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「銃と剣」 (Joo to Ken)
“Gun and Sword”
I’m at a loss for words. All I know is that things got real serious, real quickly this week.
SAO Survivors
In a world where all MMORPGs are fundamentally linked through the dispersion of the original program known as the SEED, you could say that each and every game could be considered its own country linked through the power of the internet. While you don’t have to worry about the typical headaches of immigrating to a new country, the ability to move your avatar around from place-to-place while retaining the important bits finally makes it possible for you to carry along all your “experience” to each and every game (I use experience in both the numerical and the literal term).
The reason why I’m even talking about this though, is when you think about Kirito’s interactions with Death Gun this week, it’s frankly really creepy thinking about how the baggage you carry with you from game-to-game could become troublesome. Even if you don’t consider the mental strain for people who’ve dealt with traumatic events, the whole problem with knowing someone’s identity becomes a serious problem when someone has the ability to hurt you in the real world from within the virtual one. So when you think about it, the enemies Kirito made back in SAO could come back to haunt him with the added threat his actual life could be in danger again.
Yeah sure, you could always just make new accounts and use avatars that don’t look entirely like you but where would the fun be if we had to watch Kirito level up every single time a new game started?
Sinon vs Shino
As if the ending sequence didn’t drill it home hard enough, I love how the show is giving us a clear and detailed look at just how different Sinon and Shino are. Two personalities of the same person that inhabit opposite sides of the spectrum, I love how Shino knows that Sinon is everything she wishes she could be but can’t become just yet. While it could be debated whether or not winning BoB would really give her the conviction she needs to find enough self-confidence to become more like Sinon in the real world, I know that we’ll have one hell of a time watching her get there.
Looking Ahead
After weeks of complaining about the pacing and wanting Kirito to kick some ass, the past two weeks have been a nice change of pace. With the foundation of the story set and Death Gun ready to wreak some havoc in the GGO world, all that’s left is for some awesome action scenes that involve Kirito destroying people in a shooter with a melee weapon.
Loved this episode, wonder if people are gonna complain about Kirito being OP due to the bullet deflecting. Way I see it, we have 0 reason to complain about him being OP till he does something that tops his performance throughout all of season 1, lol.
Sinon has an unhealthy bloodlust…though I’m willing to bet her seemingly arrogant attitude gets knocked down a peg or two later on. I think the best way to go about that would be for someone to know who she really is irl, wonder how she’d react to someone throwing her baggage at her in the once place she aims to escape from it.
As for Death Gun being an SAO survivor….oh Lordt. You already know at least 224342 screws are loose in this persons head.
Also, I wonder how Sinon will perceive Kirito once she learns he’s an SAO survivor…I kind of hope she realizes she’s dealing with a real pro afterward.
Funnily enough it’s not OP considering the nature of the “photon sword”. It’s a lightsabre, we all know what those things do wonderfully well. The rightful OP complaint lies with Kirito’s intuition and ability to predict where the shooter is going to shoot before the trajectory lines appear which no one else has. That issue, however, was discussed ad nauseam last episode.
Okay, thank Goodness.
As for the bullet predicting…sounds like SAO 1 Kirito stuff, why even ask questions, we know it’s just Kirito being the Gary Stu he’s intended to be lol.
^ If you were forced to fight for your life every waking second and could get instakilled by practically anything, you’d learn to predict your enemies attacks as well as he does.
Kirito actually would have explained the exploit that he uses to predict the bullets if there wasn’t so many people around it’s quite simple.
Show Spoiler ▼
Flayvor:
They show, but do not tell that 🙂 Watch closely for chekov’s guns!
@FlayvorofEvil
The concern with Kirito’s ability is not that he can do it (it’s actually one of the first reasonable ones on his part), it’s the fact only Kirito can. In a game consisting of velocities such an intuitive ability would be quickly picked up by serious players. The two years versus six months SEED experience (IIRC) used to explain why only Kirito has it IMO simply stretches Kirito’s uniqueness a little too far again.
All that would have been needed to turn the problem around is have one or two people/Sinon mention during the mini-game how it’s a very difficult ability to learn and how few players are capable of it. Bam, instant OP Kirito complaining neutralized, Kirito’s strengths from previous experience shown, suspension of disbelief maintained.
The reason hardcore players haven’t picked it up is that everyone in GGO is used to using the prediction lines. Since the system always gave them the information, it never occurred to anyone to try to get the information any other way. Witness Sinon’s reaction when Kirito told her he was predicting the prediction lines: it’s literally something she never even considered trying.
No Kabble…
It’s not him being OP. It just him and The Force
“I find your lack of faith in The Force to be disturbing.”
If the game was like the real world, I would call it BS. But the bullets in the game are not that fast and you can see where they’re going. I think not only Kirito, but his friends who are used to play fantasy games would be able to evade the bullets (hell, that’s exactly why they have those light swords in the game in the first place; they knew people could use the sword that way).
Not only that, but there are many Japanase kendo/kenjutsu masters who can freakin’ cut a real bullets (made of rubber of course) in half with their sword (they call cut baseball balls and arrows as well). Yep, look for it on Youtube, there are some Discovery/National Geographic videos showing this. It’s pretty much The Matrix, but in real life.
Not gonna complain about Kirito’s bullet-deflecting swordsmanship since he just unknowingly took some if not all his avatar’s skills with him when he transferred it to GGO. I don’t remember the name of that particular skill. Was it magic parrying? Could someone who still remembers ALO remind me of the name of this skill? Since ALO and GGO have the same engine, it’s a good guess that bullet-style magic in ALO and bullets in GGO have the same mechanics so Kirito could parry bullets in GGO, too. I don’t remember the anime showing Kirito deflecting magic with his swordsmanship but I clearly remember him doing so in the LNs.
Buddy please, in a game where 99% of the players use guns, going the melee approach is already a severe disadvantage.
It’s never been about the sabers, it’s the users. Same way how only Jedis and Siths are able to wield and use them to their full potential, give them to those who do not utilize the force, they’re just fodder.
In this case, it is all Kirito. Give him Sinon’s rifle, I doubt he will hit anything with it even though the Hecate II is a good weapon.
After watching SAO II Ep05,
I’m quite convinced that the following scenario actually happened..
(supposed to be a variation of that boss throwing the worker out the window meme)
–In A1 Pictures discussion room–
Boss: So…SAO series is our cash cow. How should we do Season 2?
Worker #1: More action, less talk.
Worker #2: More fanservice, more rushing.
Worker #3: More appeal to fans —> Proper LN adaptation
Boss stares at Worker #3
***Boss monologue: More fans = more money (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ ****
Boss: You’re a genius. Let’s make GGO 2-cour!
—————————————————————————-
Not that I’m confirming GGO is the entire 24 episodes,
but I see potential for it reaching 15+ episodes.
Do you think this may happen XD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38W6G3Ud7ms
2-cour Phantom Bullet? Unlikely. I think there are more LN readers eagerly awaiting Mother’s Rosario than Phantom Bullet so it’s more likely that the second half of SAO2 will cover Mother’s Rosario and probably Caliber. Phantom Bullet is also fast-paced so extending it to 2 cours will require a lot of anime-original material.
I’m kind of glad that Kirito’s identity was found out quickly by Sinon and didn’t turn into episodes of him tricking her. Yeah she’s pissed, but better than if he had deceived her for a long length of time.
I was smiling at how awkward the atmosphere became after Kirito revealed his identity. XD
For this episode, I liked how it kind of showed how different players like Sinon and Deathgun are affected by VRMMO’s; Shino for example, used the game to create a different personality for herself while Death Gun who had played as a member of Laughing Coffin maintained his position as a murderer as he came to GGO.
My guess is Spiegel = Death Gun
I said the same thing as soon as I saw him, why would they introduce a non-female character unless he is evil? If not in Kirito’s harem then automatic suspect.
You make it sound like any male character who isn’t friendly with Kirito at their first meeting is a villain.
Reminisces SAO Season 1
Oh, wait… you’re right.
Show Spoiler ▼
Spiegel was standing there at the same time Death Gun appeared though. Explain that. :3
I think more than one person is involved with Death Gun.
Why would he have two avatars and double entry into the game though? It is technically possible, but very difficult. He’d also have to win two matches virtually simultaneously… also technically possible, but for someone who was complaining about barely reaching semifinals last BoB… I doubt it.
You have never multiboxed on WoW?
I wouldn’t want to multibox FPS shooters. Much harder to than WoW to multi. I’m not NGNL’s Kuuhaku. That’s just not fun.
Death Gun would need to be at least a two man team. One person shoots a player in the game while the other kills him IRL.
I can’t figure out the motive though, killing people because you’re jealous over their performance in a computer game seems a bit much.
@turin i think knowing more about laughing coffin (next episode maybe?) will give us another hint
The OP seems to give a good hint that Death Gun is a team effort. Kirito is surrounded by three shadows and Shinon is being pulled down by multiple pairs of hands.
Noting that he would have to be using two AmuSpheres at the same time.
That’s not actually possible.
You don’t have to guess. We saw Death Gun’s login name in previous episode and confirmed it was Kyoji^ http://i.imgur.com/2iVOkYx.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20II%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2007.jpg
Rewatch this scene, but turn up your speaker volumes.
The idea of using the sound of machinery powering down instead of the usual-anime-awkward sweatdrop kind of enhanced the comedy.
https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20II%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
Swinging sounds and switching off sounds are reminiscent of a certain film franchise? Check.
Now I’m curious to the sound effect they’ll be using if Kirito deflects shots from an energy weapon.
https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20II%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2028.jpg
Hearing this right after?
Hey, that’s Death
Vader….I mean Darth
Gun. Nevermind.It would have been perfect if they added a deep wheezing sound whenever Death Gun isn’t talking.
SWO: Star Wars Online
Battle over at Cloud City
Kirito – You killed those players. You killed my father.
Darth Gun – No Kirito. I am your father.
Kirito – No. No. That can’t be true.
Darth Gun – Search your feelings Kirito. You know it to be true.
Kirito – No… No No NO NO NO….
We all know what happens next
In the novels, Kirito says the Kagemitsu G4 reminds him of an old American SF movie where the people used light sabers to deflect bullets.
And here you go, a relevant fan art.
Sword Wars II: The Phantom Bullet
For people wondering about the ending montage, the tattoo is the symbol for the SAO PK Guild: Laughing Coffin. They were featured briefly in the SAO side stories that were animated. I’m expecting more Kirito flashbacks to SAO days to better flesh out how bad this guild was.
I would uninstall if someone knifed me up front like that
Would you rather be knifed from behind? or while someone crouches into a prone position after kiting you? That’s now FPS’s do it now a days.
The strongest & rarest knives are amongst most valuable tools desired by shooters.
Sinon need not worry about beating Kirito, he’s already destined to
absolutely destroybeat her, his plot armour is so damn thick you cannot tell it even exists. After all he brings a sword to a gun fight and wins anyway 😛At this point GGO should really be called Star Wars Online, it’s got
lightsabresphoton swords,bounty huntersgritty players in it for the money,the Force, Kirito bullet dodging, andmotherf*cking Darth VaderDeath Gun.Yes Kirito, he is your father 😛
those coincidental similarities are so insane!!!..Next we’ll see this shows version of Jar Jar binks, the true sith lord hahaha…oh god no.
Appear Yoda will be will he not?
Sinon should be worrying about the fanservice SAO fans will be expecting from her then…
Ass shot? Check.
Panty shot? Check.
Front shot? Check.
https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20II%20-%2005%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
As for me, I’ll be waiting for deredere Sinon.
If she does go dere…..
A pity the view does not get lower then.
Pity she’s not wearing slave Leia’s outfit
http://i.imgur.com/dmfJySO.jpg
I almost yelled “Use the Force, Kirito!” when he initially found himself in a pinch under rain of bullets from his first opponent…
And,we can hope for Sinon meeting Leafa, some talk about Kirito, and “It’s not like that, he’s my brother”
“all that’s left is for some awesome action scenes that involve Kirito destroying people in a shooter with a melee weapon.”
To which i think that’s one of the major draws of this GGO adventure; that Kirito is going to play this game in such an unconventional play style. Now anyone correct me if im wrong, but the way i understood the avatar aesthetics of this futuristic world is that the virtual reality projections of yourself look real (based on some algorithm that takes data about your real world self and uses it to create an avatar), which is why people in the virtual world hit on players as persistently as they do and which is why male and female characters get just as embarrassed as they do in the real world when they are half naked. That’s how ive always seen it, Or am i wrong and it’s really just the show forsaking the fact that it’s just a game so it can add some “real world social elements”
People get hit on in regular MMOs anyways. Also in VR worlds, your consciousness is inhabiting your VR body, so if people are staring at you while you’re naked most people would feel a bit embarrassed.
In the 4th arc of SAO, there’s an American player in the 4th BoB who goes Naked Snake on everyone and kills them with CQC. Knife and Gun.
I am aware that people get hit on in real life MMO’s as well as the fact that real appearances where maintained in SAO because of Kayaba is SAO I. What im asking is if the virtual avatar people inhabit look real. In our world, people getting hit on in MMO’s isnt as “intimate” as it is in the SAO universe, which is why im asking if the virtual avatars looks borderline real or just real in general. How advanced is the virtual reality in the SAO series is what i want to know
Appearances are only retained in SAO because Kayaba was trolling. Players get to choose/make an avatar in ALO/GGO.
It took us 1 month but the great Gary Stu of all time is back with a vengeance!
Using his glowing pointy stick, he swats bullets that travel faster than the speed of sound like they were traveling in slow mo!
Not only that, his Gary Stu radiation has already started melting Best Girl’s coodere personality.
Last but not the least, did you guys notice the production value of the episode? Every second of that episode is backed with high quality animations that many other anime this season would kill for.
This episode is worthy of the return of Gary Stu in action
The fight looked awesome, as expected, the beginning had some off looking shots though if you take a look at the first 5 screenshots.
I’ve never seen Kirito look so terrified he’s never had fear in eyes and they both know each other that’s whats freaky
NICE Sex Appel Sinon
SAO ain’t Sword Art Online… It’s Sex Appeal Online!
Well done episode. Trap Kirito got outed at the most inopportune moment heh. Well might as well get it over now, at least he covered his eyes like a gentleman, though misleading Sinon like that to take advantage of her was in poor taste.
Anyways, it seems Shinkawa dood doesn’t like Kirito getting close to his gurl hehe.
Battle was ok, a bit drawn out but at least acknowledges the fact that these people have hit points, the shock of getting stabbed must have prevented a counter attack heh.
Ohhh I wonder if Death Gun is PoH from Laughing Coffin. I remember them being made fun of in S1 but they were quite an important bunch backstory wise. Too bad it wasn’t extrapolated upomn. SAO keeps haunting Kirito.
They really dragged out the death, in reality it took less than 2 seconds.
this is the first time i ever sees an FPS game ala counter strike is played like Japanese RPG.
And one of my favorite moments from the LN doesn’t disappoint! God did they do the scene between Kirito and Deathgun justice. That moment when he realizes its someone from Laughing Coffin, god sooooo good.
So… yeah, if you think its serious now you haven’t seen anything yet. SAO haunts Kirito and like I said last week I hope that part of the backstory is told in greater detail in a mini arc of its own since its not gone into to much depth in the LN. I was really hoping they were going to make it as part of the original SAO anime but that never happened so heres hoping they do it justice in the anime like they’ve done everything else. It’s not a pleasant story but it would explain that fear Kirito has very very well…
I can’t wait! 😀
Awww come on, Sinon. Don’t be a bitch. He really need your help! “I’ll explain the bare minimum. Then we’re enemies.” …. WHAT DID HE DO WRONG!? All he did was finally tell you the truth!! Goodness! You’re gonna let a new user die!!!
… what the hell!? So if a guy hangs out with a girl, he’s automatically her BOYFRIEND and can’t ever be a friend!? This is a problem I been having with anime for years. How come every character in the show automatically thinks “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” whenever another does anything remotely considered social interaction with a third??
Because Japan thinks Americans are so liberal they’ll make out with every stranger they see. While Japan promotes the idea that teenagers should be so shy that holding hands is like having sex. See by lonelislands.
It’s a cultural thing that does not only exist in Japan. A lot of Chinese people (especially traditional ones) are very conservative in nature. I believe that Asians in general are like that (take note that I am not saying every Asian fits that description).
However, it is true that those who did not have the chance to interact with foreigners much do tend to think Westerners are very liberal. One example is the French, because we never kiss anyone on the cheeks, and so seeing that in real life or hearing about it causes a lot of us to believe that Westerners are generally very “open”.
I do not know about Japanese history, but I do know that in ancient China, woman have to follow very strict rules as someone’s bride. I believe that, however, Japan is not promoting the idea that teenagers should think of holding hands as if it was the same as having sex.
It is only a matter of difference in perspective. It is most definitely not a horrible thing that someone has a shy personality. As I am not sure what are the implications of your comment, I do not want to make rash assumptions about your post.
And for “starss”, you can not really trust the portrayal of society in media. I mean, a lot of cartoons, movies, animes or other kind of media contain many exaggerations on how the society works and are most of the time filled with stereotypes. I remember watching “Kick-Ass 2” and was wondering if Westerners talk about sex and speak profanity in the public very openly. If I were to make any assumptions of how a different culture is based on the movie itself, I would probably make many comments that would be insulting to others.
There is no need to be mad. While there is some truth to it, it isn’t exactly how Asian culture works. In real life, it is actually a form of respect. Maybe it is different for you, but personally I would not want to intrude into other people’s relationship. What that means is that I do not want to hang out with a girl who already has a boyfriend. I mean sure, I could, but why exactly would I do that? Thinking from the other person’s view, it can actually cause some stress to the boyfriend and damage the relationship. It is better to believe that the other person might be the boyfriend/girlfriend and ask for the truth than to ignore it and make mistakes which might be detrimental to the couple.
By the way, this might be a sensitive topic (especially when it involves different cultures and races). In order to make it more clear, I would like to say that not all Asian culture is the same. An example is that the Japanese is probably the most respectful and traditional in East Asia. I do not speak for all the Asians out here and this comes from my personal knowledge and experience. 😛
In the case of Shinon getting angry, well, put yourself in her shoes. If someone tricked you in that way you would at least be mildly annoyed too.
In the case of ‘hang out with a boy’ = ‘boyfriend’, I chalk that up to stupid hormonal teenage brain at work. Don’t tell me you didn’t encounter morons like that during your high school or university/college years.
I knew it that SAO made a rip-off of Star Wars the moment that kirito gained its lightsaber.
Err, sorry, I mean beam sword. Still, the whole death gun scene was creepy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fI94jdJ8SM&list
All in all, the episode can be summed in these few words….
Jedi Kirito vs. Stormtrooper marksman and taking him down using The Force (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgV9ue8ZNKk))
Jedi Kirito meets his father Darth Gun
Jedi Kirito reveals that he’s a boy to Princess Sinon (who happens to be his long lost sister! GASP!)
To those who question Kirito’s OP-ness….. Here’s what Vader has to say….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sKAiY8xl88
Right. Giving up.
The first three episodes were actually decently watchable, but last week’s was on the edge, with things like the bike literally just there for Kirito to show off with (a real MMO with a ‘feature’ that next to no one could practically use would have been the subject of a firestorm of forum complaints and changed ages ago), but this week, you have said ridiculous MC being an absolute and utter prick to someone who he’s literally just met 5 seconds ago; in the process implying things that didn’t happen with someone who he was literally just lying about his gender to; in front of said person, who is, understandably, still less than happy with him – all for apparently no reason other than to narratively assert that he’s the alpha male, that all the females belong to him, and no other male character that isn’t a villain is allowed to have agency.
Seriously. I didn’t actually mind the whole lightsabre to a gunfight thing, since that was halfway properly justified. But the above encounter just reinforces why as interesting as the settings are, the character ‘writing’ is and always has been the bane of this series.
I agree that things would be better without the haremish elements and a few more interesting male characters(besides villains) but other than that this is a work of fiction set in a futuristic setting which means it has no reason to have MMOs similar to the ones we play and dropping a series because the MC isn’t ‘nice'(by your standards) must be the lamest reason I ever heard for dropping a show.
THIS EPISODE ROCKS.
This is one of the reasons why GGO has to be animated!! Dear, that action scene!
Although it’s still a bit awkward to include swords in a gun fight… but it’s so cool how that Star-Wars-like celestial sword swing against bullets. Kirito, you’re the man!! XD
But what surprised me is Sinon’s —
Okay, she’s pretty. Reminds me of Asuna. Somewhat.
Yey! OP Kirito is back! oh kirito you haxxx! question for LN readers, in GGO is there voice chat? are their voices masked or the same as their normal voice? Couldn’t sinon / others notice her voice is a bit deeper?
0-100 real quick
https://randomc.net/image/Sword%20Art%20Online/Sword%20Art%20Online%20II%20-%2005%20-%2021.jpg Mace Kirito
I feel that this series is goin to show gun-kata technique more, since its more to do with ‘close combat with guns’. The opening scene where kirito fights death gun shows stances similar to gun-kata
I’ve felt somewhat lukewarm towards this season thus far so it’s a tremendous plus to see this kind of gravitas added to the BoB arc. Kirito FINALLY showing some real signs of PTSD in reaction to the former-Laughing Coffin player is something I am nothing short of giddy to witness. Not because I hate his character, mind you, but rather I saw it as a missed opportunity in the first season’s second arc.