Review of Sword Art Online
I've seen a lot of people give this a top rating and nag on others because they liked it and I did not. Im going to tell you why it is not a very good anime and here's why. Before I start I give this an overall rating of 3/10. Story 2/10: As you know the Anime is split into ARCS. Each Arc last about 12 or 13 episodes so basically the midway point in a season of 25 episodes. I personally do not like the ARC way of story telling which this anime struggles with severely. The story is not very good, the story surroundsaround 1 character and his struggle in this anime's universe. This anime has one of the best CONCEPTS for a story ever. Trapped in a Alternate Universe. This anime destroys that concept. So the first Arc ended in my opinion the worst way possible and so starts the second Arc. The second Arc is the worst arc in the entire anime itself. Its boring makes no sense, does not explain the world they are in very well and develops almost no characters! The plot is even more simple than the other Arc, rescue mission is the best way i can describe this Arc without giving spoilers, this arc is basically a huge rescue mission and its simple the plot stays on the same track and I wish it were developed more than. Heres your antagonist....hate him cause he took this person. Arc ends as expected and people thought the anime was done and over with. I was unhappy with the anime at the time and when i saw the trailer for season 2 i instantly was resparked in hope for this anime.
SEASON 2, comes back with a waaaay more interesting story revolving a character named Sinon in the first Arc at least that what i thought until the arc was nearly over. It follows the same plot as the first season's first arc but the mystery of how people are dying is what intrigued me the most. The character development of Sinon was the best part of the anime!!! The episodes with her in the beginning of this Arc were just here with sprinkles of Kirito thrown in. I liked that they spent the time to make a supporting character the main role in the beginning and i was glad that the devs of this anime did that! Until it started to focus back on Kirito who gained almost no development the entire rest of the show... This Arc ends in a non cliche way (surprisingly) and it becomes a more happy anime after that. The second Arc in season 2 is what people think is the most sad in the anime. The second Arc follows another character with something happening to her in real life, it is a plot that has been used before in other animes but it is still very rare. This arc ends sadly and happily whichever you want to interpret. The anime ends here.
Art/Animation 8/10: Though i didn't like this anime i did really like polish of this anime, they took extreme notice to detail and the animation looks smooth and not choppy, the effect that they used were very appealing and nice to look at, the world that was created was very well designed and it didn't seem cliche in the slightest. Overall this is one of my favorite art styles in any anime.
Sound 8/10: Whether you are watching the Sub or the Dubbed version this will change your mind. The sound in this anime is very nice, the music they play at points really fits the mood for the situation, the opening for both seasons are very well written and sound very nice! IF you are watching the Sub version you will find that the voice acting is very well done! IF you are watching the Dubbed version, the voice acting is horrible and makes the characters sound 4 years younger than they actually are.
Character 2/10: I was close to giving this a 1/10 due to the fact that the character development in this anime was horrible.There was one good part in the anime which made the development go from a 1/0 to a 2/10. I would rate it higher from how well it was done for the 3-4 episodes it happens in but there are so many character that they just used cheap and easy ways to develop characters like, oh no my *insert loved thing* died or something happened to them that makes me worry trick. In all the character development fits well with the story, they are both horrible.
My enjoyment with this anime is a 4/10, im a junky for well designed art and music and it makes me happy to see an anime put so much time and effort showing that to me. Though i may really be into those kind of things but i like it when an anime has a good story and characters that have backstory longer than a sentence. Basically all of my enjoyment for this anime comes from the music and art design as its the only really well made things in this anime.
Overall 3/10: Now that was my opinion on this anime. Im not happy with it, im really not. Looking back to my rewatch of this anime so i could make this review, It felt like torture to me, i almost fell asleep at points i was so bored. But I wanted to make this review to warn all the people that want to watch it. I personally do not recommend this anime, if you are really into video games and love action this is a good one for you. But if you are a person like me that loves story and action and character development then i do not recommend this anime.
Happy Travels!