Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online – 05

(Rasuto Batoru wa Watashi ni)
“Leave the Last Battle to Me”

Boy, what an episode.

General Impressions

Man, I’ve been really curious how the story was going to get to a situation like we see in the Opening Sequence. Between LLENN and Pito duking it out (at least it looks like it) and a handful of other characters all trading fire, it felt like an impossible scenario that we’d never see by the time the series came to a close. Except, with how quickly things have been moving, it looks like it may become a reality a lot sooner than I thought. Anyways, let’s dive into that after talking a bit about this week’s episode.

So, looking back at it, I think this was the episode we all wanted last week — a huge firefight that involved LLENN doing LLENN things and a little bit of conflict thrown in to raise the stakes. Something that I think this week’s episode did a fantastic job doing by being such a damn good recreation of a certain Battle Royale from Korea that’s revitalized the genre. Honestly, I’m sure we’ve all been there where the odds are stacked against us, but with victory within grasp we’ve gained the confidence to go out there and give it our all. Win or lose, there’s this sense of accomplishment you can only feel when you’ve been through this specific type of scenario and seeing it recreated in anime form felt really good.

That said, what may have been the coolest plot twist was how the story integrated those five short girls who always managed to inadvertently trigger Karen’s height-complex. As another group of individuals who feel out of place with the results of the genetic lottery, I was actually really happy to discover all of them can understand each other on a higher level than just being “gamers”. While I’ll hold off comments on Karen so suddenly being able to overcome the issues with her height since a single one hour tournament seems a little too convenient of a reason, I hope this means that we’ll get to see some more of real life Karen finally being able to enjoy the cards life has dealt her.

Overall a pretty darn good payoff for this first arc of the series — especially when you factor in all the twists and turns that led up to this point. As with any show though, you’ll never know what you’re getting until you watch it, but I have confidence that Sword Art Online Alternative will be able to continue being a fun watch as we dive deeper into the world it’s trying to create.

Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week. See you then!

25 Comments

  1. SMinstrel

    Good to see RandomC back!

  2. edo

    these 5 episodes covered vol 1 of the LN right ?

  3. HalfDemonInuyasha
    • Greed

      the haircut does make her look good. A perfect Onee-san looking character. Need more heroines like her. Sigh, if only Kohiruimaki Karen was Kirito’s main girlfriend then I would be more satisfied for the entire franchise.

      • Aex

        Who needs Kirito? LLENN’s already well on her way to building her own harem full of crazy cuties!

  4. WHAT

    There was enough bullshit in this episode alone to fill a tanker.I understand you can`t expect anything from a goddamn SAO, but still.

    • Roguespirit

      This has been the main complaint with this episode. Apparently, it’s due to the adaptation. I heard some people saying that this episode was one of the many that have been outsourced (hence the scheduling issues resulting in next week’s recap episode. It’s GuP all over again. This episode definitely didn’t feel as tight as the previous ones.

    • qwert

      You are aware that there’s not much in common between this show and the original SAO right? They each have different LN authors and different production studios/staff. All they really share is the setting.

    • JHN

      Why the hell do we already need a recap episode? Only 1 thing has happened.

      • zztop

        Likely quality control purposes.Probably a slip in scheduling.

    • Roguespirit

      It’s Girls und Panzer all over again! I can only hope this means we get Shirobako Season 2 out of it 😛

  5. Greed

    http://images.randomc.net/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alternative%20Gun%20Gale%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alternative%20Gun%20Gale%20Online%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2016.jpgDid this actually happen? Or was this just our heroine’s imagination going wild. Would be sad if P-Chan died T_Thttp://images.randomc.net/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alternative%20Gun%20Gale%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20Alternative%20Gun%20Gale%20Online%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2003.jpgGee, when I think about it, I don’t know any heroines with the same “crazy yet cool” vibe like this girl.

    • Aex

      Until we see “P-Chan” again I’m saying the stress just made LLENN crack for a second. Or Pito had M slip something into those medpacks…

    • Cake_Will_Be_Served

      If you haven’t seen any other “crazy yet cool” MCs, I suggest you watch Black Lagoon and Jormungand. There are probably more, but these two came to mind right away.

  6. Kaz

    I love how LENN says “No way” or “hu so” or whatever you spell it, when Boss Amazon catches the magazine ^_^ Kinda deadpan delivery of that line, and I love it!

    • Aex

      It was the perfect way for the show to say “yes, we know this is more impossible than impossible, please just roll with it”. Like pretty much that entire fight! XD

  7. ewok40k

    I had a premonition team of “Soviet Amazons” might in RL be small stature teenagers…But boy did I get surprised when I realised they have been introduced earlier.I really wonder what kind of relation is between M and Pito.He looked genuinely scared for his real life…Is she some kind of yakuza or what?

    • HalfDemonInuyasha

      Pitohui is Elsa Kanzaki, the idol that Karen listens to and sent that letter to before.

      • ewok40k

        isn’t killing people like, bad, for her professional life? 😛

    • Henrietta Brix

      Not unless your part of Idols of WarI won’t be surprised if Hiroki Ree makes a fan art out of Elsa-Pito

  8. RenaSayers

    Yay! You guys are back!I don’t understand Pitohui’s point of view, why again would she make an enimy with a resorce? I am only saying this as a MMORPG player, won’t it be best to conintue the gaming relationship and not butter up the main character only to roast the player?LLENN, partial blame goes to her, only a noob would trust a stranger they just met. Always suspect an ulterior motive.

    • sealouse

      Some of that bullshit mentioned in the previous comment. That whole scenario really felt out of place and I frankly didn’t enjoy it. Everything else in the episode was good though.

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