Review of Sword Art Online

This anime is one of the most painful examples of a good idea gone wrong yet people often recommend it as a good anime to watch if you are just getting into anime. Do not watch this anime but instead look for a similar alternative such as Log Horizon. Story: 3/10 The anime is set up with a good concept and a nice world setting that could have been used really well to build a great anime. Unfortunately the writers of this show managed to create the worst paced and badly compressed story I have ever seen. One episode to the next jumps past huge amounts oftime and places sometimes even entire years. The original set up of the SAO story is quickly abandoned and replaced with an even worse story line that shows little except how op and boring the main character is.

This anime would be drastically improved if the main character was replaced and the entire two seasons of SAO were placed in the very first world setting instead of the utter disaster they decided to make.

Art & Sound: 5/10 & 7/10

The character art is at sometimes lazy but the backgrounds and fights are beautifully animated. The sound to go with this is very good with some catchy music and decent voicing. Its a shame this art and sound is let down by literally every other aspect of the anime.

Character: 1/10

The main character is surely the most bland and uninteresting human being to have ever existed. His love interest is hardly any better. Watching this anime feels like im watching the writers tick boxes for the most stereotypical anime character ever. The side characters are a mite more interesting but ultimately the character design is utter shit.

Enjoyment: 3/10

All I can say in its favor is that some of the fights can be cool to watch. In truth the only reason I watched all of this is because I was still new to anime and didn't know what to expect.

Overall: 2/10

I only rated this a 2 so I can now go rate its second season a 1