Some random notes about Sword Art Online:
I've been watching the anime since it debuted a season and a half ago. It's one of the most beautifully animated shows I've seen in a while, and the near-future science fiction story appeals to me. The main story of the Aincrad arc is also a really good one.
That being said, there's a _lot_ of filler in the first season of SAO, filler that wasn't in the first book, filler that turns SAO into a harem franchise. I honestly think the experience of the show is improved by watching episodes 1-3, and then 8-14. That isn't to say that those episodes are bad - but by having 4 or 5 filler episodes in a row, rather than spread out, it kind of kills the momentum. Watch the Aincrad arc first, and then go back and watch those once you're committed to the franchise.
Episode 3 is technically filler, but it's a brilliant episode, and the one I use to get people into the series.
A lot of people didn't like the ending of Episode 14. I didn't mind it - but for it to make sense, you have to either watch SAO very closely, or watch Accel World, which is by the same author and set at a later date in the same universe. Or one can read the book.
The idea of the last thing you see before dying - for at least ten seconds - is a computer game saying "You are Dead" is quite horrific, if you think about it.
I've read all of the novels that have been translated into English, well into the Alicization arc. (I read all novels that were available during a single long train ride.) One interesting thing about the SAO franchise is the way it progressively lowers the stakes:
In Aincrad, ten thousand people have their lives at constant risk.
In Fairy Dance, several hundred people are imprisoned, and one is at the risk of being raped.
In Phantom Bullet, a small number of people have their lives at risk.
In Mother's Rosario, there's basically no risk - the characters that die are terminally ill, and so it's more about how they live the last moments of their lives.
My favorite arc is Mother's Rosario, which is a brilliant take on how people can come together in virtual worlds. I'm not an MMO player, but this novel speaks to some of the potential of the form. (Potential that requires non-instanced servers, and which might have been achieved in Eve Online recently.)
The Alicization arc is long and has yet to get to the point where it makes sense. It also goes a bit beyond the near-future science fiction, which kind of hurts it. But I reserve judgement until it finishes a few years from now.
SAO is what I call my "pacing series" for this season and last season - if all the series I'm watching are made available at the same time, I'd watch SAO first. It may not be my favorite series of the seasons though - even though it's incredibly inconsistent, when it's at its best*, Space Brothers is really good.
* Pretty much whenever the scene moves to the US. Or to space.
