- Who would have thought that the best way to fix the Sword Art Online franchise was to get rid of the entire cast, keep just the world, and instead fill it with entirely new characters, I didn’t, and I didn’t think they would actually do it, but they did it with this show, and it actually really paid off imo. This show was a lot of fun to watch and was easily the best installment in the entire Sword Art Online franchise thus far, and except for the random moments where HER GUN HAD A VOICE AND TALKS I liked every minute of this show. - I don’t know why I like this show so much more than the other installments, maybe it’s just my general disdain towards Kirito and his harem of friends or maybe………… Actually no that’s exactly what it is and the fact that he is not in this makes it all the more worth wild to watch. Of course, there is more to it than that, but that was probably a big part of it, since you really do not have to constantly roll your eyes at the annoying harem shenanigans there are just shelved into the original two seasons of Sword Art Online. Really this show was just a fun happy good time that took the best parts of the franchise (the world and the game) and added stuff that was equally as fun to watch and learn about. I know, who would have thought by just getting rid of all of the boring stuff this franchise is known for, would make this show infinitely better, (He said extremely sarcastically). - No but seriously, there are genuinely interesting parts of this series that have nothing to with the original Sword Art Online. For one the characters in this series or actually funny, and not like that fake funny you see sometimes in comedy shows where they just continuously say the same joke, no here the dynamic and subsequent banter between two of our main characters (Karen and Goushi) is always amusing to watch. Additionally, the animation during the fight scenes is significantly better than what you might expect from a series that you might assume is a “cash grab spinoff”. This leads into the second part about the fight scene that I really appreciate, and that is our main character Karen if not the strongest fighter in this game. Yes, near the end she is definitely within the top players, but she is by no means the strongest in head to head combat, nor the most experienced player we meet in this world, and because of this she has to use clever tactics or her superior speed to get the edge on more experienced players. And honestly, the animation as a whole is a lot better than what I was expecting going into this, since like many of you I expected this just to be a “cash grab spinoff”, but I was pleasantly surprise with how colorful this series really turned out to be. - There are other elements like the music in the series, which really just builds off of the foundation that was already laid down during season 2 of Sword Art Online, with any additions to the in game soundtrack feeling similar enough to the originals to feel at home in this setting, while also still adding a nice layer of tension to the atmosphere that you would expect from a PvP FPS. This actually touches on another really interesting aspect about this series, which is the fact that this is a spinoff dedicated entirely to people who enjoy one of the games shown down SAO, and this premise alone I feel is pretty interesting. Because not only do we get more time in a game that I honestly felt was the most interesting out of all the games shown so far in SAO, but because of this extra time we really get to see all the different layers to the game that we really did not get a chance to experience during SAO, mostly because all of those elements got sidelined by the main plot, however hear those elements are integrated very nicely with the main story. - In the end, I am going to give this show an 85/100 because I really did enjoy this show quite a bit and I might actually bring it up to a 9 later to be completely honest, because except for the random gun talking bits I thought this was a fun/happy show to watch, and really that was all it was trying to be. So my recommendation is if you really like the Sword Art Online franchise maybe don’t watch this, because this story wise has nothing to do with the original, except coincidentally being in the same world, so you might disappointed if you go into this with those type expectations. But if you are a person who liked the initial premise that Sword Art Online showed before they fucked it all up, and you want to see them go back to that initial interesting idea and do it better, than you should check this show out😉