Review of Sword Art Online

I'm not an avid anime watcher. So when a friend suggested this to me, I was rather skeptical. We watched two episodes together and it piqued my interest, but still seemed rather generic. The first 4 or 5 episodes are, in my opinion normal RPG type of anime. And I didn't care for the characters that came and went during that time as none of them were established. But looking back I recognize the importance of building the world first. But then, since that episode (I won't spoil it) and perhaps the one before it where they slept on the grass) I realised this issomething special. And since then each episode has been deep: the romantic relationship is explored and very mature in a good sense. The questions and fears they have are also well done. Heck, there is even good character development, something I don't expect in anime. I also actually began to care for their reflections on the game world being just as good or better than real life. And most importantly, and I value this in all anime and movies... it made me care immensely for Kirito and Asuna.

I expected a generic RPG anime, and I got an intense, philosophical and utterly romantic experience.