Real talk. If it's so bad why is it so popular? It must

>>162142994
Interesting premise

'Real life MMO' + self-insert gary stu.

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>>162142994
Had a nice premise/has some unironically tolerable moments

Hype trains ruin everything. Still bad though

>>162142994
Look for "SAO art of mass appeal" on youtube, first result.

>>162143079
every anime has mass appeal

at least we know its good enough for /a/ to have wasted years debating why its shit

>>162142994
Babby's first isekai, plus kids always like proactive protagonists.
On top of that a clear and straight romance story in a time where harems and indecisives faggots ruled supreme.
Finally the first half is actually good all things considered.

>>162142994
Guilty pleasure

>>162143252
I'm not sure what you have against EVA but cut it out

>>162143104
No it doesn't
Vatican Miracle Examiner is proof of this

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>>162143680
>Mass appeal

>>162142994
Cute girls and Yuki Kajiura

>>162142994
It's good, but it's popular so people started shitting on it to sound cultured and superior
Now that calling it shit is the popular thing, people started calling it good

There often isn't that much correlation between quality and popularity, often times it's the exact contrary thanks to needing to appeal to as many people as possible, meaning it should be as broad, bland and inoffensive as possible for it to be digestable by your average person, though there could be exceptions.

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It became popular simply because it was very heavily advertised, even in the west.

I remember a few weeks before it aired, I was watching a certain esports event and suddenly the host started talking about "this new upcoming totally awesome anime that's about getting trapped in a video game". Such advertisement never happened before or after. And there were just online ads for it everywhere.

Normalfags watch what is presented to them, it's as simple as that.

>>162142994
It appeals to gamers even if it gets all the gaming parts fucking wrong.

>>162142994
>If it's so bad why is it so popular
the same as every other genre or entertainment medium

>>162145249
Wasn't aware gamers was a sub-culture.

>>162145260
solid production values and a unique take on something to be copied ad nauseum by people trying to recreate its success?

>>162145274
>unique
>>>/s4s/

>>162142994

Lowest common denominator. Happens in all mediums.

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I want to fuck sugu in her butt

>>162143252
This, unfortunately. Kirito was one of the first alpha protags after 17 years of beta Shinjis.

>>162145289
Star Wars
Indiana Jones
Jurassic Park
EVA
Naruto
see a pattern here? you should

>>162145321
>1 good series in the entire list

>>162145350
>moving goal posts just so he can deliver his boring opinion no one asked for

>>162143252
>On top of that a clear and straight romance story in a time where harems and indecisive faggots ruled supreme.

Spot on. Why are MC's generally such betas? Generally easier for viewer to self insert?

>>162143252
>On top of that a clear and straight romance story in a time where harems and indecisives faggots ruled supreme.
It's Twilight tier romance though so it's not really a plus.

>>162142994
Isn't it obvious why it's popular?

It was made on the right medium on the right time, right as online gaming was having it's boom in the nerdiest medium you can have.

And with >>162145218 said, it came with enough force to set a trend, catering to the kind of person that stays at home watching video games and would love to escape reality by entering a video game themselves and becoming heroes like Kirito.

It was bound to be immensely popular.

>>162145361
>goal posts
>using buzzwords wrong

Clear cliche features that your average newfag will find interesting.
That's why most seasoned anime watchers don't give a fuck about SAO

>>162143252
>using isekai to describe SAO
How to spot the newfag.

>>162142994
It's loved by a lot of young viewers, the designs are cute, the romance was supposed to be cute, Kirito was a dual wielding swordsman, etc. The mass appeal comes from a combination of things.

>>162142994
It was one of the first "stuck in a game" titles, so it took advantage of the untapped market.

It had a good first 13-14 eps. If the show went Alfheim -> GGO(with the flashbacks going to Alfheim instead, let's just say.) then nobody in the west would give a shit. On that same token if it went Aincrad --> Alfheim Thor Filler ---> Mother's Rosario we would have a 24/7 DBS-style General.

>>162146072
>>>162145361

>>162146597
>using harem to describe EVA
How to spot a genius

>>162145321
I sure hope you aren't calling Naruto unique, when its structure is generic weekly battle shounen and its flavoring is generic ninja folklore / Yamada Futaro novels.

>>162148424
I'm calling you underage.

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Sao is top tier wish fulfilment. I pop a power boner everytime I see it

>>162145508
>It's Twilight tier romance though so it's not really a plus
The state of anime romances today are even trashier.

dual wielding done right

on serious note, it have good both male and female self insert

>>162143252
SAO isn't Isekai tho. Alicization is the closest thing to it but still not isekai.

Superb soundtrack. Pretty much everything becomes good if you put some epic, dranatic music on it.

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Just look at it.

>>162145508
Let me guess, you're one of those people who think getting a crush on someone requires deep intellectual reasons?

>>162151998
Did you tip your fedore while typing that?

>>162151051
>Self insert
What are you a faggot?

>>162151998
It means caring about someone beyond thinking they're cute or have a good reputation and being popular. Liking someone's looks is only a superficial reason.

>>162152550
You don't know how that meme works.
>>162153580
>looks only
That's not what happens in SAO though.

>>162156061
It's not a matter of becoming a couple that's the problem, it's more of an issue in problems each character has or lack thereof in Kirito's case.

>>162156484
>It's not a matter of becoming a couple that's the problem
Then why are you arguing about it?

>>162156061
What happens in SAO is these two kiddies get married in game and live in a house made of wood while everyone else is dying or died. As if things couldnt get worse they play adopt a kid and in the end none of it really matters anyway because the show is already steering away from its original point.

>>162156589
I'm saying the relationship is idealistic and the problem comes from the way these characters are written in the story more so on Kirito's part.

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>interesting premise
>good character design
>good(ish) animation
>great soundtrack

It's not even that bad story-wise. Season 2 sort of moved away from Kirito being the MC, which made the new characters more interesting. Most of the hate comes from Digibro fags anyway, and they're just completely insufferable in how they just parrot his opinions, without even grasping anything he says.

>>162156795
No Alfheim completely destroyed this show and this is coming from someone that wanted to like it.

>>162156911
Yeah, Alfheim was awful, and I'd honestly recommend skipping it for newcomers. But S2 easily redeems the show.

>>162156664
>What happens in SAO is these two kiddies get married in game and live in a house made of wood while everyone else is dying or died.
One of the main themes of the Aincrad arc is that even though they were trapped in a death game people could still make their life worth living, and they didn't need to focus on escaping at every single moment. This was spelled out very clearly.
The "daughter" thing is just dumb though.

>>162145445
Easier to write, too. Pushing "will they/won't they" is easy drama on its own but making a beta MC means you don't have to come up with an excuse for why he doesn't actually get the girl by the third time they almost kiss or whatever. Doubly so for harems since he can get into shenanigans with a ton of women without making him commit.

>>162142994
SAO is basically NGE stripped of the 2deep4U.

>>162142994
Interesting premise, great marketing.

>>162142994
Something that's popular isnt always good.

>>162142994
Unironically enjoy the first half of the first season

>>162156061
Yeah, it's a literal rescue romance. Such a big improvement.

The romance should've been the warning to get out while you still can.

>>162142994
It was fairly fun in a summer popcorn movie sort of way which is unforgivable on /a/.