Review of Sword Art Online

First off this isn't the "BEST ANIME EVER" With that being said though, it is still a great anime. Sword Art Online, an adaptation of a short series manga worthy of being a recommendation on anyone's list. The anime revolves around Kirito, a teenage boy who is trapped in a virtual MMO game with 10'000 other players. The premise of the game is to fight up the tower of which they start in and reach the 100th floor, whilst avoiding death at all cost as dying in game results in dying in real life. The anime story is quite solid, based around the concept of being ableto be in a virtual game (Body and all) is a great start (who doesn't want to be able to go INTO a game right?). The anime is solely based on Kirito's journey in the game, which is its first downfall however, seeing as the other characters lacked a lot of depth that they should have gotten (Characters such as Klien and Egil, look like such interesting characters, but almost seem like strangers since we dont know anything about them..) However it is understandable seeing as this is a short series anime. Another problem with the story was the time jumps, as said previously the anime is a short anime, therefore it was necessary to do this, however I think that most people, including me would have preferred if the anime continued longer; which would have allowed us to continue to watch the journey of Kirito AS WELL as the other characters in the anime (I'm sure there were much more adventures and monsters). The only other character that gets any sufficient depth would be Asuna, Kirito's romantic interest, which is also a nice addition to the anime as there is a lot of romance elements in the anime which is very well done as well.

With this being said, the anime still does remarkably well. With the first few episodes being extremely engaging and entertaining with the introduction to a virtual gaming world, as well as the loss of friends and comrades. However the anime does lose this momentum as it goes onto its latter episodes, which is probably due to the lack of depth the anime actually gave to the characters and the world itself. Seeing as the animation in this anime is very beautiful with vast landscapes and bustling towns, the animation and artwork alone can be compared to that of other top tier anime.

All in all, the anime does well as it was very entertaining to watch. With an awe inspiring world that SHOULD have been showed off more (I think most viewers didn't really even care about the artwork, as it was not emphasized much.) and captivating journey of Kirito and Asuna, with the emotional short stories of friendship and loss. Sword Art Online is a must watch on my list, however the anime leaves viewers with a bit of an empty feeling at the end which is the thing that stops me from giving this anime a solid 9/10, as everyone i believe, knows that this anime COULD have been and SHOULD have been even better. Therefore it gets 8/10 seeing as with all this said, it is enjoyable to watch.

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