@MasterOfMoogles
The problem is the change in the narrative. In the novel, Kirito tells you he's a Wesley Crusher. That all his actions are heroic, that he's a nice guy who's smart and wonderful at everything, and thinks about other before himself. If that can't be conveyed in the anime without first-party narration, that's a sign of bad writing of both the novel and the anime script.

In the anime, the best you can think of him is as someone with a hero-complex, because he doesn't act very heroic when there is no chance of his own death at Floors 25-50, and probably has Aspergers. The kind of person who runs away from his problems in real life (forcing his sister into martial arts so he gets to do what he likes), but constantly going back to lower levels to show off how strong and cool he is to the weaker players, ultimately getting them killed when he lies about it.


@Buff: This is weak. It's just pandering to a small group who want their fluff conversations to be isolated from real discussion or any criticism at all.