Review of Sword Art Online
The anime everyone's heard about. The one that was all over tumblr, mentioned on facebook - it was everywhere for the time it was being shown. ...was it worth it? Yeah, not really at all it's a truly trashy series, but hey! It wasn't all bad! Except for the fact that that barely flippin' helps. At all. The story of SAO is actually adequate at first. It pulls you in, it's interesting! That is, until the INFAMOUS third episode. Yes, this is not a certain other VRMMO (virtual reality mmo) show, but. The person who wrote SAO's novel, who had no IDEA of that other show,did write something at the same time. However, instead of turning this work in, they did not. So for all these years, how much does one have to revise? Exactly. Now, back to the anime's story. Yes, it's interesting. Up until the third episode where Sachi, a minor character, is killed. The main male lead, the protagonist, Kirito, does not react. A LIVING HUMAN WAS KILLED, and he did not care all that much. Yes, he was shocked. Was he saddened? No.
There are a lot of emotional parts in SAO those are not bad. They can give you feels. However, there are so many fillers and strange aspects, that it all goes down the drain in the end, there's no lie there.
The art is a lot of things. It's "high quality," but what about the style? Everyone looks a child, excluding a few characters. Everyone's face are blobby. Like moe-blobs, in a way. Their eyes are similar, big, and shiny. If you switched the girls' hairstyles and eye colors around, would you be able to recognize them? The animation's fluid, the effects are great, but the way everything is executed is not. All in all, it's above average, but not stupendous far from it.
Ah, the sound. The bgm is good! The songs? Lisa singing the opening... Now, Lisa is a great singer. Crossing Field, however, I can't say is a very good song. It's overrated at most and this is something I'm -really- gosh darn sure about. The future opening and endings are much better! However, that's personal opinion and music taste, so that's up to you. This is one of SAO's few saving graces.
Oh, Kirito. At first, an anti-social person. There's nothing wrong with that. He made mistakes. What about the rest of the series? No. After that, he is PERFECT. Every girl wants him, every guy wants to be him, the antagonists want him to badly suffer. He's depicted as THE best. Kirito becomes an actual 2D character in the personality and depiction part. Now, Asuna, his "waifu." She is shown to be perfect, even more, than he is. She's the "only" one who can cook, everyone wants her, she's depicted as the most beautiful character in the entire series. At first, she can fight! She really can! Then, she becomes a damsel in distress, which isn't entirely her fault, but you know, strong female lead becomes... ??? She's also not the only girl who can cook, but that's what people think. Everyone forgets that she's portrayed as the most perfect girl you could be in the world of SAO. ...making these two THE strongest in this anime ruins nearly everything. Of course they'll win sooner or later.
One of the later antagonists becomes enamored with Asuna. Before they can leave the game, an older man tries to take Asuna from Kirito, because she's stuck in another VRMMO. Yes, that's right. He violates her in front of Kirito, so he'll get angry. Yepp. Some random guy just decides to do this. The characters? Nice try, but not really.
My enjoyment of this series... I honestly thought I'd like it, I really did. That all fell apart early on. I enjoyed the emotional bits, the fluid-ness of the animation, the action scenes, the effects. The story was no, the art style was no, the characters definitely not. There you have it. A not so enjoyable experience, that could've gone right. Maybe, honestly.
Overall, SAO gets pretty much a 3 from me. Notable, but not note-worthy to watch. At. All. I apologize to all fans, but this just wasn't my idea of an amazing anime. Thanks a bunch for reading, though!