I think he’s saying that Goblin Slayer and Dakaichi look restrained when compared to SAO, not that SAO is restrained.
Though on a similar note, it’s always been kinda weird to me that one of the big criticisms of Goblin Slayer is that was framed “identical to a hentai.” The only shot I can think of that vaguely fits that comparison is one vertical pan, though it’s meant to be a main character’s point of view and doesn’t linger longer than it has to. Everything else is either close-ups of the character’s face or a single extreme close-up that isn’t framed as titilating at all. The only way someone might mistake it for a hentai is if you were deliberately sexualizing it as a viewer.
Lauding those criticisms against SAO I could understand since it does legitimately have shots and compositions that you could splice right into anime porn and no one would notice, but it kinda seems like “hentai” is just thrown around as a umbrella buzzword for “it had unsavory sexual elements that I didn’t care for.”