Sword Art Online - Reviews

Ill admit im a bit biased when it comes to SAO, having watched everything thats been released twice just to be able to scratch that itch i got when i first watch this series. I absolutely love everything about this anime. Im also a long time gamer (pre 2000's) and have dreamt for something like this to exist for a long time. so my inner child basically screams in excitement any time this anime pops up in my life.

As this is just the first season, ill try to remain there in this review. Obligatory explaination, though you probably already get the general idea by now:

Sword Art Online is a VRMMORPG that comes out for a device called "Nerve Gear" which has the ability to read and write to your brain. This allows for "full dive" immersion, where it induces paralysis on the physical, IRL body, and essentially allows you to be literally in the game. It simulates sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing near flawlessly.

The story centers primiarily on Kazuto Kirigaya aka Kirito, his in-game alias, but really covers the entire community of players that join this game as a whole. Enter primary plot point: You cant leave. Log out button has been removed, and the only way to get out of the game is by beating it. Beating 100 floors of monsters and bosses, with the guarantee of IRL death in the event of death in the game. You must work together with your fellow players to beat this game, as each floor boasts a room with an extremely tough and brutal boss to fight, on top of the variety of species of monster and animals that exists throughout the floor. Each floor can hold entire cities, as well as wildlands, to put into perspective just how massive this game really is. With each floor conquered, a teleporter to the new floor connects to the start city, effectively allowing lower level players (or players too traumatized or too young to handle tasks so dangerous) to travel to the upper floors without danger. For years, these people are forced to find a way to make a life inside the game (which aside from the bloodshed is actually quite satisfying), while their IRL bodies are vegetables in the hosital being kept alive (yes, people died from lack of care IRL). 

To my knowledge, i seem to be part of the minority of people who think this story and how it was written is amazing. Its not for everyone, i get that, but i do frankly have trouble understanding why. The story delivers exactly what its suppose to, which is a gritty yet fun story about the struggles of 10,000 people trying to survive a semi-hostile yet fantastical environment, learning to cooperate and building incredible relationships, and one person who had the knowledge, skill and will power to get them out.

Characters are well thought out and have purpose. Action scenes are eye candy and keep you invested out of sheer empathy. Romance is on point, and made me feel like real love doesnt exist in this world, and that gets even worse in the later seasons. 

What if i were in that position, how would i feel about watching my fellow friends die brutally in front of me at the hands of a massive game monster as it swipes through bodies with ease? I mean, just imagine being pulled into a game like WoW (but first person and "realistic"), you're told you cant leave even if you try, AND you'll die irl if you die once in game.

All in all, i truly recommend watching this. Take it for what it is, and nothing else. In the world we live in today, its not so far fetched for this to be realistic near-future. I find as someone who was raised in this tech modern world, its much easier to put yourself in their shoes and immerse yourself in their experience. 

Overall, I really loved this anime. It has it's up and down's inside it but the character animation is great, Ontop of that this is the first anime that got me into romance and action anime overall. SAO is a really action/romance anime if you're looking for it, Overrall there are some sad parts in it but they get filled eventually. Recommend this to be watched. 

I didnt start wathcing Sword Art Online until there were already 19 episodes, and I wound up watching them all in one night! I am an MMO player, but I dont think you have to be one to enjoy this anime. (but you will probably like it more!)

Dont read on if you dont want any spoilers!

First off, the romance is not your typical anime romance that just happens, or never makes progress. This one actually develops, and it was suprising to me how it developed.

The concept has been done already (mmo world having real life consequences) but there is still a lot of variety available within the concept, so to say 'its been done in '.hack' or 'accell world' would be inaccurate.

Characters are built well, there are of course the characters you are ment to hate, and those your ment to love. But there are also inbetween characters you can like or dislike without being swayed by the writers. Its easy to figure out who the main characters are, but its not so easy to figure out who the supporting characters will be playing larger roles. This is good in my opinion, because it gives away to much about the future of anime when you know who will impact the future episodes.

The animation is excellent, not so much in the artistic ability/style, but also in the fight/heavy action scenes.

I have already watched episode 1-19 twice (had to review for episode 20) and I still enjoyed them and noticed things I did not see before. The replay value is good.

While I initially hated that this was a VR world, the stakes were high enough for you to forget. While sometimes dark subject matter pops up, this show is tame enough for mass appeal. I would recommend this show to anyone looking to start watching anime. It's an amazing show that doesn't rely on panty shots and slapstick humor to reach audiences. There's a reason why people keep making new shows set in the SAO world. It's a classic that every anime fan should have under their belt. 

Honestly my favorite anime I have watched