Sword Art Online II Review

Episode 1: The World of Guns

Episode 1 of Sword Art Online II starts with a bang, literally. The episode opens with player avatar XeXeeD being interviewed on a streaming show called MMO Stream. Much like our streaming, XeXeeD is boasting about how great he is. While XeXeeD is being interviewed, there is a cut to a bar where a hooded figure called Death Gun is watching. Death Gun gets more and more angry as the interview continues. Eventually Death Gun gets fed up with XeXeed and fires his gun at the monitor. At this moment, XeXeed’s avatar convulses and disconnects on stream!

 

After we witness the events on stream, we jump a month ahead to the Real World. Here we are reunited with Kirito and Asuna (from the previous series), who are just being normal kids talking the differences between real life and online life in the park. Turns out the stuff going on in Guns Gale Online is pretty serious and Kirito has met with the Virtual Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications only a few hours earlier. Long story short, when avatar XeXeed died in game, he died in real life. As the Government can’t have people dying (bad for taxes), they recruit Kirito to enter the game and get to the bottom of things.

My thoughts

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good episode. It does a good job of laying out what I imagine will be the main story for the series. Death Gun seems like they may be an interesting villain, but I can’t really say for sure. I like the look of the character, but there is little else presented, so I will wait and see. If you liked the first Sword Art Online, this seems to be more of the same, only now with guns! The end shot with the sniper had me like

7/10

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Episode 2: Cold – Hearted Sniper

Episode 1 ended with the shot of a sniper, taking out a target in Guns Gale Online. The second episode introduces us to this character. We find out right away the sniper is named Sinon. Sinon is a really good shot and is known as the top sniper in Guns Gale Online.

This episode focuses solely on Sinon which I liked. Besides finding the character appealing to the eyes, I liked the story of Sinon and Company ambushing another group of players only to find out the group they are ambushing has a Behemoth, a character carrying a minigun. Things quickly devolve into chaos as the Sinon’s group realizes they have misjudged the situation. Sinon leaves her sniper perch and joins the group on the ground, where she proves why she is the top sniper in game.

I really enjoyed this episode and hope to see what they do with the Sinon character. As this was a more action packed episode, it was fun to see how Sword Art Online II is incorporating guns into the equation. The shot of Sinon jumping out of the tower while sniping had me dancing.

 

8.5/10

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Episode 3: Memories of the Fresh Blood

Memories of the Fresh Blood serves largely as a story episode. There is very little action and the episode mainly establishes the backstory of Asada (Sinon’s real life controller). Asada is bullied by a group of high school girls who taunt her with finger guns. This triggers a sort of nervous reaction and results in panic attacks. We learn that Asada was involved in an incident at a bank when she was a child, which resulted in a fear/anxiety towards guns. The anxiety Asada feels, is not felt in GGO, which presents a sort of therapeutic effect for her.

On the Kirito front, we learn that he is stepping away from ALO for a few days. During the time off, Kirito will be assisting the Ministry in their investigation of GGO. Kirito goes to the Ministry’s headquarters and meets a familiar nurse who will watch over his body as he goes online.

Episode 3 ends on an RL shot of Death Gun who appears to be looking for his next victims. Many of the players in GGO are taunting him and claiming the whole thing is fake, however, Death Gun knows the truth and settles for Sinon.

Overall, I enjoyed the episode, but learned that I prefer a mixture of game and RL action per episode. Episode 3 was fairly light on the game side of SOA, but did a good job of establishing what appears to be a central character in Asada. I will say that I found the Bank scene to be pretty crazy.

 

6.5/10

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Episode 4 – GGO

Now we’re talking. Episode 4 hits us right off the bat with a deep dive into GGO. Kirito who is now entering the game, jumps into the main hub and quickly learns there has been a genderswap… Yeah Kirito is now a female avatar (all the Rule 63 degens rejoice). Running around the hub city, Kirito bumps into Sinon (what are the chances?), who agrees to take Kirito to shop and then the Administrative Building.

In the weapons shop we learn a bit about the weapons found in GGO. Unfortunately for Kirito, he lacks the funds to purchase anything good. Wanting to buy good items, Kirito wonders if there is a way to earn some serious cash. Sinon suggests a dodging minigame that is ‘impossible’. As we all know, nothing is impossible for Kirito. With a ton of coins in his pocket, Kirito returns to the weapons shop and settles on a Photon Sword (think lightsaber). Photon Swords are hardly used in GGO, so Sinon is surprised by the choice. As GGO is a game about guns, Kirito also buys a handgun and uses it on the shop’s shooting range. Turns out he is a very bad shot.

With new gear in hand, Sinon and Kirito realize they are late for registering for the Bullets of Bullets 3 and make a made dash for the building. Kirito hopes on a trike along the way and they head off towards the building as the episode ends.

I liked this episode a lot. Not much happened, but it really flushed out GGO and established the world in an interesting way. We learned a few things about how weapons and shields worked; learned about dodging; established a relationship between Kirito and Sinon. It also ended on a fun little motorcycle scene which I enjoyed.

 

8/10

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Episode 5: Guns and Swords

Kirito and Sinon reach the Administrative Building in time and are able to register for the upcoming Bullets of Bullets 3 tournament. As the tournament is about to start, Kirito and Sinon go to change, and the truth about Kirito actually being male comes out. Sinon gets mad and basically tells Kirito they are enemies from then on. During this scene, Kirito wonders if Sinon may be Death Gun. These thoughts carry with him as he fights in the first round of the tournament.

In the first round of the tournament, Kirito struggles. Facing off against an opponent with a machine gun, Kirito realizes that lots of bullets are hard to dodge. Instead he realizes he must use the sword to deflect the bullets lines in order to get close enough to use the sword effectively. Kirito makes a mad dash towards the enemy, blocks a ton of bullets and swiftly ends his opponent.

After the battle, Kirito meets a mysterious individual who may or may not be Death Gun (my bet is may). The individual asks Kirito if he is the ‘real deal’, whatever that means. Turns out the figure may be from Kirito’s old SAO days. On this reveal, the episode ends.

This was a really good episode. I found the episode to have both interesting story and action. The first round of the tournament was an especially fun watch as it introduced gun and sword play. Seeing how this action will evolve over the coming episodes has me intrigued. The other part of the episode that also has me intrigues is finding out who exactly the mysterious figure was. Easily the best episode yet.

 

9/10