Minor Spoilers below. Note: this review is only based on the original SAO, not the second season released in 2014.
The common line which carried SAO to it's popularity was that it was 'a sprawling epic with an inventive concept'
This is simply not the case... while the concept has some fun new twists it's hardly original, the 'if you die in the game you die in real life' is almost becoming a cliché, even more so since SAO increased it's popularity.
And while the animation and music are definitely up to snuff in regards to providing an epic and grandiose spectacle, the story and characters are certainly not.
the lead protagonist Kirito is perhaps the worst protagonist i've ever seen in any televised series, ludicrously overpowered to the point where he's seemingly able to break established world rules at his leisure with no prior explanation as to how. he also has quite bafflingly... no clear motivation for the entire first half of the series. there is simply nothing to him personality-wise either, he's cocky, but other than that there's not much there, he was made as plain and simple as possible to serve the purpose of wish-fulfilment. he's not a character, he's a skin for the viewer to wear.
as for the story, for the first half it's at the very least competent if uninspired it's heavily let-down by a few filler episodes and abuse of timeskips but it's at least bearable. but for the latter half? every mistake that could have been made WAS made, all tension was thrown out of the window as the consequences for in-game death were removed as was the sense of being trapped in the world. and the mysterious villain of the first half was thrown aside in favour of a new, completely flat, completely unintimidating moron.
In summary, the series is the closest approximation of a train-wreck that i can imagine, flat characters, schizophrenic pacing, a glut of rather creepy fanservice... the fantastic animation and music are nowhere NEAR enough to redeem it.
3/10 is being rather generous...
The common line which carried SAO to it's popularity was that it was 'a sprawling epic with an inventive concept'
This is simply not the case... while the concept has some fun new twists it's hardly original, the 'if you die in the game you die in real life' is almost becoming a cliché, even more so since SAO increased it's popularity.
And while the animation and music are definitely up to snuff in regards to providing an epic and grandiose spectacle, the story and characters are certainly not.
the lead protagonist Kirito is perhaps the worst protagonist i've ever seen in any televised series, ludicrously overpowered to the point where he's seemingly able to break established world rules at his leisure with no prior explanation as to how. he also has quite bafflingly... no clear motivation for the entire first half of the series. there is simply nothing to him personality-wise either, he's cocky, but other than that there's not much there, he was made as plain and simple as possible to serve the purpose of wish-fulfilment. he's not a character, he's a skin for the viewer to wear.
as for the story, for the first half it's at the very least competent if uninspired it's heavily let-down by a few filler episodes and abuse of timeskips but it's at least bearable. but for the latter half? every mistake that could have been made WAS made, all tension was thrown out of the window as the consequences for in-game death were removed as was the sense of being trapped in the world. and the mysterious villain of the first half was thrown aside in favour of a new, completely flat, completely unintimidating moron.
In summary, the series is the closest approximation of a train-wreck that i can imagine, flat characters, schizophrenic pacing, a glut of rather creepy fanservice... the fantastic animation and music are nowhere NEAR enough to redeem it.
3/10 is being rather generous...