I really liked the concept behind this show, but I didn't really like the execution. I know it was based on the light novel, but I was really hoping they'd go into the game itself rather than focusing on the interactions between Kirito and the damsel-in-distress of the week. That aside, Aincrad does sound like a pretty fucking awesome game.
Just finished up the last episode. I really enjoyed the first half which was Aincrad. That to me felt much better and more exciting because of the actual risks that SAO had. Death was real etc. It got a little weird when some episodes went to them playing house. The second season with Alfheim was pretty dumb to me. Everything felt off and not as solid as the first half.
The second season was just hentai it made no sense sometimes like why Kirito just didn't go to the police.... They should have just ended off at 12 episodes and made it so Kirito and Asuna were okay but now season 3 is going to start and its pretty much the same as season 1 with out the death and with something cool at the palace thing.
Going to rez this thread, because I have just finished it myself. The concept is excellent, as mentioned before - can't get enough, and the immersion was great. Agreed on several of the other points, such as the playing house bit, but I feel that's just to be expected from the light novel to integrate Yui and add meaning to a relationship. The fishing episode was definable filler, however. I'm interested in the next season if they're coming out with it, it'd be nice to see the transition to guns and how Kirito handles it - I can't easily acquire or read the novel series anyways.
I'm sure you can read the novel on Baka-Tsuki. They have a lot, if not all, of the novel series translated so far.
Mmm, that sounds good. Butt weight, there's all the glorious plot - h-h-h-ow am I going to enjoy the animated version?
Right, the concept was nice. Virtual Reality, if you die in the game, you die in real. Giving the players an actual reason to play. That was quite nice. As an anime, absolute garbage, over-hyped trash. I actually have the novels 1-9 (there are 11 now I think... 11 was just released), and I can tell you they skipped so much and left a ton of plot-holes. Let's take into account that it's an anime, right? They only have a set number of episodes per season and cannot fit everything in, but... why do some of the episodes in the first season feel like filler episodes? I mean, we met all of those characters, Silica, Klein, etc, but outside of their respective episodes, they did not play a large part. Some characters we don't even see again until the end of the anime series. There was zero character development, Kirito started off OP and stayed OP... That doesn't happen in video games. If he's not transforming into a giant monster, he's somehow pulling hat-tricks and doing something otherwise impossible to win. He should have died in the first half of the season, but somehow didn't. In the second half, he logs in as Heathcliff... You'd think a SysAdmin would bother to check who's ID1 on a database. Band-aid ending with Lyfa and Kirito doing some fairy dance, VRMMOs are saved using "the seed", and they all fly off to Aincrad. I could go on and on about how SAO was just a generic train wreck of mediocrity. Even the VRMMO concept isn't original. Oh look, there's .hack and Accel World.
Hah, I was actually rather surprised to see people actually thought the anime and manga over critically. They're indeed, rather poorly executed. In fact, they were so badly executed, I just dropped the entire thing halfway. Shame, I really did think it could've been something so much more than just fanservice and filler romances.
I think all gamers become biased about the first season, because the setting is basically porn for you gaming head. That being said, I don't think the creators have ever talked to a female, which is why the second season and its harem element was so horrid.
