Review of Sword Art Online

It's not the best anime of all time, but it serves its purpose. You either love or hate protagonist Kirito as he's almost invincible; only sporting momentary spells of weakness sprinkled throughout the series. His redeeming qualities lie within his absolute defiance of established disadvantages and his overwhelming loyalty and duty to defend his teammates from destruction. He's not the most dynamic MC, but he fulfills the role the story called for. Between bland backgrounds and generic OST, SAO's art stands out the most when characters engage in combat or experience brief moments of sentimentality. The quality of animation improves so much when Kirito fights a bossor another player and it really feels and looks like action shounen. My favorite moments in the series were combat scenes or moments of high drama because that's when the acting and art coalesce and make the series worth watching. Sword Art Online, when it wants to, has some of the best acting and drama I have scene in an anime.

It's a generically enjoyable show suited to pass time when you have nothing else to do. Don't invest too much into it and you'll be fine.