How's it going /v/anime I'm here to talk to you about a little show called SAO.Now most people hate this show, but of the small percentage of the internet that like SAO an even smaller percentage like the Fairy Dance arc. Well I personally think that the fairy dance arc is one of the better SAO arcs and here's why:

A lot of people don't look past the surface of Fairy Dance. Fairy Dance (the 2nd arc of the first season) was extremely important for character development and had a deeper meaning than most give it credit for. Here are some of Fairy Dance's high points:

1) Kirito's development

During his time in ALO, Kirito learns that, unlike in Aincrad, he can't do everything on his own and needs help. Compared to Aincrad where he was solo for most of it, he does almost nothing by himself in ALO and says multiple times that he couldn't have done whatever it is he was doing without help from others. Leafa takes him all the way to the World Tree since he can't do it by himself (, as well as her, Recon, Sakuya, and Alicia helping him to conquer the World Tree after he tries on his own and fails. He has this big monologue about how dying when he's so close to rescuing Asuna being punishment for thinking he can do everything himself and how that's wrong. Then he gets help from Kayaba during his fight with Sugou at the end. He even breaks down after defeating Sugou, saying that he's no hero and isn't as strong as he should be and needs to be for Asuna's sake.

2) Asuna

Asuna is easily one of the strongest characters in this series. Unlike what everyone seems to believe, she didn't give in to the "damsel in distress" role that she could have during this arc. I can't express enough that PHYSICAL STRENGTH IS NOT THE ONLY FORM OF STRENGTH!!! She played a huge role in escaping from her cage, and Kirito would never have gotten to her without her help. She actually almost escaped on her own, but got caught at the last second. She stayed strong throughout months of being stripped of her power, trapped in a cage, and molested (though she fought his advances until the bitter end) by a psycho with total control over the world she was trapped in, while being completely unsure if the person she loved was dead or not. She even comforted Kirito when he felt weak even though she had just finished being molested and he had just killed her molestor, and if that's not impressive I don't know what is. Everyone says she became a damsel in distress, but she absolutely did not.

3) Suguha

Sugu is such a good character. She had to deal with her brother distancing himself from her for unknown reasons, had to practice even harder at kendo to help the brother who wanted nothing to do with her, then had to suffer through him getting trapped in a game where he could die at any time. She even decides, while he's still trapped in the game, to start playing online games in order to try to reconnect with him after he (hopefully) gets out. Plus she became one of the strongest players in the game, and played a huge role in Kirito's rescuing Asuna. He probably couldn't have saved her without Sugu's help.

4) Kazuto/Sugu's relationship

Kazuto and Sugu's relationship shows how strong of a person Sugu is, it helps the two to patch up their relationship even after many years of being distant from each other, and even helps Sugu to get closer to the rest of the SAO group. *It is not incest, just a simple crush that she admits, more than once, is wrong. She doesn't like being in love with him and tries to bury her feelings. I've heard complaints that she just adds to the "harem" because she falls for him twice, and that's just ridiculous. If you love somebody but can't be with them and somebody else comes along who treats you the same way as the person you (don't want to) love, of course you're going to fall for them. Then to find out that the second person is also the first person would be unbearably heartbreaking. Honestly, Sugu is one of the strongest, most under appreciated characters in the entire series.

5) Kayaba

It also shows more with Kayaba's true intentions behind the SAO incident (even after the horrid anime adaptation of his conversation with Kirito and Asuna at the end). He wanted to see the strength of the human will overcome adversity, and that's exactly what he got. He got it multiple times too, twice in Aincrad and, with a little help from himself, once in Alfheim. He did some horrible things, but maybe the reason behind it wasn't so horrible after all.

6) Sugou

Sugou was meant to be hated. He was designed to be the quintessential villain. He wanted nothing more than money and power, did horrible things to innocent people in order to get it, made careless mistakes because he was being petty, even gave himself powers that no one else could use just so he could have the upper hand. Even his sexually assaulting Asuna was done to make him as evil as possible. People claim he's too generically evil, but remember that he's a normal dude who was given infinite power in a world where he can achieve his goals. You think someone like Sugou isn't going to use his infinite power for personal gain? Of course he is. Yes he could have been a better villain, but I think he was there to help balance out the not-so-evil villain that is Kayaba.

Fairy Dance wasn't without it's faults, I'm not saying it's perfect. For example Kirito keeping his powers and skills from Aincrad. That mechanic I didn't like. SAO isn't without its faults obviously but a ton of people just hate on it, and especially hate on this arc, without looking further into it. Hope this helps you understand Fairy Dance a little better. Here's a pretty good article analyzing the criticisms of the 1st season of SAO if you care about that sort of thing. (not that I agree with all of his claims)