Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online is not an alternative to Sword Art Online. Instead it assumes you've watched the first two seasons of SAO and is simply a story set in the same universe. That means that instead of the story being about Kirito and friends, it is about a girl with a height complex who plays in Gun Gale Online as a pink loli and talks to her gun. The story initially is not bad and the plot makes sense. As the anime goes on however, it starts taking GGO way too seriously and treating it as if it's real life instead of what it truly is, a game. This causes many scenes to feel very unnatural since people care way too much about dying in a game. It then goes on to try to raise the stakes even more by bringing death in real life into the mix but this time it makes no sense at all and make the scenes feel even more out of touch with reality. Another detail is that the gun of the main character starts talking back to her at several occasions which isn't something that happens in SAO and is kind of weird. If the anime would have kept it at a simple tournament in GGO it would've been fun to watch and a good anime but the way it tries to raise the stakes in a stupid way kind of ruins the story. The characters aren't bad but they're weirdly written. We're shown that the main character has a height complex since she is tall and it bothers her a lot. Then at some point in the anime she magically gets over it because "She fought for her life multiple times" aka she played a shooter game. The way characters act in the game also often feels unnatural since the game is treated as real life. Characters do also have good moments though and can be fun to watch. The animation is solid, it's not perfect but it works well enough for the story it's trying to convey. The sound is good and matches the anime well if you don't care about the stakes that were raised for no reason. The voice acting is fine and it's neat to hear that characters and their avatar sound different. Overall this anime can be fun to watch if you don't care too much about the story but just want to see a pink loli killing people in a game. The story however isn't good and seeing as it doesn't add anything to SAO I don't see much reason for watching this.

SAO2 did it right having femboys, you lose the only good part of it here so what's the use? Seriously though, each character is so shallow. Writing is just frustratingly bad. There are parts where they try to make things seem like a big deal, but we're just watching some people play a game, which would be okay if they didn't desperately want it to be more than that. This is better watched imagined as an unscripted let's play than a written story... It's sad, the only enjoyment I got off this was fantasising about playing a game like GGO. Like the imagination the show led me to was better than any of the writing here. The issue with that is I also get that from the rest of SAO with slightly more competent writing. Why make this when SAO2 is in the same universe and has femboys!?

This title is placed after the events from the mainline of GGO storyline. Personally, I was hoping to learn something new about this world. Why? Because the first half of SAO II 's episodes were really interesting and I wanted to know more. Sad to say that didn't happened. I would like to add, that I am a huge fan of most of anime and usually overrated them. Unfortunately to this series, at one point I even felt tired watching this. The first six episodes were pretty good. Another six were avarage. Many of the dialogues were quite funny. But the problem always started when the story turned to the character of Pitohui. At moment like that there was a magical distortion of logic and physics, and the narrative of the episodes became chaotic. Really, if I had to point, what downgrades score of this anime, it's mainly character of Pitohui! She is so hopeless, annoying, overpowered for no reason, that she makes to the viewer feel really bad. Behind this character is standing just nonsense. There is a lot to say about other things as well, such as "talking rifle", but it would be a waste of time. Plus, this ending. When in the real world the main character finally meets the person from Pithui's avatar, we learn nothing. She is presented like, deep talk about her problem of suicide didn't exist in the entire previous 6 episodes at all. I felt like, it was just a PRANK... Summarizing my short opinion, if you are a fan of SAO then you have to watch it. However, don't expect to learn something new about the universe of this series. These few episodes can be play in the background, when after finished you will say that they were only "fine". To be honest, I had a better time, more laughed and enjoyed with the specials of SAO- Sword Art Offline.

Compared to Sword Art Online, SAO Alternative is an enjoyable watch. The characters are likeable, and it somehow made Gun Gale Online fun. So fun in fact that if the game were to exist in the real world I might want to play it. The side story also really hit home on how online connections work and how it's unsurprising for someone to have an avatar that strays away from who they are in real life. Sometimes you get to meet new friends, other times you may meet crazy people. Either way, the connections made could inspire people and hopefully change for the better. Construction-wise, they alleviated the exposition problem SAO tends to have and its plotlines made a lot of sense. The ending is a bit unexpected, but satisfying. It's not the most groundbreaking show, but I enjoy it more than the main franchise.

Gun Gale Online has been sitting on my Netflix queue for a while, having enjoyed the original SAO and sequel which gave us this firearm friendly story arc. Some of the manga has been on my shelf as well, for little over a year now, and I started reading it the other day. Manga's going well but I just had to jump on and finally view this series. So what's my take on it? Loved it! So I'm a gun lover myself and have played hundreds of hours in first and third person action shooters, so I'm more intrigued by GGO than Alfhiem as far as game worlds within the SAO franchise. The variety of weaponry featured is extensive and goes beyond even Call of Duty offerings. Seeing the actual military unit using FALs was pretty cool. I love the main character of Karen/LLenn. The contrast of a young woman with a complex about her height playing as a pint sized avatar (and kicking ass) was very endearing. I loved her fighting style of don't stop moving and mag dump everything. Miyu/Fukaziroh was hilarious, seeing her running around with a pair of MGLs was like a comedic Revy with high explosives. Won't spoil anything, but Pitohui is cra-ZEEE. Her and M both, but Pito especially. The pacing is somewhat faster than the manga; we jump right into the first Squad Jam combat and M's mansplaining dialogue is cut way down so everything moves at a good click. The story rounds up fairly quickly in twelve episodes, and we do get some insight into a few other players, most notably the younger girls of Shinc. So all I have to complain about is that was over too fast. I enjoyed GGO, both in game and out, but I wanted to see more. Yeah maybe Pitohui may not actually have learned anything at the end, but (spoilers) she's still young. Otherwise I had fun and I'll gladly watch this again.

After being a huge fan of SAO for years I can't believe I've only picked up this anime now! I love these some how innocent yet epic battles to the death that SAO portrays. Let's get down to the anime basics! The Story was very sweet and may I say "SAO Cliché"... meaning this is the kind of story I expected from an alternate world of SAO, but I would never hate on it!!! Main character has a problem they must overcome, they fight some people, realize something big and become cool AF! Art; nothing much to say here except I LOVE IT and if you didn't enjoy the style from the very beginning then why did you even pick it up? Sound; the OST was catchy, the guns and grenades left an impact every time they landed and the "sweet sounds" were also up my alley (embarrassing moments, blushing, when they laughed their heads off, etc.). The characters is what made this whole anime worth while. In SAO there are a lot of strong female leads, and although the story sometimes focuses on them and their problems (Asuna, Yuuki, Sion, Sugu) it was never FULLY about them. That's why I liked seeing this alternate world (especially of GGO because SAO S2 was my favourite) where the main character dealing with her problems head on. Overall I throughly enjoyed this anime. I went into this anime having a feeing I would enjoy it since it's from the same world as SAO, but after watching it I realized it's not the same at all. Different group of people, problems to face and overcome and hilariously unrealistic situations you would never find yourself in. If you are a Sword Art Online fan I hope you pick this anime up and give it a chance. If you enjoyed this anime and have never seen SAO then PLEASE... I beg you... watch SAO as soon as you can. (^0^)

This spin-off story from Sword Art Online hits the right notes to be a fun, bite-sized series without trying to be anything more than that. None of our main characters make an appearance (other than a shadowy flashback featuring Kirito), but is set in the Gun Gale game, the same one featured in the second SAO series. The main series is about video games turning deadly. The first SAO features players getting trapped in a video game and dying in real life if they die in the game. The second SAO features a specific player who can kill people. Here the concept of death is much more specific: one player who is trying to recreate that feeling of life and death within video games by vowing to kill herself if she dies during a battle royale tournament. For a short, 12 episode series, it's a nice, constrained vision. It's just enough stakes to carry my interest without feeling like it's trying too hard to be worthy of the SAO name. But at the same time, those death stakes are necessary or it'd be any old tech-centric anime. The battle royale setting works well. While not set up completely like real games like PUBG or H1Z1, the aesthetic, the strategies, the same basic goal is similar. I've always thought battle royale is an ideal genre for Twitch streaming, as the individual match arc can be very compelling, and the same holds true with an anime. I do think it would be a bit hard to watch this without having seen the first two SAO series. Despite being its own story, it leans heavily on the conceptual groundwork laid by SAO, as well as the setting development of SAOII. Sure, it lays out some basics for the viewer, so it's very understandable without the background information, but it's not using its 12 episodes to really bring Gun Gale alive. The series covers two tournaments as well as "real life" stuff with the characters; there just isn't space for extra world-building. Is this a problem? I'd argue no, as I doubt it'd appeal to viewers who haven't seen the first two SAO series, but it is worth noting, regardless. One place where SAO Alternative falters is simply by being predictable. I won't get into further detail there because it's spoilery, but that final episode hits and I was like, "Ah, saw that coming," which wouldn't be too notable, except they reveal the information like it's nothing the viewer could have ever predicted.The show is like, "Surprise!" and I'm like, "The surprise would have been anything else." No matter. It was still fun.

I like SAO. There are parts that I just simply don't like, SAO3 didn't do much for me at all, neither did the movie, and I started thinking that SAO kind of already peaked with the first half of the first season. This made me reevaluate that question. With that I binge watched this in 3 days. This anime starts out really promising, it almost doesn't seem like SAO, I kept trying to separate it in my mind to see if it could be it's own thing but it makes more sense why it's in this universe later on and has a bit more relevance to gaming. Why didn't I watch this sooner? From the research I've done, it doesn't have any relevance to SAO's main story and doesn't have the characters as well as the main being a cute pink avatar that you can't take seriously. All this is from an outsider's point of view. I looked into Fatal Bullet (the PS4 game) and it wasn't as good as I hoped but I figured I'd stick with the theme and see this series just to say I watched all the SAOs other than Offline. All I want from any SAO series now is Death Gun, to see some closure. I knew going in that this wasn't going to give it to me but maybe it could offer something different. So enough foreplay, let's get into it. This series starts out great. I was honestly shocked at how it hooked me, I haven't felt that from SAO in a while. It got me thinking that SAO might be able to start things really good but just have trouble continuing them. This 'alternative' is a one-season thing. I'm glad that they decided to expand out and I would watch another (different) Alternative series. They only reference stuff from the main series a few times so you don't need any other series to see this one. We get a lot of knowledge on not just guns but also some lore and really cool combat techniques. I like the fight coordination, it takes advantage of the pink cute girl avatar and makes her relentless, taking her serious is not a problem. Real life comes into play because it talked about how "If you can drive in real life then you can in the game" which makes sense since it's VR, but it makes me believe that this game is just you basically in another body in a different dimension, same worldly rules and needs, because they eat and drink in the game when they shouldn't technically have to and they even talk about using the bathroom, which I found quite odd. They eat in regular SAO too but this one made me actually question it because food in the digital world can't translate into your real body can it? It's also pretty cool that they now have a feature for the (new) headgear that auto logs you out if your heart-rate becomes increased or you pass out. I have a few nitpicks here and there though. For one, when the plot twist happens, the main "Llenn" Just brushes it off, it doesn't seem to impact her like you might think, it might be because of how exaggerated most anime are but I think they were just trying to move on with the plot. Minor spoilers and stuff out of context for those who watched it. Her gun talks, Clarence is the start of treading into that bad SAO territory, they made a joke out of it at first but then moved on and did stuff anyway. She says "Pechon" specifically with the promise but it didn't happen like that at the end and 'Llenn' never actually picked a place. I make all my reviews differently so this time I'll have a breakdown: STORY: 8, They carried over a concept that fits with the series without straying too far from the source. ART: 8, It's SAO, they have good art, it isn't appealing to see the characters before watching but it makes up for it later so only an 8. SOUND: 7, Nothing that stood out to me, this is mostly a null for me in most anime though. CHARACTER: 7, Peto treats people like trash, they went with more accurate than likable but it at least strays away from SAO standards for the most part. ENJOYMENT: 7.5? Can I do that? I'll round it to an 8 on the actual rubric. OVERALL: 7, I'll admit the second half started to lower in quality compared to how impressed I was with the first half, if it wasn't for this being only one season, I imagine it would have gotten worse but it at least did a good job for a lot of it, good structure.

While Gun Gale Online has been lauded as a show fixing all the problems of Sword Art Online (the franchise it’s a spinoff of), it also created some new ones. It’s a very pleasant and fun show when you watch it with low expectations and you only care about the action scenes and the main characters doing epic stuff; but it suffers from a plot that borders on “so bad it’s good” and doesn’t expand on any of the themes and character arcs it seems to want to explore. It still remains a very fun romp, slightly elevated by an all-female cast that evades most, if not all, anime stereotypes about women; it made me smile throughout, but I will probably forget it pretty quickly. Art and Animation: On the technical side of things, GGO is completely average. The animation is fine for an action anime and I never had the impression the director was taking shortcuts during the action scenes. Since the protagonist’s strategy is based on her speed and agility, the animation does do a good job of showing her swiftness and the fluidity of her movements. The settings are pretty bland, both online and offline: for what is supposed to be a gritty, apocalyptic game, the scenery is very generic and I can’t imagine wanting to spend that much time there. The character design is a little bit disappointing too: except for LLEN (who, yes, is a typical pink-clad moe girl with bunny ears, but this actually does have a character-based explanation), everyone else is very basic. Of course I don’t expect secondary characters to be as unique and flashy as the protagonist, but I do find it a bit unrealistic that no one else wants to customize their avatar like LLEN does. It all adds to the dreary (not in the fun way) atmosphere of the game. One thing I did appreciate a lot is the lack of fanservice: this anime has almost only female characters, and all of them wear pretty realistic and sensible clothing when going into battle. It’s very nice to see an “empowering”, all-female cast that shows you don’t need to look or dress like a fashion model to ride tanks and shoot guns. Music: I liked the opening a lot; I never skipped it and I think it has lots of replay value. The ending is one of those generic calm, cutesy endings and I’ve already forgotten how it goes. As for the background music… Say what you want about Sword Art Online, but their music was composed by Yuki Kajiura, who can make everything seem epic. Yes, you could argue that she didn’t bring her A-material to the series, but even just the Main Theme she composed has enriched SAO more than it deserves. Of course, GGO can’t keep up with that and the music is way less memorable. Nevertheless, it’s still a good soundtrack that serves its purpose well. It may not be as epic and grandiose as SAO’s, but maybe it doesn’t need to be. The fast electronic/rock music is perfect for LLEN’s action scenes, makes everything even more exciting and dynamic, and I really can’t imagine anything else playing in the background. Characters: I was mainly drawn to this series by the premise of LLEN’s/Karen’s character: I am 1,83 cm/6 feet tall, the protagonist’s exact height, and having grown up in a pretty short country where I was always taller than even the boys, I suffered a lot because of it as a kid and despised my body. Being an anime fan, where the female ideal is a perpetual middle-schooler, also didn’t help, and I would have given everything to turn into a petite kawaii girl who could pull off all those cute cosplay outfits. All this to say: I perfectly understand LLEN’s motivation and identified with her a lot. That said, I did fill in some of the blanks with my own experience, and LLEN’s character has lots of blanks. I think the main problem is that, like in most “virtual reality” stories, we don’t see the characters interact with the real world a lot. I really wish we could’ve spent some more time with LLEN offline, maybe see some bullying flashbacks or some disappointing moments in her life caused by her height. The anime only tells us about her vague sensation of perpetual discomfort; one I perfectly identify with, but I think it would have been more impactful to show (instead of tell) us some more about her body issues. That said, LLEN is still a relatable character that’s easy to root for, especially if you too have a reason to escape the real world. The other characters are even less developed, but since LLEN is the series’ undisputable protagonist, they don’t really need to be. M and Pito are mostly there to introduce a mystery element to the story (even though their characterization goes off the rails towards the end), and LLEN’s best friend is hilarious and a joy to watch as a supporting character. Plot: In contrast to SAO, videogames in this anime aren’t a prison and everyone can leave when they want. A common criticism I’ve seen is that this makes GGO less intense and watchable. Is there a point in watching a fight scene when you know it all takes place in a videogame and there are no stakes? There is a point, and it’s the absolute joy LLEN feels while playing. Knowing that she’s so insecure and unsatisfied in real life, and then seeing her run and hide behind rocks and cavort through the air and doing all the things her normal body keeps her from doing, seeing her just be comfortable in her own skin, is amazing. That’s what makes every action scene such a shot of pure happiness and adrenaline: seeing the happiness and adrenaline on the protagonist’s face. It’s like watching sports, watching someone having the absolute time of their life doing what they do best. In the screenwriters’ shoes, I would’ve gone all in on this: make some sort of sports anime in which LLEN learns something about herself through playing, maybe exploring the themes of escapism, self-worth, the implications of virtual reality in general etc. Unfortunately, that is not the direction the anime ends up going in. We do get our high-stakes plot eventually, and while the race to save someone’s life may sound like an exciting premise, these more plot-oriented episodes kill any budding character development we may have had. The character this all revolves around, the one LLEN does everything to save, just isn’t deep enough; their motivations are never fully revealed, not even at the end, and the writers sadly resolve to the generic and uninteresting “They’re just insane!” anime trope, which kills any psychological/sociological themes the series may have had. The finale is particularly disappointing, making everything climax in one big joke. Comedy absolutely does have its place in this series, but I would have loved a more serious ending with a satisfying explanation of the characters’ motivations. Enjoyment: Despite all the criticisms I’ve levelled at this anime, I really enjoyed watching it. It’s because of the very good action scenes, the relatable main character, but especially because it’s an exciting, female-led action and adventure story that doesn’t resort to any of the stale anime clichés about women. The protagonists aren’t wearing skimpy outfits, aren’t good at fighting because they feel the need to protect a male MC, aren’t part of a harem and their lives don’t revolve around romance. They’re just a group of girlfriends living their best lives by shooting guns and grenade throwers. Had the anime focused on character development and friendships, this might even have become one of my favorite series’. Where GGO fails is in wanting to have a typical high-stakes action plot at any cost without keeping the tone consistent. It’s a fun ride, but don’t expect anything profound or innovative about it.

I kinda wish this show wasn't called SAO. People probably wouldn't have paid nearly as much attention to it that way, but it wouldn't have been hamstrung by the poor worldbuilding of GGO and we could've had a more polished story. Speaking of which, the story is quite personal and has rather low stakes, and I liked that. The premise took some getting used to, but in general I noticed more thematic coherence than in the actual SAO. The characters were enjoyable, quite well written and had nice designs. The pacing kinda blundered by having the first episode be chronologically third and spending a bit too much time on the first major event. The second event then proceeded to drag on a little longer, but the conclusion was alright in my opinion. The action wasn't really like a video game, with some characters having unfair advantages and others passing obvious exploits off as new competitive strategies. I feel that the previously established rules of GGO led to this problem and the show would've been better off by making up a whole new game. The animation was fine, but not really exciting. The sound however, I found rather pleasing. Overall the show was fun, but I felt that I could've spent my time watching something better.

Well I will first say that i have watched all of the episodes. It was interesting to finally see a Sao without Kirito. Though lets get straight to the point. LLENN was too plain. WOW at first she wanted to play GGO because of her.......short height. If you see in the anime she was going through a lot of games but they didn't show any interest to her. Well that hit a laugh but is there nothing more about her. She may be different in real life but that shock me to hear a anime about a pink loving loli. I was quite excited since I heard a lot of this upcoming anime. Most annoying episode was the last episode sadly, I was fascinated with pito and stuff but to find out that it just ends there it just makes me feel wasted. After LLENN wins against pito everyone just acts like nothing happened like BAM happy ending. Well praying that Sword Art Online: Alicization in the fall 2018 goes good since i heard it is interesting!

I'm going to start this review with the bad points and try to turn it around with some good points so don't get salty if I bag it out a little, I am going to bounce back with some compliments. Alrighty, so we have another Sword Art Online show in the sequence that is in the "gaming" anime genre. But as you probably noticed the "gaming" is in quotations for a reason. There seems to be a stigma on this genre that, if you are going to write some media content for it, you won't bother learning anything about it nor anything in regards to anything actually, just write on a whim with your 300IQ brain for solid deus ex machina actions shots. SAO Alternative: GGO is no exception to this stigma. Throughout the entire show I consistently felt myself pausing mid episode just to take in the level of "On what planet did you write these people from?". It seemed like every player in GGO which is labeled as a "hardcore PVP tactical battle royal" style game, had a hard time grasping any sort of game mechanic, for example; - Using cover to evade bullets or hide from your enemy, this seems very straight forward, but not once but multiple, MULTIPLE times there are teams displayed in a tournament draft standing at a crossroad or any sorta open area with no cover, pointing in every direction saying "yea man this direction is clear", like what? what? You had to have someone pointing in every direction to establish that? You had to put 4-8 members of your squad out in the open to determine if someone was on the road? That was just the tip of the ice berg. - We have a character say his "favored terrain is Urban" combat, such as a city, while he is in a full green camo attire, if that's the terrain you wanna fight on WHY ARE YOU NOT DRESSED FOR IT! (this wouldn't be as such a peeve if the character wasn't THAT character) - Endlessly firing on your enemies position will eventually kill them? - Endless ammunition, except for plot purposes. (Claiming you have 700 rounds in reserve, then killing 2 people and saying you're down to 300 after 2 bursts) - Duel wielding grenade launchers with ease one scene, having to brace one with both of your legs the next? - Not wearing helmets? Dying from something because the player chose to not have something that is "cosmetically" unappealing? GJ2 I'm looking at you. - Teams being placed more than a 10 minutes trip apart, meaning the map is large enough to accommodate that, even with 25 teams, that's a LOT of downtime and comp games that have a large portion of downtime, aren't really fun to watch. - A whole lot of "Leader", "Captain", "Friend", "Partner", "Comrade" call outs, I want to know the dudes name, I want to know who side characters are and what they're about, when someone is just refereed to as "Leader" by everyone in his squad it gives off a HUGE red flag. - From previously watching the GGO ark in SAO its told that there is a point buy system in the game, but they're never actually told what they do, giving the impression that Karen's character is just "unnaturally" fast and not a point buy? 10/10 balancing, someone should call Ghost Crawler and tell him hes in an anime. - People resigning because they didn't want to be shot? What? You're in a shooting simulation game, YOU'RE GOING TO GET SHOT MATE! - Being within 200m of 2 teams shooting at each other, in a leveled field with no cover, and not having vision of them? ---------------- End of "gaming" related peeves (Shallow Characters) - Besides maybe a handful, most of the lead roles just had nothing really to them, the characters wern't really fleshed out further than 1-2 lines in a bio page about someone. Not to mention non-lead roles were literally the same people just named differently all wearing the same skivies. (Scene focus and direction) - A lot of weird scenic shots, like yea we get it, its another world, but it just looks like mountains from a hiking adventure with some rundown houses and so many still shots, like usually still shots are thrown off by a panning camera, or like something else, but when its a long shot, and you can barely see someone, and the only thing moving on the screen is the 6 pixels that make up their mouth its like, please do something different. (Deus Ex Machina) (Did i mention deus ex machina? DEUS EX MACHINA) - Soooo much deus ex machina, and oh man I can not stand that shit. (Pacing) - Its kinda weird and over the place, the action scenes are decent, fast paced and usually enjoyable, but they then get followed up by 10 mins of standing still "explaining" how something worked. Now this would be ok, if it didn't come off like, opening a fridge (obviously with explosions and me screaming and what not), then me saying "see, it keeps my beverages and food cold, allowing it to have prolonged life and eat it at a later date at which i see fit and that's how I'm able to give you this product here and now rather than buying it anew" and then you going "Whoa, that's crazy planned thinking". Its just explaining shit that's either obvious or so basic that "she shot at them while they stood still, impeccable" is dumb and boring. ------------------- End of Peeves (Yay?) (Story) - The story isn't really anything to write home about, but in this anime day and age we all know about the fabled, "Lets make an anime about this LN or Manga that has a built up to be lengthy story, and only bring out 1 season that barley covers the first 10 chapters so that people purchase the original media" and that kinda shit is annoying. There are far too many shows that deserve squeals and endings that will never be, this not being one of them. In the instance that, its more written as a one-shot, there's no real BIG story, but its straight forward what the course of the show will be, and it all gets wrapped up at the end so you're not like, "DAMMIT WHY"D THEY CLIFF HANGER THIS SHIT AGAIN!" (Audio/Art) - I did mention this in peeves, but there are a lot of nicely drawn section that aren't the action scenes, though they did throw a decent amount into that explosion budget. VA was pretty good, would have been superb if it had on point characters to match. (Action and enjoyment) - Now I'm not gunna lie, I do really like the action scenes in the whole SAO series, and if i was to put aside my game peeves, this is no different, its easy on the eyes, fast paced and silly OP characters mulching others, as silly as a bunch of it looks, you can't say that a lotta the scenes are pretty darn cool and really chill to watch after you get home from work and don't want to actually think about shit. ------------------- End of Compliments TL;DR Do watch if - You like your regular SAO quick paced OP action scenes and a quick rounded story ark. Don't watch if - You get triggered by the way the anime game genre is, where the authors are more writing fantasy, in the sense that they want to write what ever they want to write, but use the gaming genre because its the "in thing" then don't actually look into the product itself or do any research about it, just throw some random ideas and shit together and go Michael Bay.

A fun show as long as you don't look to much into it. Had fun. It has more plot holes and inconsistencies than I can count, but you should still be able to enjoy it, as long as you're not to picky about it. To be honest, I slammed my head against the wall a couple of times while watching this show. If you've ever played FPS games, some situations will leave you baffled as to how stupid and unrealistic they are, given the skill level some of the characters our protagonists face should have. I personally ain't the kind of guy to let that kind of stuff ruin my fun on a show I watch for pure entertainment (the story doesn't rely on a highly believable setting and there is no way in hell I am taking a SAO show seriously, unlike most people who insist on doing it), but if you're the kind of person who is unable to do such a thing, I won't recomend this to you. I personally just moved on from those moments. In regards to the story, which I'll refrain from spoiling as much as I possibly can, I did not like how rushed the ending felt. The Pitohui situation felt like it should have taken more to solve. Apart form that, the writng was nice. Not great, but nice. The art was disapointing. If there was one thing I have high expectations from any show with SAO in it's name is great art and music. Some of the scenes felt half assed to be honest. It was good in comparison with the average anime, specially those bulllet shots, but most of the other scenes dropped the quality quite a lot. Last thing I'd like to write about is the characters. I'd have liked to see more development of our MC, though 12 ep anime is a 12 ep anime. Can't do everything with just one season, but I feel time was wasted on pointlessly prolonging shots and scenes that should have taken was less time to do. Apart form that, you can't really go that wrong with cute girls, because everyone will like them anyways, unless you majorly fuck up, which didn't happen. As I think enjoyement is the only score that should ever matter, I give this anime an 7/10.

REVIEW ALMOST FREE OF SPOILERS The Story (5/10) is basically like this. How to make a Sword Art Online spinoff: First: Take some subject that is famous on gaming world right now (for example Battle Royale like Player Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG), Fortnite, Battle Royale, etc, etc). Second: Create a kawaii character, give him an OP (OverPower) partner in his first tournament and invent a Story of working hard to play better. Third: Give him the obvious prize. Fourth: Take one of the characters of the game and give him an evil personality. Fifth: Enfrent the Evil character against the Good character. Sixth: Give the obvious ending. Seventh: Sit, relax and enjoy the money shower comming. Last: Repeat. Art (9/10) is great. Explosions, injuries, abilities, etc looks great like any other SAO. Sound (9/10) is nice and work good with the differents weapons (a little off the real sounds). Music gives a good ambience. Characters are mediocre (5/10) like I said in the Story analysis. I do not enjoyed (5/10) the series. I just wanted to know if all the predictions I were were true, and they were. Overall (6/10) is just an anime to fill the blanks of your week waiting for something that you would like to see. And as I suspected there is an announcement of a new season (repeat, repeat, repeat).

I'm not going to say that the original Sword Art Online is bad - that'll just trigger fans. But something we can all agree on is that it is very controversial. When I heard about Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, I didn't pay much mind to it since, well, it's SAO. I only got around to watching it after watching a few Youtube vids saying it's nice, so I just went ahead and watched it. I wouldn't say that it was the worst decision I've ever made, but I was... disappointed. I had high expectations for the story. Karen is a taller-your-average-female-japanese character that has insecurities about her height. She decided to play VRMMORPG games because of these insecurities, wishing to become a cute and short person. I liked this aspect, since the main character has actual motivations why she's playing GGO. Don't get me wrong, I like stories that are written around characters who are all about gaming and nothing else, but I just like how it adds a bit of depth to the protagonist. So far, I've only been saying good stuff about the story. So why the 6? (Spoilers ahead) What pissed me off is when after the first Squad Jam, she lost her insecurities about her height without any further explanation. All she said was she had to fight for her life (in the game) and realized that it doesn't really matter (her height, that is). However, there was no real reference or connection between Squad Jam (the tournament) and her insecurities! I know it's unfair to compare another anime to another one, but this move in SAOA:GGO is akin to Kayaba Akihiko saying 'lol I don't remember anymore' when asked by Kirito why he created Sword Art Online! And Pitohui. SAOA:GGO started light and fun, but suddenly when the first Squad Jam ended and the story focused on Pitohui, the anime took a nosedive to darker territories that don't suit its previous vibe. I just don't feel that it fits. And Pitohui's motivation for her actions is... bland and lazy. There were also characters that were introduced in the story and the anime made it look like they would be important in the story, but surprise surprise they're going to be killed with just a few shots. Pew pew. I'm not going to talk about much technical stuff, such as the art and the sound. But overall I liked both of them. They're not 'holy sh*t this is good' kind but they're definitely nice. Overall, I at least enjoyed the anime. While there were certain points in the anime that made me feel bored I had to skips some parts, at the very least the anime didn't make me think about dropping it and moving on to another show.

I am one of the fans of the original SAO series. I didn't think it was a masterpiece or anything but I did enjoy watching it. It could probably because it was one of the first few anime I watched. I don't know. Talking about this spin-off series. I honestly think this spin-off series was better than the original series. Don't get me wrong though, I still wouldn't call this one amazing or anything close to it. This also had its flaws. I think SAO Alternative: GGO had better fights / battles. Not from an animation perspective, but from a viewpoint of entertainment and logic. Of course there is a lot of plot-armor involved but it wasn't unbearable - at least in the beginning. I quite enjoyed the earlier battles. But, the ultimate showdown between Pito and Lenn was far from enjoyable. To be honest, the final showdown from the first squad jam was also not very satisfying. LENN/Karen is too lucky and the writers went with stupidest ideas in these two showdowns. I don't have any issues with the art. We have some cute characters and I am happy with that. But I do feel like there are lot of lolis - like too many. But otherwise, the art was quite good. As for sound, i loved the ending theme. The opening was alright, but I skipped it for the second half of the season. Now the characters are tricky. I like only couple of the characters. I haven't seen many anime with a female lead, so I cannot compare. But, I think Karen was quite likeable as a lead character. I liked Pito for the most part of the series, but the ending screwed up her character. She changed too quickly. As for the supporting characters, I don't think I particularly liked or hated any of them. I did enjoy the series even though it had its flaws. Honestly the series was a 8/10 for the most part but then I had to drop it to 7 for the ending. It was a really screwed up ending right from the fight between Pito and Lenn upto the conclusion. There was one particular scene at the end that no man can hate, but I would like not to spoil stuff here. So overall I give this series a 7 on 10. For those having second thoughts about watching this series - I cannot say that you might like this series but I definitely think this series is worth a try.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online is an interesting series. It tries to improve upon the formula established by the original series by introducing a more traditional plot structure (ostensibly for those that never managed to figure out that SAO was a thinly veiled slice of life show), but in doing so it fails to capture any of the originality that made SAO a hit with its actual fans. Instead what we get was an above average show that the talking heads of the western anime community can now bring up whenever they decide to repeat their common misunderstandings of the original series for quick cash. I don't mean to suggest that SAOA: GGO was bad. It captures the popular trends and presents the type of story that people want to see. However, it has lost that one element that made the original so unique. The original series presented an insanely complex and intricate world through the eyes of a few characters, without trying to highlight every detail, and give out every answer on a platter. It was an absolute masterpiece for those that enjoy thinking about the media they consume. By contrast, this is just an adventure story, very much like a dozen other stories every season. It's predictably hits the right story beats at the right time, it has a good mix of action and drama, and it plays out exactly as any other story of this type would. This can't escape comparisons with the original at the technical level either. Neither the sound nor the art can stand up to the quality that was on display in the original series. If you want a fun anime, you won't go wrong with this. It's the type of show that will leave you feeling decently satisfied. However, if you're looking for something unique, this falls quite short regardless on what side of the SAO debate you fall on. - Story - The story is well planned, following the traditional narrative arc almost to a tee. It pulls from the common anime tropes of "Friendship is great," and "Fight for what you believe in," but it throws just enough curveballs in the form of mental disorders and psychological stresses that were so prevalent in the previous series. There are a few very clearly delineated arcs that help establish the flow of the story, each lasting a few episodes, and each revolving around a large battle. It's a popular pattern that has worked for many battle series, though it doesn't translate quite as well into such a short series. Due to the accelerated rate at which the story had to progress, there's was very little screen time given to anything that didn't directly serve the plot. The did series manage to make very good use of the world established by the previous series (and created the hilarious situation where those that didn't like the original are now falling over themselves to convince each other that the game world is purely an accomplishment of this series). It understood quite well the source material that the original GGO referenced and managed to reproduce at least some of the common mindset of players of such games. Another nice factor was the thought put into the tactics employed by the characters during the events in the show. Clearly some thought was put into creating a believable set of circumstances and establishing at least some level of reasoning for the way the various groups behaved. However, for all those the story didn't manage to stick with me nearly as well as the original, save perhaps the final arc of the first season. Simply put, there wasn't enough substance in the actual story worth holding on to. It feels like it was made to be idle entertainment, all too quickly forgotten. There were some attempts at themes regarding having a healthy body image, and caring for the mental well being of others, but those didn't really come through very well at the pace that the story was presented. In all, a decent story that can be enjoyed quickly, and forgotten likewise. I give it a solid 7 / 10. - Characters - I had trouble forming an opinion on the characters in the series. In all honesty, there are 3 or at most 4 actual characters to go around. Everyone else is treated as white noise necessary to pad out the VA list, and offer the feeling of a living world. The side cast was never used to communicate or accomplish anything. There were a few calm slice-of-life moments where the side characters worked reasonably well, but even those few moments were wasted to communicate the fact that the lead character had candy and cookies. Of the actual main characters, only the two leads had enough personality to be more than caricatures. The lead character, Karen, was one of these two. This was by far the most entertaining character in the series, with some of the best lines, and a wide range of emotional responses. Through her we get to explore one of the few side themes of accepting yourself for who you are. What more, she's the only character that actually acts in response to the situation. She thinks on her feet and overcomes her own personal demons to accomplish her goals. The other female lead, Pitohui, is more interesting at first glance. When she is introduced, it seems like she has some major issues. Then it turns out that yes, she does in fact have major issues. Unfortunately, her development sort of stalls out there. I applaud the attempt to highlight mental illness in such a way, but I would have found it more interesting to see her change, either in the positive, or even the negative side as the story moved along. Instead, we see the exact same behavior all the way through to the end, when suddenly everything is fine. The only saving grace is that the actual insanity is presented well, both directly and in an implied manner. Of the other recurring characters, the one male character is rather bland. He seems to have a set of skills that is never justified, and his personality can be summed up in a few words. "Quiet. Obsessed. Masochist." The main character's best friend is in a similar boat. "Flirty. Gamer." Finally, the blob of amazons / rhythmic gymnastics girls is just that, a single blob not even worth considering as multiple characters. Also, why did the gun need to talk? That was the most obvious attempt to create merchandizing opportunities I've seen in a while. In all, despite a few extremely well executed personalities, I can't be very amazed at the roster for this show. I'll give it a 7 / 10, but just barely. - Art - The art took a negative turn from the first two series, with a slight drop in the character art, and a major drop in backgrounds. The characters are bland looking, though I can forgive that due to the setting. There's not much you can do to make camo look appealing, even if you color it pink. I do feel like they could have added more fine details to some of the costumes, but that wouldn't have made that much of a difference. Fortunately, they put a lot of work into the range of expressions that all the major characters exhibit, and that work comes through very well. The action scenes are also intense, with a good variety of maneuvers and movements that you wouldn't normally see. There's very real sense of dynamic movement during combat. Though the intensity is quite muted. By far the worst was the drop in the quality of the backgrounds; constantly repeating patterns and textures, a limited color pallet, poor blending with the characters, little detail, and very simple composition. The props and buildings all have the expected shape, with no actual personality, and even the vistas feel grimy and limited. Gone are grand sights of fantasy worlds, replaced with a quickly done forest landscape with some hills in the background, or some common buildings such as a school or a bar. If it weren't for the work put into the characters, I would come down very hard on the series. However, the it's clear that the effort put into the show was focused in one area at the expense of another, which is an unfortunate reality of this mediu…

6.0/10 ~ Best thing that ever came out of SAO I remember going to Japan in 2018 and it was crazy how much this show was being advertised as it was just airing or about to air, I ended up watching this right after the conclusion of the series and decided to rewatch this as I forgot most of what happened when I booted up season 2 today, which... says a bit that I coudlnt remember much past ' Pink bunny girl is fast and pew pew', after finishing this season for a 2nd time, I foolishly went through and rewatched SAOII, atleast the first 15 ep that ft GGO, and wow was this a complete step up from SAO lmfao. GGO probably because it lacks Kirito, Harems, and Incest, is probably the best thing that came out of the SAO franchise, with Accel world being probably a 2nd best, but anime wise was never complete and is just left on a cliff hanger, and a honorable mention to BOFURI being an honorary SAO spin off as it is so clearly inspired by SAO/GGO. GGO has enjoyable characters, is funny and tackles some deeper topics, even if it doesn't do quite a great job at it. It knows what it is and want to be and is just that, which I do appreciate to some extent. As a life long gamer with many fellow female gamers since the early 2000's, I really felt the nostagia of how girls both got treated online and how they tent to be either the best or the most casual of players around. Lynn like her portage Maple really be doing the Moe', cute girls doing cute things in an action packed adventure while being stupidly impressive at their one thing, and honestly I am all about it. I just wish the show had a little more depth, was a little bit better written and the IRL aspects were more emotional and not just felt like large parts of the script were cut out to save time... shame I would recommend this one to anyone that enjoyed BOFURI, Gun slinger girls, Lycoris Rycoil or any Girls with gunz franchises, or if you just really enjoyed SAO season 2 part 1. If you are new I would recommend: reading/watching a synopsis of SAO S1+2, maybe a high light real, then watching this, trust me the 20 or so minute investment will make the little depth of the show actually land a bit and the jokes hit a bit harder.

i watched it because LLENN is cute, the darker themes werent a detriment to that but they also werent all that interestingly done in my opinion they sparked little interest in me but i wouldnt say they were bad, will probably watch season 2, it was definitely better than SAO, that i can say for sure art style was maybe generic but not in a bad way the characters didnt feel shallow but i wouldnt say they felt deep either, this is your run of the mill decent shonen with enough things for some people to enjoy if you think you might like a video game rpg shooter vr anime with a cute girl and some darker themes, you may want to try episode 1 to see what you feel about it

Mannn... This is such a nostalgic trip for me personally. This is my first ever seasonal anime I ever watch, so I might be biased but this anime is awesome. Mind you that I never watch any other SAO franchise. So my review is also gonna be very different from people who is a die hard fan of the franchise. All I know about SAO is that if you die in game, you die in real life too, but with this anime its not really the case, kind of. After doing a little research I found out that GGO is a game where SAO 2 take place. So with that in mind, this is like an alternate universe or something? But they also reference the original SAO in here, yeah idk about the timeline. The story take place in 2026 where VR games are all the rage, now with more safety included. Follow a college student with height complex. But instead of being short complex, this girl have the being tall complex. She try to avoid reality because she is very tall. Really love the unique comedy this anime bring with the tall complex thingy. Like there's one scene where she got kabedon'd and of course it looks goofy because she is taller than the man. Not gonna lie, the comedy in here is always on point, I find myself laughing every episode. Even to the point where I can't wait for the action scene to end just to see the character interaction. Also again that is probably biased because I'm a Slice of Life fans. As a person who don't watch action anime that often, I'm actually quite impressed they can make me hooked on the fight scene. Sometimes I got flabbergasted because before I realize it, the ED song is already playing. Btw, I never skip the ED song because its feel nostalgic, taking me back to 2018 when everything is still okay. While the OP itself, I rarely pay attention because its just sounds like generic action-pumped anime song. Though if its compared to other popular shonen fighting anime, this one is gonna be below average. There are not really any stake at play here because they fight inside a game, even if they're dead, they can respawn. And I quite love that, cus that mean I don't need to grief when I lose another cute anime girls. The MC design is very contrast with each other. In real life we have this tall gorgeus woman, while in game she is a little chubby pink girl, unapologetically pink. Everything is pink about her. Beside the MC, we also have other supporting characters. Its so clever too. We can immediately judge which one gonna play which role in the anime based on their design alone. There's a big plot twist in the last episode, and it can be suspected if you're really keen about every characters, but since I already watch it once, I just enjoy the anime without trying to theorize anything. Though I might say by rewatching the series, its also kind of lose its appeal because the mysterious girl is not so mystery anymore. This might turns out to be a personal yapping down the memory lane rather than an actual review of the anime, but isn't review is also a personal yapping? Yeah idk. Life really has changed a lot since then. I remember I also watch Kobayashi-san as a side anime, but then I stop watching anime. The animation if compared with nowadays anime, of course it will lose. But one thing that stand out is that this anime have a lot of shootout scene. As a fan of FPS games, it is really satisfying to watch barrage of bullet plus cute anime girl on the screen. That's all I can say about this anime, thank you for reading my review :)