[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Spoiler for Comparison to Accel World:

That's funny because no matter how much I tried, I just could never get into Accel World. Yes, you could say it's better written (SAO was the first thing this guy wrote, when he was still a kid, and it shows), but I could never feel for those characters. Everything in AW feels a lot more generic. It's more polished, but I feel there's less sincerity to it, if you will.

SAO, at least this first arc, is build on the relationship between Kirito and Asuna (let's put the SSs aside for now) and that is the one thing that comes across as genuine to me. Yes, it's cheesy and sappy as hell, but that's teenage romance for you. In fact, it's one of the more realistic portrayal of teenage romance I've seen in anime.

AW lacks that sort of hook for me. Just my two cents.

Spoiler for Comparison to Accel World:

I think the romance between Kirito and Asuna is the absolute best handled part about the story so far but I think it suffers from having a poorly fleshed out supporting cast that may as well not exist. I think it all comes down to whether you prefer a strong ensemble cast and more fleshed out game world or a more focused romance here. That seems to be the tradeoff and as someone who isnt as much a romance buff as a war game buff Accel World obviously appealed more to me.