Review of Sword Art Online

I cannot write how impactful this anime was for me, even to my current relationship as a married man. The pacing is spot on; the balance between the heavy atmosphere of being constantly on the bring of death and the slice of life moments is spot on; the romance between Kirito and Asuna, what they represent, a droplet of hope in the ocean of knightmare that is aincrad, is spot on; the moral of the story regarding the frontier between virtual and reality, how online experiences can truly embetter you and make you grow, the realness of the friendships or even loved ones you mightmake online, that moral at the very heart of SAO is spot on, (saying this as a former MMO player). I cannot understate how beautifully exploited the darkness of the Aincrad world is. I could go on and on how much I love this story and how much I can easily rewatch over and over again, throughout the years, and still cry and cry at each rewatch.

After saying this, it is obviously far from perfect, the OST is very average for example what is proposed in the first progressive movie is better), the second arc is far less good than the first one, let alone the next seasons, the light "harem" was very much unnecessary, some scenes, in particular some emotionaly packed scenes lack proper facial animations. But I would still argue that the episodes from 1 to 15 are most probably the most entertaining piece of anime I have ever seen after watching over 160 different animes. Finally, the romance, I do want to state how the pureness of the love between Kiroto and Asuna, this total chivalric devotation between the two of them, has deeply affected my vision of love, and in some ways, has aspired my love life, which started soon after watching this story for this first time, over 10 years ago.