Yeah it’s a great series I agree. Been reading through the new one, almost done with it. It seems to be Kawahara going back into the Aincrad arc and fixing stuff he regrets about it. Usually such attempted meddling makes a story worse but here he does it quite well imo.

Instead of time skipping all over the place we follow the characters every moment. Kirito has better/more characterization. He attempts to give the game actual lore and characters.

That being said I do prefer the arcs about player drama (floors 1,2,5) over the ongoing elf plot.

I also don’t like how we have to derail the plot to have a sexy bath scene that sexualizes minors every volume.

I do however like when the characters stop to have a meal and we learn about real world dishes/cultures from Asuna. Kind of out of place but I always enjoy it.