So because some may perhaps feel cheated by my scathing review of the final episode of Sword Art Online last night, I thought I'd take the time to explain, without hyperbole, vitriol or coarse language, how I really feel about the show.
Just a few responses this time, I'll try to keep this relatively short =p I won't respond to the comments about Kayaba's motivations or your heartfelt loathing for Sugu and incest in general, since I think we've already covered that pretty thoroughly >.>
That said, the following area of the show suffered greatly due to a waste of potential I'll discuss in a moment. First, though, the romance. I want to say Kirito and Asuna was an an endearing relationship which won me over in spite of myself, but that would be a lie. Asuna was an endearing girlfriend who won me over in spite of myself. Kirito is the Bella Swan of anime protagonists. He's a blank slate that any guy in the target demographic can slip into and pretend he is. He has no personality beyond what the viewer decides he has. He doesn't react to the life he takes, to Suguha's confession, to Asuna's needs in any distinct way. Instead he reacts in a neutral way so that the viewer can decide that "Yes, Kirito comforted Asuna here because he loved her" or "No, Kirito said nothing to Asuna here and only held her because he doesn't love her and doesn't know how to say it." and so on. Asuna was endearing, Kirito was tepid.
Just for the sake of proving that it is possible for us to agree on things(!) I'll say that I have no arguments against the fact that Kirito is a boring protagonist. He's an audience substitute, pure and simple. I don't find that a huge problem - "audience substitute" is a trope that exists for a reason, and it's easy to just ignore the lack of characterisation and enjoy the power fantasy for what it is - but the series would definitely have been better if he had more in the way of actual character.
Then there was the tentacle rape. What possible need was there for those guys to be shown as purple tentacle slugs? I cannot see a reason for it, in story nor out. More to the point, though, when we already have Sugou trying to rape and molest Asuna every single episode, why do I need to see two slug men doing it, too? What was the point of seeing Asuna bite down on a phallic purple tendril at all?
My suspicion is that those guys' avatars were twisted slug creatures because that's what Sugou decided they should look like. As a narcissistic and megalomaniacal asshole of a villain, of
course he would make himself the Fairy King, pinnacle of beauty, while reducing his subordinates to subhuman monsters to emphasise their inferiority to him.
Of course, his subordinates were depraved enough that the choice of avatar was actually entirely justified. If only Sugou had given himself an avatar along the same lines, I'd actually praise him for his appropriate judgement.
There's also the fact that at the end of the show, Kirito brutally savages his nemesis, then accepts encouragement from and delivers praise to a mass murderer. That scene was so far beyond sane that I could not believe my eyes.Nothing about that was okay.
Eh, Sugou totally deserved what he got there. Let's not go into the Heathcliff thing.
The Alfheim arc also spends too much time building up this situation of tenacious racial politics and an attempt on the World Tree, only for a very small group of players to break through with relative ease and for Kirito to literally skip the heavily advertised dungeon. It feels like an entire plot is just cut in favor of rushing a finale after squandering so much time on a race feud that served literally no importance to the plot.
Wasn't the entire point that the "heavily advertised dungeon" never actually existed? There was never anything beyond that gate, and the supposed city at the top of the World Tree where players could get their hands on eternal flight was a complete fabrication. Sugou set up the Grand Quest with an enemy spawn rate so high that he didn't expect anyone to ever make it past them all, and then even if anyone did make it past, there was no way to actually unlock the gate. It took an admin command to open it, and even then it turned out to just be a teleport to Sugou's twisted facility. Basically, Sugou is an ass.
I don't think an allied army of the most elite warriors of multiple races really counts as a "very small group of players", though, and I definitely don't think that scene was intended to come across as involving "relative ease" in any shape or form.
TL;DR version of this is again that Ep 1-14 and 25 are okay, but Ep 15-24 are truly awful. Reasons being incest, waste of potential, waste of time, tentacle rape and praising a mass murderer, just off the top of my head.
Anyway, I really hope you don't let this put you off
Accel World, which is a much better show and doesn't really suffer from any of the problems you had with this one. Its protagonist has actual character (whether you actually like that character is YMMV), it doesn't have any incest as far as I recall, I don't believe there's any tentacle molestation (or any sexual fanservice inside the game at all, really, since everyone has robotic-looking bodies), and it certainly doesn't have any praising of mass murderers.
What it does have is a much more unique and interesting premise than SAO (and one which is explored and utilised in interesting ways), really good action, and a great cast of characters.
