[c933103]

Originally Posted by potchip

This show is pretty bad. Like it has its moments but are easily eclipsed by the amount of time I spent retrieving my eyeballs that were rolled into my temple...

Maybe its popularity can be explained by 2 factors:

Many other works have these factors included to a greater extent but still not that popular

1. A wishfulfilling main character who behaves like any uncertain teenager and devoid of any personality.

while the series protagonist is commonly treated by audience in this way, one should be able to find more in it if you pay a close attention into it.

He respond blankly to any romantic interactions.

First it does not connect with first part of the sentence. And don't you see his marriage?

2. A mostly generic world allowing viewers with MMORPG to insert their own past experience and feelings

So do you mean every TV drama and movie with realistic background setting are also bad?

If you compare this show to other anime that does the 'lost in a fantasy world' well, the contrast in execution cannot be more stark (eg 12 kingdoms)

SAO really isn't intended to be fantasy even the setting is a bit fantastic.

Another thing I noticed is the LN brigade. I can accept the anime botched the job but I cannot see anything great from the ground covered. All the extra explanations serves merely as patches to shoddy writing to begin with.

ok, so bible is the story of a world being created and then destroyed and anything other than that are just extra.

The potential is there but interesting facets that I wished this show would've tackled include:

Sorry that i'd brutally say try to write it and compare to SAO then you'd probably realize to what degree SAI had done these.

- how real people behave in this situation. The show's portrayal of human behaviour facing life and death can only be explained by the retardednesss of players

aren't human usually act retardedly?

- how people deal with the difference of VR - ie an simplification of the real world. I found Asuna's comment on cooking is a skill and so much simpler in game very fascinating and the same can be applied to just about every aspect of the world with some imagination

there are more comment on that even just in the anime.

- the game mechanics (again limitations) and how players exploit these

age limitation aren't really game mechanics but just some printing on game's box. And, deeper into the series, more of this aspect will be discussed l, the first season plus the yet to be released second season anime are merely just the whole series's introduction.

- there appears to be a differing degree of freedom when it comes optional 'enjoyments' etc, if only the show could've tackled how different people may deal with these functions in game such as eating/drinking - if it is not necessary, some may not do it at all, and eventually it becomes a habit

Aren't really.