> I've only watched about six episodes or so
A lot of the backlash is related to the massive hype during the series airing. It's an ordinary series that didn't deserve the lavish "BEST EVAR" praise that was floating around. Of course the pendulum swings back and that's going to create a lot of people going into the series with especially LOW expectations now, and you see the opposite extreme with "this isn't quite as bad as I was lead to believe". I didn't really mind SAO, but I watched it post-hyped and post-hate with fairly low expectations.
The show isn't irredeemably bad from the very first episode or anything like that. If it was, then it wouldn't be noteworthy at all. Plus, it's the later part that gets a lot of hate too. even from die hard fans. So come back after completing season 1 and let us know your opinion.
Mahouka on the other hand, I'd like to see how viewers take that since we've ripping it to absolute shreds of mockery each week on this thread. It'd be interesting how new viewers take it, since they should have the lowest possible expectations. I will categorically state it's a pile of excrement without even a single redeeming point in it's favor, other than the writing being so ham-fisted and fanfiction-level that it becomes humorous when it doesn't intend to be. It doesn't contain many comedy moments, but those are all dull and forgettable compared to the unintentional comedy. I'm not someone who automatically must hate things because they're getting praise / hyped. e.g. Mushishi and Space Dandy are hyped to the max, and I love those.