I have finally finished Sword Art Online today. Both arcs of the series were great all the way through and the series couldn't have ended better if you ask me. Everything was resolved in just about the right way and I was routing for Kirito the whole time. It's tough to find the right words for it. It's definately deserving of "Best Series of the Year" honors. Sword Art Online is truly one of the best anime series to come out in a long time and stands out in the generally stale(depending on your viewpoint) action genre.