Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II launched this week and is streaming on Crunchyroll, six years after the end of the first season in 2018. In 2012, I hopped on the Sword Art Online hype train ( SAO) with millions of viewers. other anime fans. Even though the show remains highly controversial in the anime community, I've always defended the franchise. I enjoyed every episode of the first Sword Art Online back in 2012 and continued to love the second season when Kirito and the gang jumped into Gun Gale Online. In 2018, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online season one was broadcast, bringing a very different perspective on the world of SAO – a completely different world without Kirito.
Kirito, as a character, has never been my main draw to Sword Art Online. I simply love the show's world-building, the myriad of characters, and the stories told in and out of the game. Sword Art Online of course has its flaws, but I feel that compared to the majority of the anime community, I give this series a break and just watch it for fun.
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online (SAOA: GGO) introduced new characters into the same universe as the original series, but the first season of Alternative: Gun Gale Online never achieved the same level of popularity as the original series. . However, SAOA: GGO is currently airing its second season and I remember how ecstatic I was when I heard the initial announcement. However, when watching episode one of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, I could barely remember anything about the story and characters in part one. It's been over half a decade since I last saw them, and despite a short recap OVA from 2018, I felt that episode one could have done a better job of reintroducing the characters from the first season. gradually.
My initial attraction to SAOA: GGO in 2018 was the main character, Karen Kohiruimaki – a character in the game named LLENN. Karen's biggest insecurity is her height, as she is about 183cm tall. I like how Karen addressed this insecurity by creating a game character about 140cm tall. This reminds me that who we are in a game or online can be completely different from who we are in real life, and in 2018, I feel like Karen is the franchise's most relatable SAO character for up to now. I hope season two will continue to explore the real-life side of these characters and how that affects what they do while participating in Gun Gale Online.
Episode one of the premiere of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, animated by Studio A-1, focuses on the announcement of the third “Squad Jam,” a battle royal where teams assemble against each other and defeat each other to achieve the highest possible ranking. LLENN didn't seem too excited about participating in Squad Jam but was pulled into the team when Pitohui, her opponent from the last event, reminded LLENN that she had a promise to keep. That promise is to defeat the so-called Amazons, a group of powerful female players.
Nothing too significant happens in the first episode of SAO: GGO II, except that LLENN (CV: Tomori Kusunoki), Pitohui (CV: Yoko Hikasa) and Fukaziroh (CV: Chinatsu Akasakiare) are a trio of animals. It's worth a watch and I have enough nostalgia for previous SAO seasons to keep watching. I can see myself losing the season if it's just battle after battle with no substance or character drama, but I'm hoping for the best from an animated series that I really favourite.
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II is streaming on Crunchyroll.
©2023 Sigsawa Keiichi/KADOKAWA/GGO2 Project