Sword Art Appreciation - Anime Thread

[Tellis]

Like, this feels a bit like a shonen premise but it's clearly aimed towards older viewers...
who's the audience?

You kinda answered your own question. It's pretty obviously aimed at older dudes who grew up watching shonen stuff. And I will say straight up that the sexualization of stuff does serve a sort of purpose but it could have been handled so much better, imo. I think you'll see what I mean, I don't want to say much more. I will say that, though I enjoyed watching it when it came out... I wouldn't exactly recommend it to many people. It's fun but it's nothing ~amazing~.

Also, it feeling "formulaic" is kind of on purpose? Did you ever watch Gurren Lagann? 'cause it shares a lot similarities with that, in terms of scale.