Sword Art Online

At one point I was trying to get into anime and a friend described the premise of this which I thought sounded good enough. I told myself I liked it. Upon reflection, aside from a few legitimately good moments, it's trash. Real weird trash. Like a full size Statue of David made of Chef Boyardee cans filled with diapers, which is to say I'm not unhappy I saw it, but I think this may not be my genre of art...sword art...online. Wtf am I doing with my life. Shitty rambling reviews apparently.

I was pretty into what it was at first - in essence, a high fantasy take on The Matrix, with people trapped inside a digital World of Warcraft-esque virtual reality and a "if you die inside you die in real life" dynamic. Then the show rushes through that interesting setup and makes some... weird storytelling choices. Some really, really, really, really weird choices. Like... why?

Sword Art Online

banger until midway through season 1

I’ve watched the entire series from start to finish, and the Aincrad arc is an easy 10/10 — no questions asked. I know a lot of people hate this show, but I honestly don’t get it. As one of my first anime experiences, it completely hooked me. I even watched the other seasons, despite being told not to, and ended up enjoying most of them. Sure, the writing dips a bit here and there, but Alicization is absolute peak. The story, worldbuilding, and emotional moments still stick with me.

I am basing this entirely off of the first season, and not the one where they're all fairies or whatever. Significant drop in quality at that point. I did like the premise of this a lot, and wish that first season was dragged out through multiple seasons with a slower build-up. And if they wanted to explore a bit afterwards, I think they could have done a better job with the fairy stuff.

Nobody told me, but this is a romantic story. You wouldn't guess that even based on the first few episodes. The romance starts very subtly and quietly develops until it dominates the plot. Very sneaky. Had I known that this is a romance, I might not have started watching it, but I am glad I did. Certainly THE BEST romance I have ever seen. You can never predict where the story will go next. Recommended to every anime fan. Also a good choice if you want something that's both light and exciting.

I liked the original, hated the follow up seasons. The rape subplot came out of nowhere and was unneeded, same with the incest

3 eps

Only watched the first series, nothing after