[Akito Kinomoto]

I commented on this thread already. But for as many times as I've rewatched Sword Art Online, this anime has never fallen below a grade of C (numerical ratings are skewed and letter grades have useful ubiquitous meaning). Reki Kawahara wants to make science fantasy regardless of whether he knows how unfit a science fiction setting is for what he wants to do

Characters are a different story. At times, what he pens in for them are things he thinks the audience will like. Those one-and-done female characters in Aincrad who fall in love with Kirito in a short time frame. It plays into the harem aspect. Or a particular scene where Kirito just wants to spend the night with Asuna, and Asuna thinks he wants to sleep with her, and comedic cringe ensues. At other times, Kawahara is telling the story he wants to tell and the difference in passion is usually clear. Genuinely hot moments between Kirito and Asuna that play on intimacy and not gratuity, moments of calm with the locals where they're completely at peace. Perhaps the development leading to this romance isn't his strong point. The care he puts into the romance itself, is

Kirito has hax moments. Hacking the terminal to preserve Yui when this capability lacks set-up. Willing himself against death in the 2nd fight with Heathcliff. Being bailed out against Sugou by Kayaba. That's not the same as being overpowered, nor is he actually overpowered

It's important to examine his boss fights
1--Illfang the Kobold Lord: the raid itself was doing most of the work. Kirito and Asuna stepped in when its HP was low, and Kirito simply finished it off
2--Nicholas the Renegade: Kirito is implied to have solo'd the boss. A Floor 35 event boss. Kirito had long passed this floor
3--The Gleam Eyes: the only boss Kirito solos. Even then, he needed Klein and Asuna to buy him time. This is the only "at parity" fight we see him carrying everyone else
4--The Fatal Scythe: Yui had to bail out him and Asuna
5--The Skull Reaper: Kirito did not solo this fight. Everyone was putting in work
6--Guardian Knights: Kirito did not solo this fight either. It's likely he was carrying the battle more than he was vs The Skull Reaper, though

his other fights to examine
1--X'rphan the White Wyrm: he didn't kill this thing. He picked up its Rare Drop and then left
2--Titan's Hand: he didn't need to dodge their attacks. Games with outright leveling systems are unfair that way
3--Heathcliff: a little stronger than Heathcliff when both are at full strength. Kirito is in an exhausted state in their 2nd fight, and lost. Tied at best
4--Salamanders: Kirito's only egregious fight in SAO (or ALO in this case). The save import data would not suffice to explain his proficiency in illusion magic
5--Eugene: Kirito needed to borrow one more weapon to win this. On a side note, starting here and going forward into SAO II and Ordinal Scale, dual-wielding has turned into a power-up for Kirito, not his default state
6--King Oberon: Kayaba bailed him out of this

Kirito is strong but far from being able to do everything. His story arc in Aincrad is about avoiding other players to avoid the guilt of being unable to protect them. As time goes on, his mood gradually lightens as he learns to open up and trust in others as they come to trust in him. Any time he flaunts his power, it's a ruse. In any moment of honesty with people he's comfortable with, he makes it a point to stress he has no real power. He doesn't. He doubts and curses himself, but grows into the hero because he has to be, and it's that desperation that informs his compassion as he expresses his misgivings over killing even NPCs

Then the story reaches ALO. Kirito has a clear goal: save Asuna. Unfortunately, Kawahara is more focused on developing Leafa/Suguha's feelings for Kirito/Kazuto. Kawahara is sensible in how he approaches this, adequately reflecting the tug of war between Suguha's feelings as family and Leafa's feelings as a romantic interest. The scene where Kirito and Leafa learn who's behind the other character is visceral. The culmination of Suguha's jealousy, longing, resignation, happiness, hesitation, frustration, and honesty all coming through. The way the scene is shot being so untheatrical

Meanwhile, Asuna in ALO has become a damsel in distress. This in itself wouldn't be a problem had the framing around her circumstances changed. The way it's presented, Sugou treats Asuna as his main goal while his plan to change people's memories through VR technology and experiments on the last SAO players who had not been logged out, becomes a secondary goal. The importance of these motivations need to be flipped and Asuna's importance to Sugou greatly reduced; Asuna becomes a "bonus" to accompany Sugou's bigger plans, Kirito is made to look smaller when his driving force is tertiary to the villain, and accompanying Sugou's bigger plans would be his obsession with surpassing Kayaba, and in turn creating the preamble for Kayaba to help Kirito at the end

Kawahara is confused on writing his villain and clear on wanting to tell this story for Suguha. Kirito gets lost in the shuffle. He helped Leafa with the Salamander problem because even in this moment of urgency, he is not someone who can let his friends die, death game or not. The compassion informed by his years in Aincrad won't let him do that with a clean conscious. When Kirito is "in-mode" for saving Asuna and then has his focus broken, all too often, by comparatively trivial nuisances, it is NOT a good look for him. It causes Asuna to oscillate into a secondary goal for Kirito. It calls into question how much he really cares for her. The sad part is, he clearly does. They're the most important people in each other's lives, which is why it's nauseating that Kawahara messed up Kirito this much

ALO is not flawed because Asuna is a damsel in distress. ALO is egregious because IT DIDN'T UNDERSTAND KIRITO. Kawahara. Didn't get. Kirito. HIS OWN CHARACTER. WHAT THE ACTUAL F--

I don't hate ALO as much as I used to. It's a compelling Suguha story trapped inside a confused Kirito story trapped inside whatever drugs Sugou is taking. Aincrad is a solid story arc though. What it wants to do shines through what it thinks audiences want, but ALO is being carried by Suguha if there ever was a secondary character to take that role