Anime Review: Sword Art Online

 

Anime: Sword Art Online

# of episodes: 25

Rating: 4.5/5 stars- gorgeous graphics, awesome fighting/action, and a romance that transcends the worlds 

Synopsis (from Wikipedia):

Set initially in the year 2022, a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online (SAO) has just been released. In the game, players control their avatars just as they would with their real bodies using the Nerve Gear, a VR Helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain. However, on its first day out of the beta testing period, the players soon discover that they cannot log out. The creator of the game, Akihiko Kayaba, makes an appearance shortly after and issues them an ultimatum: if they die in the game so would their bodies in the real world, and if they wish to be freed from the game, they must reach the 100th floor of the game's world and defeat the final boss. As the players try to face their new deadly predicament, two skilled swordsmen, Kirito and Asuna, are determined to win and be free. The second part of the anime takes place in ALfheim Online (ALO), a spiritual successor to SAO developed by the company who took over the maintenance of SAO during the crisis, where it is discovered that Asuna is being held captive in the new virtual world, still unable to logout and hospitalized in the real world, and follows Kirito fighting alongside new allies in ALO to rescue her.

Review:

So I caught the flu that was going around. :( However, that means...

ANIME MARATHON!!! 

I have a really low concentration and focus level when I'm sick, so it's really hard for me to read. SO... I have a Kdrama/anime marathon instead. I don't need a lot of concentration for that, and I get so excited, I forget momentarily that I'm sick, then I cough and I'm back to reality.

So I blew through about 6 episodes of Sword Art Online, and BAM. I'M DONE :D

and ohmygosh, what a ride.

This anime is exciting, with tons of action packed fighting, some fun mysteries here and there, and a really adorable romance. It's a very fun concept, and it touches on the meaning between virtual and reality worlds- who are you really? It's like the Internet today. Maybe because you're on the Internet, there are certain things you would do that you wouldn't do in real life. There's a lot of little life lessons here and there.

On top of that, the graphics are GORGEOUS, enhancing the beautiful sword fights and the world so much more. I'm cheering every time Kirito swings that badass sword of his.

Kirito and Asuna are both strong intriguing characters to watch on screen- they don't back down from a fight, and THEY ARE SO CUTE ASDFGHJKL. All the other characters support the storyline really well too- it's fun to watch everyone interact between such a great setting with a good plot.

Personally, I much prefer the first half of the anime- the stakes are a lot higher in that one, and there is a little more of a psychological element to the story. The second half... yeah I was just really pissed off at the villain. (Well... I guess you could call him psycho.) BUT OH MY GOD THE ENDING ASDFGHJKL.

Overall, I'm really surprised at how much I liked this anime- I'm usually a really intense rom-com fan when it comes to anime, but wow, I really enjoyed this, and I surprised myself by cheering at certain character's death. (What... they really kind of deserved to die.) 

SMALL SPOILER PART:

CAN I JUST SAY AWWWWWW FOR ABOUT 100 SECONDS.