So I'm going to hazard a guess and say that I'm probably one the very few who did not like Sword Art Online for a variety of reasons.
The main draw of SAO was the MMORPG aspect of the anime for me; I wasn't drawn in by the internet hype machine spurning interest in a light novel unsubtly dressed as a MMORPG story while in reality it was every teenager's romance novel (heroic/loner guy finds amazing ability, gets it on with the hottest girl and then eventually saves the world), unsurprisingly written by a 16 year old author (the first one anyways). I thought it would have potential (without knowing actually what it was) seeing that it was a fairly high budget anime, that hopefully it would incorporate a lot of the MMORPG aspects that appeal to most gamers and because of Yuki Kajiura who's done some amazing soundtrack work for better anime.
Let's be completely honest: SAO's focus was on Kirito's and Asuna's one-dimensional relationship that's entirely focused on appealing to the fanbase rather than actually having actual substance in terms of expanding on the MMORPG aspect (which was one of the main draws) and having more of the anime focus on developing its character instead of throwing them out after having little side arcs (which were more interesting than the main story, though not by much; still don't know why Silica exists other than the obligatory "loli" + "tentacle" sideshow). We spent 2 episodes with Kirito and Asuna in that damn cottage that no one watching for actual development in terms of plot and character gives two shits about. Speaking about their relationship, this show focuses on the overplayed cliche'd concept of "love," through "sacrificing one self," "running so fasts that she saves her lover!" "going beyond the 'bounds of the game.'" Seeing as the source material was a LN written by a 16 year old, I suppose I can't fault the writers too much. Looking at Kirito, he goes from a stereotypical one-dimensional MMORPG loner in the beginning with clear issues to a one-dimensional MMORPG god while getting it on with the hottest girl in the MMOPRG world (see where I'm going with "appealing to their fanbase part?"). There's no ground-breaking material but a continual plot devised to attract as many watchers as possible with exploration into the harem genre once in a while (I see no purpose for the other girls other than this, I'm sorry.)
The pacing of the show was another focus of complaint; the continual switchings between the episodic and linear format was terrible, with arcs lasting one episode, then a couple of episodes, is not a good way of presenting a show to an audience. There's one excellent example of after a boss fight, Kirito is all upset and becomes a loner and then the next episode (which goes into a side story), has him joining a guild while being happy? Did anyone else not catch the discontinuity between the storylines?
In the end, SAO definitely fails to live up to what it was supposed to do. It's not a "bad" anime by comparisons to whatever else was aired this season. It has good animation, with a plot that's coherent and without gigantic plot holes but does uses deus ex machinas whenever it can and finally, has "appealing" characters. But the anime that I expected it to be and the one it is now, is a fairly large gap, which led me to drop SAO after the first half had finished (maybe ALO was vastly different from what it was originally I don't know? But based on the last episode and the shit flung at it I honestly doubt it).
As for stuff that aired fairly recently, Kokoro Connect had my interest during the body swapping arc; I thought it was a fairly unique way of exploring character interactions and relationships while settling conflicts within themselves, with a very good climax, but when they delved into the arc where they became younger, I felt that the show started losing focus and started losing what made it so attractive in the first place; other than the blonde's struggle with what love was, with his past childhood crush, there was really no conflict, no character building, nothing that set it apart from the quarterly sludge of anime pumped out of the pipe.
Looking forward to Nekomonogatari airing on the 29th, but if it's anything like the disappointment Nisemonogatari was, I'll probably pretend Bakemonogatari is a standalone series without acknowledging the rest of its inbred siblings.