For me i love the show it's one of my fav anime of all time. I feel like bleach the same way u do but feel like it with better writing it should of accomplished greater popularity than naruto
Sao is a love it or hate it show for majority people no in between. It just catches me so well but I get why u don't like it too.
I don't hate SAO I just don't see the appeal of it. It's was a good series when it was about people dying in an MMO but it got side tracked with this let's have a family romance stuff and I have nothing against romance anime as I watch them all the time but SAO is a crap romance show, a crap first girl wins harem show, it's not even that great of an action / fighting show.
The main character is overpowered and it's not even played up for laughs like say In Another World With My Smartphone. SAO basically takes it self too seriously to be funny anyway. He's also just a crap main character in general. He's like this overpowered generic self insert harem lead type character and many of these chicks are swooning over him but he has zero charisma or swag.
I just don't get the popularity of it. Maybe it's some Asuna waifu fetish appeal. Why is this show so popular. There are plenty of other far better shows that can't even get a second season. Stuff like The Devil is a Part Timer.