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Originally Posted by tomtkp
I admit that I may be wrong about commenting that the "romance" element is "at best average" but what I really meant was just as Fallen3dge said, the romance is not Kawahara's strong or main point in the series. Yes, the romance between Kirito and Asuna was very good in volume 1 (that's why I like Kirito x Asuna pair) but that's it. In other volumes, it seems that Kawahara put much effort on plot and action scenes than romance, hence I wrote that the romance in SAO series is average. I was commenting on the overall basis but if you ask me how was the romantic fare in Volume 1? I would say "very good".
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Ah, fair enough. I'm in no position to debate over whether or not romance is one of the strong points of this series, as I still have to read volume 2 and the proceeding volumes. I did get the impression that Kirito and Asuna's love for each other served important purposes in some arcs, though.
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I do not watch many romance animes, so I could not say which is the best but the romance in Steins;Gate (Okabe x Kurisu) and Ano Natsu de Matteru was really good.
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Ah, yes. I quite liked the romance in those two shows.
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Originally Posted by Fallen3dge
I think SAO's "way" with romance is fixed on asuna with girls liking kirito but like little to no reciprocation of their feelings. 'Ultimate way' is *I pray* only a doujin and non-canon
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Yep, that seems about right. Kirito seems like the type of person who is very charismatic, but just doesn’t realize it; and as a consequence, he ends up flirting with girls without knowing it.
However, a harem is not 'romance' in any sense of the word. My definition of romance (and also one of the most common definitions) is the love between two people. But yes, the author himself said that that SS was non-canon on Twitter.