Sword Art Online

This 25-episode series about virtual gaming and it effects to the players. It is divided into two arcs. The first arc (episodes 1 to 14) is set in Sword Art Online, tagged the first virtual game world. Players have to go through one hundred floors of the Aincrad Castle to beat the game. However, the game has a catch. If a player fails to survive a fight, both his virtual and real bodies die. Moreover, once the game starts, no one is allowed to log out until someone reaches the last boss.

Meanwhile, the second arc (episodes 15 to 25) is set in Alfheim Online. It's similar to SAO but players can log out and no one will die if the characters is defeated. In this game, players are divided into different elf races. The ultimate goal is to reach the top of the World Tree.

Kirito

At the start of the series, a gaming system called Nerve Gear is introduced. Players need to put on a head gear to access the game and control their character's actions; quite different from the usual console, PC and handheld platforms used for gaming. SAO is a role-playing game, therefore players have to have enough points to level up and defeat the level boss(es) to move on.

SAO creator Kayaba Akihiko announced at the start of the game that the only way to escape the virtual world is to reach and survive the last level. One of these players is Kirigaya Kazuto who uses the screen name Kirito. Being one of the beta-testers, he was a step ahead from most players because he knew how the game works and is familiar of most of the opponents in the lower levels. Soon enough Kirito becomes one of the front-liners clearing the levels for the other players. His skill as a solo player earned him the nickname Black Swordsman.

It was in one of the boss battles where he met Yuuki Asuna, or Asuna. A member of the Knights of the Blood Oath guild, she is known for her fighting skills. Kirito and Asuna start to work together more often and grow more attached as friends and fellow fighters even at the cost of abandoning her guild.

Asuna

Despite their skills and experience however, there still remains the challenge of actually getting to the last boss to clear the game. Whatever awaits them at the top of Aincrad castle and what happens after they beat SAO will be up to Kirito, Asuna, and the other players --- both the allies and foes.

Kirito and Asuna in one of their emotional moments together

The pace and character development was consistent until the second arc. From then on, the series spiraled into a romance story reminiscent of the tale of a princess locked in a tower (in this case a virtual prison) awaiting for her prince's arrival. 

The prospect of a series based on a virtual game seemed promising but the plot is weak when I found out in the first episode that it was going to be another survival story. The characters are thrown together into a place where everyone has to fight their way back to freedom and a mistake could cost you your life. From then, the sequence of events was easy to predict (for me at least). I already anticipated alliances, jealousy from among factions, foes masquerading as allies, and romance between a strong male warrior and a beautiful, popular and skilled female.

Even the character types are not new. Kirito is the timid but talented character while Asuna complements him with her cheerful and hopeful approach at beating the game.

Gamers might appreciate the series but the story isn't just about the game at all. If anything, there's so little about the game and instead it explores how people deal with mortal challenges psychologically and emotionally; SAO is more about self-exploration, realization and the growth of the gamers involved.

I expected that the fight scenes would be the highlight of the series. Most were just okay. There are some inconsistencies if you compare it to actual games. If willpower alone can win boss fights, then we would not need to seek for weapon and armor upgrades and level up to finish games. Then again, the game is unlike anything the world has seen before. On the other hand, the animation is fine. I liked the landscapes in particular.

The first episode alone was a let-down for me. I tried looking for some redeeming qualities of the series in the next episodes but the second arc totally ruined it for me. The first half was not so bad at all but overall Sword Art Online is mediocre at best.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10