Review of Sword Art Online

When it comes to SAO, I have to admit that it holds a special place in my heart due to being one of the first "non-long-running-shonen" anime I've watched, and I definitely need to put aside my bias for this. That said, I do NOT recommend this anime. While the score as well as the work of A-1 are outstanding in my humble opinion, I was forced to concede to the fact that the story itself and the characters in it are ample to be found in saturday morning cartoons of the bad kind, if not worse. The amountof PIS contained could fill volumes, but can mainly be comprised in the following train of thought: " Kirito is good, Kirito>everyone. If Kirito<anybody, Kirito>anybody because love and willpower."
Side characters are either there for (bad) fan service or just to fill up an episode and therefore completely immemorable. Asuna, the only somewhat (albeit abysmally) developed character besides the MC and his sister, starts interesting just to end up being the "locked princess needs to be saved by brave prince"-trope for this anime.
Similarly to the characters, the story starts with an interesting concept and subsequently throws it all out the window by obviously trying to appeal to very young target audience with almost Twilight-like romance themes and nonsensical coincidences. The explanation "beacause PLOT" comes up more and more frequently during the second half of the season.

By the way, this only covers the 1st season of the anime, I couldn't sit through any more after my recent rewatch. Concluding, if you want to be reminded of an idealistic, utopic romance filled with stupid with some genuinely great music and animation, this is for you. For anyone unable to throw their brain into a dumpster beforehand, I wholeheartedly recommend OVERLORD for an introduction into VRMMORPG-themed shows and VIOLET EVERGARDEN for even better music and visuals as well as some hard-hitting feels. Hope this helps!!