Narwhal (narwhal)'s status on Saturday, 15-Aug-15 06:14:14 UTC
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@polarbear Probably because "bad" and "good" are just loose media terms reflective of individualistic taste more than anything else. But the actual answer to your question is that SAO is an unabashed power fantasy that deliberately empowers the viewer with its protagonist and plays into their lecherousness with voyeuristic shots peppered throughout. It has high budget action sequences with fairly widespread audience appeal and uses setpieces that revolve around a relatable but also marketable gaming medium though without taking a critical view of that medium in its writing (essentially further playing into the power fantasy I was speaking of earlier, No Game No Life is sort of successful for this same reason). The bottom line it has an audience and gives them what they want, no questions asked. Do I like SAO? No, not at all, it's definitely not my thing. But I understand its appeal and why its so popular and successful.
