Review of Sword Art Online

I really think the first half of this shows is actually quite decent all things considered. As much as I despise the latter half of this show, SAO is one of the most influential anime in the past 10 years. It practically popularised Isekai's before that term was even mainstream. Every other isekai these days take notes from SAO and sometimes flat out copies the entire premise of the show. I think the first episode of SAO is a top tier first episode for an anime ever. That being said the show does have some very heavy flaws. That being the progression of the storyafter Kirito starts his relationship with Asuna. Once he starts dating Asuna the story quickly proceeds to start ending and all the threads really just come together all of a sudden. This would be fine if it wasn't a two-cour show. Once we conclude our first half of the story, we are suddenly bounced back to the real world, while being an interesting concept, seeing what life would be like for those who were stuck in that game for a long time and seeing the world develop without them experiencing it, is ultimately flat considering we have the other half of the season to go. And with that we are given perhaps one of the worst arcs I have ever experienced, that being the Alfheim Online Arc, Where we find that our main heroine is captured and its up to our protag to save her. Now this arc is boring, dull, and a sorry extension to the SAO concept. That was a very long reason. It is true that the story of SAO is cut far too short, or better said rushed way too fast. My other problem is our cast of characters, mainly Kirito. Kirito starts of as a dark and brooding main protag (excluding the first episode to an extent) but once he meets Asuna all of a sudden he's nice and likes people. Now this wouldn't be an issue if it was a slow progression, but it's not, it takes about 1 or 2 episodes for him to turn into a "nice guy." Not to mention every girl he meets seems to think he's the shit for some reason but that's just lazy writing. If the story and characters were treated with way more respect, this show could have been one of the greats. But no, it will forever be a laughing stock due to how poorly written the characters and story were.