Review of Sword Art Online

I think this anime at times will get a bad rep because of confusing writing - especially within the first 6 or so episodes. During those first couple episodes, the writing was quite frankly poor, and squandered what could’ve made this anime go from very good to incredible. There were confusing time jumps, bad world building, squandered opportunities for plot, and there wasn’t enough meaningful time spent with characters. They may have bitten off more than they could chew with SAO, and were clearly very ambitious with that they wanted to do. If this anime had, say, ten to 12 more episodes? Much of thecriticism from watchers would disappear. It just didn’t have enough time to develop meaningful relationships between characters.

HOWEVER, that being said, this anime is ABSOLUTELY worth a watch. There is so much done well in this anime that I do not see being mentioned as much as they should, such as the animation/fight choreography, or how the few interactions we DO get between characters are handled spectacularly, interesting plot, but most of all, Kirito and Asuna’s relationship.

I will preface this by saying that Kirito and Asuna’s relationship progressed rather quickly, but that is, again, mostly due to the anime needing more time to do explore their relationship, which at first suffered the same large time jumps as the rest of the characters did. However, the way those two interact with each other, their chemistry, the way they communicate, the way they fight, is in my opinion, one of the most well-executed relationships in anime as a whole. We as the viewers continuously are able to see how much they truly care for each other, and unlike other anime, nothing in their relationship feels forced or fake. They truly have chemistry together and it gives a sense to the viewer that even if those two were unimportant, unseen side characters, they would always be destined to end up together.

The scene in the Knights HQ before the large raid I think is a great example of this. I won’t diverge much on this scene to avoid spoilers, but in it you can truly see how much they care about the other and are terrified of even the idea that the other were to die. Their care for each other drives the plot home to the reader - this isn’t a childish, fake, forced love, they truly love each other and would do anything for the other.

This is not all I could say about SAO, but for the sake of this review not being a million words, it’s best to leave it at that. I think SAO draws lots of unwarranted criticism that could be completely avoided by going into it with an open, forgiving mind. If you are able to look past its surface flaws, you will find underneath a brilliant, fun and interesting anime that is both exciting in its action, and beautiful in its characters.