Despite the fact that this series may truly be blogged to death I couldn’t just leave it alone. This just seemed like the series that I had to watch and would have a lot to talk about week after week. The first episode didn’t let me down getting through all the exposition and introductory stuff while still creating a compelling episode. You can feel the seriousness of what this game world has turned into and the kind of stress each person in the game is going to go through.

Kirito seems like a good main character so far. Obviously has his issues that were hinted at in this episode. Clearly he’s not big on groups and really he was hesitant to even help Klein out when he spoke to him initially. Very possibly either a shy or just not social kind of person. He’s got a good head on his shoulder though realizing rather quickly just what needed to be done and where he should go next. Also a good guy in wanting to bring Klein along with him and also just helping him out with the starting points of the game. Kind of scary when you think about it that Klein could have died just in that initial battle if he’d been too careless. Looking forward to finding out more about Kirito and where his character will go from here.

I really just love the potential this series has. Kind of makes me think about .hack in terms of setting and story potential. We could really see a variety of responses and people in this game. How would 10,000 people respond to this kind of situation? Some initial panic, people hiding in cities scared to go out, the bold wanting to escape, those who might snap and take this chance to kill someone without retribution. That last scenario seems possible since no one will know how a certain person died in the game, they will just get their brain fried. Kirito and a lot of others are going to have to grow quickly and play smart. This is a game in a serious hardcore mode, one mistake and you really die.

I really wonder about the motivation of the game’s creator. He brought up the question of why he was doing it, but never really answered. Making this game and situation was his goal, but no explanation as to why he’d do such a thing. Why create a situation where 10,000 could all possibly die? 2,000 died in the first month since launch already. Takes a certain kind of lunatic to do something like this. No reason will ever be good enough, but it’s something to ponder about. Could just be some mad scientist kind of guy, but feels like his reasoning will matter before the show is over. So I’ll say story wise the show is in good shape.

Wasn’t 100% serious though fairly close at times. Liked the joke on some guys playing these sorts of games with female avatars and vice versa. You figured that one girl might have been a guy and it turned out like that. At least it removes any doubts as to true appearances for the game. Everyone will look like their regular self. Will say it was pretty funny seeing the two who tried to walk out seeing what their real appearances were.

Visually the series is solid. It’s not the most amazing thing ever, but it doesn’t take away from the anime and fits the setting. The backgrounds actually look great. Since it is virtual could run into quite the variety of areas and dungeon designs. The effects for the attacks should be pretty good as well. Since there is no magic the sword skills should be pretty impressive and prominent. So yeah the visuals are just fine.

The music sounds very game like. The fighting music of the episode definitely had a good beat to it. They definitely came up with a pretty serious tune for when the game creator was explaining things and it reached a peak. Certainly fit with the situation and I think that sound won’t be a problem. The voices have been good so far with Kirito and Klein sounding fine to me.

So really at this point I don’t have any issues with the series and would rather go on about how excited I am for this one. While I may be adding to the masses doesn’t mean I’ll let a chance to talk about a series like this pass by. Hopefully Sword Art Online ends up being a really good series. Will comment on the OP/ED next time when both should be in the episode and not just the OP. I’d definitely recommend people give this one a look since I didn’t have any issues with it.
Score: A