Review of Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online is an adaption of the light novel series of the same name written by Reki Kawahara and follows the events that occur within the first four novels. Sword Art Online revolves around the male protagonist named Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya who enters a Virtual Massive Multiplayer Online RPG (VRMMO) called 'Sword Art Online'. Players of Sword Art Online are thrust into Aincrad, a virtual fantasy world that consists of monsters and dungeons. Sword Art Online and the world of Aincrad takes influence from many real life MMORPGs and those who play these games will be quite familiar with the references and game mechanicsthat occur within Sword Art Online.
The anime takes off to a good start and leaves an extremely strong first impression as it showcases beautiful visuals and very crisp animation. The world of Aincrad gives off a pensive atmosphere that helps viewers feel immersed towards the events that occur within. From the very first episode, we're immediately told that Sword Art Online isn't just any ordinary MMO, but a game of survival where in-game deaths will lead to death on the real world as well. The severe penalties of this game creates a sense of danger for Kirito and his allies as this helps create a really enjoyable start to the anime.
However, the enjoyment of Sword Art Online takes a decline as the story becomes an inconsistent mess. Major Plot holes develop and the story tends to take major time skips, yet we're still subject to viewing insignificant episodes where no story progression occurs. With a story that stretches over a two year period, one would expect there would be plenty of significant events that occur yet they were minor or non-existant. The largest flaw of Sword Art Online would be the weak characters. Characters that played a key part in the story become quickly forgotten and the unimaginative nature of Kirito and his love interest would turn out to be incredibly cheesy and painful to watch. Yes, Sword Art Online attempts to implement romance, but the lack of development and build up towards this romance leaves viewers in an awkward position as the story eventually revolves around this romantic relationship during the second arc.
Although Sword Art Online contains a poorly developed story and weak characters, it exceeds in its intended purpose: action. The fight scenes of Sword Art Online would serve to be the ultimate reason to continue watching the series as they are well animated, and backed with an epic soundtrack to reinforce the feeling of determination emanating from the fights. Sword Art Online is nowhere near a bad anime, the flaws and inconsistencies are easy to ignore and one can find great enjoyment from this series. However, Sword Art Online brings great disappointment as it had great potential and could have been something amazing. This anime is a fun, but bumpy ride, yet quite forgettable. If you're intrigued by MMORPGs and you're looking for an enjoyable twenty-five episodes, this is the anime for you. If you're looking for something memorable and worthy of re-playability, I advise you stay away from this series.