Sword Art Online - Episode 14
Huh, it certainly went where I was expecting it to, but it definitely got there much faster than I was anticipating!
Throughout, the thing that really bothered me was the lack of personalities displayed by the protagonists. But going by that sentiment, they have the gaming analogy down, because they fit their roles, they were avatars. And although the show spent an inordinate amount of time trying to make us care for these characters, it hadn't really done anything to elicit a response other than disinterest from me.
An adaptation should be able to stand on its own, though, rather than skirt over details that the novels flesh out. By that same token, I'm not saying that it had to be entirely faithful, but it would have been nice it had maintained some semblance of cohesion throughout. As it stands, I found it to be disjointed and badly paced, and I never got a good sense of the world as a result. Most of what has helped to explain the inevitable plot-holes, has usually come by way of those with the prior-knowledge, which points to a failing of the adapatation. And having only the anime to contextualize all of this, it does come off feeling decidedly shallow.
I'm not going to lie, I was completely trampled by the bandwagon on this one. I would not have watched this, were it not for the rampant discussion in the thread. I don't begrudge anyone that likes it, but conversely, I resent the sentiment that there is an underlying form of masochism here, with those that haven't been all that positive. People typically gravitate to what's popular, and it'd be naive to think that everyone will come away happy. I was one of those that was simply curious about the whole thing.
Overall, I didn't feel like it did any one thing all that well, and instead haphazardly attempted to juggle multiple aspects. That said, its animation did deliver some striking moments. I found SAO to be bad. Does that reflect poorly on me for having watched it all to this point? Maybe.
