Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II

Episode 10

The last episode was focused on Karen and her thoughts about quitting the game now that she has accomplished her original goal and is uncomfortable with how other players view her. In this episode, she puts all that to the side to focus on the promise that got her into this playtest and the Third Squad Jam: the battle with SHINC.

But while both Llenn's team and SHINC want their fight, there's the little problem that they are not alone on the battlefield. ZEMAL, the machinegun fanatics, don't care about what the other teams' wants or goals are. They just want to shoot their guns until they're out of ammo. Even after Llenn's team and SHINC team up to kill them, they having two more lives means the battle needs to be postponed until the other teams have been wiped out. Moreover, while Llenn and SHINC may want to fight, everyone except Llenn in both groups also wants to play the game and face off against the “new AI NPCs” in the castle.

Thus the second half of the episode is an introduction to the threat facing our heroes in this arc. Not only are the new NPCs able to kill Llenn without much issue, but they can take out both SHINC and MMTM easily as well. Not only are their strategy and teamwork beyond what's expected from PvE AI, but all of them are not using the game's inbuilt aim assist. Like M when sniping (or Shion in the original series), they are shooting with real-world-level skill. All this hints at two possibilities. Either A) they are AI on par with Alice or B) these aren't NPCs. Rather, they are actual, trained, military soldiers.

Either option unlocks a lot of story possibilities. On one hand, if these are AI from Underworld, there are a lot of questions to be answered. Especially as, at this point in the SAO timeline, Underworld is supposed to be completely isolated from the outside world. On the other, we've already seen paramilitary groups testing the waters with Gun Gale Online in the past. At this point, what would be a better training challenge than testing the best your military has to offer against the strongest teams in the game, especially if all you have to do is pay the GGO owners a chunk of money to set things up?

In the end, this episode is an action-focused one, putting the more personal worries to the side to have some fights and properly introduce our protagonists. Honestly, there is a bit too much exposition in this episode—especially the part detailing the enemies and their gear—but part of this series has always been “gun porn” so it's to be expected. The episode even manages to end on a bit of a cliffhanger with ZEMAL looking to switch sides (likely so they have more targets to shoot at). Will they be accepted into the castle or simply gunned down where they stand? (My money's on the latter.)

Rating:

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

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.