WARNING:THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS
Story: 6/10. To me the story has a very well designed plot and had the potential into becoming something great, however there were many turn offs. The whole "solo-player" only was the thing that made me think Kirito was cool, and a solo player myself I understand that there are things a solo player cannot do, eventually the game gets tougher and you need a party or guild. The sad things that happened with the first guild Kirito joins, Tsukiyo no kuro neko-dan or Moonlit Black Cats, really impacted me and made me feel as if I was experiencing this life or death situation first hand. Later on when Kirito decided to team up with Asuna it was fine because Asuna seemed like a badass, however this kinda dwindled a bit. Around the time she fell in love with Kirito she seemed as if she couldn't do anything without him and was a complete Tsundere. This Anime didn't really have a deep romance to it, Kirito suddenly kissed Asuna right after he was about to die and ~poof~ he scored him some pussy. In some parts of the Anime later on episodes 13-25 I could hardly tell he seriously loved Asuna. But besides that the whole "Alfhiem Online" stuff really just made the series overall worse for me. I loved the life or death situation and then when it moved to the fairy, magic, not to seriousness it really destroyed my growing interest for the series. It was also bullshit how Asuna was moved to this realm...I wish they would've just ended it after Sword Art Online was beaten, but nevertheless they had to do Alfhiem Online anyways due to the visual novel. Overall it had it's good moments and downfalls, and definitely could've been better.Characters: 8/10. Despite what I've said so far I actually enjoy the characters deeply, and wish Kirito would've hooked up with Lisbeth. Seriously though. The only character I still have beef with is Asuna from going to badass to a tsundere. Kirito's character of course wasn't perfect either, he was a cool solo player but his decisions were irrational and his romantic side is brain dead. He loves Asuna but doesn't really show it well. Yes you can talk about those two at their house on Floor 22 all you want but for the rest of Alfhiem and even in the second season I couldn't even tell he loved Asuna (especially in S2 when he went to GGO). Besides that every character had a uniqueness to them to the point where I would feel really sad and upset if one of the followed characters died like Liz or Klein. Overall the characters where detailed and understandable.
Animation and Sound: 9/10. Besides the fact that the battle music sounds like it's saying "Coffee, Soda, Toffee, Pasta, Coffee, Soda, GIVE ME COFFEE" the OST, Opening, and Ending songs were beautiful and enjoy very much. The animation was vibrant and fluid and I had no problem with it. They could've even made an excuse and said "The animation was bad to represent the fact that they're playing a video game and video game graphics aren't ultra realistic" and probably would've gotten
away way it. Overall the animation and soundtrack was pleasant and never made me say "Please...stop..."
Final Verdict: 7.66/10. Overall the series was enjoyable two of the characters were a bit derpy, the soundtrack and the coffee was amazing. The fighting in the series definitely could've been more unique but overall I think it ended well. I wish there was no Alfhiem Online arc though. I recommend you stream this show (watch on Crunchyroll or something) rather than buying it unless you just want to support the creators. See you all on SAO S2 review!
