Sword Art Online Meam Not Fun Watching Other Players

Synopsis

In the year 2022, virtual reality has progressed by leaps and premises, and a massive online role-playing game called Sword Art Online (SAO) is launched. With the assist of "NerveGear" technology, players can control their avatars within the game using nothing but their own thoughts.

Kazuto Kirigaya, nicknamed "Kirito," is amid the lucky few enthusiasts who get their hands on the offset shipment of the game. He logs in to find himself, with 10-1000 others, in the breathtaking and elaborate world of Aincrad, one total of fantastic medieval weapons and gruesome monsters. However, in a cruel plow of events, the players before long realize they cannot log out; the game'south creator has trapped them in his new world until they complete all 1 hundred levels of the game.

In order to escape Aincrad, Kirito will now have to interact and cooperate with his fellow players. Some are allies, while others are foes, like Asuna Yuuki, who commands the leading group attempting to escape from the ruthless game. To make matters worse, Sword Fine art Online is not all fun and games: if they die in Aincrad, they die in real life. Kirito must suit to his new reality, fight for his survival, and hopefully break free from his virtual hell.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Reviews

Apr six, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall	iv
Story	4
Animation	viii
Audio	8
Character	i
Enjoyment	iii

--The review contains minor spoilers--

Since I've seen a plethora of scores of 10 for this testify, I idea I'd write what I experience is a more than realistic review for this bear witness. Sword Fine art Online is more than or less the equivalent of a fanfiction in it's writing and quality. Whether people want to overlook information technology or not is up to the individual, just I believe it fails at the fundamentals for writing a proficient story. This review will go into details as to my opinions on why I feel this way.

1) Story - This is first major problem is the bear witness. Permit's start from the kickoff shall nosotros. The beginning arc consists of xiv episodes. The first 2 episodes are honestly pretty adept and set the plot of the evidence that should follow. Y'all're introduced to the main characters and it shows mmo style of play. I mean with 2 episodes that are amazing, surely what follows volition be more of the adventures of the chief characters and these mmo boss fights...right? Incorrect. What follows are five completely irrelevant side grapheme episodes and unnecessary terrible fourth dimension skips that ruin whatsoever sense of a story the first 2 episodes set up. So due to some illogical reason, nosotros're now downwardly to 7 episodes to tell the rest of this story. Still doable correct? Right? Wrong again. The series wastes some other 2 i/2 episodes on pointless filler garbage. So there you have it over half of beginning role of the story has nothing to practice with the overall plot. Well what virtually the other episodes you ask? The remaining "plot" episodes are filled with deus ex machina in its purest grade. Fifty-fifty the finale of the first flavor makes admittedly no sense. This isn't a fantasy world, information technology's a freaking video game, yous tin't have miracles here. So that concludes my bug with season 1, which the majority of SAO fans consider to be the best office....Yeh y'all heard me, the 2nd role is even worse.
Without going into spoilers, the 2nd part of the series takes place in a different setting, with a by and large new cast aside from our main hero. This part of the serial probably deserves the laurels for about unnecessary story in the history of anime. This arc is pretty much a mario game. Our hero must save the princess in the castle. Not really much to say virtually it. Oh yeh deus ex machina finale hither as well...oh and there's an incest subplot...for some reason. This concludes the plot department. I think I'chiliad being pretty generous with a 4 here.

2) Art - The fine art is fantastic. Colorful characters, bosses (the few nosotros see), and settings are all here. It's easily worth an 8.

3) Sound - Again fantastic. Nada wrong with it at all. 8.

4)Characters - Here nosotros go...This is easily the worst part of the series. I'll split up the main characters and lump together the not so main characters.

Kirito/Kazuto - The main character of this show is the epitome of the electric current definition of a "Gary Stu". He has no personality whatsoever. He is good at everything he tries for no reason. He's an astonishing player, an super sleuth, a ladies man, and a master hacker. You name it, he can do information technology. There's no reason given for this other than he's just that skilful. Girls all dearest him, guys want to be him, and villains are jealous of him. He also solos MMO dominate fights...yeh wrap your head effectually that i. Side note - I often encounter people merits they love this evidence because they're hardcore gamers. I take to say as an avid gamer myself I notice this prove to be insulting. Unless you've hacked or cheated , I don't understand why you're content with a grapheme who does. Side note over.

Asuna - The main female person lead/most breathy waifu character ever. Asuna is introduced equally a potent player who tin stand on her own with Kirito, that is for the first couple episodes. Once she reappears she barely does anything other than cook for Kirito. That's right, her ass stays in the kitchen, while Kirito does all the important stuff. In role 2 she does admittedly zip...seriously. She again has no original personality...textbook Tsundere.

Yui - This graphic symbol is terrible in all senses of the word. She'south walking deus ex machina, nil more. This character should be hated by whatsoever gamer, since she's a cheat device, who adds aught to the story.

Villains (small-scale spoilers) - There are 2 major villains in this series and they're both terrible. The first one forgets his motives for doing everything in part 1 and the part 2 one is and so comically evil he can't even be taken seriously.

Other Characters/ Who the hell cares - The female person characters all desire to accept sexual practice with Kirito and have no personality past this. The male characters don't get to do anything because Kirito hogs the evidence from everyone. That's really all in that location is to say about that.

Suguha - This is Kirito'due south sister. She honestly has layers and was a plus to the prove in my opinion. I don't know why she's in this show, she doesn't belong in it...

Then yeh, Gary Stu and Waifu - these characters are pathetic (1).

5) Enjoyment - Needless to say I didn't enjoy it. Poor show (iii)

6) Overall - This show has and then many fans, and I really don't know why. Its plot is rushed and terrible. Its characters so flat, it'south about funny...almost. Its romance is highly misogynistic and terribly developed. I felt insulted watching this, and don't understand how any could like this show. Even Gamers.

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February 26, 2013

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall	vii
Story	half-dozen
Animation	8
Sound	9
Graphic symbol	half-dozen
Enjoyment	8

I don't actually desire to become into likewise much depth, but I'd like to give an overview of the serial and give my opinions it. If you haven't noticed nonetheless in that location are many negative reviews out there for this anime, and while many of them bring up some pretty fair points, I think some people are being a bit likewise harsh on information technology. Let me explain.

Yeah it's a popular anime, yes it has flaws, no it'southward not perfect, but at the very least in my opinion information technology is enjoyable. The pacing is off, the beginning particularly feels rushed, in that location were moments where I idea I skipped an episode considering of the time skips which made it difficult to actually connect with any of the characters in the beginning, and at that place were some less than stellar instances where it felt like the anime was trying to brand me care only failing hard.

Some characters felt to exist completely forgotten throughout nigh of this serial also. For example in the showtime we are introduced to a character named Klein who is quickly pushed aside after the first episode and barely seen again and doesn't really make much of an touch at all on the story later on. This seems to happen a lot throughout this serial where in that location might be some emotional moments where a character dies, or something dramatic happens just there is really no emotional impact from information technology, and the main grapheme seems to not really care that much about information technology or it doesn't really effect anything significantly.

I really felt this series shined from around episodes 4-thirteen and I wish they would accept kept with that pace instead of rushing an ending midway and throwing something new at us. The second half only felt completely unnecessary and forced.

Pushing the negative aside, I found the overall theme and atmosphere of the series to be great, and existence an avid lover the MMORPG genre obviously a lot of things in this serial appealed to me. I really enjoyed the idea of being stuck in a game that was impossible to escape from without winning and having real consequences, information technology really fabricated everything much more dramatic and meaningful in the story. Sadly this rapidly goes away midway through the plot.

If I had to pick two of the best things this anime did well for me it would probably be the animation and soundtrack. They both were really well done, and honestly without them existence as good every bit they were this series would have gotten a much lower score from me, and when I say I actually enjoyed the soundtrack I hateful that I loved information technology, information technology was superb.

I think what it really comes down was just the fact that I enjoyed watching information technology. I tin can expect at the flaws and option the anime autonomously pretty easily, but those flaws never really stopped me from enjoying this anime.I really do feel though that information technology had a lot of potential to be a summit tier series, information technology merely made far too many mistakes. Looking at it objectively I merely cannot give this anime college than a seven. Information technology was good considering I found information technology to be enjoyable, only it wasn't great or amazing.

At the stop of the 24-hour interval I lookout anime considering I desire something that volition entertain me and continue me interested, and I feel that Sword Art Online did a good task at accomplishing that.

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Oct 12, 2014

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall	2
Story	2
Blitheness	7
Sound	seven
Character	2
Enjoyment	5

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a brave immature boy. He was the best swordsman in the state and the manliest man of all. He overcame countless trials with little effort and won the hearts of many off-white maidens.

Yes, it's time for Sword Art Online, the origin of many angry rants.

The premise doesn't sound also bad. Ten thousand players of a virtual MMO are trapped in the game and forced to consummate it to escape, except that death in the game leads to death in existent life. Just think about it: this could exist a tragic story of struggle where death is backside every corner. A story of sacrifice and despair. A story of alliances and betrayal. A story of the struggle to retain humanity in front of incommunicable weather condition.

...But why have whatsoever of that when yous tin take romance and harem?

That's right; the survival game is just for testify. Don't expect deep interpersonal or political disharmonize. Don't look psychology or moral dilemmas. Don't expect tactics or heed games. Actually, don't expect witty dialogue of any kind.

And that is the biggest problem with this show. Information technology is broke in substance. It's mostly just uninspired romance and harem, with a bit of action hither and there. There isn't much thinking involved. A few plot holes I could forgive, but if the show isn't about anything worthwhile, there isn't much to do. What makes this problem all the more apparent is that the premise promises something entirely different than what it delivers. The prove has thrown its hands up in the air and said, "Nosotros don't care." Then why should the viewer?

It doesn't help that the evidence has grown infamous for glorifying its protagonist, who in the optics of many has become the epitome of a Gary Stu. He can defeat anything, he can solve whatsoever problem, and he gets all the girls. It'south virtually like this prove was meant to be a propaganda piece in his favor.

Story: 3

The first two episodes are decent, building up the premise. We are introduced to the protagonist Kirito and the concept of the decease game. Before long plenty, nosotros are told that a calendar month has passed and 2 thousand players have died offscreen. ...Await, not even a short montage or annihilation? Plainly non. Anyway, these two episodes are pretty much the only decent ones, so savor them while y'all can.

The third episode begins to show more serious problems. Nosotros are supposed to grade an emotional bond to new characters in a few minutes, and we have to go through over-the-top angst over irrational actions. Merely there is also optimism in the air; of grade nosotros can revive someone whose brain has been fried, right?

What follows is an abrupt bound to harem and romance antics. The next few episodes are near various girls all of a sudden falling for Kirito, ofttimes the aforementioned day they met him. This typically involves uncontrollable blushing, fanservice, and people acting Tsundere. You probably go the picture. It doesn't help that many of these episodes accept a very filler-esque feel to them. The principal plot ‒ if you tin call it such at this point ‒ takes a backseat in favor of these random new girls.

The daughter called Asuna, who quickly becomes the token love interest for Kirito, has at to the lowest degree met him before, but there is nevertheless very piffling buildup to their relationship. Unless it took identify offscreen. You run across, another thing that becomes very noticeable is the pacing. There accept been timeskips of months between episodes. This wouldn't be a problem if these snapshots independent all the events that were critical to the story, but it'southward obvious that the author has picked rather tiresome events out of all the possibilities. Why is it that thousands of people dying is covered in a few lines, while we have to sit down through hours and hours of romance and harem? I hate to be beating a dead horse here, but information technology'due south unavoidable because it comes upward again in just nigh every episode.

By now, it has also become obvious to the viewer that Kirito is invincible to the signal of tedium. He has a level higher than anyone, the best equipment, and a seemingly endless pool of abilities, simply most chiefly he ever wins. There is sometimes false tension, sure, but you know he volition survive anyway. You tin can only tum and then many clutch survivals before y'all starting time rolling your eyes.

The rest of the story arc involves Kirito and Asuna hanging out in the countryside to spend their honeymoon. They even adopt a daughter to portray a typical happy family. The problem is that their human relationship is really not that interesting. Merely "dem feels"! Nah, sorry. I take a heart of stone.

This is followed by a sudden confrontation with the main villain, which Kirito wins considering the power of beloved conquers all. And by that I mean the power of love conquers the programming of the game. Well, okay, maybe there was some "power of love" clause in the lawmaking somewhere. Information technology wouldn't surprise me at this point.

Predictably enough, melodrama ensues. Tears, promises of love, etc. You tin can probably imagine. At to the lowest degree at present nosotros're washed with this show, right?

No, call back over again, that was simply the adept role. There are really eleven more episodes left, and the journey takes us further downhill. We enter another game, this time without the expiry aspect. Before nosotros get to the plot itself, even at a glance this thought brings upward a few problems.

The harsh reality hits you faster than you can say "cashcow." This second arc feels completely unnecessary. It has been tied into the original story with an overly user-friendly plot device for no apparent purpose other than stretching it farther. At least know to quit while you're ahead. But no, they just had to drag this testify through the mud to rip apart any shred of nobility it had left.

It doesn't help that there is no expiry anymore. While this makes the slice-of-life content more plumbing fixtures, information technology also removes the established selling betoken of the bear witness. The change is too abrupt, and the difference in tone is too jarring. If you want to make a slice-of-life of ordinary MMO players, exercise it from the get-go.

Now, for the plot itself, and information technology isn't pretty. We go directly to a Mario game, by which I mean saving a dryad in distress trapped in a cage. And that isn't a metaphor; she is quite literally trapped in a cage. Add tentacles and incest to the plot, and yous take a winning combination. The incest attribute is provided by Kirito's sister Suguha, who likewise provides additional fanservice.

At least now the pacing is less erratic and there is seemingly less development taking place offscreen. Information technology'due south just too bad that in that location is too very little meaningful taking place onscreen. At that place are some new characters and even an ingame war going on, simply it'southward all then irrelevant to the main story that information technology'south hard to maintain involvement.

Long story short, Kirito beats the 2d villain with the help of more than deus ex machinas. There are also more than tears, promises of love, etc.

So at present we're washed, right? For now, yes, but in that location's still flavor 2 to look forward to.

Setting:

This is technically part of the story category, but I really think it deserves its own section here. You see, the very foundations of the setting make no sense. People in Sword Art Online are likewise oft acting like they are in a normal game, not in a life-and-decease scenario.

For instance, why is there so much resentment towards beta testers who accept greater knowledge of the game? This isn't a competition; the faster someone beats the game, the faster everyone gets out. And, similarly, why are beta testers reluctant to share data? Are they so worried almost other people using their newfound abilities to kill them for no reason? Look, you can't have both a casual slice-of-life of MMO players and a grim expiry game at the aforementioned time. Selection one.

This casual attitude becomes more pronounced later on when information technology becomes obvious people are wasting tons of time with unproductive quests, romance, and just hanging around. Kirito himself spends time on seemingly useless sidequests, and Asuna spends time cooking for him. Come to recollect of it, why has Asuna wasted points on a useless skill similar cooking in the first identify? Are these people even trying?

And why are so many players dying when towns are condom zones? Are they stupidly rushing into high-level dungeons? I suppose so. You see, for a grim expiry game it sure is hard to die in SAO. Bosses won't respawn, so everyone can advance forward, even weak players. Going from boondocks to town is also piece of cake enough with teleport crystals. Well, okay, there is that problem of challenging people to a duel while comatose, simply that tin can't take out so many.

There is no lack of critical resources considering you tin hang out in the condom of towns indefinitely. Sure, exp and money are limited because the regeneration of monsters is limited, which is strange game design itself, only they aren't necessary if y'all stay in town. At least, the show never implies that they are necessary. Oh, and for the tape, I'm treating the prove every bit cocky-contained and ignoring the source cloth.

So why exercise they die? I'd put my money on rushing stupidly into dungeons because we go to run into one notable example.

Permit'due south imagine you establish yourself in the following state of affairs. Earlier you and your guild are about to enter a high-level dungeon, you learn that one of them lied about his level. Knowing this, you realize you are underleveled and likely to end up dead, while avoiding decease and warning the others would be every bit simple every bit staying in town.

What would you do? Would you
a) Record a message in advance, knowing that y'all wouldn't terminal long, or
b) Stay in boondocks so that you wouldn't get killed in the first place?

A tricky one, I acknowledge.

Nosotros are also introduced to groups of thespian killers. Sounds good until yous realize this isn't a normal game. At least, I thought it wasn't, but it looks similar some people didn't get the memo. In a situation like SAO, there should be no reason for these killings. This isn't Danganronpa, where the principal point of the premise is that you can only escape past killing someone. This is a game where information technology makes the most sense to team upward and shell the game. There is no prisoner's dilemma; cooperation is the all-time plan and any sensible person would become for information technology.

If you kill someone hither, you only get some money and equipment. While it may help yous beat the game a little faster, odds are that it volition merely hurt your chances of survival overall. But off the top of my caput, a few reasons:
one) If people start killing each other, it obviously increases the risk of dying yourself, both in retaliation and spontaneously.
2) Killing people reduces manpower needed for beating the game, and the distrust that follows volition brand it even slower. You could only impale useless low-level players, but they probably don't take much money or good equipment to begin with.
3) There is the take a chance that yous will land murder charges if you escape from the game and officials find out.

Actually, does the equipment even help that much? Kirito seemingly uses the same equipment for long periods of time, yet he is practically invincible. On the other mitt, he does say that equipment can be worth many levels, so did he become the best stuff for himself so fast? Is it strange game design or cheat codes? It's anyone's guess.

Of form, if yous accept footling interest in beating the game, killing other players makes more than sense, if only a fiddling. I suppose getting more money can help y'all obtain some luxury items, but is it worth the risk? The implied reason is that they are killing people for laughs, but why did and then many murderous psychopaths decide to log into this MMO on its opening 24-hour interval? Is this some kind of stab at gamers, maxim that they are unable to distinguish between real violence and fake violence? Maybe, or the author forgot that this isn't a normal MMO. Again.

Then is information technology a legit plan to stay in the virtual world for the residuum of your life and give up on getting back to the real world? If then, it would explicate a lot. While the range of pastimes in at that place is smaller than in the real world, maybe in that location is enough for some people.

The choice betwixt staying in relative happiness in a virtual world and risking your life returning to the real world could have been an interesting one. Unfortunately, their bodies are deteriorating in existent life, which makes the choice very one-sided. For some reason, Asuna has to point this out to Kirito because obviously the state of his real-world body had never occurred to him over the course of two years. Aye, good job, Kirito, you sure were fast on the uptake. Lying downwards on the grass and having a carefree nap doesn't sound then smart anymore, eh?

Finally, why are virtual MMOs however legal after the SAO incident? Sure, the new hardware is supposedly safer, just the previous death trap must accept equally passed through "strict" government exam, and then who in their right heed would trust them? And fifty-fifty if nosotros assume information technology is safe, since when has people'south hysteria hinged on facts? People fear new engineering science even when it's harmless, let alone when a massive incident like this happens. There would be mass protests in the streets in favor of banning them.

Characters: two

You may take noticed that I take only mentioned iii characters by name and then far. For some other show, this might be because the cast is so vast that in that location is no time to become through them all, simply here it'southward rather that in that location are very few characters worth mentioning. Kirito, and past extension Asuna and Suguha who are defined by Kirito'south character, grunter practically all of the screentime.

Anybody else gets thrown under the charabanc. Girls only be to fall in love with Kirito, and males just exist to be inferior to him. The villains in particular but exist as fodder to the guy.

Kirito:

I have barely touched on Kirito's personality. Well, arraign the show, not me; it should at to the lowest degree be willing to come across me halfway. We know very little about him, other than being invincible and inexplicably expert with the ladies. Essentially, he is the manliest man on the planet.

That's pretty much all he is. Even his dialogue ends up pretty bland. There are no witty insights, no clever jokes, no expert give-and-take games. Much of his dialogue consists of maxim that the earth is a virtual one, explaining game mechanics, wishing to save everyone, or loving someone forever. The sort of stuff you'd expect from a cardboard cutout hero in a state of affairs like this.

It can be a facepalm-worthy experience to witness daughter after girl falling for Kirito like zilch, often the same day they met him. The evidence endlessly drills into the viewer that he is the sexiest homo live... for some reason. I get that rescuing people can give you points in their eyes, but come on now. I can simply presume there is a hidden manliness stat and his black jacket comes with a +999 boost.

Every bit far as his invincibility goes, the win streak past itself isn't the biggest problem. The trouble is that he ever wins through fauna forcefulness. That is to say, his character skills and stats. There are no tactics worth mentioning, no psychology, no politics, no thinking whatsoever. He will just exit in that location and pull off his generic action hero stunts. Sure, developing those skills and stats may have required some tactical thinking. Maybe he has optimized his skill tree or has astonishing grinding strats. In theory. We meet no hints of it. It all happened offscreen and offscreen doesn't count. I'yard sorry, it just doesn't.

To add insult to injury, some of Kirito'south abilities are completely forgotten afterwards. I'chiliad sure that health recovery thing would have come in handy whatever number of times. And when even his skills and stats aren't enough, he is saved past plot armor at the last 2nd.

It'due south likewise a mockery of MMOs in the sense that Kirito is able to solo raid bosses. And he is able to attain a level higher than anyone despite playing solo, supposedly because he doesn't take to split the exp. His most unique power is revealed to be... *drumroll* dual-wielding, which nobody else is immune to practise in this game. This doesn't audio like any MMO I know of, or was the thought to portray a player with god-mode cheats on?

I'm seriously thinking that the bear witness would take been a lot more tolerable if Kirito solitary had been replaced by 1 of the side characters. It notwithstanding wouldn't have been a masterpiece or annihilation, just at least the Gary Stu accusations could take been avoided.

Asuna:

She is about as banal in personality as Kirito. She is likewise portrayed as fairly powerful for no substantial reason simply of course nothing compared to him. As fourth dimension passes, her about notable trait becomes being a textbook Tsundere.

...Well, that was fast. Moving on.

Suguha:

Equally mentioned earlier, her principal part is providing fanservice and a tacked-on incest subplot. It'south simply another chemical element thrown into the plot for cheap daze value, if anyone is still shocked past incest in anime nowadays.

Villain #1:

The showtime villain barely appears, and his motivation for trapping the players is vague, to say the least. He basically did it out of personal interest. He wanted to create a virtual world where death has meaning similar in the existent one, but every bit for why he was interested in the idea, he forgot. Err, alright then. Moving on.

Villain #2:

The 2nd villain is pathetic and a disgrace to antagonists everywhere, coming across as a cartoon villain who does evil things for the sake of being evil. The conflict here is portrayed equally completely black-and-white, just in case someone had sympathy for the guy, equally unlikely as that is.

His main focus is essentially raping a comatose girl. And that is over obtaining tons of cash, presumably in the millions. If he had left the girl alone, he probably would accept got away with it, so for all intents and purposes, he chose raping a daughter over millions in cash. Talk about priorities.

Come to retrieve of it, it'southward already ridiculous that the family of the comatose girl is planning to accept her marry the guy. I mean, she is in a coma. Equally in unconscious, unable to state her own intentions, etc. Where are child protective services when you need them? Thankfully, the constabulary disagrees, so they tin't utilise for an official marriage. Instead, he'll exist adopted by her family equally their son in spirit... Wait, what?

Furthermore, his sheer incompetence is mindboggling. He openly explains his evil plans and his security is practically at Dr. Evil level, up to inbound a secret keycode in plain sight so that the prisoner can see. Thankfully the government and his company are equally incompetent and are not monitoring his research group closely despite its reliance on infamous technology used in SAO. Are these the same people who deemed the new tech safe? If and so, I'd like a second opinion. I wouldn't trust these people to operate Angry Birds, let alone a virtual MMO with potential wellness risks.

Art: 7

So this is where the coin went. The backgrounds await nice merely cheap fanservice scenes not so much.

Sound: 7

Not also bad either. The soundtrack and opening and catastrophe songs work pretty decently, and the voices are also alright.

Enjoyment: 5

Funnier than I was expecting but for the incorrect reasons. At that place is something earnest about how the bear witness is trying to portray escapism and human being relationships, but it falls just brusque enough to create a dissonance.

Overall: three

Watch it to witness the writing yourself. Simply more than importantly, by watching the show you tin can ameliorate sympathise the reviews or, improve nevertheless, write one yourself.

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Dec 31, 2012

25 of 25 episodes seen

Overall	iii
Story	3
Animation	8
Sound	6
Character	3
Enjoyment	half-dozen

Once in a while, there comes forth a title (be it film, book or anime) that takes the audience by tempest, sweeping numerous off their feat, leaving several with a bad aftertaste in their mouth and making a few laissez passer the work off equally 'boilerplate' or 'mediocre'. Online communities, forums, chat rooms and every other nook and corner of the net known to man turn into arenas of debates, discussions, fanboyism/fangirlism and flaming. It's apparent that when something is popular, it doesn't always get to bath in praises. With the acclaim, comes a sheer amount of criticisms. Also, it goes without maxim that popularity doesn't necessarily equate to quality.

Sword Art Online, abbreviated as SAO from this point on, is no exception.

SAO, the anime adaptation of a series of light novels of the aforementioned name past Kawahara Reki, has been the much talked almost prove of the Summer and Fall 2012 seasons, and taking into consideration the incredible hype surrounding information technology with reviews of mixed sorts, it's probable to stay that mode for quite some time. Keeping in mind the vogue of MMORPGs and the demand for something 'captivating', the team behind SAO attempts to bring an enticing work to the tabular array by executing the intriguing premise of 'players trapped in a VRMMORPG where death equates to death in existent life and the only way out is to clear the game'. Unfortunately, SAO fails at many levels which is a shame because when the anime kicked off with the highly anticipated starting time episode, all seemed well and it gave the vibes of something truly worth spending your time on but then it does a flip and from this point, things go awry. And hither we accept information technology— one of the about controversial anime of the recent years.

Before proceeding with the review, allow'south become 1 matter straight. I have non read the original source material— the calorie-free novels, that is. Hence, I'm not going to draw whatever comparison between that and the anime. With that out of the mode, let'due south go along the ball rolling.

SAO on the surface has a fairly interesting premise, no doubt, and it'due south executed well to some extent or and so did it initially seem. The very thought of a large number of people logged into a VRMMORPG with the intention of embarking on a virtual reality adventure but only to be struck with utter horror as they're faced with the shocking truth of the game has been put into effect quite satisfactorily in the start episode. Information technology'southward pretty much what I'd phone call an excellent start. However, SAO effortlessly manages to send all my expectations and enthusiasm down the drain for it takes the evidence merely an episode or two to reveal its true colours followed by the thwarting it has in store.

So, what goes wrong? Well, many things.

Following the Swell Beginning, the first arc decides to take a detour and invests on a few episodes dealing with side stories in which our protagonist Kirito gets acquainted with ane girl per episode and ends up rescuing her from a jam. This is precisely why I similar referring to this agglomeration of side stories equally 'episodic harem' wherein the chief heroine of the story and Kirito's love involvement Asuna is assumed to be constant and the other girls are variables. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing. All the same, these side stories accept very lilliputian to nothing to contribute to the serial as a whole. Admittedly, they equip the viewers with some clever, little details here and at that place regarding how the game world works but they hardly have whatever bearing to the overall plot. The master goal of these filler-like episodes appears to exist that of giving our hero clad in black an opportunity to flaunt how much of a chick magnet he is and how he has it all that takes to be the coolest dude in this world made up of zillions of pixels. To kicking, the characters (read: cute chicks) that appear in these episodes have absolutely no substantial role to play in the story later on. 'Side' characters indeed. And SAO knows how to effectively sideline them.

When the arc finally gets itself back on rails, it's only natural to hope that the testify volition now have something worthwhile to deliver. Nevertheless, that isn't the case. If anything, some severe cracks begin to appear as very soon the focus of SAO is the romance between the two leads which is, in one give-and-take, cheesy. At this indicate, opinions are divided. The romance aspect, for some, can be appealing while for others, it tin can be a major turn off especially if they don't like the characters involved. It all comes down to personal preference. Withal, personal preferences aren't a convincing excuse by whatever means to overlook the fact that the story, world building and everything else take a backseat for the sake of allowing the two leads to be lovey-dovey in the backdrop of gorgeous sceneries. When the arc does manage to divert its focus on to some 'serious business', things look expert for a while but with a rather unimpressive ending, the first arc concludes on a pretty bad note in my book.

And then begins the second arc which, to exist blunt, is a letdown again.

The 2nd arc or the ALO arc is set within ALfheim Online, a VRMMORPG successor to SAO. Kirito logs in with a mission to rescue his wife (Asuna, duh) from the clutches of an archetypical antagonist who is a disgrace to all the villains in fiction nosotros have come across so far. This arc showcases some really eye candy visuals but that'south pretty much its only redeeming point. It doesn't take anything much going on except for a few climactic activeness sequences now and then with intense battle music playing in the background that concluding simply for a while. Not to mention, there'due south another girl added to Kirito's harem.

And then the hilarity ensues.

The manner in which ALO is brought to a close is appalling to say the least and at the same laughable because it doesn't hesitate to utilise the much notorious plot device dues ex machina, ruining whatever hopes there were for the terminal confrontation with the villain. The poor conclusion could be excused if it was handled more cleverly and convincingly just a blatant ass pull is by no means satisfactory. If anything, information technology only proves that the writer faced a dead end and was unable to think of anything better and creative, and expected the audience to swallow down whatever he could come up with, no matter how downright stupid it is.

Among all the other things, the nigh easily noticeable flaw without a incertitude is the execution of the plot itself which is all over the place. Information technology doesn't accept a genius to figure out after a couple of episodes that SAO suffers from poor pacing and inconsistency. It appears to be highly indecisive as to what exactly information technology wants to do and how to get it washed. This is more often than not evident in the kickoff arc which is incredibly rushed at many parts. In that location're timeskips and the next matter you realize is that the characters have already cleared quite a lot of floors while keeping u.s.a., the viewers, in the night. This makes the plot disjointed, prevents any sort of correlation to the win-or-dice situation that the characters have been put into and gives everything the feel of it being nothing more than than a piece of cake. The struggle for survival and a sense of urgency are hardly felt fifty-fifty though the lives of the characters accept been said to exist literally at stake. The episodes dealing exclusively with the lead couple taking some time off for a 'holiday' and afterward ending up edifice a virtual family tin further make one wonder: Why are they and so carefree when they're supposed to chalk out plans to beat the game and make a quick escape? To put it in other words, the arc has a tendency to become off track. It lays downwards for itself one thing but ends up doing something else birthday. It'south uncertain as to whether to make itself come beyond equally a story of survival set inside a VRMMORPG or as a fluffy love story. In due course, it decides to juggle with both just doesn't get either of them rightly done. Not to mention, when the situation demands it and the author goes out of whatever artistic ideas to move the story forwards, the characters' actions are fabricated to contradict the established game mechanics and the simply reasoning that's provided for such miracles is 'where at that place's a volition, there's a manner, and there're times when true dear and determination tin can overcome any obstruction in the game'.

Now, for those who look for substance in any given story, it's nearly a fact that no amount of fanservice, middle candies, self-insertion or guilty pleasure factors tin maybe compensate for a substandard storytelling. Still that's what SAO tries to do. It brings in all the aforementioned elements to sugarcoat its sloppy writing. On the whole, there're no sincere efforts made to incorporate details that would contribute in some way or the other to world building or characterization whatsoever.

While the poor quality of the writing is the key factor, the other aspect that contributes considerably to the mediocrity of the show is the characterization. Simply put, SAO's characters are bland. Essentially, the show has its focus on only two characters: Kirito and Asuna. The others are simply in that location; mere devices to move the story forward. And a few have null to contribute to the plot at all. For instance, the ones featuring in the side stories.

Let's talk about the protagonist Kirito get-go.

An unsocial, reserved yet headstrong role player who knows how to become things done his mode and is determined to crush the game. That'due south basically how Kirito is portrayed in the outset. At this point, he seems similar a practiced riddance from the generic wimpy male person leads that have get then much of a commonplace in anime. A proficient main character who knows how to deal with things is something refreshing to witness once in a while. Unfortunately, the impressions didn't last for long. In drastic attempts to make his character more 'appealing', Kirito is depicted as a 'perfect' existence which leaves his character with trivial plausibility and much insipidity.
He'due south a guy with a heart of gold.
He has an 'ideal' girlfriend/wife.
He's admired by those effectually him.
He can 'unintentionally' make every other adult female admire him, romantically or otherwise.

Thus, he serves as a mere cocky-insert character for wish-fulfilment and at the cease of the twenty-four hours, there's nothing 'individualistic' about him. Gary stu is probably what describes his graphic symbol the best, and if paired with the Mary sue of the show, we go a lead couple that seems to accept been cut out straight from a tacky romance fanfiction.

Yeah, when I mentioned 'Mary sue', I was referring to Asuna.

Asuna as the female person lead is as stereotyped as they come. Much like Kirito, her grapheme is heavily idealized. She's pretty, popular, kind, caring and every other human wants to have a slice of her. Oh, and did I mention her cooking skills that level upwardly with each passing solar day? After all, her foremost duty is to cook for Kirito and show how much she cares for him. While initially she's portrayed as a strong, contained female player with a tsundere-ish mental attitude, it doesn't take her long to brand a transition from that to a deplorable damsel in distress, requiring her knight in blackness robe to come up to her rescue whenever she's in a demark. Kirito fighting her order leader to earn her some time for honeymooning is laughable to say the to the lowest degree. Information technology soon becomes apparent that she doesn't accept much of a office other than serving as the honey involvement of the protagonist and being the object of fanservice now and then which might be successful in pleasing the male audience somehow merely that alone tin can't make up for her desperately written character. In fact, the other female grapheme the show cares to put the spotlight on as well ends up becoming the target of fanservice but doesn't have anything else going on for herself.

If you haven't guessed it already, I'm talking virtually Kirito's beloved imouto.

Throughout the outset arc, the writer must have had been itching to include a love triangle in the story but couldn't find a potential candidate to get the job done. Equally the first arc comes to a closure and the second arc begins, he grabs the opportunity, puts Asuna behind the bars (so that she's not an interference in what he'south attempting to do) and introduces Suguha, Kirito'due south cousin sister. The sole purpose of creating her character, it appears, is to brand way for a generic love triangle and melodrama. Suguha loves her cousin but tin can't do anything about it because he loves Asuna. That's the biting truth. Hence, she looks up to a certain someone she happens to befriend inside ALO and hopes that he'd exist able to sooth her aching center. Nonetheless, she gets trolled… desperately. This, in plow, leads to more drama that's somehow supposed to exist heart wrenching only it isn't.

The remaining cast consists of 2 antagonists, both failing to brand any sort of impression though the ane making his debut in the second arc can exist a skillful comic relief at times, and a agglomeration of side characters that wouldn't take had made any departure even if they hadn't existed. The bottom line is, the characters of SAO are a half-broiled lot devoid of whatever depth or evolution. They could've perhaps turned out to be interesting if they were more than fleshed out but who cares about that as long every bit they appeal to the intended target audience?

Onto the technical aspects now.

In the section of visuals, A-one Pictures does a pretty good job. Within the game, the vast tracts of greenery, the beautiful cities during the night, the castles… they're all a pleasure to behold. The blitheness is besides well-handled for the almost part. Initially I wasn't much pleased with the character designs just they gradually grew on me, and I personally find a few characters like Asuna, Heathcliff and Lisbeth to be very well designed.

The music is equanimous by one of the most renowned composers in the anime manufacture, Yuki Kajiura. While the soundtracks aren't bad by any means, none of them stand out much except the one that plays during gainsay/intense scenes. In fact, that's the merely runway that can exist heard playing most of the time in the unabridged show. A few other tracks, though they aptly fit the scenes they're played in, are easily forgettable. The same applies to the opening and ending themes. Nothing groundbreaking there. I'1000 a fan of almost all of Kajiura's works and if compared to her previous works, SAO'southward music is lacklustre to say the least and then much so that it's difficult to believe Kajiura is the composer to begin with.

To wrap upwardly the review, SAO had the potential to be something skilful but that potential goes downwards the bleed due to poorly executed plot and banal characterization. It starts off in a satisfactory manner but goes downhill thereafter. Notwithstanding, it can be an entertaining ride if one keeps their expectations low and swallows downward any it has to offer without questioning anything. One of the reasons why SAO has been a letdown is the anticipation the bulk had for it prior to its airing but that's justified since the light novel series from which the anime is adapted is one of the virtually popular ones out there.

[Edited on March xx, 2017]

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Source: https://myanimelist.net/anime/11757/Sword_Art_Online

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