Review of Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online was the first anime series I watched. I hadn't grown up with anime and didn't understand the appeal of animated shows as my friends did, so I came into watching SAO with little to no expectation. Fortunately, I was unaware at the time of the extreme overhype this series had built up from its novels, so I was able to watch each episode without bias, which definitely impacted my opinion of the series. In concept, being stuck in a video game isn't too far from the reality of many teenagers these days. I have immersed myself in numerous game environments previously, so Ican relate to the addiction, the intensity, the drive and motivation to be the best, the feelings of loss and depression, and the satisfaction of feeling alive in a fantasy world.
Did A-1 accurately capture the emotional turmoil of being stuck in a game? Yes. Did the series develop characters based on their real-life personalities rather than their in-game personas? Yes. Both of these aspects I found rather appealing, because they helped SAO become a more relatable and realistic scenario to a certain demographic of online gamers.
Then why is the story rated a 5/10? I actually appreciated the quick pacing of the first couple of episodes, because gamers tend to naturally learn to think and adapt on the fly, meaning that this demographic would be able to fully understand the introduction of the plot and its characters without missing a beat. However, I felt as if the story transitioned from point A to point B with a dramatic tone, rather than one of desperation. Considering that the introduction led me to believe that escape from the "death game" was the main objective of Kirito's quest, I was definitely disappointed by the multiple episodes that focused solely on side-quests. Given, these tangent episodes did add to the plot through the introduction of new characters; however, in a story with such an extreme binary ending (life vs. death), I believe screen time would have been better used as a sort of Kirito POV rather than, for example, showing a scene on floor 20 before skipping ahead to floor 47 with little to no explanation of the journey through those 27 unseen floors.
One of SAO's strong features came in its soundtrack. Yuki Kajiura gave us a wide variety of colorful pieces and battle themes that accented the drama of the series quite nicely. Initially, I found the composition to be a tad lethargic, mainly because I kept hearing the same elements used over and over from piece to piece, even in contrasting game environments, which bothered me. However, as the series progressed, the sound director did a phenomenal job of weaving "uncomfortable" pieces into scenes full of uncertainty and drama, which spiced up the scenes that A-1 wanted viewers to notice. Considering that the majority of the series took place in either towns or dungeons, Kajiura wasn't given too much freedom in exploring different musical themes, which hindered the potential of the series quite noticeably.
Overall, I found Sword Art Online to be very hit-or-miss from demographic to demographic. I enjoyed the SAO setting much more so than ALO, and I would have loved to have seen an increased focus on the main characters clearing the game rather than living in the game. The contrast between main characters and supporting roles was unfortunately only noticeable in screen time and not by difference in personality, which I believe contributed to the show's inconsistency from arc to arc. However, as a fantasy-meets-reality concept, I felt that A-1 executed the "death game" element as well as needed to make the anime seem relatable and believable from a gamer's point of view. Was SAO a good anime? Perhaps not. But I believe its positive elements were strong enough to warrant a re-watch.