Review of Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online is a great example of an anime that had the potential to be great with a concept that has been done before but with a possible twist, but why Sword Art Online fails is not because of the animation (Obviously) or the overall Story but in the way the show unfolds the story. I'll explain. Starting with story, it's fairly simple. The main and, side characters are thrust into a game world where they cannot log out and if they die in the game they will die in reality. See Fairly simple concept and nothing is wrong with this concept, what I meantwhen I said the problem was how to story unfolded was because of the characters and the pacing in which this story was told. The show has many parts where you feel unfulfilled such as when the story introduces us with filler in the first couple episodes I immediately feel as though they are trying to say "Are you enjoying the show? I hope so because I have a surprise for you...IT'S FILLER." The only reason the filler was there was to show that the main character Kirito get's his new weapons or meet some useless characters that in no way enhance or add to the plot. Actually you don't see any of the characters from those episodes ever again. Now the filler isn't also the problem. On the note of Kirito the story makes him literally invincible just for the sake of being the character that will always save the day, so there is nothing to relate to and no reason for use to get attached to this character or the story that follows. There is also the issue of pacing. The Pacing is absolutely atrocious. Now that's not to say I didn't kind of enjoy the first half of the series. The problem is how I felt like they rushed the entire first half of the series just to continue to rush the second half. At times they would just slow down and dedicate 2-3 episodes on character development where the characters don't develop. You kind of get the gist of what I'm trying to say here.
Characters are practically bland and there is really nothing good to say about these characters. None of these characters really develop. Let's start with the main character Kirito. Kirito is one of the most cardboard characters I have seen in Anime in a while. From the very start Kirito was overpowered as I said just for the sake of being overpowered so that he can be the one to save the day. He never really develops as a character, when you feel as though he might develop in an episode the very next one he returns to the bland cardboard character he was to begin with. Same thing with Asuna and most of the other characters in the show.
One thing this show does right though is the art and music. The art is absolutely beautiful and the action scenes look amazing. Combine these beautiful, and well animated action scenes with great music which was the only memorable thing that came from this show made the show worth pushing through.
Overall I feel like there is too much wrong with this show to actually have enjoyed a lot of it. It was a hassle for me to personally watch through this series. Although you might not agree I feel as though although the music, and the art was great nothing else was executed very well. So if you are just looking for something to just watch in your free time I'm sure you could find something else but if you insist watch this and see for yourself. There isn't much to keep you engrossed in the story or the characters but the show is worth watching for the animating and music.