Review of Sword Art Online

I don’t really like going into an anime that can split a crowd of fans in two. I usually hope that the anime will be good, or just pleasant to watch, I really don’t mind if the show isn’t brilliant...Sword Art Online is one of these series, and I’ve never started a show as reluctantly as I did with this one. STORY The story of Sword Art Online, or SAO for short, follows online game enthusiast Kazuto Kirigaya, as he plays a virtual online role-playing game, called Sword Art Online. This new game has a twist however; if you die in the game, you die in reallife, and there is no exit. The only way to escape is to beat the game itself.
As a fan of RPG’s, I think the setting is one of the best I’ve seen in anime. ‘Kirito’ must now beat all of the game bosses to finish the game and save everyone. It’s a simple, yet effective setting, it has a great first few episodes which can really glue you to the screen.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t last forever, as there are huge time gaps, and I don’t meant a few days but MONTHS, which made it feel like you’re skipping three or four episodes. This then feels like you need to think really hard about what have our characters gone through, and catch up[ to whatever is going on. The plot itself starts to lose the excellent structure it made in the first few episodes, at about a quarter of the way into the show. I have to blame the original material though, as I heard that the light novels were written quite badly.
The side plots aren’t so impressive either, they’re just full of Kirito’s hunt for gir...uhhh...equipment. Yeah. Swords and armour...

CHARACTERS
Okay. The characters are the worst part of this anime. They aren’t the worst cast I’ve ever seen but they are definitely in the bottom 10 on my list. They just made the show worse, in my opinion.
If the creators just focused on the main plot of beating the game, and maybe filled in the giant episode gaps, instead of introducing us to lousy characters, the show would have been better.

But what about the main two?
Kirito plays the role of the perfect teenager. Strong, good-looking and yes, capable of fighting by himself most of the time, yet for the first half of the show he also comes across as being utterly useless, as he can’t save his colleagues in a tough fight.

Asuna starts off as an interesting character, mysterious, and an excellent swordfighter. After the main two fall in love however, she just becomes a tsundere. That’s it. She becomes a textbook stereotype, and exists just to prevent Kirito from looking like an absolute failure.
She doesn’t really have a huge impact on the anime by herself, but by holding Kirito’s hand, they take this anime and plunge it into the nearest ditch.
Their relationship is SO forced, and it also comes out of nowhere! It is the biggest factor in making this show so polarising. It removes EVERY good thing, the action, and boss fighting this show had to offer, and it puts itself as the main focus of this show. Like yeah, there are people who have no problem with this, but some people like myself think it was a very bad idea.
Also, Asuna, you’re in a game where you could die, for real, yet your major skill is cooking.... So logical. There is nothing noteworthy about the two characters after this point, there is no character development, as everything just falls into place for them.
Like it or not, this show is a harem. All of the (female) side characters appear to have an obvious interest in Kirito, yet of course he only has an interest in Asuna, which renders all of the side characters’ feelings for him, useless. The harem part also introduces us to possibly the worst character in the show, Suguha, Kirito’s “sister”.
The only reasons I see her in this anime for, are: Kirito’s helping hand in the second half, and to create incest themes. Yes, this show had to play the “ Not Related By Blood” card. Pathetic.
She also emphasises Kirito’s stupidity. In the final episode, where Asuna is now saved, Kirito spends time with Suguha instead of his girlfriend who he has struggled to save for the entire second half of the show. It’s as if they put her there to continue the shabby harem setting from the first half. If there was any point where the show was pointing the middle finger at the people watching, this was it.

ANIMATION & SOUND

The animation was done by A-1 Pictures, the same people who made Anohana and Black Butler, and I must say, they did a really good job with it. The action scenes were excellent, characters were animated well and the background shots were also very good. I have no major problem with the animation when it comes to this anime.

The soundtrack is by far the best part of the anime. Yuki Kajiura did a brilliant job on this one! She made use of choirs to make epic battle scenes more epic, as well as larger orchestral works too. Also, I enjoyed some of the tracks that sounded like something from Spice & Wolf, that gave a scene a real medieval feel. The one song that stands out for me from the soundtrack is the famous “Swordland”. It includes a large orchestra, and of course a large choir, however the song is more famous for the choral section which has been ridiculed by the internet, because the Latin lyrics sound like the choir is singing about food.
From the 2 openings and 2 endings, OP 1 is the major winner; Crossing Field, an energetic and upbeat song, with great vocals from LiSA.
There are no problems with the Japanese dub from my view, both Matsuoka Yoshitsugu and Haruka Tomatsu did a great job voicing the main two characters.

FINAL EVALUATION

Sword Art Online has the potential to be called the most overhyped anime of all time. I do understand why some people call this anime a masterpiece, and I can see why some say it’s the worst anime they’ve ever seen.
Did I love this anime?
No.
Did I hate this anime?
No.
It has some serious flaws, yet it was enjoyable.
Is this anime a waste of time? No way.
I found it entertaining, even though it wasn’t the best anime.
Its flaws made it above average, and that’s exactly the score this show is getting.

6.5/10. (rounded to 7)

Why SHOULD you watch SAO?
-Awesome action scenes
-Brilliant soundtrack
-Great voice acting
-Very good animation
-It’s entertaining
-RPG elements
-Romance (If you like it)

Why should you NOT watch SAO?
-VERY bad characters
-out of place harem genre
-out of place Romance genre
*The story is completely messed up in terms of pacing
-Mediocre ending