Back to raptor4488's Profile raptor4488's Profile

Keep in mind that although I'm going to do a basic review of the entire series, I'm going to mainly review season 1 (cause the other seasons aren't worth my effort)

SAO, SAO, SAO. Probably the most polarizing anime we've seen possibly of all time. There are two groups of people. Those who love this show and call it a masterpiece, and those who say season 1 was a masterpiece and everything else is steamy pile of shit. I'm in group 2, which is why this season is rated so highly by me. However, regardless of which group you're in, there is no denying that this ... anime is one of the most influential anime we've ever seen. I would argue it's in the top 3, right up there with Naruto and AOT. In my opinion, this is really because Season 1 is so damn good. Almost every bit of media about this show is from season 1.

But enough of how influential it is, how good is this anime actually? I'm probably really late to the party, but there are definitely people there, like me, who have only just started watching anime in the past few years and haven't made SAO their first priority. Granted, SAO was my first anime and it has been a while since I've rewatched (so my memory will be spotty)

Story: 7/10
The story of season 1 is amazing. It made the plot where people are in a video game popular. It isn't the first of its kind, but the way it executes the story is fantastic. At least at the beginning. The end of the first arc is basically a cluster of plot hole after plot hole. However, overall, what you remember story wise is people being trapped in a video game. I think the fact that this is the main thing that you will remember and have that paired up with an amazing view experience gives it a huge positive uplift. Yes, later on the story downgrades heavily (remember this is all my opinion). later seasons get lazy and honestly, just not interesting. But at least for season 1, the story is just great

Art: 9/10
I mean, how do I even explain it? The art for this show is phenomenal. The setting feels so fantastical, so out-of-this-world, so unique, yet it somehow presents it in a way where it almost feels like you're in there too. Regardless of the season, I have to admit that this is the case for every single arc. Regardless of how much I might hate other seasons, the art is always phenomenal and even gets better later on. Animation and art is one of the reasons why this show was so good and why it had such a big cultural impact. The only reason why I can't give it a perfect score is because of the advances recent anime have made in animation and art style that simply just out perform SAO now.

Sound: 10/10
Literally just listen to the soundtrack and you know why the score is perfect. Just two words and one name has to be said to explain. Crossing Field, LiSa. Even people that never watched this show have probably heard this show enough to recognize the tune at least. This song alone is a huge part of why this show is so influential. And that's just one song we're talking about. Throughout the entire series, yes, again, I'm complimenting later seasons, LiSa continues to deliver amazing songs for this show. It is one of the only areas of this show that is consistently amazing. The characters' voices are amazing as well. Kirito, though I might hate his character, his voice is amazing. whenever he screams, yells, cries, etc. I can feel the emotions coming out of him which is not something I can say very often for anime voices. The sound effects are amazing as well. They're so much more high quality than so many other animes. The sound in this series is just phenomenal. The music, the voices, sound effects, and everything related to the sound of this series makes the viewer enjoyment so much better just by itself.

Character: 5/10
Hoo boy. This is when all my compliments start to go away. I. Hate. Kirito. At first I really liked him, I won't deny that. But even in just the first season, the season that I said I loved, I had already begun to hate him. He is the definition of a poorly written overpowered character. I truly believe that there is a way to write an overpowered character properly while still delivering a great story. So long as there are risks that simple raw power from the main character alone cannot fix, it can still work. SAO falls flat on its face trying to do that. I mean, Kirito literally survives after dying in game, something that is specifically mentioned will kill you in real life without any example of exceptions. If the anime ever gave a sensible explanation to why this happened, I would be fine but it never does. Instead, it basically just tells "Oh he's the MC so he can't die." That just makes him a shallow character and sets up an overpowered character that has no risks and is perfect at everything and nothing bad will happen to him. This gets even worst in the series where it then sets up the idea that not only can he suffer from any harm, he's gotta win every single fight now as well. I think that's enough of Kirito now though. What about the other characters? Well, most of the other characters that I really don't like come after season 1 so I won't review them. Even that creepy dude later in the season I was ok with since he was a villain so that type of behavior, as disgusting as it is, isn't terrible. I really disliked how Kirito's sister just had to act as a love interest for him. I know that a lot of anime use this trope, but the way SAO handles it just makes it so much more uncomfortable. One thing I should note is that I still liked Kirito and pretty much all of the other characters during this season. Yes, I started to hate them, but went from love them to like them. It wasn't until season 2 where I hated certain characters (Kirito). I give it a 5 simply because season 1 is already when the downfall starts.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Remember, this is only season 1. If this was the whole series, this score would probably only be a 4 or 5. But again, the art and sound alone make this season alone so good. If you can't tell, I love an amazing soundtrack and the music from this series just elevates my personal viewing experience exponentially. Not only that, so much of this show has become so iconic because of how enjoyable it is. I think it speaks volumes of the experience it'll give you. This season, despite it being the best in the series, is not perfect. not by a long shot. But it is such a fun experience. I would give anything for the later seasons to never be made or for the the first arc to never end where it did and extend on it and build on it more.

Overall: 8/10
I think all of the reasons why I give this score has already been said. Nowhere near perfect, some very annoying parts, Kirito being a Kirito character, but nevertheless, possibly one of the most fun viewing experiences someone could ever have from an anime. I would highly recommend anyone to just watch this season and stop there. It already delivers a great ending and the guy gets the girl. What's more is there to want? (Well more of the Aincrad arc. That's what I want)

This is gonna be the first review I've written so it'll be rough. However, there are several animes that I really want to get my opinions down, this one included. This show definitely packs in a lot more than what you would expect when just reading the synopsis. I'd even argue that all the synopsis does is explain a plot device that is just used to move the story forward, but that's probably up to your own interpretation.

This anime definitely has a lot going for it. It's a solid show with enjoyable characters, solid comedy without utilizing your stereotypical harem/ecchi comedy you see everywhere now, ... and a decent story. My main gripe about this show is that it's probably a bit too short so it fails to be able to deliver the entire story, add in good fights, while still developing characters and making it make sense I suppose.

Story: 6/10
The story is pretty solid. Without spoilers, the main idea is that Maria hates wars and wants to use her powers to stop them. Self-explanatory. It's in the synopsis. There are obviously a couple other elements that are added in that make it a bit more interesting than what it might sound to some people. However, at its core, this story really is pretty stereotypical. There are tons of shows/movies out there already, anime or not, that deal with this theme and handle it pretty similarly. Overall, the story is nothing to hate on. It's a solid idea and executed pretty well, just falls into a bit of a trope. Again though, nothing to hate on.

Art: 7/10
The art in this anime is pretty good and pleasing to the eye. The setting itself is nothing to take home about. It's a pretty average Dark Era setting with a nice gradient over everything. Any fantasy elements added in are solid, but nothing special. I think that the art style for the setting is good, but nothing eye-popping. However, the animation is what makes me want to give it this score. Any fights that involve magic or supernatural elements are very well done. There will be times when fantastical creatures are present and granted, they are all basic creatures that you'll probably see in many other fantasy animes, however these creatures just have a sense of uniqueness to them. There are elements added in to their designs that make them stand out more than your stereotypical dragons or cyclops. Many of the fight scenes are very well done too.

Sound: 6/10
The voice actors are all solid and do a good job at delivering the voices of their characters and showing emotions

Character: 6/10
The characters of this show are probably my biggest complaint about this show. There's nobody there that you absolutely hate (that you aren't supposed to hate) and nobody that is unnecessarily annoying. However, there are certain characters that seem like they should have a much bigger part in the show but they end up barely having that much of an impact other than basically being a plot tool. Not only that, but a certain character has one of the strangest endings I've seen in a while. The priest that originally seems like he'd be the main villain the entire time ends up converting to Maria's viewpoints at the very end for seemingly no reason. When the two talk, she's able to convince him of her beliefs in just a few minutes despite him believing in something very different and held those beliefs basically his whole life. In the end, he doesn't even get any payoff for converting to the "good side". He just gets turned into a pillar of salt. My main complaint is how Maria can sometimes just seem like a steamroller without really any moral defense. At the beginning it was fine but towards the middle, when the development is trying to start, it seems like she's just a stubborn girl who refuses to listen to reason. There's even a time where someone asks her, "Aren't you just trying to force your beliefs on others?" Now, don't get me wrong, Maria is trying to stop war which is a good thing and I fully agree with. However, in this context, it seems like Maria at the time is causing more harm than good as her actions are triggering more aggression in the humans rather than get them to stop fighting. Instead of trying to argue in her own defense, or listen to any opposite reasoning, she simply turns a deaf ear and doesn't pay it any attention other than a thoughtful sentence about it on her broom. The anime makes it pretty clear that Maria's actions can easily cause more harm than good but it does nothing to try and use that to develop her character and recognize that maybe what she's doing it is a perfect solution. Now let's make this clear, in order to stop war, especially in this setting, there is probably no perfect solution. But the anime doesn't make an attempt to address this and instead, Maria basically has no development in her beliefs and acts the same as before. I wouldn't say that this turns her into a spoiled brat, but it can certainly make her feel a little annoying at times.

Enjoyment: 7/10
The enjoyment of this show is pretty good. It does a great job in keeping you engaged and using usually well-timed humor that can get a laugh out of you at some times, especially in the first few episodes where the comedy is the most frequent and strongest. I already mentioned why the show can feel a bit annoying with Maria's development and such so I won't repeat that. One thing to note is that this show seems to be heavily atheist. I have no problems with the writer wanting to express their viewpoints on religion on their show. However, it seems like at times, the dialogue is just a senseless attack on the beliefs of Christianity. Granted, the time that this show takes place is when Christianity is seen at a very bad light in our time now so some of the attacks are warranted, however, there are times when not even that can be used as a reason. Sometimes it feels like instead of Maria trying to defend her beliefs, it's just the writers trying to attack any Christian viewers and basically saying that their religion is just shit. Again, I don't mind that they hold these beliefs and want to vocalize it here, I just think that sometimes it's excessive and any viewer with some Christian background (aka me) can have their enjoyment be shot sometimes because there can just be a whole scene of the writer wanting to attack Christianity and basically mock them for believing in God despite it being their personal choice. Basically, any viewer with Christian background should take note of this and know that this show is definitely against a lot of their viewpoints and makes that very clear.

Overall: 7/10
This show overall is very solid. It's a good option to just binge on a slow day and you just wanna sit down and watch anime for a few hours. Or, if you want to just put it in the background, this could work too. It's something that can keep you entertained if you need it to, or it could be something that you give 50% of your attention to while doing something else and you'll probably still know what's happening. It's nowhere near perfect, but it doesn't have to be. It's fine and pretty enjoyable as it is