Review of Sword Art Online
Sword Art Online is about players getting trapped into a game, if a player reaches game over not only do they die in the game but they die in real life. The year is 2022, Kirigaya Kazuto (Kirito) is the mean protagonist for this series. It's basically about him trying to clear the game as a solo player. Story 7- The first episode captivated me. I was so into the first episode only to find out that the next few episodes were trash. Almost complete trash. I read the Light Novel for SAO and I loved it. I realizedthe first few eps were following the second volume of the light novel which had almost nothing to do with the main story. The main story starts around ep 5 or 6 and it was rushed way too fucking fast. I was so pissed off at the anime. It honestly was just so cliche. I think I'm just being bias because I read the LN but it felt like the scenes weren't really played out well. The story was really inconsistent throughout the series. You see one character one episode and then you dont see them again until the very end of the series. I took a chance to watch this anime a second time around and realized how terrible it was. There are two arcs to the series...the first arc was good but it was way too rushed and it felt like you were missing a lot of things you should've known through the series and the second arc is just what the fuck. The second was really disappointing. Again comparing it to the LN it sucked DICK. Anyway if it weren't for the LN then the story would have gotten a 4 or 5 because there is just so much information missing in the anime.
Art 7- I'm not really good at rating art but SAO's art wasn't anything to special unless you watch your anime in 1080p (now that's some good ass quality) I felt like the art was just your average anime art. I could compare this art to Angel Beats or Guilty Crown. even though Accel World is the sister of this anime I wouldn't compare SAO to it because both their works are very different.
Sound 10- For some reason I really enjoyed the openings for both arcs of the anime. I loved them so much I learned for openings on the piano. Again I'm not really good at rating stuff like this I feel like sound should be in the same section as art lol.
Character 6- Man. No character development. AT ALL. Kirito's character is so boring. He never changes his mood. It's always survive to fight to I want to see Asuna, eventually becoming I have to save Asuna (Asuna being the main female protagonist of the first arc) I guess his character develops a little when he has to save her and stuff like that but seriously. It's always the shit shit. AND ASUNA'S CHARACTER what the fuck...she just sits there taking the shit thats thrown to her (well its not like she can do anything anyway) but still she wasn't hurt or anything like that. I found it surprising that none of the characters were traumatized from a event that occurred for a long time. These characters are ridiculous.
Enjoyment 7- I really enjoyed SAO the first time around but the second time I noticed a bunch of flaws in the anime again comparing to the LN. The main reason why I enjoyed the anime is because I really enjoyed the LN. The first time I didn't realize that the anime had so many holes because I read the LN and disregarded all of the things that made sense. and again if it weren't for the LN then my enjoyment level would go down significantly.
Overall 7- I think this deserves a 7. I don't really give low scores and I suck at reviewing (still new to the reviewing stuff) For all you LN readers I know or at least hope you appreciate this anime because it honestly is a good story. The story wasn't told well through the anime though. What I'm trying to say is real the light novel. It's better than the anime.
oh forgot to mention, the fight scenes in the anime are pretty badass.