Review of Sword Art Online

I am pretty sure this is one of those animes where you either love it, or hate it with a burning passion. I may be however, one of the few who are in the middle. Don't get me wrong, the show was absolute crap at some points, but at rare times it was a decent show. Story: 8/10 The story itself is decent, being trapped in a video game isn't exactly a common story plot and in fact before I even watched it I was pretty excited. In the beginning things seemed to be moving nicely, but the further the anime progressed the more plotholes emerged. It was moving very fast and there were more than a few questions unanswered.

Art: 9/10
This is the highest this show will get sadly. The animation in this show has a lot of stunning qualities, and it is easy to get distracted by the amount of detail that goes into the virtual world.

I rather enjoyed the differences in each characters appearance, the item designs and character clothing was also very awesome.

Sound: 6/10
The music did well with making you feel like a video game, when the standard in town music played I felt like I was actually there. But it felt like they used the same music tracks over and over again, I felt like it lost its meaning to the different scenes that specific track was being played in. The 'sad' moments especially, you'll see what I mean if you watch it.

Character: 5/10
At first, the characters seemed alright. We've got basic badass protag Kirito who enjoys going solo and refuses to join parties or guilds. I don't mind his chill attitude per say, but what DOES annoy me is that almost every single girl he comes in contact with gains some sort of romantic feelings for him. It's kinda frustrating to see someone fall in love with another while just getting ore for a sword >.>

Then there's Asuna, I liked her in the beginning, her sharp tongued and strong willed attitude was great. But what some people would call "Character Development" I would call "Character Butcherment" (Yes I made that word up). Asuna goes from this talented badass swordswomen to a helpless girl who cries, a lot. It was kinda sad to see a potentially awesome character go to waste.

There's also the fact of unnecessary fanservice towards a younger female character who seemed like young child, she just wanted her pet back. It was pretty ridiculous.

Enjoyment: 7/10
I enjoyed the series to an extent if I ignore most of it's flaws, the plot was interesting to me and I really did enjoy all the action.

Overall: 7/10
Would I recommend this anime to lots of people? No. Would I recommend it at all? Yes. I'd like to think it's one of those animes you can use as a test to see if you are past that whole "ALL ANIME IS PERFECT" phase which pretty much everyone goes through. The story and characters aren't the best, but at least it looks pretty.

About the dub, I've seen a lot of crappy dubs, this was wasn't TOO bad. If you are only into sub, just stick with the subbed. All in all, give it a try, just don't expect many people to take your side if you think it's a fantastic anime.