Review of Sword Art Online

Story: The story starts off promising, but just turns out to be a cliché romance. Its the future. Video game technology has become so advanced that u can literally play a game using your mind alone. A hyped up jrpg arrives, (named sword art online). However, not everything is as it seems. The evil creator of the game made it so that you will be forever trapped in this virtual world unless someone beats it, and the most disturbing fact is that if you die in the game you die in real life. We go through the life of kirito (or kazuto, kirito is his avatars name) ashe tries to beat the game and ultimately end up in real life again.
However, halfway through the anime he falls in love with a fellow female player, Asuna. Aaaand the hunger games like anime gets replaced by a cliché romance which is cometely unbelievable.

Seriously.

Not only is the relationship stupid and unbelievable, its also boring. They are basically a perfect couple. All you see them doing in the first half of the show is flirt with one another. They have no chemistry. They have no arguments whatsoever. Its ridiculous. It's basically an anime version of twilight.
And even twilight has a better love story. They actually have problems with their relationship.
So basically the rest of the first arc is just episodes about kirito and asunas romance.
Don't even get me started with the second arc of the anime. Basically, to save asuna, kirito needs to go through an RPG with fairies. Oh, and did I mention that all the female fairies want to have sex with him? No, did I? That makes the second arc more sickening to watch.
Long story short, the story had a lot of potentially but it got executed poorly.
Mark:2

Art:
Pretty damn good. The art and animation look gorgeous but the character designs are pretty generic and they look the same in most other anime. The art really connects with the beautiful scenery of the virtual world, and the animation is fantastic, especially
in the action scenes, even though there aren't many of then.

Mark: 8

Sound:
Great. Sao has a good variety of tracks, and many of then set the mood for the scene, whether its a peaceful romance or an adrenaline- pumping action scene, it all fits.
The openings are great too, along with the superb animation, making them a saving grace for the anime.

Mark: 8

Characters:
Easily the anime's weakest point. There is not one interesting or likable character in the entire series.

Let's start with the main character. He's basically a Gary stu. He had no personality and he is BORING.
He's just... PERFECT.
He manages to defeat every enemy effortlessly by himself.
He gets all the ladies.
What he doesn't get is character development. He gets none. At all. Kirito is basically a wish fulfillment character for any stressed out male otaku/gamer because he is a loser who actually becomes a hero and a chick magnet.
Introduced as a Gary stu, ends as a Gary stu.

Now we get our female lead, asuna.
She's basically a cliche love interest.
She's just princess peach.
She's a Mary stu. She had no depth in her personality and has no goal apart from kirito.
Ironically, she was introduced as pretty bad ass, but after she fell in love with our hero, she's just become princess peach. Now she just cooks for our main character.
Also, did I mention she was hot? No, I didn't. Oh well, she's really hot.
Buuut if she's so hot then why is she spending time with a loser like kirito and why is she playing a video game anyway.....
Just because someone's hot doesn't mean you'll like them. Same with asuna. Hot but has no personality at all.

Villains: none. There are no real villains. Both villains in the series are stupid and have no real intentions or plans.
They aren't meant to be taken seriously.

Sides:
None. There are zero important side characters. All other males don't do anything, and the females just want sex with kirito. That's it. Literally.

Mark: 1

Enjoyment: What do you think? It's basically a poorly written romance with nothing going for it.
The art and sound can't make up for the abysmal characters and story.

Mark: 3

Verdict:
Sao had such a cool concept. If you passed it on to the creators of anime like fmab or something, then we'd definitely get a good anime
But no. Just no.
The characters are non-existant and the story is utter crap. Yes, animation and art is good, but there are many anime with the same level of animation and sound.
Go watch those instead of this piece of crap.

Please, for the love of god, do not watch this piece of shit.

Overall: 2