"Link start!!"
Do you like to play games online? Do you dream of a virtual reality game, where you can just play, enjoy yourself, being a hero just by wearing a headgear without computer?
Welcome to Sword Art Online.
Sword Art Online is a 25-episodes anime series adapted from light novels series with the same name written by Kawahara Reki and illustrated by abec.
It is a series about VRMMORPG - Virtual Reality Multiple Mass Online Role Playing Game that you can access by using a special headgear NerVGear. The game, like the name indicates, is about swordplay. The player can be any kind of warrior they wish with different kind of weapons.
One day when the game was launched, they all cannot log out from the game. The game master appears, announcing that if you want to be able to log out, you need to finish the game -- which has 100 floors (levels). The moment your HP (life points in game) dropped to 0, you will be dead - both in game and in real life.
This anime will follow the main protagonists Kirito, Asuna, and their comrades challenging obstacles and finish the deadly game.
Sword Art Online is an exciting science-fiction action with advanced animation. The movements, special effects, coloring are just wonderful and eye candy. It may have a theme some anime have taken - cannot log out from a game and you have to fight until the end. However the inclusion of friendship, team work, pure love, and moral values makes this anime different.
Pros and cons
(+) Breathtaking visual - colors, characters, background and lighting
(+) Smooth animation especially during fight sequences
(+) Sincere, pure love story
(-) A bit cheesy sometimes
(-) Not really much character development compared to what I expect
Story = 3.5/5
Artwork = 4.5/5
Animation and Color = 4.5/5
Character development = 3/5
Soundtrack = 3/5
Overall = 4/5
Genre = fantasy, action, sci-fi, romance, slice of life
Demographic = shounen
Original creator = Kawahara Reki & abec.
Director = Tomohiko Ito
Seiyuu = Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Kirito), Haruka Tomatsu (Asuna), others
