Review of Sword Art Online

This is my first review just to warn you there may be a few small spoilers If I had to describe Sword Art Online in one word I'd call it cliche When I read the summary of SAO I was immediately interested. I thought of the potential the premise had to be something incredible. Unfortunately, an idea can't carry an entire series. After reading the reviews I kind of held off watching this series, when I started watching it I was prepared to be underwhelmed and disappointed. The show started off pretty strongly, but it quickly descended into generic blandness. Everything from the characters, the scenarios, andthe dialogue can all be summed up in that one word, cliche. I will give the creators credit where it's due though, the atmosphere of the SAO universe is very well done and the artwork is excellent as well. Most of the action scenes were enjoyable and well animated too. One of the bigger flaws of SAO, aside from the plot and character depth, in my opinion is the emotional level of the entire show. There are many scenes where characters cry and emotions fly (that rhymes), unfortunately the characters are shallow and generic enough to where it's kind of difficult to actually empathize with them. In other words whenever characters die, there isn't much impact to the viewer. Another related point is that the danger of dying in the game never really felt real, it just seemed like "oh, that's too bad." As I mentioned, the plot of SAO is pretty weak too. The concept is pretty much out of Spy Kids 3D, but I was excited to see how it would be executed in the anime industry. All i really have to say about the plot is that there's nothing special about it, at first I was pretty interested in the events to come, but when things finally unfolded, man all i have to say is its weak. On another note, the villain of the second half of the show is so ridiculously sadistic i couldn't help but laugh at how over the top he was lol.

Sword Art Online is by no means a terrible series, however it is undeniably flawed. The characters are generic and the character development is bland. The plot is poorly executed and they really had to pull out the deus ex machina. Based on the score it currently has, I would definitely consider SAO overrated. Even with so many problems, SAO still managed to keep me fairly entertained, and isn't that what really matters? If you can deal with cliches and aren't expecting too much from the show, Sword Art Online is a pretty decent series to watch.