Mango

This is a debut. This is the first mobile app to be "reviewed" here, at POPinions. Mango is relevant to me and somehow makes its way to this blog because it allows me to read my favorite manga.

Mango is a multiplatform app, available to Android and Blackberry devices. It is not available at the Play Store and the only way to get it's to download it at it's developers site (http://mango.leetsoft.net/). Believing in the developers the app is used by over 15000 users every day, and I'm one of them. I really do not like to read mangas or books in the computer so I prefer to use an app in my tablet. After trying many apps, Mango was the chosen one.

THE (+) THINGS:

•  It has 9 different sources to read from.
• It has hundreds of manga available.
• Clean look and simple to use.
• Pre-loads the next pages to avoid loading times when you change a page.
• Favorites system that saves your progress and allows you to continue where you stopped.
• Option to create a library and to easily download chapters to read offline.
• It's free.

 

THE (-) THINGS:

• Slow animations in the page transitions, I had to turn them off.
• When online, there are ads at the beggining of each chapter.
• As far as I know, it's impossible to read anything besides what it's available online by the app.

Using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7' I can read without any problem but I wouldn't mind to have a bigger screen with a better resolution. Anything smaller than 7' makes almost impossible to use this app.

For me, Mango is the best app to read manga in an Android device. I give it 4/5.

Sonic R

Sonic R was originally released in 1997 for the infamous Sega Saturn that almost killed Sega. Eventually Dreamcast was the last nail in the coffin for SEGA consoles but that is a subject to be talked later, maybe in a post of its own. It was also released for PC, Playstation 2 and the Nintendo Game Cube.

When we think of Sonic we think of speed. When we think of speed we think of races. So, in the paper, this game was like peanut butter and jelly. Problem is...it didn't went that well. Which is funny because I don't really like peanut butter with jelly that much.

The game, incrediby, has a story. The game focuses on the characters effort to win a series of races to prevent Dr. Robotnik from getting the Chaos Emeralds and enslaving the world. I discovered that today as I was researching for this review. I now know why Dr. Robotnik is an unlockable character.

 In a way this game was the predecessor to Sonic & All-Stars Racing which is a really good game (I really did not liked Sonic Riders). This 3D experience had its flaws but it showed that a Sonic racing game in 3D could be something really good.

Graphics - 2/5 

Sonic R aged horribly. Still, it's Sonic. The main problem are the Saturn famous polygons which are light-years away from the rival Playstation. This is a powerful 2D machine that just happened to manage to render 3D too.

Gameplay - 3/5

Incredibly has an intersting mechanic to it because you have boosts that cost coins, many routes and bonus to get during the race. Easy to learn but you have to prepare every lap very well in order to make the best time possible. It's not an easy game unless you're used to race games or a lot of practice in Sonic R. It has clunky controls that seem to don't do exactly what you want, they should have done better in a Sonic game. It's a very fun game to play despite its problems.

Sound - 3/5

Typical techno\soul mix from the 90's, it's not something you would say you like but still it sticks in your head. You get so used to the music that you eventually will like it.

Longevity - 2/5 

It has 4 tracks when you begin. You can unlock 1 track when you win races in all the other 4 tracks. You have 4 characters when you begin, You can unlock 1 character by beating the 5 tracks which you can easily do in about 30 minutes. There are 4 more characters to unlock by collecting 5 special coins, beating the race and then beating the new character in each of the first 4 tracks. And 1 last character to unlock by colleting the 7 Chaos Emeralds in the first 4 tracks in which you have to win the race, its Super Sonic so its worth it. The game higly benefits in lenght by the Vs mode, tag mode and balloon catching mode.

 
This is it. This is Sonic R. There is not much more to tell about it. It is incredibly small, flawed but fun to  play. I've spent several hours just trying to beat my own records (I remember to have a near perfect time lap time in the first track, just under the 17 seconds). Sonic R gets 10/20.

South Park - The "Black Friday" Arc

Today is a review/resume of the most recent "arc" in the series South Park. The Black Friday Arc. 

I call it an arc because it is 3 episodes following the same plot. For those familiar with the show, very rarely the story continues to another episode. The first time it happened was in the first season finale "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut" continuing to "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty slut" leaving the cliffhanger on who was Eric Cartman's dad from one to another. One of the best episodes are in Season 11 when we have the "Imaginationland" arc with 3 episodes, Imaginationland 1, 2 and 3. For those who watched these episodes, you probably never thought that any other episode, or string of episodes, would beat it. Until now.

Season 17 episode 7 "Black Friday". This episode starts the arc, Black Friday is coming (pun not intended) and the children conclude that they must join forces to buy 80% off next gen consoles. But they must face a dire choice: PS4 or Xbox One? That would determine who would be playing with who, and if they could lend games to each other. During a make believe in the genre of Game of Thrones they turn into two factions, one for each console. Then like the show that is the web of conspiracy and betrayal ensues. Butters is a newcomer to the show and he is always perturbed about the number of penises in the show. Cartman is most of the time seen in a garden talking about betrayals with another character, while an old man always shout to stop talking abut betrayal in his garden. This becomes one of the most funny running gags in the arc.

In meanwhile Randy is doing a part-time job at the mall security, using the excuse for some holiday cash, but his plan is to be inside the mall before the doors open to gain some advantage. As the time to open doors becomes near, the leader of the security is killed by a custommer revolted about lining for Black Friday, and so Randy becomes the captain of the mall security, and decides to stand guard for his pride, instead for a big ass flat TV.

Every book of A Song of Ice and Fire

The news of a console war in colorado reach the Sony CEO, who makes a special bundle for selling the PS4, the "Brack Friday Bunduru", which includes four game controllers, a map of Japan, a $100 rebate, and the ability to pre-order Metal Gear Solid V. The episode ends with Princess McCormick, Kenny plays a princess in the make believe world, who was in the Xbox One faction turning to the PS4 one, catching the viewers off guard with the cliffhanger, in a Game-of-Thrones-esque way.

Then follows the "A Song of Ass and Fire" episode, more and more customers make line at the mall, as Randy stands as Captain of Security. Cartman refuses to accept Kenny as a princess and enters contact with Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer, who refuses to take part in the console wars, and wishes a more peacefull way to sell the consoles. This plan quickly falls into ground as Bill Gates murders him and takes control of operations. He allies with Channel 9, as a bloody black friday would make great views for the channel. One of the reporters betrays Bill Gates and informs the Sony CEO of the plan, so it would make even more blood, and a more great piece of news. The Sony CEO then goes to Kenny, and give him a brooch, making him a Japanese Princess.

 No one saw that coming. 

In the meanwhile Cartman sends Butters to George R.R. Martin house to know future plots, as a way to defeat Kenny. Eventually they met, but Martin only talks about penises. Black Friday is also delayed one week, and has 96% off for the first 100 customers, makin the crowd outside the mall grow even more.

I recall more boobs, must be selective memory.

The final episode is called "Tities and Dragons" and is the conclusion of the arc. Cartman bow to Kenny, as he can't win the wars. He comes with the plan to rent the adjacent Red Robin for a wedding, as it is linked to the mall. This is just a plan to betray the Ps4 faction and lock them inside the Red Robin. Stan comes to know of Cartman's plan while in a walk with Cartman on the old man's garden, and the old man shouts Cartman's plot as revenge. Cartman gets Stan grounded so he can't attend the wedding. Kyle talks to Stan, and Stan breaks they're friendship. Eventually Kyle tells everyone of the PS4 faction and the betrayal is stopped. Then Bill Gates and Sony's CEO appear and get into a fist fight, with Gates winning, and as such, he wins the console wars.

During the wedding, the opening cereminy of the mall is made by George R.R. Martin who starts to talk about his penis, eventually showing it, instead of opening the doors. This makes a custommer slice his pennis off. The raging mob enters the mall as Randy's forces try to protect the mall.

Maybe it would make him write faster

At the aftermath, there's a sea of blood in the mall, as the kids go and get their Xboxes. In the end the kids can't forget about the image of Sony's CEO head being bashed into a wall and think "why do we need videogames? We can use our imagination" as he grabs a stick, an ad for the upcoming game South Park: The Stick of Truth appears, ending the story.

These are probably my favourite episodes of South Park, as I read all the A Song of Ice and Fire Books, and watched the 2 first seasons of the show. The betraying, Kenny as Daenerys like character, the alliances, the Security Mall as the Night's Watch, The Red Robin Wedding...there's so much references and puns about that universe that is hard not to like it if you know George Martin's series. In my opinion even if you don't watch South Park, but you are a fan of Game of Thrones, you should watch it. Like now, or now. Now is probably best.

Art - 4/5 - The usual art of South Park, but during the third episode  it's also used shoujo manga like art, wich made me laugh hard.

Soundtrack 5/5 - It is used music like Game of Thrones during the arc, japanese mahou-shojo like themes, and of course the weiner version of Game of Thrones opening sequence.

Excitement - 4/5 - The episodes are good. Between the second and third it took 2 weeks and it seemed like years, as the expectation was high.

Plot 5/5 - I don't know how but South Park never disapoints in plot, and joining Game of Throne's web of betrayal and deceit, made it even better.

Black Friday Arc gets a 18/20 bunduru.

Metal Gear Solid

Up until last week I had never played Metal Gear Solid, and now I deeply regret I haven't done it earlier.

Launched in the distant year of 1998 this action-adventure stealh game developed by Hideo Kojima and distributed by Konami has gained the status of a groundbreaking title. Metal Gear Solid was very well received by the critic, and is recognized by many as one of the best and most important games of all time. Selling more than 6 million copies, Metal Gear Solid made the stealth genre popular which led to sequels, prequels, spin-offs, remakes, radio drama, comics and novels.

Truth be told, Metal Gear Solid is actually a sequel to the MSX2 games titled Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. The MSX2 was a Japanese Home Computer known for its limitations, for instance the impossibility to have more than 4 enemies at the same time in a screen. Kojima was a newbie and didn't really know much about programing, after all he took economics course in college, but he had the dream and desire to make games that looked like movies, and when Konami ordered Kojima to make an action game for the MSX2T Kojima's creativity led to Metal Gear. He surpassed the limitations of the MSX2 and came up with the idea to make a game focused on the goal of not being seen rather than confronting hordes of enemies like most games at the time

Solid Snake sneaking upon an enemy inside a cardbox. An iconic prop in the Metal Gear series.

Metal Gear was released in the western market as a port for the NES system, without any envolvement by Kojima. The game has some differences over the original game, one of them critical...the robot that is the reason for the game (Metal Gear, a kind of mobile tank aka a Mecha) does not appear in the NES version which is simply ridiculous. Nonetheless Metal Gear was a success in the US which led to a sequel (Snake's Revenge) for the NES which, once again, wasn't developed by Kojima. He himself did not knew that a sequel was being made and was during a train trip with one of the delevopers of that game, who had previously worked with Kojima, that he discovered that. His former co-worker asked Kojima to develop a real sequel and that's what he did, by the next day Kojima had the idea of the game almost complete. Snake's Revenge was a success and was never released in Japan, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was only released in Japan and was considered even better than his predecessor, but due to only being released in the MSX2 led to a low number of units sold.

Solid Snake running away from Metal Gear Rex.

Up until today Kojima despises the NES versions and considers them to be garbage due to have significant diferences over his original vision of the game. Snake's Revenge is considered to be non-canon on the series.

So what is Metal Gear Solid about? The game follows Solid Snake, a soldier and main protagonist of the previous games, who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility in an island on Alaska known as Shadow Moses in the, at the time, future year of 2005. The goal is to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit. Also, Snake must rescue three hostages, the head of DARPA, the president of a major arms manufacturer and Meryl Silverburgh, which is the niece of Snake's commanding officer Roy Campbell.

The main antagonist and leader of FOXHOUND is Liquid Snake. This special force has specialized members like Revolver Ocelot, a gunslinger, Sniper Wolf, a sniper, Vulcan Raven, a heavy-gun specialist, Psycho Mantis, a psychic and Decoy Octopus, a master of disguise. Liquid Snake threatens to launch a nuclear attack if his demands are not fulfilled which might cause a new World War.

Graphics - 4/5 

Being a release to the Sony Playstation game console, Metal Gear Solid is the first entry in 3D of the series. Now we might think that the graphics are a little dated, but the thing is that an HD version of the game would not make a big difference, because it still looks good, and if we think that it was released 15 years ago they look really awesome. A remake for the GameCube using the game engine of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released, titled, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes but still I've played the Playstation and looked as good as some Playstation 2 titles.

Gameplay - 5/5

This is where Metal Gear Solid excels. The top view is, in my opinion, the best way to play any Metal Gear Solid game. I've tried the Playstation Portable titles and found them less enjoyable due to the camera view.
The game has several ways to be played. You can either be extra sneaky and refrain from killing enemy soldiers or just being sneaky and cleaning everything that comes in your way using the various methods you are allowed to use. You can knock on walls to lure the enemies to traps. You have to use cigarettes to be able to see lasers in some rooms. One particular enemy predicts what you are going to do and the way to trick him is to plug your controller in the player 2 slot. Using a cardbox to avoid being detected or letting dogs pee on it to prevent them to attack you later. The details are awesome and encourage the player to look for different ways to reach the goal.
The boss fights are among the best ever in the gaming history and that is to say a lot about it.
Another great thing about the game is the storytelling, it is a great story that is told by playing the missions and by the many cutscenes that are simply awesome. I think that at the time nothing has been done like that, the game truly looks like a movie. The game takes about 2-3 hours to complete but the cutscenes extend the game for 3 more hours more or less.
It doesn't get much better than this.



Sound - 5/5

Immersive. That is the perfect adjective to describe the soundtrack of this game. The sound becomes part of the action, thrills the player and can either make you feel safe or in danger.
The voice acting is also superb.



Longevity - 4/5

As said before the game isn't very long, but due to the many ways to complete the game, the two different endings and the bonus items that are given by the end of the game (like a bandana that when equipped makes you to have infinite bullets) when you complete certain goals add a great replay value. Also there are the VR Missions which, despite not having any story, are also interesting to play.

Truly a masterpiece, a must have and must play. If you have not played it yet I urge you to do it. I give it a SOLID 18/20.

The Wolverine

Today is reviewed one of the summer's blockbuster movie: The Wolverine.

The main character needs no introduction. The most famous X-Men, James ''Logan'' Howllet ,a.k.a Wolverine, gets his second solo movie after the disappointing Wolverine: Origins.

This time it takes place after X-Men 3, and Logan is living a life of reclusion. In the beginning of the movie we see a flashback of Logan's life, during WW2. As the planes bomb Nagasaki, we see Logan saving a young japanese soldier from the explosion, revealing his mutant healing powers. The soldier becomes very grateful to him, despite seeing his monstrous powers. Then back to the present, the same soldier sends a subordinate, Yukio, to get him. Its seems that the soldier Logan saved, Yamada, is a succesfful business man in Japan, and wants to say goodbye to Logan. Then in Tokyo he meets with Yamada, as he says that he can make him mortal (by mortal, loosing his healing powers), Logan declines and Yamada dies. While attending the funeral logan saves Mariko, Yamada's grand-daughter, but soomehow his healing powers are minimal, so he doesn't recover from wounds as usual. Then the story between Mariko and Logan ensues taking a romantic note, and he keeps the entire movie protecting her, until the final when he takes on the bad guy.

The plot of the movie is real simple, and is loosely based on an arc from the comics, and when I say loosely....it's really loosely.

THE BAD THINGS:

1. Even without healing powers, logan's claws don't make him bleed. Witchcraft!
2. The fight on the Shinkansen is one of the most lame action scenes I've seen to date.
   
   


3. Harada somehow isn't the Silver Samurai, and is a ninja servant for Yamada...who uses bows.
4. The Silver Samurai is now an adamantium giant robot. What?
5. The romantic relationship between Mariko and Logan happens too fast. Of course in the comics it happens, but in the movie felt forcefull.
6. A high-tech tower on a classic japanese village. Wooden houses and Hight Tech Metal Tower.
7. The ''two-handed sword" scene.
8. Viper. Probably the worst sub-villain in a Marvel movie. I don't even know why she is with Yamada, as originally she is a HYDRA official. Oh well, fuck logic.
9. Despite being without healing powers, Logan gets shot by a shotgun and barely flinches, and continues like it was nothing.

THE GOOD THINGS:

- Logan beying tormented by killing Jane.

- The after credits clip introducing the X-Men: Days of Future Past (which I reccomend seeing the movie's site)

- Hm.....

The movie overall is bad. Once more they kill a character from the Marvel Universe, as if Deadpool wasn't enough. The story and the action scenes are so bland it hurts. It makes me afraid of watching another movie with Wolverine in the title. I just hope they don't make one with Daken, as I still want to like him.

The judgment:

Plot - 2/5 - Almost nothing from the original story went into the movie version, wich is bad since in the ads it said "Based on the aclaimed comic arc". Which is not. C'mon you just wanted to shoot on Tokyo.

Soundtrack - 2/5 - it's that bad, yes.

Visuals - 3/5 - It has some nice effects. I like the tower despite all that was wrong with it.

Performances - 2/5 - They're bad from the beggining to the end. I just don't have words to describe it.

The Wolverine gets 9/20.

Space Brothers

Today I review this slice of life anime, Space Brothers.

The latest opening for the anime, my favourite until now.

This anime, as the titles suggests, is about two brothers, Nanba Hibito and Nanba Mutta. This review will start by presenting the two main characters:

 Nanba Mutta - Most of the anime follows the older brother Mutta. Mutta was born October 28th of 1993, during the Agony of Doha, when japan failed to get into the football world cup and all the country sighed, the older brother was born. Himself considers to be very unlucky because of this event. Before starting the journey to become an austronaut, Mutta worked in a car design company. Easily gets lost in his imagination, usually overthinks things over and always expects the worst coming his way. It's a very intelligent individual, usually thinking outside the box. Despite considering himself to be unlucky, he may be the most lucky one in the anime, being saved by luck a ton of times.

Nanba Hibito - The succesfull astrounaut, the younger Nanba Hibito. Nanba Hibito was born September 17th of 1996, Nomo earned a MLB no-hitter shutout, and while the nation yelled in euphory, the younger brother was born. Hard working and straightforward, Hibito quickly rose in Nasa ranks, in part by his extraordinary talent as an astronaut, to become the first japanese in the moon, and on the first team to live in the moon base. He's more serious than Mutta, and sometimes can be very airheaded, but at the same time he's a role model for a lot of people. He's very popular in the USA, receiving the nickname Samurai Boy.

The story starts July 9th of 2006,while the world was fixated int he  football world cup final in Germany, and while Zidane headbutts Matterazi, the two brothers are exploring they're neighborhood while making an audio log. During this trip, they saw an UFO on the sky sparking the dream of being astronauts. The story then jumps to 2025, Hibito is on the crew for the lunar base, a tryout for creating colonies in Mars, and also becoming the first Japanese to go to the moon. Meanwhile Mutta is...being fired from his job as a car designer, for hedbutting his boss for talking trash about Hibito.

Zidane!

Then Mutta starts job hunting, but Hibito makes their mother send his resume in secret to JAXA, the japanese space agency, and he gets selected to the astrounaut tryouts. While crying and smiling at the acceptance paper, his journey to space begins. The story is most of the time about Mutta, and the hurdles he has to pass to become an astrounaut, and when he eventually becomes one, the hurdles to get to space. It's well written and I find myself waiting for more.  During the series Mutta gains more friends that also compete for reaching space, being the 2 most important the following ones:

Makabe Kenji - Kenji meets Mutta on the first day in JAXA and quickly they become best friends. Kenji is the oposite of Mutta, self confident, quick decisions, anything you can name it he aces it. He has great talent when comes to being an astronaut. He always lends help to Mutta when he needs the most, and they have the perfect teamwork.

Itou Serika - Serika also meets Mutta on JAXA in the first day, and quickly Mutta falls for her. She was a doctor before enrolling in the astrounat tryouts, and wants to get into the ISS to develop new medicines, in hope to create a cure to the disease that killed her father. Her favourite thing is food, and frequently has his stomach growling and eats by two, despite that she's thin.

The characters are easy to like, and have always consistent background and lovable personalities. There aren't a so called villain, as the focus solely focus on rivalries, and surpassing one's shortcomings. There isn't a single one with bad intentions, and that's a fresh thing, as it's common to have someone spoiling the main character advancements, but in this case there isn't none. The anime also has a lot of pop culture references, Zidane's headbutt, Ramos shooting the penalty over the bar, the Terminator's "I'll be back" and others.

The soundtrack is the level expected for a show like this. The openings and endings are very good and catchy, and the soundtrack is average. In my mind there's only one that sticked:

Art - 4/5 - the art is different what one's used to, and that's always a good thing.

Plot 4/5 - it's well written, and the exams and space training feel real.

Soundtrack - 3/5 - for the reasons stated before.

Excitement - 4/5 - The series has a medium pace, but when you get caught in it you'll be craving for more. It isn't exciting as a shounen anime, but Mutta's character is easy to relate to, and it's hard not wanting to know what will happen to him next.

Space Brothers gets a 15/20 launch!

Sword Art Online

This is my first review ever about an anime so I will try to introduce it the same way it was introduced to me without spoiling all the fun about it.

In a near future MMORPG's have evolved to be VRMMORPG's. Virtual Reality is now a dominant feature in the genre so that the player could be immersed in fantasy worlds with a sense of reality like never before thanks to the Nerve Gear, a head gear that stimulates the users senses via their brain. And when it comes to games there is one that is more antecipated than any other...Sword Art Online. The world of Sword Art Online is a giant floating castle in the clouds called Aincrad, which has 100 floors and a medievel theme to it. The beta for this game was highly restrictive and very few players were able to test it, and all that have talked about it said that this was the best MMO ever made so, upon release, the expectation was so high that it sold out. People rushed to their homes to play it and that is when we meet the main character of the story...

Kazuto Kirigaya (a.k.a. Kirito) - The main protagonist of our story. A nerdy guy who keeps everything to himself, seems to be a little bit awkward or childish but he can be a total badass when it comes to fighting and a heartbreaker for the girls. He lost his parents and lives with his uncles and his cousin. He played the beta version of Sword Art Online and bought it as soon as it came out.

During day one players get to notice that the logout option is not available so they just kept playing waiting for the problem to be fixed. Soon they are summoned to the Main Square to where they are informed by Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online, that they would be not able to log out of the game. The only way to do so was to complete the game, to clear all levels and bosses. If anyone in the real world tried to pull the Nerve Gear off, the player would die, and also, if they die in-game, they would also die in real life. Sword Art Online is the ultimate VRMMORPG.

Soon players began to create guilds but Kirito decides that he would be better all alone. Having the knowledge of playing the beta he uses that to outrun players playing quests and grabbing items before anyone else. Another reason to do so is that some people start dying and the new players start blaming the beta-testers for those deaths, because they had not shared their knowledge about the game. Still, Kirito has to gang up with some other players to clear the first floor boss and this is where he meets the co-star of the story. The story develops to tell the tale of this two players.

Asuna Yuuki - In the real world, Asuna is a girl trying to keep up with her parents expectations, for that, she lives a very stressful life and that is why she played the MMO, to escape to a world she could be free from all of that. In the game she starts also as a lonely player and looking to be somewhat weak which she proves not to be at the boss fight where she teams up with Kirito.

The story takes place for a long time, around two years, so many players start to settle to live the rest of their lives in game. They decide to give up on the goal to beat the game and become what we might call NPC's. They open businesses like weaponsmiths, restaurants, hotels and things like that. Some however take the guilds way too serious and fight for their territory and rule them as if they were countries, imposing their laws, others take on almost suicidal quests in order to beat the game. There is a little bit of everything, from thieves to bounty hunters, honest workers and corrupt ones, good and bad people just like in real life.
 
I will not say more than this about the story because, anyone who hasn't seen it, should be able to be amazed as I was by this anime.

One last remark goes to the soundtrack. If you do have a moment to appreciate it, please, do it. It is not very common to have a soundtrack as rich and fitting as this one. The only flaw I could point to it is that it lacks a strong "single" like many other animes have, something that sticks to your mind for days and months to come.



Art - 4/5 - Even though it is an anime we get that feeling of a JRPG which is the mood and credibility it should have. I would play Sword Art Online without a doubt...well if I didn't die by playing, because I suck a little bit at them.

Plot - 4/5 - If the idea of an ultimate MMORPG is not enough for you I don't know what it could be. I myself cannot think of anything more awesome than this. Still, the plot takes a turn around the middle of the anime that I didn't enjoy that much, but still, it was good.

Soundtrack - 4/5 - I found the two intros pretty good. The soundtrack is also pretty interesting as it is a very good companion for the setting.

Excitement 4/5 -The fast pace of the anime sometimes seemed to be too fast. The action scenes are awesome, it has its plot twists and it gives us the thrill to just see the anime in one sitting.

Sword Art Online is one of the best animes I have seen and, obviously, one of the best in the recent years, it gets a slashing 16/20.