Sword Art Online Review

The hook is one of the best in modern anime. Ten thousand players log in, the exit is removed, and death in the game is death. The opening episodes are gripping, the production is glossy, the score does an enormous amount of work, and for a few hours this looks like a classic. Then come the choices the reviews have never forgiven. The first arc skips two years of the ordeal it has just set up in order to arrive at a romance, so the survival premise is spent before it is used.

The second arc locks its heroine in a cage as a prize to be recovered and hands the story a villain whose single trait is leering menace, which is the point where most critics gave up on it. Kirito wins because he is Kirito, and the tension drains out of every fight. It sold enormously and pulled a whole genre along behind it, and none of that is an argument about quality. A strong first act, and a lot of goodwill spent afterwards.