In my opinion this has been the best of SAO. While being the weakest world from its predecessors, Alicization improves upon almost every other factor. It had much more world building and immersion than anything before it and is only continued further in the next season. The music as well heightens to another level in this season. Eugeo as a character was a breath of fresh air, easily making him one of if not the most likeable character in the series. Motivation, growth, etc., were all fantastic. The sound design is crisp and very stand-out. The sounds of swords clashing sounds intense, satisfying, and sharp. The pacing is amazing giving time to build upon the pair's relationship and their progression to their goal. Overall Alicization hits almost all of its notes right. Unfortunately the one thing that Alicization isn't as good as its previous seasons is its world. Alicization presents us with an extremely familiar fantasy world that doesn't do all too much to make it super unique. Both SAO and GGO were great examples of settings that felt like their own standout worlds. And not something I've seen countless times over.

This is also the season that Sword Art Online changes from what was a power fantasy to something that truly feels reasonably realistic. Kirito is reduced to essentially just a normal dude, yes he has all his past experience but nonetheless he still struggles against his foes due to how the world's power system works as well as how strong some of his opponents are.
Just about the entire season was a grand time, but the climax of the season does get some well-deserved criticism for its sluggish pacing and throwing insane plot devices one after the other and before you know it you've been in the same room for 5 episodes. And while some of the substance of these episodes wasn't poorly spent, around half of it should have been cut down tremendously, especially when the pacing of these fights would last one and a half episodes long. It's not the worst thing in the world, but definitely slows down right at the end when its not necessary. As with every season of Sword Art Online however, you have that one scene that is absolutely abhorrent and needs to be discussed, the obligatory SAO rape scene. Every time the one scene of the season comes up, its disappointing, gross, and unforgivable. While not being as bad as the first season's, it is still quite long and uncomfortable. And while this is the only time a rape scene is used to try to villainize and further the development of the story and characters in a realistic manner, the fact that it needed to be a rape scene is still bad within itself. A huge reason behind this is, SPOILERS AHEAD, the fact that we see two people break free from their restraints. Firstly is this one, which honestly was a great way to show just how difficult it is to break free, however the second one is simply remembering something and then just brute forcing it. Every single time someone breaks free in the future its from this very mentality, just simply tank it. It means that the rape scene kind of feels a bit disingenuous and not necessary. And that is the point that really matters, it isn't necessary, many other ways could have been used to get your point across that didn't involve this. Another thing that added insult to injury is the fact that the victims of the act don't grow or decay at all. It's used as a plot point but doesn't affect the victims whatsoever. With that though, that's about where most of my complaints end. And I do believe that Alicization is still a great watch with what it accomplishes with its characters and story. It's engaging, you care for the stakes and consequences, and you never feel like Kirito has an advantage whatsoever in any of the fights.