Will I like Sword Art Online? Can I get an honest review?

Firstly, before anyone says "Why didn't you go look up reviews?", I avoided looking up stuff because incase I do want to start the series I dont want to read any spoilers. So when divulging info, please don't put any spoilers :)
My friend wants me to get into SAO with her. I havent seen any of the series (except for a few hentai on fakku) and would like honest opinions & reviews about the anime. Not the light novel... i'll probably never read it.

In short, I REALLY love dark themed anime. I love anime/manga where main & side characters you get attatched to die. Claymore, Akame Ga Kill, Darker than Black, Elfen Lied and even Attack on Titan (though I felt that series was better towards the start reather than the ending.)

Anime/Manga I have a growing distain for are:
-One with overpowered main characters
-harems. If there are romances, i like it when there are several girls liking different guys other than the main char.
-ones with useless female characters (e.g. the red head from Bleach)
-Ones that are all about "nakama"
-Ones with BS battles where the main character always lucks out

Based on what I described about myself, do you think I would enjoy SAO? I really liked the .hack// series. I grew up watching that when I was little. I even watched Log Horizon. Didn't finish it, but got through most of it while enjoying it.

Can you give an honest review as well? Critique the Animation, soundtrack, character development, plot etc?

Thank you :)


~Legless Lego Legolas' Lovely Lego Lass Lassoed Lovely Lassie's Little Lego Ass

You'll get many opinions on the show, some that truly enjoyed it from begining to end, and some that really despised it. I'll give you my 2 cents on the show, starting with your "Disdain" List.

Real quick Though:
Red: You wont like this
Yellow: Either Way
Green: It's all Good
/: In Between



-RED ALERT! RED ALERT!
-Red/Yellow
-Green/Yellow
-Green/Yellow
-Red/Yellow



I'm gonna give you a pretty half-assed review. In my opinion the show was pretty ok, that is until the second half kicks in. The first 2 episodes really get you pumped up for what may happen in the show. The following episodes though remain pretty average, but some of them have their cool moments, and their slow moments. It pretty much continues like that until the halfway point of the season. The second half really hurts the show. You get to see a bit of what's in you disdain list in the first half, and to be honest with you most of that stuff went over my head when I watched it. It's in the second half where the stuff in your list gets shoved into your face (figuratively speaking.) The best way I can explain the animation is "Many shows wish that they could have the budget that SAO got." so in short, yeah it's very pretty. I don't really give a shit about soundtracks, but I can tell you that many people think that the OST for this show is magnificent. As for character development you wont get much of that here I'm afraid. And finally for the plot in short: 1st half pretty good, 2nd half sucks dogs for quarters.

In conclusion I'll just say: Meh, just give it a try, maybe you'll like it. from your explanation of what you like I'd say it's a bit up you alley. You could always drop it whenever you want to anyways.

Legitimately stop when they bring up the second game and you're fine

Based on my personal enjoyment alone, I rate SAO very highly. It's a good show to watch if you can turn off your brain and just enjoy it for what it is. However, if I were to rewatch it and look into every aspect of the show to give it an honest rating, I'm sure it'd come out just slightly above average for me.

The first couple episodes were definitely the best, in my opinion. The way they introduce the world and the situation these players are in couldn't have been better and while there's plenty of good moments later on, I don't believe it every reaches that height again. The second half of the first season, after they enter a different game called ALO, is significantly less appealing than the first half. I still enjoyed it a fair bit, to be honest, but I seem to have the unpopular opinion when it comes to that.

Regardless, I don't think you should just completely skip the second half of SAO if you're planning to watch the second season, Sword Art Online II, that's airing now. SAO2 is incredibly slow-paced when compared to the first season, but I personally prefer that. If I had to rate the arcs right now, I'd put them in this order:

SAO (first half of Sword Art Online)
GGO (second season, Sword Art Online II)
ALO (second half of Sword Art Online)

From what I've heard, the next arc after GGO is one of the better arcs of the Light Novel, so I'm looking forward to that!

The little color code Rowdy Rocker! made is spot on, so that should help you decide. Regardless, it won't hurt to give it a few episodes and see what you think.

You probably won't like it, but should watch it with your friend regardless.

Just watch it and judge for yourself.
I thought it was garbage though.

Sao was short. Alo was meh but sugu boobs are T_T. Ggo is getting good. Read the pirated fan sub LN because yenplus fucked it with an alt non graphic ch 16.5.
16.5?

People should learn that calling an anime good because they had to look at the finer points of the production to make it watchable, means that the show is bad. I should have to look for flaws not dig my way through them.

Just watch SAO decide for yourself.

When I read your "disdain list", most of it made me think of SAO and Kirito.

The most honest review out there,I think.

DraconisMarchVII made a 5 part analysis of it.

How long is it,totally?

An hour.(it was actually only 4 episodes)

Isnt it better to just watch the first three episodes and then think about continuing or not,LOL!

IMO you'll get jarred if you just watch Episodes 1-3, because 3 completely changes the tone until Episode 7 or so.

Thank you. this was everything that i was looking for in a review xD
now i can't unhear it.... "coffee... soda... toffee... soda..." lol

Thank you. this was everything that i was looking for in a review xD
now i can't unhear it.... "coffee... soda... toffee... soda..." lol

>Enthralling fights
Sure, I suppose.

>every fat geek's dream persona
Spot-on.

>Gary stu shenanigans for many parts
Eeeeyup.

>turn off your brain to watch it
Hit the nail on the head.

>Interesting take on the premise
I'm not up to say it wasn't interesting. Had my attention and all.

>shoddy writing became evident in the second half
It was pretty blaring at some points of Aincrad; by ALO shoddy was an understatement.

Sometimes I understand why SAO's hated as bad as Gundam SEED destiny.

Actually now that I think of it…
>Gary stu protag
>Irrelevant love interest
>taking itself too srsly (in SEED Destiny's case, lolcryptics)
>Shit writing

I guess I'm staring at the second coming of Jesus Yamato.