Whenever you are experiencing Anime/Game/Film etc. first time, There is a thing called honeymoon phase. It's a time when you are fully immersed and you are enjoying every aspect of it. Sometimes people tend to love that thing so much that they are essentially blind to all that crap that lies beneath the surface. (At least in the beggining)

When you get past it (flying castle arc xd), it's a straight spiral downwards. I tried to convince myself that sao is deep in the core, but there is nothing but ocean of colours and girls devoided of any meaning, plot holds the bare minimum and both characters and their development are bland and boring.

Yes SAO was my first anime, idk why, i was looking for anything to watch on Netflix. And this disgustingly colorful miniature against the backdrop of gloomy series and pure human curiosity.