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Disclaimer: I have read up till volume 4 and I input it as 'I have read 6 chapters' since there are 6 major arcs/ parts in vol 1-4.
MIGHT HAVE SLIGHT SPOILERS UP AHEAD.

Sword Art Online the anime have been either A) being praised as the 'BEST anime', or B) being berated as the most overrated/ worst anime ever made. I have mixed feelings with the anime itself (feel free to check out my review on the anime in my profile). This series is exactly what the anime should have been.

Sword Art Online: Progressive is being written by Reki Kawahara with the aim to fill ... the plot holes (in fact a 2-year-in-story-hole) the original novel missed out. It tells us more about how Kirito (main male protagonist) and Asuna (main female protagonist) get to know each other and what kind of adventure they have had during the start of this death game. Unlike the the anime and the original novel series, the pace is much more acceptable as the plot progresses bit by bit instead of escalating at an insane speed (i.e. how the story jump from the initiation of the game to 2 years after the death game started). Is the pace too slow? I do think that it is a bit slow since the author paced 1-2 floors per volume, it may take quite a lot of volumes to rendevous with the main story written in volume 1 of the original story. Yet, I do think having a slow pace is necessary as it can really explore the character development deeper.

Let's move on to character development. In the original series, a lot of people (including myself) may question how did Asuna fall for Kirito in all of a sudden. Well, Progressive series can provide a lot more clues to that question. In this series, we can also see how the characters grow or change in their personality. For example, we can see how Kirito was initially having trust issues and how he slowly opens up as the story progresses.

Art is also a major component for a novel. I have to say, Abec really did an excellent job on those beautiful illustrations. The covers are eye-catching and vibrant. The backgrounds are detaily drawn and there are even informative maps to keep you on track with the story. The characters' emotion are drawn to point and can express the situation they are in. I honestly cannot really find faults with the art. One word to summarize the art - superb.

To conclude, this series is what Sword Art Online should have been - a nice series with an acceptable pace and natural character development rather than having it being stuffed into 2 volumes (the original series).

*This is my first time writing a review for an ongoing series so bear with me.

6.73? Seriously? I mean this anime is not bad at all. This series deserves at least a 7 or even higher. *Deep breath* Okay here are a few questions to ask yourself if you want to see if this series is suitable for you:

1. Do you enjoy relaxing anime series?
2. Are you the type of person who likes character development?
3. Do you like supernatural genre (like ghost)?

If your answer to the above questions is mostly yes, then you need to give this a try. Since there is a synopsis ... already, I will skip directly to the characters and the plot. The characters are actually quite likable. Each of the residents at the apartment have very unique past and personalities, which helps to make the whole series more interesting. The main protagonist initially was freaked out by all the residents at the apartment (because most of them are ghosts) and gradually opened up to them. There is also some development (in terms of personality) for the main protagonist as the series progresses (at this point episode 4 for me). Some may say that there are way too many characters in the series, but in my opinion, all these characters are vital to this whole series. Each of them contributes part by part and they are more or less like the base for this whole series.

The plot is a pretty simple slice of life plot, with acceptable pace. Basically it is about how the main protagonist interacts with the residents at the apartment and slowly get close to them. It is not a series with twists or exciting climaxes, but interactions with the residents at the apartment and the personal growth of the main protagonist are enough to make this series interesting.

For arts and sound, it is above average. The animation can obviously be better in a lot of ways, like the backgrounds can be drawn a bit more detailed. Though I guess it is okay. Not much worth noticing for music. The music used doesn't clash with the scenes.

To summarise, I enjoyed this series quite a lot because it is relaxing to watch and the character + development is interesting enough for me to keep on watching. I like how all of the residents at the apartment is like a big family, where they support each other when they need help.

I hope my review can somehow help you in choosing to watch this series or not. Please feel free to give me some feedbacks. Thanks for reading this review written by an amateur :)

*I may end up not updating this review after this series end.

Whew. That was a breath of fresh air. I haven't seen something as astonishing and fascinating for quite a long time and this seriously should deserve more praise. At first, I didn’t have the motivation to watch this series. Still, I am very glad that I watched this series.

Before we start, there are a few points you need to pay attention to if you haven’t watch the anime:
-This is not your typical romance anime. So, if you only like romance anime for the happy endings or main characters that are good in terms of personality, go and watch something else like Toradora (one of my ... favourite)
-The story itself involves in more mature content (in terms of psychological ways), which means it is a lot more complicated than normal romance anime series. If you like straightforward romance anime, this anime may not interest you.

Story / Plot: Let me just skip the summary of the story as a lot of reviews have included those already. The story itself is unique when you compare it with typical romance anime. The plot itself generally have no cliché you can find in typical romance anime. It is not about a boy needing to choose his girlfriend from a bunch of girls and there is not a definite good ending. Of course, this anime ended in a rather good way consider the worst case it could have been, but still the ending is not like 'happily ever after' type of ending. I have no idea how did the author arranged the story in the manga, but still I loved the way the anime tell the story. They don't exactly tell you what event causes this to happen or what so ever. They do it so that the flow of the story can catch all our attention. The story can bring out the ‘dark side’ or rather realistic romantic situations that we may encounter (probably not for me though). The author has opened new possibilities to the world of romance anime/ manga. I know that some people may feel uncomfortable because of how the characters handle their feelings, but at the same time this is another unique point of this series.

Characters: This contributed so much to the whole anime. Believe it or not, all the characters in this anime are as the title said, they are trash (kuzu). They are trash in terms of the ways they choose to handle different situations and incidents involving their romantic feelings and sexual desires. Please don’t misunderstand what I am trying to say here – all the characters are designed perfectly. Their ‘trashy’ personalities move on with the plot so well and as the story progresses, you can see how their personality and thoughts changes and mature into a better one. Their ‘trashy’ personalities can be found commonly in all human beings (including me). Looking how all the characters turning into better human beings somehow contributes to why I like this anime so much. All the characters made a lot of mistakes in the anime, but still in the end they actually do reflect what they did wrong and tries to improve themselves. There are no definite ‘protagonist’ in this story, and this is another thing I like about this series. For the voices of each character, all the voice actors have done an amazing job and their voices enhanced the whole anime series to the next level.

Art: One word: Superb. I loved all the characters’ eyes. Their eyes are beautifully animated. Besides all the nicely drawn characters and those borderline animated mature scenes, the backgrounds are well drawn. One of my favourite backgrounds is the scene where Hanabi and Ebato when to Karuizawa. The sky full of stars and the forest was magnificent.

Music: Both OP and ED are awesome. Awesome vocals from 96neko for the OP Uso no hibana ad Sayuri for the ED Heikousen. I suggest you to search up the lyrics (especially for the OP) because the lyrics can clearly describe the things happening in the anime and it has a lot of meanings. For the background music, everything fits in the situation and the mood. The music was nicely done and it fits in the anime perfectly.

Conclusion: This series is very very refreshing, given that I have watched quite a lot of romance anime (I am not saying the others are bad, there are still a lot of good ones), mainly because of its unique story and ‘trashy’ characters. This is one superb series with beautiful animations and awesome voices from the professional voice actors. Certainly, I enjoyed it a lot when I was watching this series. If you want a mature themed romance anime with deep plot, this is the right one to go for.

Here goes my 2nd review. Look, I know this will not be in the top list of the reviews of this anime, but I just wanted to share my thoughts about this great series. I will skip the summary (because a lot of good reviewers wrote about it already). Let me first thank the MAL community for giving this anime a relatively high score. Without this, I would not have re-watched this series and wrote this review.

I actually watched this anime twice. I was in junior secondary (or middle school or whatever you call it) when I first watched this series. My first thought? I ... thought this was just a boring anime talking about a boy 'stucked' in a dormitory filled with weird people. My second time watching this anime was months before my senior secondary school (or high school) graduation and boy, I was actually touched by the ending of this anime.

Let's talk about the art first. The art of this anime was good and the quality was very consistent over the whole series. Of course, it did not have superb art like the one from Kimi no na wa, but it was enjoyable. The studio of this series, J.C. Staff, is known for producing good anime series like Kaichou wa Maid sama, Toradora, Nodame Cantabile and so on. I have nothing to complain about the art work at all.

Moving on to the story and the character, I know that the setting seems to be pretty unoriginal - normal students' school life with romance, but this is not a typical school life anime where we just talk about how the main character goes through his/her school life. We have a storyline which does not only focus on the main male character and female character, but also the 'less important' characters. This story is basically a tale of how these teenagers/students mature as they grow and face a lot of obstacles and difficulties in their lives. I liked it a lot because I can relate to this anime to a large extent. This anime reminds me of the ups and downs throughout my school life and it resonates with me. There are some moments where it can make you laugh, and some moments that can being you to tears. I know the romantic relationship development for the main characters is not that quick, but I think that the pace is acceptable given that the main girl knew nothing but drawing from the start of the series.

Concerning about the music, it was alright. The soundtracks was above average and it fits with different incidents/ scenario within the series, but it did not really give me strong impressions. Meanwhile, the OP and ED were very good. I especially liked the first ED 'Days of Dash' by Konomi Suzuki very much because the song's lyrics fits the whole series very well. You should definitely check out this song too.

To conclude, Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo is a great series with good character developments and storyline. You should definitely check this one out if you like school life or romance anime.

Thanks for reading and I am sorry if I have made any mistakes.

Story: 6/10

First of all, I actually like the concept of Sword Art Online itself, but the arrangement of the story is kind of messed up. The pacing of the series is one of the bad points. The 1st and 2nd episode of the series take place during the first 2 months after the game launched. Guess what, the 3rd episode take place 1 year after the events in 1st and 2nd episodes. It seems that there are a lot of time lapse through out the whole Aincrad arc and the viewers (us) missed a lot of things we should know.
(SPOILERS AHEAD) People may actually ... wonder why did Asuna fell in love with Kirito (or vice versa) in such a "short" period of time. Little did people who watched the anime know that, they only fell in love almost 2 years after they first met each other. These all can be found in the SAO: Progressive novels. Sword Art Online could have been better if they arrange the story at a regular pace, not going too fast nor too slow. It could have been a good "MMO" styled adventure anime with all the viewers watching the protagonist clearing each floors. The anime missed a lot of important reference / points about the story.
In my opinion, that Fairy Dance arc is not necessary for the whole story. Why can't they just end the whole story after the aincrad arc? I guess the whole point of the fairy dance arc is just to tell the story of Kirito's sister falling in love with her brother and being rejected. The story can be very good without that weird character (Sugou Nobuyuki) licking and smelling Asuna. I am just disappointed with the whole arc because they just add a lot of useless things that made the story go south.

Art 8/10 + Sound 9/10

The art is one of the main component of this series. All the fights between the characters and the monsters are very beautiful. The great special effects of the sword skills really made the attacks more cooler, instead of regular sword attacks. All those fights really brings out that "MMO" theme. The environment of Aincrad is spectacular, as the art can highlight that greatness of the scenery in Aincrad. For example, that lake and the mountains on the 22nd floor can let people know that there are still good things in Aincrad (instead of all those dungeons).

The music, in my opinion is superb. Not only because all the soundtracks are composed by Yuki Kajiura (Composer for Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero and etc.), but also the atmosphere created by the music fits the scenes in the anime perfectly. For example, playing 'swordland' during the boss fight really improved the sensation for viewers, as you can feel how tense the fight is.

Conclusion:
Sword Art Online is a good anime in terms of art and music. This series HAD a lot of potential for becoming a good anime. I would really consider this a good anime series if they have a slower pace and focusing on only an arc, rather than 1 rushed arc + 1 useless arc.