Title: ソードアート・オンライン, Sword Art Online, S.A.O
Animation Studio: A-1 Pictures
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi
Airs: 07/07 24:00 Tokyo MX / Crunchyroll
Website: http://www.swordart-online.net/

Series Summary from ANN:

Trapped and fighting for their very lives in a Virtual Reality MMORPG, Aincrad Online, the story explores the mishaps and adventures of the greatest one handed swordsman of the VR world, Kirito. Together with his friends, the solo swordsman strives to finish the game, which in turn will release all the minds trapped into Aincrad.

Kenn's Comment: The visuals are spectacular - especially landscapes. They're really a sight to behold. I can only imagine what it'd be like on bluray on a big screen. It'd be a thing of beauty.

The premise is similar to a series most of us are familiar with, .//Hack, with the VR and the headsets, and getting trapped in the world. SAO takes it one step further: you're trapped and if you die in game, you actually die. The first episode was a good and strong introduction, brining us into Aincrad, using Kirito putting Klein through the ropes of the game.

The music is something that's another strong point in this one. Yuki Kajiura nails the music, providing both the grand, epic chorus pieces, like at the beginning of the episode, to the more electronic ones, reminiscent of the stuff you'd find in video games. The music in the PV is quite something too.

tl;dr Easily one of the strongest first episode this season. Great visuals, voice acting is on spot, music s superb. If I could get Zelos' input on this one it'd be even better.

If you haven't realized it yet, this and Accel World come from the same author

 PV: