Review of Sword Art Online
I'm conflicted as I write this. I wanted to love Sword Art Online, but.. The story starts off very strong. Kirito, the main character, participates in a new game that utilizes a headset that allows a users 'consciousness' (for the lack of a better term) to be placed into the game's world. Everything starts out well, but something goes wrong, etc. The calamities taking place at first were pretty heavy, it really got a reaction out of me. What they did for the first half was done very well, and I assumed the rest of the show would be like that. Exceptit wasn't. After the first half, things happen, and the show gets really weird. Again, no details. I can understand what the writers may have been trying to do. You set up a great story, spin it around a little bit to create a surprising element to the show, but it spun off its axis and fell on the floor honestly. Weird is even an understatement, some aspects just got creepy.
For all that, I was somewhat comforted by the ending. I felt like the writers had strong momentum for the first half, forgot what they were doing for the second half, then regained some of the momentum for the last episode. So instead of splitting my score right down the middle, I'll give them an overall fair rating for it, because I did enjoy it either way.
Being newer, the art quality was awesome. The world they set up in SWO was incredible, the visuals were very nice. This obviously also boosted my enjoyment of the combat scenes, everything was very fluid. What's more, they had an excellent atmosphere set up for it. This is probably my favorite aspect of the show alone.
The music was good, nothing was really memorable. I can't quite remember the theme song even, but I remember it wasn't bad, so they've got that going for them I suppose.
The character, or the main protagonists, were all very enjoyable. Again, this show has its weaknesses and strengths, but for all the weaknesses, the characters are a big redeeming factor. They didn't quite leave a huge impression, but I really enjoyed watching them develop as the show went on, and found myself rooting for them. This and the art style kept me coming back for more episodes.
Overall (or TL;DR), it starts off very strong, really drops in quality for the second half, and then has an ending (that I feel) really redeems it a bit. If you decide to watch SWO, I'm sure you'll enjoy it, but it might not be what you think it is. Usually that's a good thing, but I'm not so sure in this case.