start to develop feelings for the charming prince who has saved them multiple times and what's even worse is that he has already committed himself to Asuna forever. Yay, Kirito and Asuna 'OTP 5EVR'. These two characters don't appear again until the last two episodes. What was their purpose? To give Kirito some more love that was completely unnecessary, if you are going to give me another character please put more into them and don't just throw them to the side until the show is over and say 'hey lets put them back in the show for the last 2 episodes.'

Next we have the one character that actually had some meaning in this show that was indeed a side character. Sachi, her purpose was to solely mature Kirito it seemed, because of Sachi, he never wanted to see another death and refused to let anyone else die in his presence. This connects his bond with Asuna and gives him the determination to protect her with all his might. Sachi is the character who changed Kirito and made him into a man who wants to protects what he loves. I'm glad for her.

Lastly we have the Sister Suguha, I love her to death, personally, only problem is that she doesn't have the same flare as Asuna did back when Asuna was the main Heroine, Suguha had a bad arc and was essentially hated for being the 'OTP breaker' She wasn't needed in that arc, she didn't need to be the 2nd heroine that would help Kiritio because she couldn't handle it. Her presence was made to put pressure on the impenetrable relationship between Asuna and Kirito. I wish she had more purpose than that.

The first Arc Villian was great except that he had no reason to do what he did which put a big knife in the plot which everyone wanted to be a great finish. The second villian was pathetic and weak like the 2nd arc.

Enjoyment - 10

I haven't seen a show that progressed a relationship so flawlessly without being rushed as well as great fighting scenes. In about 16 episodes they created a smooth well developed relationship that made you say 'Oh my god, they are perfect for each other' the creators did a fantastic job when managing between Romance and Action. At first you think it's a Action type anime but it turns out to be a Romantic one with fighting in it and the fighting scenes were greatly enjoyed as you were on your toes waiting how they would survive this encounter if they did at all. In addition, the scenery was great and I very much liked this show.

Overall - 8

This is a great anime and I highly recommend it. If you want to see a beautiful relationship develop and some awesome fighting scenes as well as a bad ass main character. I say you should watch this show. If you don't like all that, just watch it any way to say that you watched it. If you can look at it's great points you can deal with the bad points. Enjoy