Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

Episode 7

Last episode focused on establishing crucial plot threads for the next story arc, so unsurprisingly this episode focuses on setting the stage. All of the principal cast are now in place, Pito returns, and Karen's friend gets added into the mix, along with a new major team. With the episode ending on Squad Jam 2 going live, everything is primed for exciting action and tactics next episode. While that left this episode moving on the slow side, it didn't have a single wasted scene.

Miyu hardly needed an introduction, but her new avatar in GGO did, and it is indeed the short blonde girl with grenade launchers from the opening. We get an explanation of her rather odd name choice and a proper establishment of her online persona, including her fascination with a brand-new grenade launcher. It's sensible for her to practice with LLENN first, of course; it would have been quite unbelievable if they had just jumped into SJ2 without coordinating their tactics through rigorous weapons tests. (This scene also provides the episode's most humorous moment, where Fukaziroh doesn't think twice about testing LLENN's dodging ability.) Introducing her also allowed the episode to work in an obligatory reference to Sword Art Online II. Despite some minor discrepancies in character design, the guy who tried to buy Miyu's avatar is probably supposed to be the same guy who tried to buy Kirito's effeminate one in the original GGO arc. The whole thing with the ice cream near the end was maybe the one disposable scene, but it reinforces Miyu's character and provides LLENN with a reason to arrive at the meeting area at the last minute to a thunderous welcome from the other teams.

I also liked how the episode smoothly worked in elaborations on Pito's in-game reputation. Memento Mori is apparently going to be one of the chief competitors in the event, and their captain relating his past experiences with Pito to his comrades allows for more natural exposition than most info dumps of this type. What he describes makes Pito's full name – Pitohui – a much more interesting choice, since the bird she's named after is poisonous to the touch. (The birds get the poison from their diet rather than producing it genetically, but the analogy still holds.) It definitely raises more questions about Pito's mindset and her views on relationships. Complementing that are the couple of scenes focusing on SHINC (the gymnastics club team), from their final pep rally in the real world to their determination to butt heads with Memento Mori in the virtual world. Given these scenes, we can probably expect SJ2 to come down to Memento Mori, SHINC, the PM4 team with Pito and M, and LLEN's duo.

The other interesting detail in this episode is the green-haired girl who gets conspicuous focus in the pre-SJ2 gathering. The passing mention that teams can work together in SJ2 leads me to wonder if she will end up working with LLENN and Fukaziroh after the rest of her team gets whacked. I also liked that they removed the scanner being an Immortal Object after the way LLENN used it defensively in the first Squad Jam; that's a sensible rules adjustment. Visually, the quality seemed a little off in this episode, but Fukaziroh using a combat knife as a hairpin was an amusing detail, as was the scene where the machine gun team is about to get chomped by a monster while claiming that they're ready for anything; they seem destined to be this series' comical fall guys.

My one lingering doubt about the series – especially after the revelation of team SHINC's identities – was whether it might be a little too cutesy for its own good, but this episode assuaged that concern. LLENN and Fukaziroh look great together, a satisfying replacement for the stark LLENN/M contrast of the first arc, and that contributes mightily to the series finding ways to be cute without getting in the way of its focus on action and tactical tension.

Rating: B+

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.