gdooley - 2013-06-06 07:03:25

Once in a while comes a piece of fiction (be it movie, book or… anime) that takes the audience by storm, sweeping numerous off their feat, leaving several with a bad aftertaste in their mouth and making a few pass the work off as ‘average’ or ‘mediocre’. Online communities, forums, chat rooms and every other nook and corner of the internet known to the 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 saying that popularity doesn’t necessarily equate to quality.Sword Art Online is no exception. SAO, the anime adaptation of a series of light novels of the same name by Reki Kawahara, has been the much talked about show of the Summer and Fall 2012 seasons, and taking into consideration the incredible hype surrounding it with reviews of mixed sorts, it’s likely to stay that way for quite some time. Keeping in mind the vogue of MMORPG’s and the demand for something ‘captivating’, the team behind SAO attempts to bring an enticing work to the table by executing the intriguing premise of ‘players trapped in a VRMMORPG where death equates death in real 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 first 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 here we have it— one of the most controversial anime of the recent years. Before proceeding with the review, let’s get one thing straight. I’ve not read the original source material. The light novels, that is. Hence, I’m not going to draw any comparison between that and the anime. With that out of the way, let’s keep the ball rolling. SAO on the surface has a fairly interesting premise, no doubt, and it’s executed well to some extent or so did it initially seem. The very idea 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 first episode. It’s pretty much what I’d call an excellent start. However, SAO effortlessly manages to send all my expectations and enthusiasm down the drain for it takes the show only an episode or two to reveal its true colors followed by the disappointment it has in store. So, what goes wrong? Well, many things actually. Following the Great 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 one girl per episode and ends up rescuing her from a jam. This is precisely why I like referring to this bunch of side stories as ‘episodic harem’ where the primary heroine of the story and Kirito’s love interest Asuna is assumed to be constant and the other girls are variables. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, these side stories have very little to nothing to contribute to the series as a whole. Admittedly, they equip the viewers with some clever, little details here and there regarding how the game world works but these details have hardly have any bearing to the overall plot. The primary goal of these filler-like episodes appears to be 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 boot, 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 track, it’s only natural to hope that the show will now have something worthwhile to deliver. However, 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 word, cheesy. At this point, opinions are divided. The romance aspect, for some, can be appealing while for others, it can be a major turn off especially if they don’t like the characters involved. It all comes down to personal preference. However, personal preferences aren’t a convincing excuse by any 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 good 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 be blunt is a letdown… again. The second arc or the ALO arc is set within ALfheim Online, abbreviated as ALO, 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 we’ve come across so far in fiction. This arc showcases some really eye candy visuals that are a pleasure to behold but that’s pretty much its only redeeming point. It doesn’t have anything much going on except for a few climatic action sequences now and then with intense battle music playing in the background that last only for a while. Not to mention, there’s another chick added to Kirito’s harem: Suguha, his little sister or I should say cousin.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 use the much notorious plot device dues ex machina, ruining whatever hopes there were for the final confrontation with the villain. The poor conclusion could be excused if it was handled more cleverly and convincingly but a blatant ass pull is by no means satisfactory. If anything, it 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 most easily noticeable flaw without a doubt is the execution of the plot itself which is all over the place. It doesn’t take 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 it wants to do and how to get it done. This is mostly evident in the first arc which is incredibly rushed at many parts. There’re timeskips and the next thing you realize is that the characters have already cleared quite a lot of floors while keeping us, the viewers, in the dark. This makes the plot disjointed, prevents any sort of correlation to the win-or-die situation that the characters have been put into and gives everything the feel of it being nothing more than a piece of cake. The struggle for survival and a sense of urgency are hardly felt even though the lives of the characters have been said to be literally at stake. The episodes dealing exclusively with the lead couple taking some time off for a ‘vacation’ and subsequently ending up building a virtual family can further make one wonder: Why are they 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 go off track. It lays down for itself one thing but ends up doing something else altogether. It’s uncertain as to whether to make itself come across as a story of survival set within a VRMMORPG or as a fluffy virtual love story. In due course, it decides to juggle with both but doesn’t get either of them rightly done. Now for those who look for substance in any given story, it’s almost a fact that no amount of fanservice, eye candies, self-insertion or guilty pleasure factors can possibly compensate for a substandard storytelling. Yet 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 character development whatsoever. Not to mention, when the situation demands it and the writer goes out of any creative ideas to move the story forward, the characters’ actions are made to contradict the established game mechanics and the only reasoning that’s provided for such miracles is ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way, and there’re times when true love and determination can overcome any obstacle in the game’. 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 and lack subtlety. In essence, SAO has its focus on only two characters: Kirito and Asuna. The others are just there; mere devices to move the story forward. And a few have nothing to contribute to the plot at all. For instance, the ones featuring in the side stories. Let’s talk about the protagonist Kirito first. An unsocial, reserved yet headstrong player who knows how to get things done his way and is determined to beat the game. That’s basically how Kirito is portrayed in the beginning. At this point, he seems like a good riddance from the generic wimpy male leads that have become so 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 desperate attempts to make his character more ‘appealing’, Kirito is depicted as a ‘perfect’ being which leaves his character with little plausibility and much insipidity. He’s in essence the embodiment of what most teenage boys desire to be. He’s a guy with a heart of gold. He’s always at an advantage. He can accomplish whatever he wants to with little effort. He has an ‘ideal’ girlfriend/wife.He’s admired by those around him. He can ‘unintentionally’ make every other chick adore him, romantically or otherwise. Thus, he serves himself as a mere self-insert character for wish fulfilment and at the end of the day, there’s nothing ‘individualistic’ about him. Gary stu is probably what describes his character the best, and if paired with the Mary sue of the show, we get a lead couple that seems to have been cut out straight from a tacky romance fanfiction. Yes, when I mentioned ‘Mary sue’, I was referring to Asuna. Asuna as the female lead is as stereotyped as they come. Much like Kirito, her character is heavily idealized. She’s pretty, popular, kind, caring and every other man wants to have a piece of her. Oh, and did I mention her cooking skills that level up with each passing 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, independent female player with a tsundere-ish attitude, it doesn’t take her long to make a transition from that to a deplorable damsel in distress, requiring her knight in black robe to come to her rescue whenever she’s in a bind. Kirito fighting her guild leader to earn her some time for honeymooning is laughable to say the least. It soon becomes apparent that she doesn’t have much of a role other than serving as the love interest of the protagonist and being the object of fanservice now and then which might be successful in pleasing the male audience somehow but that alone can’t make up for her badly written character. In fact, the other female character the show cares to put the spotlight on also 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 about Kirito’s beloved imouto. Throughout the first arc, the writer must have been itching to include a love triangle in the story but couldn’t find a potential candidate. As 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’s attempting to do) and introduces Suguha, Kirito’s cousin sister. The sole purpose of creating her character is to make way for a generic love triangle and melodrama. Suguha loves her cousin but can’t do anything about it because he loves Asuna. That’s the bitter truth. Hence, she looks up to a certain someone she happens to befriend within ALO and hopes that he’d be able to sooth her aching heart. However, she gets trolled… badly. This, in turn, leads to more drama that’s somehow supposed to be heart wrenching but it isn’t. The remaining cast consists of two antagonists, both failing to make any sort of impression though the one making his debut in the second arc can be a good comic relief at times, and a bunch of side characters that wouldn’t have made any difference even if they hadn’t existed. The bottom line is, the characters of SAO are a half-baked lot devoid of any depth or development. They could’ve perhaps turned out to be interesting if they were more fleshed out but who cares about that as long as they appeal to the intended target audience? Onto the technical aspects now. In the department of the visuals, A-1 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 animation is also well-handled for the most part. Initially I wasn’t much pleased with the character designs but 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 composed by one of the most renowned composers in the anime industry, Yuki Kajiura. While the soundtracks aren’t bad by any means, none of them stand out much except the one that plays during combat/intense scenes. In fact, that’s the only track that can be heard playing most of the time in the entire 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’m a fan of almost all of Kajiura’s works and if compared to her previous works, SAO’s music is lacklustre to say the least and so much so that it’s hard to believe Kajiura is the composer to begin with. To wrap up the review, SAO had the potential to be something good but that potential goes down the drain due to poorly executed plot and bland characterization. It starts off in a satisfactory manner but goes downhill thereafter. Nevertheless, it can be an entertaining ride if one keeps their expectations low and swallows down whatever it has to offer without questioning anything. One of the reasons why SAO has been a letdown is the anticipation the majority 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 most popular ones out there. Now all that’s left to do is to wait for a second season which is bound to release sooner or later and see how it goes.

lela.witting - 2013-06-03 00:06:36

Sword Art Online was by far my biggest disappointment. It was just a harem in disguise. Kirito was way too powerful and was the most boring main or side character I have ever set my eyes upon. Asuna was fine at the beginning, looking like some secret cool assassin but the creators made it so blatantly obvious that she was going to be a main role in the story ruined it. Later, her character starts to completely contradict how she first was. She turned into the typical feminine "help-I-need-the-main-protagonist-who-is-also-my-love-interest-to-save-me-solely-for-the-purpose-of being-beautiful" The other girls who fell in love with Kirito had some potential but were turned down interesting character roles for harem characters Kirito could put on his chart of "Girls who fell in love with me" Sachi definitely had promise, but was used as the character who dies so the main protagonist promises to defeat the reason of the said character's death. Then came the part of the growing relationship between Kirito and Asuna. For some reason I couldn't stand it. I'm being a bit of a feminist here, but the main reasons Kirito fell in love with her was because of the stereotypical reasons. She can cook well and she's beautiful. I'm sorry but that never fails to disgust me. And then came the adoption of that little girl; Yui. It's basically like the're all a comfortable family now except without the part of sex or having a baby. No, just skip those more unappealing parts of being married and let's skip to the part when their child is all cute. Everything about Sword Art Online is totally and incredibly the most disgusting thing I wasted my life on. The only good thing about it is the music, drawings and animation. It literally is a piece of shit. No, and I did not finish the series but don't start attacking me for it. I have seen enough. And from what I've heard, it doesn't get any better, in fact I've heard it gets worse so I don't need to spend my precious time on  it.

gking - 2013-05-23 05:34:03

*Note-Alfheim not included. Because it sucked. Don't watch Alfheim.

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF MY OPINION

For those of us sick of whiny little bitches as protagonists, for those of us who shudder every time we see a bowl cut, this anime is for you. The bottom line is that Kirito kicks ass. And that is, to be honest, refreshing. Most main characters these days are useless and annoying. Kirito on the other hand, solves his problems by being ridiculously overpowered, adorable, and un-freaking-stoppable. The story mostly revolves around Kirito getting what he wants. The supporting characters are there to make sure Kirito gets what he wants. Every woman he meets falls in love within five minutes. This may sound boring to some, and well, maybe you people are right. But there is just a simple joy in seeing an unstoppable boss, and ruthless villain, or a horrifying monster, and giggling with glee as Kirito cuts it to pieces.

STORY
The story has an excellent premise. VR MMORPG death game? Wish I could be there. Then again. I would get pwned inside of ten minutes while trying to apply normal MMORPG logic and facerolling my keyboard. But the story, all in all, is a heroes journey. It feels like a sci-fi King Arthur, with a mighty hero questing throughout the land and saving the innocent bystanders as he goes by. It tends to go into several genres, starting with a few introductory episodes then going into a mystery, a romance, and a final epic showdown. While simplistic, the story was compelling and varied, keeping it fresh despite the at times simplistic writing.

ANIMATION

Gorgeous. While occasionally resorting to lame little tricks (I'm talking to you pitch black screen with a glowing sword slash) mostly the fights are intricately detailed and easy to follow, and the setting is both realistic and stunning. From huge panoramic shots of a sunset over the water to rolling fields of waving grass and flowers to crisp, crunching snowfall, everything feels more alive than many anime I have seen.

CHARACTER

There is, in my opinion, only one character in this show, Kirito himself. All the other characters seemingly exist merely to give him form. Asuna brings out his sensitive, romantic side. The villainous game director gives him an abstract goal to strive for, and a nemesis to focus on. The Moonlit Black Cats show how protective and caring he can be. But many of these characters have very little personality of there own, only being defined by their interactions with Kirito.

ENJOYMENT

I. Loved. This. So. Hard. Sword fights. Dragons. Cute romance. Must have more. MORE I TELL YOU MORE! Ahem. Yes. That stuff. ONLY MORE SO! Ok stopping now...

OVERALL

Overall this show was really hit or miss. If you could just let yourself go, and be happy having someone awesome to root for and watch as he adventures through a stunningly animated world with cool stories to tell, this is for you. If you really need a diverse, detailed cast, intricate plots, and, above all else, slightly flawed characters, you may not like it. Fortunately, I am able to enjoy myself, so I give Sword Art a ten out of ten.

ALFHEIM

Never watch this. Special section. I just pretend it didn't exist.

Compulsory attached AMVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj6d36Cdi1A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pND6vmgayEU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIFVjbRXUqs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_dnqDZDlpU

xpfeffer - 2013-05-16 20:31:15

For me SAO had just the right combination of drama and action to make me look forward to each weeks release. The pace at which the story line progressed was above average and the pattern of episodes with cliffhanger endings and "feel good" endings makes this anime stand out for me as someone who watched it as it was being aired. Before watching this series the premise seemed a bit on the lame/overdone side but the execution was 8 out of 10. The animation style is easy on the eyes and the fight scenes are very fluid, it would have been nice to see even more action but I can't really complain.

akris - 2013-05-02 20:01:28

Sword Art Online, you love it, you hate it, or like me, think it was pretty damn okay! Lets start with the story (7/10)A lot might find this interesting, if you ever took a large chunk of your life to play an MMO such as World of Warcraft, Runescape, Guild Wars, Horizons, Everquest, etc. you might find it interesting. I mean, who the hell wouldn't want to go into a virtual MMO, it's most gamer's dream. But then comes the twist, when you die in game, you die in real life. Scary, right? Think of all those times you've died from falling slightly too high, or accidentally pulling too many mobs, maybe your raid group sucked and you wiped. Those small mistakes would screw you over. Well that's basically the gist of Sword Art Online, or as they call it in game, SAO. They are stuck in the game, and told they will die if they die in game, (insert fate/stay night reference here) and the only way they will be let out, is if they clear all 100 floors, including the final boss.The main letdown for most people is that instead of focusing mainly on the action and such, they focus a lot of time on the romance between two of the characters. This wasn't too bad for me, I enjoyed it, it worked. This was until episode 15-25, I won't go too deep into this because I may spoil something, but it takes a turn and focuses almost completely on the drama/(borderline incest)romance, which wouldn't be a problem if it was a bit more interesting. By the time the series ends your going to be sitting there thinking "Well, what was the point of all that?" Not to say I hated it, I still enjoyed it, but not as much as the first segment.Art (8/10)Not much to say here, the art was quite nice looking, coupled with pretty smooth animation. My only nit to pick was sometimes the environment seemed kind of strange. It seemed like there were miles upon miles of grass, and nothing else, the backgrounds in general bothered me slightly. But overall, the art was quite nice.Sound (7/10)The sound track is nothing special, I can't even recall it well enough, didn't stick out to me. Although the openings/endings for both segments were great, LiSA (You may know her from the first Fate/Zero opening) did the first opening, and it's a great song, I even bought it! The second opening,innocence by aoi eir, was pretty good, but the first one was better by far (In my opinion at least).Character (8/10)The protagonist is one of the top 10 badasses I have seen in anime, Kirito. Allot may hate him for being emotionless sans his love for a certain character, and his unbelievable shyness around people. Other than that you have a crapton of supporting characters who stick out allot for short periods of time, and Asuna, slightly annoying at times, but otherwise a very interesting character.Enjoyment (9/10)I absolutely enjoyed watching this anime. It was far from perfect, but it had an interesting story, and it brought me back to my MMO playing days, which only preceded this anime by a month or so. I enjoyed it so much, that by the time episode 12 rolled around, I bought Guild Wars 2. Even through the second segment, I still enjoyed jumping on my computer every Caturday afternoon to enjoy a new episode of SAO, while waiting for the subs on Little Busters. Overall (7/10)In the end, it's a nice example of how an anime can take a turn downwards in the middle. I lost a small bit of interest as it progressed through the ALO arc, but not enough to drop it, far from enough to drop it. The art was pretty, the story was interesting, and in the end, I am glad I watched this. I wouldn't be upset if they animated GGO and PA. I'm even considering picking up the light novel, just because. So if your a current, ex, or prospective MMO player, or even not and just want a good series, check out Sword Art Online. Just be careful not to listen too much to the insane hype (it wasn't as good as some say) or the idiotic hate (This anime does NOT deserve a 2...) and you might be in for a nice anime.

lambert36 - 2013-04-24 18:47:53

It makes me genuinely angry that so many people like this show.  I suppose it says something about the way women are viewed in all kinds of media, but especially video games and anime.  The whole thing is a poorly written harem show masquerading as something deep and unique.  I had to drop it after seven episodes because that whole debacle with the blacksmith had me so angry I could barely speak.  

First of all, the idea that every girl in a show will fall in love with the protagonist is tired.  I'll admit that some shows still do a great job of handling these tropes and cliches (I'm thinking specifically of Clannad, which has an engaging protagonist and allows the female characters to exist independently of him, rather than being nothing more than fanservice).  SAO, however, is not one of them.  

Secondly, if Kirito is meant to be a stand-in (a Gary-Stu, of sorts) for male gamers, then I don't think I ever want to speak to one again.  Based on how poorly fleshed out the characters are, I have to assume that they're meant to be like Bella and Edward from Twilight--that is, that they're pseudo-characters whose sole purpose is to provide a canvas onto which the reader (or viewer, in SAO's case) can project their own fantasies.  Kirito is immensely overpowered, and the sense of danger in the show vanishes by the end of the second episode.  Because he's so tall dark and handsome (or whatever), every girl he meets immediately goes gaga for him.  

I'm going to talk specifically about the blacksmith episode, as this was the one that really pushed the series past the limit of what is acceptable.  Lisbeth (the blacksmith in question) started out as a character that gave me hope.  "Look!" I said.  "A female character I can relate to!"  She does a job that is traditionally viewed as "for men," and she seems to do it incredibly well....except, of course, when Kirito comes and breaks her best sword and basically tells her she isn't good enough at her job (though he does it in his "oh so charming" protagonist way, so we forgive him?  I guess?).  Lisbeth joins him on a quest to fight a dragon and get better sword making material, and so far, though I'm not terribly happy with the turn of events, I'm willing to see where things take us.  Because let's face it, this episode had me at "dragon."

And then it blew it.

As soon as there's a sign of danger, Kirito FORCES Lisbeth to hide even though she wants to help.  He refuses to let her help him, and while on the one hand I know he is hella OP and really can do this by himself, and while I also know the situation is supposed to be life or death, I am already furious.  This is a character who has shown that she can hold her own many times in her imagined back story.  Kirito was nowhere near her when she gathered the ingredients for those other swords, and yet she was fine.  It seems obvious that she has skills in combat, and yet he won't even let her try to prove her worth.  He immediately strips the character of her agency, something that is all too common for women in general, but especially women in media.

And to make everything worse, she still falls in love with him.

People, I want to make things perfectly clear: this is not the real world.  When you refuse to let a woman (or a man, or anyone else for that matter) make her own decisions and live her own life, you are taking freewill away from a human being and this is NOT acceptable.  It will not result in said woman falling in love with you, and if it does, then you should consider finding your new lover someone who can help her through whatever problems are driving her toward an abusive partner.

I use this as merely one example among many, though I could also talk about the time Kirito uses a child as bait for dangerous robbers/murderers, or how the only other seemingly strong female, Asuna, is constantly being rescued by him.  I'm sure there are more examples, but I couldn't watch more than seven episodes of this hateful trash and I honestly never want to.

To the people who worship the ground this show hypothetically walks on, I'm seriously worried about you.  Maybe you're just young; I used to like things like this too, before I got an education.  But if you're one of the people who defends this, then you are part of a problem.  You are one of the many people willing to turn a blind eye to issues of gender inequality, thereby allowing it to continue.  However indirectly, you are engaging in misogyny.

Thought you oughtta know.

sidney16 - 2013-04-16 23:50:18

Sword Art Online has carved its place in anime history as one of the most controversial shows to make it big. Some say it's flawless. Others think it's hard to find something good about it. I for one think that despite its flaws it manages to be a very enjoyable show - yet still, overall, very bad. Warning; this review will contain spoilers.

Story SAO starts off with a pretty awesome premise - you have 10,000 players start off in a virtual MMO only to find themselves trapped in a world where death in game means death in real life. However, this great basis is quickly shot down by the poor plot elements that only sometimes scratch mediocre. For a good portion of the show it just feels like I'm watching filler for Naruto. Many episodes are purely for adding more girls to Kirito's endless harem, which of course only get the one episode dedicated to them, the rest is for Asuna or Suguha. The entire thing is full of tropes to the point where it makes you want to headdesk. Your BA protagonist who just doesn't die (I mean, that fight with Kayaba Akihiko was ridiculous) and I could feel the cliché overflowing out of this show when I saw Asuna, the mysterious lonely girl in her hood, and it just burst when it was ripped off in combat to reveal the beautiful skilled girl fighting it out. To no surprise, she ends up a generic tsundere. Don't forget the hot little sister with feelings for BA protagonist. The tropes are endless, as seen by SAO's page on TVtropes. Much of the plot is just totally unexplained, they left it at Kayaba Akihiko pulling off the whole SAO incident "just for fun," pretty much. What a dull villain. Not to mention that they somehow make him look like a good guy in the 2nd arc, and we have our stereotypical psychotic villain in that arc to replace Kayaba. And the plot is just so happy-go-lucky too, it kills me. I hate to sound so overly critical, but the plot really was dreadful. As much as it could've been, it ends up being another horrid story driven by romance. I mean, even if they went through Asuna and Kirito's romance in the first arc only for Asuna to be trapped and needing to be saved in the second, they throw in Suguha as a replacement Asuna while she's working as a plot device. Just to top off everything I've thrown at you, how does the show end? Everyone is happy and a school is started specifically for the kids trapped in SAO! How awesome is that? How much more of a little kid's fantasy could this sound like? I can only give the show credit for having an inkling of a story going and moving fast enough to satisfy me. 3/10

Art & Animation I have to say the style of the show really matches its art and animation. The creators clearly put effort into the design and it fits the feel really well, which is usually all I look for. The battle scenes are really well designed, I won't lie. The vibrant colors fit the feel of this almost fairy tale like story. The combat especially is what catches your eye: seeing Kirito battle it out with some boss or with the guild leader is pretty much the highlight of the show visually - it's not particularly deep or anything story-wise, but those battles get you. The scene where Kirito is falling down from the sky with another one of the girls that flock to him like magnets you get to see some stunning visuals that make you wish you were apart of SAO. My complaint is that this fantastic work is wasted on a show like SAO and the fantastic scenes where the art and animation stand out most are not-so-stunning story wise, and doesn't really stick with you. Everything always looks beautifully set and coordinated for the climax of the show, but it's only as effective as what makes for that climax. And it's really not as memorable as the gorgeous scenes. 8/10

Sound For the most part, my opinion on the audio part is the same as the visual part - fantastic, but put to waste. It helps add so much to those action-packed scenes where the plot finally gets going but why is it wasted on SAO? Those scenes are so serious it makes me laugh, because from where I'm standing it's ridiculous. The soundtrack itself is really good, but nothing stuck out to me - I do faintly remember listening as I watched at parts and thinking "wow, this is beautiful," and the OP was stuck in my head longer than I'd like to admit. They all definitely had that RPG type of feel, which worked for the show. 8/10

Character Here we are, the part of the show nearly every person can cry about endlessly: The horribly put together characters. Let me go over the cast: Kirito, AKA dullest protagonist ever. I think the goal for Kirito was just to make him everything the viewers wanted to be: A cool, good looking guy yet spends all his time playing video games, still attractive if I didn't mention, pulling girls in his virtual video game left and right. Building a harem with each girl only getting an episode for them, with the beautiful Asuna always waiting for him in the end and just wanting to throw herself at him. Oh, let me tell you about Asuna, as I was brining up earlier; in the beginning, you first see her as the mysterious fighting machine of a girl. But after the timeskip she reunites with Kirito, and we discover that she was really just a generic tsundere in disguise! It's a shame they never had a scene where her mask gets pulled off Scooby Doo style, and everyone goes "WHAAAAT?! IT'S A GENERIC TSUNDERE?!" I personally wasn't surprised to find that out, though. Neither character really gets much development at all. In fact, I don't think Asuna even gets any further development after what I've told you here. The romance between the two is so forced and insensible that it feels like it was written by a 14 year old venting his sexual fantasies. Funny, these are some of the things I've heard about 50 shades of gray. I swear, Klein or Egil were more interesting than Kirito or Asuna ever were. Then Suguha shows up in the 2nd arc - Kirito's hot little sister - but, she's not really his sister! Of course! Now the incest love she has for him is totally justified! Like I said, Kirito gets more pussy than the crazy cat lady. It really sucked watching SAO being driven by the horrible 14 year old's sexual fantasy - I mean, "romance" - that was Kirito and Asuna. 1/10

Enjoyment Now I'm sure you're wondering, "But Luxxy! You make this show sound so horrible! Why would you ever give it a 9 for enjoyment?" And there's a great answer for that. This show is my guiltiest of all guilty pleasures. Admit it. While watching this horrid show, you were fanboying all over the place because essentially, the show is a simulation of what we all would love to happen to us, especially if you're a gamer. How many of you would pass up Kirito's spot - a living, gaming, chick magnet? SAO's creators knew exactly what they were doing when they strung this show together. The show is really just a joke, and it's best enjoyed when you're not really thinking about it. I think the phrase I was using to describe it as I watched it was "it makes my nerdiness tingle." And it did. Don't ask me how such a horrible story amounted to so much enjoyment, maybe it has something to do with you feeling like you're in the place of the protagonist as you watch it, because I certainly approve of being a walking chick magnet with the hot little sister and beautiful Asuna, both of who play video games...only in a perfect world. 8/10

Overall I only wish Sword Art Online would've taken itself less serious. Certain shows you can watch and it's so shameful and I'm sure the creators absolutely know that and embrace the hell out of it, a prime example being High School of the Dead - surprisingly both shows have a lot in common, what with it being our fantasy to be in a zombie apocalypse with hot girls or be trapped in a video game with hot girls, and if SAO was ecchi-heavy it'd probably be an even bigger hit. This show is not for you if you're looking for a decent story, but if you don't take it seriously, watch it without thinking about it, and just embrace how lame and nerdy the story is, I'm sure you'll like it. 5/10

kristy.kuhn - 2013-03-21 17:12:56

You can either A) Watch the review in Video form embedded below, or B) read the transcript of the review. THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

Everycouple of years there comes along a show that forces people into one of twocamps. The first camp is compressed of all the people who love the showunconditionally flaws and all, and will defend the show like nothing else inexistence matters. And the Second camp, is full of people who see nothing butthe shows flaws, and cannot understand the blind acceptance of camp #1 so muchthat they ridicule anyone who does not agree with them that the show inquestion is indeed complete shit. These are the types of shows that get usuallylabeled as either controversial, over-rated, or shonen; they are also shows that loose many fans simplybecause of how extreme the fan base becomes and that to even consider that theshow is less than perfect makes you and idiot who doesn't know better. It’s like politics, you’re not allowed to siton the fence, you have pick a side. You’re either with me or with them! Whichmakes my position on Sword Art Online rather difficult; because you see I couldfinish an episode of this show, sit back and think, man that was a goodepisode! I really enjoyed myself. Of course then I have this little voice inthe back of my head, decked out in my reviewer outfit going: Hahahahahah! Ohwait, you’re serious? Let me laugh even harder, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Setting

In the year 2022, a genre of video games exist called Virtual Reality MassivelyMultiplayer Online Role Playing Games. One such game in this genre is the newlyreleased Sword Art Online, that coupled with a virtually reality helmet allowsplayers to control their in game avatars with their minds as if they areactually there living in that virtual world.

Of course everything is fun and games until the mysterious creator of SAOremoves the player’s ability to log out, trapping them in this world until theycomplete his challenge. They must band together and defeat the 100 floors of thegame before they are allowed to leave, and it becomes much more of a game whenthey are informed that in SAO, if you die, you die for real, now do-overs, norespawns. LET THE GAME BEGIN!

Astute viewers may recognize the premise’s similarity with that of the.Hack//Franchise not only because both of them take place in a virtual MMO, butbecause they both involve players being trapped inside the game unable toescape. But the differences between the two are simple one involves peoplestanding in a circle talking, and the other involves a life or death survivalgame that is F**KING AWESOME. Try and guess which iswhich.

Oneof the reasons why I believe SAO to be as popular as it is, is because of howwell it knows its audience. Whether you like it or not, on both sides of theocean a very large portion of the Otaku viewer base, are also avid gamers, andit is unlikely that they have never at one time, played an MMO before, theentire MMO genre being well known for its repetitively addictive nature.It doesn't matter what MMO you have played either, weather it be WoW, Guild Wars,Final Fantasy XII, or hell freaking Runescape, but to create a story thatcapitalises largely on the popularity of MMO’s was a brilliant idea in manycases, as it plays to the want and desires of those viewers who generally woulddo anything they could to be involved and play this game that the charactersare in, heck I bet some of them would even want to be trapped there as well toavoid the harshness of a thing called REAL LIFE. And it’s because of all ofthis that many people are willing to completely ignore the flaws that the showpresents them just so that they can keep with their fantasy. SPEAKING OF FLAWS!

Characters
--Kirito--

By far one of the more disappointing factors of this entire show is it’s characterization  and development or lack thereof, of the show’s majorcharacters.

First off is our male protagonist Kirito, a male gamer from japan who began toplay video games to escape his family and the real world. Kirito, is a powergamer, obsessed with being a strong character though also is a lone wolf andeven though plays games that are designed to be played as a group goes solo.He’s also a whiny little b**ch with Takfumi syndrome.

A lot of people have brought up the topic of how Kirito is a prime example of a“Wish fulfillment  character, and while I would rather have found a differentterm to make myself sound more original, it’s hard because that’s exactly whathe is. Everything has a habit of going his way, he overpowers basicallyeveryone he encounters, whether he should or not, he’s a higher level than mostplayers regardless of the fact that he adventures solo and not with a party, afeat of which any MMO player will tell you does not happen, he is able to completesuperhuman feats not even possible by the system because f**k it he’s Kirito,and over the course of the series develops his own harem, complete witheverything from token loli’s, cat girls, and his cousin. No seriously.

And that’s another thing, I’m not one to say that Girls don’t exist on theinternet, because they do and I know quite a few of them, but it would be safeto say that the female population of Sword Art Online would be a rather smallminority wouldn't it? Episode 01 also shows this when all the female charactersthat were shown turned out to be male characters when the big bad plot-device makeseveryone look exactly like how they are in the real world. And yet, all of thesewomen look super-hot, making me question why they were playing online games tobegin with, but also why more often then not they end up falling for ouranti-social hero Kritio for no god damn reason.

--Asuna--

Nextup is the supposed lead female character Asuna. I say supposed because besidesbeing heavily featured in the show’s opening as well as being one of the mainstory divers for the entire second half, she is one of the most neglectedcharacter in terms of development and stereotyping that I have seen in a longtime. She starts off well enough, being introduced in episode 2 as a new characterwho, even though does not know the game very well, plays exceptionally and ismore or less a complete badass. Unfortunately, by her next appearance inepisode 5 after the plot goes and gets sidelined with filler, she getstransformed from lead female badass to token tsundere love interest, withmoments few and far between to show otherwise, before becoming princess peachfor the entire latter half of the show if you know what I mean.

It’s the characterization towards her that just pisses me off, in an industrywhere strong female protagonists are few and far between, you have thischaracter that starts off with amazing potential to become something like ayoung Motoko Kusanagi sure she’s only 16 years old and can’t be exactly likethe major but something in the direction was completely possible, instead Ifeel like they pulled a Metroid Other M and just completely disrespected hercharacter by making her reliant on a man to save her. Like why do people alwaysconfine main characters of these shows into the same archetype? “BECAUSE IT’S AFUCKING ANIME THAT’S WHY, THE CHARACTERS ARE ALWAYS WHINY LITTLE SHIT CHILDREN.”

--SUPPORTING CAST--

Thesecondary characters all have very little screen time on their own, usuallyonly focused on for one episode and then forgotten to make way for themassively important character that is Kirito, the only other character to getmuch screen time is that of Leafa, a player who helps Kirito in his journey inthe second half of the show since Asuna was unavailable, and as much as I likeLeafa, she gets sidelined just as much as Asuna did with her major definingfactor being her fans vice avatar her love of Kirito despite the fact that shedoesn’t have a chance with him. And of course other things *cough* Spoilers*Cough*

STORY

TheStory of SAO is in fact the most tragic thing about the whole show. It takes aspecial something to have a premise with as much potential as this one, only torailroad everything and employ time jumps wherever possible. The first half ofthe show is by far the most guilty of this, consenceing 2 whole years of timeinto the first 12 episodes, with several months of un-used time just filling upthe in-between space between episodes, all the while the viewer is presentedwith what could be classified as filler episodes, Sure there is an overarchingstory, but it’s downplayed more or less the entire show: We have to fight toget to the 100^th floor! But first we are going to help this tokenloli, and then get a sword made with the help of this chick, oh and then we aregoing to go fishing because EVERYONE LOVES FISHING IN VIDEO GAMES.

There are moments of clarity though when the story really grabs you. The mostinteresting aspect of the show early on is that of the Death Penalty, you dieand that’s it. It could have been played as an excuse to make the story lesslike a game and more like an actual fictional fantasy universe with life or deathconsequences but it became so much more than that. They spend time making surethat you feel the weight of death in this world and just how emotional losingpeople for good can be, and it’s not something that is usually focused on.

The mid-point of the show also decides to throw a wrench in everything bycompletely changing the overall plot of the show to something completelydifferent, almost as if the entire first half was just a prologue to what wouldfollow, with the second half being less fillery and much clearer in terms ofplot. Well as clear as SAO can get anyways. I can’t really explain much aboutthe second half of the show without venturing heavily into spoiler territory unfortunately.

ANIMATION

The animation for Sword Ass Online from A-1 Pictures is stunning, and it’s oneof the merits of the show that not many can argue against. In the past A-1pictures have been knows for shows like Black Butler, Anohana, and Sound of theSky, and while the production values for those shows tended to be higher thanmost, they never had the same amount of action that SAO does, and the fightscenes are where the animation truly shines, showing the vast expanses of theonline world for all to see. As well as Fan-service because why the hell not!?!

SOUNDTRACK

For those of you unaware, I am a Yuki Kajiura fanboy, and have taken to watchingshows specifically because she was the one to provide the soundtrack for it. Sowhile I would like to give her full points here for just existing I can’t,mainly because as good as this soundtrack is, and it is very good, there is nospecific song in the music that stands out to me, nothing that I would like tohear on its own without visual accompaniment, which is rare, Madoka Magica hada myriad of choir tracks that stood out, Tsubasa had Song of Storm of Fire,Guarden of Sinners had the fantastic M12+13, and Kajiura’s work on the .HackFranchise had more good singles then I can mention, so it was reallydisappointing that there were no stand out tracks this time around, don’t getme wrong, the sound track is still amazing, and when the boss battles start andthe orchestra kicks in it’s a treat indeed, but I guess I’m just used to acertain flare that I just never got from SAO. Depressing, but you can’t win allthe time I suppose.
6 by Lisa, originally I didn't think much of this opening song it seemed rathergeneric when I first heard it bot over time it grew on me, plus the song is availableon iTunes for a dollar, so go buy it.

FINAL VERDICT

Sword Art Online is a prime example of misused potential, it hooks you earlyon with a strong opening, before meandering in filler, getting off-track with athinly veiled overall story arc, and not developing its major characters aswell as it could have. And that’s just before the half way point, the secondstory arc continues the depressing downwards spiral, with numerous unexplainedplot-devices, a pointless romance subplot, and a final villain that was morelaughable then menacing, not to mention that what I considered to be the mostimportant question asked in the entire show was never answered. Why did thecreator of SAO video game trap all of those players? Was it just a game? Did hehave a god complex? Or was it more personal or deeply psychological issue? Wemay never know, unless you read the original light novels most likely. On theplus side, though the show may have plummeted from an attempted rise up themountain of Anime Greatness the ride down was to some degree, highly enjoyable,if for no other reason than to just watch the continual supply of fail, verypretty fail I might add, with a soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura and everything plus,I honestly believe that the early episodes handled the death aspect of thesetting very well and it was a real shame that they dropped the impact of thetopic so quickly. Though for the most part the ending of the whole show wassomewhat satisfying, which is more than I can say for other shows and hey theending is paramount, and it could have ended in a much worse way then it did somajor props there.

With all that in mind, I have meticulasly calculated values for thecategories of Story, Characters, Animation, Sound, and my own personalenjoyment, after which tossing it into a cage, having it escape and almost beraped by tentacles before throwing it right back into the cage has me awardingSword Art Online with a 7.5 out of 10, and a recommendation…to Stream it ratherthan buy, it’s worth the watch certainly but only buy if you know you alreadylike it. At the time of this video SAO is available for streaming over onCrunchyroll, and though at this exact moment does not have a DVD release, hasbeen licensed by Aniplex and most likely a DVD release is forthcoming, expensiveas their releases tend to be, and the show should also be distributed by Madmenat some point for those people in Australlia, if you live in Europe though yourshit outta lick for the time being, smoke em if you got em or something. As faras alternate anime recommendations, one would think .Hack//Sign would be a goodchoice, but considering that show is boring as sin I will instead point youtowards, Accel world, as it’s by the same original author, and Fate / Zerobecause I haven’t had a chance to properly recommend this show yet and thisseems like a good time because it was fucking awesome, so go watch it. And with that I leave you, until next timeladies, gentlemen and others, stay frosty.

kihn.hipolito - 2013-03-21 01:53:35

I'm saying the things I hated in detail cause a lot of people would hate me if I just say it out bluntly. With no explanation why I thought so whatsoever.

I'm saying the things I liked frankly cause people wouldn't hate me-- those fanboys/fangirls who are so crazy about this anime. They would just agree and carry on.

This is what I think, so respect my thoughts, ne? 

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This review is NOT spoiler free.

SAO is a light novel turned anime. Nothing much about it though, the story seemed lacking and it focused around Kirito and Asuna being the most perfect lovey-dovey couple and not actually fighting for their lives. And the first opening supports my statement.

I would truthfully say that I think it's decent. But there were times that Kirito does this and that and I'm all like, 'How did that happen?'. So yes, they left some things unexplained.

I hated the monsters, they described them to be as creepy as hell, but they were far from that. TOO FAR FROM THAT. 

Second season dragged the anime in  spiral downwards, destroyed the storyline completely, and made a trash out of the show,  nuff said. 

What I didn't like:

Kirito is invincible and I can't see why the gods blessed and favored him. (I actually mean that only Kirito won't die and only Kirito granted awesome powers. Only him!) He is the only best. He is the only strong. He is the only person who can wipe out an entire guild in solo. Kirito is the center of the whole SAO world. 

Every Arc, a new girl comes, then ends up brokenhearted.The author wanted Kirito and Asuna the perfect couple. And I watched SAO cause I thought the theme would be an online game. The concept of the VMMORPG is dropping. The Title should've "The Love Story of Kirito and Asuna". Sword Art Online was a really misleading name. 

The story line is soooo typical. How many anime have been produced with the plot as "No you're not going to escape unless you finish this game. Mwahahahaha!"? I mean, there's Greed Island, The Hack Series, Btooom, and much more. 

The characters are unreal. But I wouldn't blame them, I mean you could be what you wanna be in an RPG game, and in real life. But their personalities just.. bothers me. BUT OH HECK, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN AN ANIME.

Time skips too fast. It was hard to follow up. One time it's this next it's that. And then you get that sudden realization 'Oh, this happened before the previous episode' which was confusing as hell.

But there are also points that I pretty much liked. Not very much to tell why though. It's self-explanatory. 

• It gives you the feeling that you are actually part of the game. 
  
• The sounds fit. *clash clash* *wishing wishing*
  
• There's your typical protagonist. (Cool, calm, and kind Kirito)
  
• The animation is derpy.

To wrap it up, let's just say SAO is overrated.

ppredovic - 2013-03-16 04:59:49

Sword Art Online is an anime series about a game of the same name, a VRMMORPG, or Virtual Reality Massively-Mulitplayer Online Role Playing Game (quite the mouthful). Players enter the world of SAO via their NerveGear, which are essentially helmets that put their users into a dreamlike state; they wake up in Aincrad, a giant floating castle with a hundred floors, or levels. The game is beaten once every floor is cleared.

Shortly after logging in to SAO, players discovered that they could not log out. It's soon revealed that the creator of SAO, Kayaba Akihiko, is a bit insane- insane enough to program SAO to fry the brain of any player who dies in the game. It's impossible to log out of the game without dying, and over three thousand died within the first month of the game's release.

Kirito, the protagonist, is a calm, collected teen with a penchant for MMOs- he'd been involved in SAO since the game was in beta and is extraordinarily skilled at the "Sword Skills", or abilities of SAO. This in itself creates an interesting conflict in later episodes.

I rather liked Kirito- while he's definitely cut from the same cloth as a lot of anime protagonists- quiet, kind, with a few strong convictions and a single, simple goal. He wasn't, in my opinion, a particularly complex character but he was definitely a likeable one.

Most of the characters in SAO aren't all that interesting- Akihiko, in my opinion, was more interesting than the protagonist. I wanted to know more about his strange motivations- they're explained a bit near the end of the first season, though I am slightly disappointed that they weren't described quite as in-depth as they could've been.

As far as the story goes, it develops quite well throughout the first season- the individual storylines in each episode are pretty entertaining and nicely varied- gamers can relate to them. It's interesting to see the theme of how a person behaves in a game (as opposed to in the real world) is developed and referred back to throughout the series- I appreciated this. As far as the second season, however, things get a bit messy. While I'm not going to comment on what exactly they are, I can honestly say that they felt like awkward attempts to add depth to what was supposed to be a fun, lighthearted action anime.

Something I hated in particular was the second season's antagonist- whereas Akihiko was interesting because he was mysterious and pulled something as strange and callous as trapping people in SAO, the villain of the second season was just a power-hungry thug. To add insult to injury, he has a real "Kick the Dog" moment that seems to happen to give you some extra reason to hate him. For the sake of spoilers I won't say what it was, but it didn't seem to fit the tone of SAO and it severely detracts from the second season (which was already sullied by an unnecessary sideplot). So I hated the villain, but for the wrong reasons. He was a bad guy, sure, but a lame bad guy.

Unless you're a completionist, you can feel comfortable skipping the second season of SAO. The first season provides enough closure, and while the main plot of the second is generally entertaining, it's got a lot more flaws than the first.

Visually speaking, SAO is one of the prettiest series I've ever seen. The landscapes are lovely and varied, and I rather like the style used for the characters. The animation is clean, crisp, and everything looks good. In fact, the world of SAO resembles a video game (no surprise) and I think the artists did a good job capturing the aesthetic of fantasy RPGs while giving SAO a unique feel. The music of SAO is simple- not particularly memorable, but you'd probably recognize it if you heard it.

Overall, Sword Art Online is an enjoyable series. It's (usually) lighthearted fun with plenty of action and gorgeous scenery.