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tl;dr

- ntr (sorta) and other unpleasant things - if you're looking for a badass kirito protagonist you're in the wrong place
- an extended PV with tones of (decent, imo) sub-plot
- you won't enjoy this unless you're ok with durararara!! style shows
- female audiences would perhaps enjoy this more

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Watched everything at a go and to be honest... it felt like a 12 episode PV to something way longer. I.e. it was a start to something really great, we've got the actors and premise all set up, but it had to end mid way leaving me hanging and... looking for the manga.
...
First things first, I did not read the manga before finishing the show. Took a peek at the first chapter - a LOT of things are different (including how the MC is born, basic character design etc) so check it out yourself if you're curious.

Next comes the complaint about this show being supper fragmented with stupid buzzwords... interestingly I don't find it problematic at all. Maybe it's because I've sat through stuff like Occultic;9, Durararara!! and most recently hakata tonkutsu ramens so am used to pausing and processing if things go way too fast.

As for scene switching, I find that it ranges from beautifully executed to show a contrast between normalcy and violence (though to be honest fighting scenes were a big MEH) to serving no real purpose, but the story is still easy enough to follow. There is a big cast to fit into 12 episodes, so character development is limited, but certain characters such as Ichijo, Mika, and Marcus are portrayed pretty well and distinctly; everyone had a believable (by anime standards) motive and really-cliche-cliches were somewhat avoided.

To be honest this feels like K, but with better pacing and a more promising ending. Conversations are, especially in the first few episodes, awkward at times, but does not affect overall enjoyment of the show. The main character feels like 3 different people in 3 different stages, but he's more like a plot device/narrator for the audience to focus on and functions pretty well in that position.

Overall, it feels like there's a lot of wasted potential when it comes to execution - be it the poorly written dialogue, the unimpressive soundtrack, or sub-par CGI fighting. The plot is nonetheless interesting and some episodes brought me close to tears, so I'll be looking forward to the next installments.