[@Dynamo Frokane] What are animes to begin with? They tell fantastical tales which captivate us, the audience, into sitting through them and watching with anticipation. Now what is good in a story to captivate us? Well that differs from person to person but for me, I find some of those key factors in SAO.

1. Death or Life - By adding this, suddenly everything becomes more intense. And this fact is used multiple times through the anime, shown by gruesome and tragical events. By far, these events leave the most heavy emotional impact on the viewer. Especially when it combines with a plot twist. One minute ago they are enjoying happy friendship and throwing jokes, the next they are ambushed and slaughtered. And the emotional impact this leaves is also shown by the characters themselves.

2. Love - I don't like this a lot but it is a strong theme in the anime. The things they do and limits they cross to save each other (Asuna - Kirito) trespasses even the fabric of reality(or virtual reality to be exact).

3. Fantasy World

4. Magic

5. MMO based

6. don't care for any others

7. I literally remember nothing from the second part, with the elves and tree hugging weed lovers and shit, expect the Asuna x tentacle part. Literally the only thing I rememeber.

8. [b]Don't watch this kid anime crap. Watch Hai to Gensou no Grimgar a.k.a Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better in every aspect while the main themes are the same but everything is conveyed waaaaaaaaaaaay more realistically.[/b]