History YMMV / SwordArtOnline

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: SAO is getting an anime!!
** And to make it even better, YukiKajiura is composing the score!

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The OP theme ''[[http://vimeo.com/46245791 crossing field]]'' and the ED ''[[http://vimeo.com/45773251 Yume Sekai]]''. The soundtrack in general is also well done, but that was to be expected of YukiKajiura.

** Also, the GM informed the authorities, and gave a 2-hour grace period for the players to be moved to hospitals and attached to IVs.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The OP theme ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ign1afZ5vgU crossing field]]'' and the ED ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oXiCYnJPdA Yume Sekai]]''. The soundtrack in general is also well done, but that was to be expected of YukiKajiura.

** Also, the GM informed the authorities, and gave a 2-hour graceeriod for the players to be moved to hospitals and attached to IVs.

** Red-Nosed Reindeer, one of the sidestories. [[spoiler: After Kirito joins the Black Cats of the Full Moon, they all get annihilated, including Sachi, a girl who reminds him of his sister, and someone he swore to protect. He goes through plenty of shit to find an ultra rate item that's supposed to resurrect dead players, and eventually gets it with the help of Cline and Furinkazan.... and learns it only works ten seconds after death. By that point, Sachi has been dead for ''six months.'']]

** Pina's death is heartbreaking, especially to pet pwners.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Most people starting Sword Art Online will think the series was inspired by the .hack series when in reality both series started around the same time in 2002. Sword Art Online was originally meant as an entry for the Dengeki Novel Prize contest but Reki Kawahara didn't submit it because it exceeded the page limit so he published it as a webnovel under the pseudonym Fumio Kunori. It was only after the popularity of his second novel series Accel World that his publishers convinced him to release Sword Art Online as an light novel in 2009.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Many fans mistakenly believe that SAO is ripping off [[DotHack .hack]], when in truth both franchises started at roughly the same time. .hack just got an anime adaptation first.

*** Guess what story is the basis of episode 3 of the anime?

* CoitusEnsues: [[spoiler:It is implied Kirito and Asuna cyber it up after a [[YouDontWantToDieAVirginDoYou near-death]] experience in SAO (with some misunderstandings along the way). This is chapter "16.5" of the original light novel, and can be found at both the author's website and the Baka Tsuki translation project. It's a lemon, but it's not terrible; you can skip it without missing too much.]]

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: ''Crossing Field'', the OP theme. The soundtrack in general is also well done, but that was to be expected of YukiKajiura.

** Red-Nosed Reindeer, one of the sidestories. [[spoiler: After Kirito joins the Black Cats of the Full Moon, they all get annihilated, including Sachi, a girl who reminds him of his sister, and someone he swore to protect. He goes through plenty of shit to find an ultra rate item that's supposed to resurrect dead players, and eventually gets it with the help of Cline and Furinkazan.... and learns it only works ten seconds after death. By that point, Sachi has been dead for ''six months.'']]

* CoitusEnsues: It is implied Kirito and Asuna cyber it up after a [[YouDontWantToDieAVirginDoYou near-death]] experience in SAO (with some misunderstandings along the way). "Details" can be found on the author's website.
** Amusingly, Kirito only thought they shouldn't be apart in case of another assassination attempt, but Asuna thought he meant something else.
-->'''Asuna''': "We've already come this far, it's stupid to stop now!"

** Also the Laughing Coffin guild in general seems to have been under this distinction. In a game where dying leads to a real death, these guys not only actively hunted down and killed players, they actually experimented in new ways to do so. For no reason other than for [[ForTheEvulz lulz]].

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Kirito ''isn't'' as ObliviousToLove as he appears; note that he figured out that Lizbeth had feelings for him. In the case of Asuna, he ''does'' have feelings for her, and he recognises the signals she's sending out, but he's still getting over the trauma of Sachi's death.

** Amusingly, Kirito only thought they shouldn't be apart in case of another assasination attempt, but Asuna thought he meant something else.

* TearJerker: Volume Seven. All of it, both good ([[spoiler: Asuna's reconciliation with her mother, Kirito's BigDamnHeroes YouShallNotPass, every damn heartwarming moment between Asuna and Yuuki]])and heartbreaking.
** Red-Nosed Reindeer, one of the sidestories. [[spoiler: After Kirito joins the Black Cats of the Full Moon, they all get annihalated, including Sacchi, a girl who reminds him of his sister, and someone he swore to protect. He goes through plenty of shit to find an ultra rate item that's supposed to resurrect dead players, and eventually gets it with the help of Cline and Furinkazan.... and learns it only works ten seconds after death. By that point, Sacchi has been dead for ''six months.'']]

* TearJerker: Volume Seven. All of it, both good ([[spoiler: Asuna's reconciliation with her mother, Kirito's BigDamnHeroes YouShallNotPass, every damn heartwarming moment between Asuna and Yuuki]])and heartbreaking.

** This is actually explicitly stated to happen in the light novels. And written in. Amusingly, Kirito only thought they shouldn't be apart in case of another assasination attempt, but Asuna thought he meant something else.

* TearJerker: Volume Seven. All of it, both good ([[spoiler: Asuna's reconciliation with her mother]])and bad.

* TearJerker: Volume Seven. All of it.

** Even worse, [[spoiler: Heathcliff]] a.k.a [[spoiler: Kayaba Akihiko. A genius programmer who traps 10,000 innocent people inside a game for '''TWO YEARS''', over which time 4000 of these people died, just to satisfy his game master fantasies. Even worse, he positions himself as the leader of the strongest guild in the game, earning the trust and admiration of many of the people he trapped, with the full intention of betraying them once they neared the end of the game. Kirito even thinks that the guy is a monster during their fight, after seeing how he felt nothing in spite of being responsible for thousands of deaths.]]

* CoitusEnsues -- It is implied Kirito and Asuna cyber it up after a [[YouDontWantToDieAVirginDoYou near-death]] experience in SAO (with some misunderstandings along the way). "Details" can be found on the author's website.
* TearJerker -- Volume Seven. All of it.

* CoitusEnsues -- It is implied Kirito and Asuna cyber it up after a [[YouDontWantToDieAVirginDoYou near-death]] experience in SAO (with some misunderstandings along the way). "Details" can be found on the author's website.

* CoitusEnsues -- It is implied Kirito and Asuna cyber it up after a [[YouDontWantToDieAVirginDoYou near-death]] experience in SAO (with some misunderstandings along the way). "Details" can be found on the author's website too, apparently.