Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, when i say that i like this anime people may say that, "why do we need to watch an alternative sequel from SAO?" but i thing this anime was better than any of the main SAO Series story. Although the SAO anime was good but this were even much more better because of "GUN", "but isn't SAO 2 also have GUN?" Yes, indeed, but the story were still the follow up of the first one and doesn't go deeper into the world of GGO. With this anime, it give more indepth know-how about the world itself in detail with less real world connection and more into the VR world itself. And the main character also more lovable and adorable(she's an adult with smol character ok not like she's loli) than the Kirito that always had a girl everywhere-anywhere(im not jelly). Also this anime display much more team-work of the group than an individual prowess to win, and also display a newb growth than a veteran player. long-short story, i really like this anime, which starts from an humble beginning to server renown player.

For starters I think that you should try this if you don't care about original SAO You can watch this without watching anything else! It happens after season 2 and main events there are what brings conflict in motion. Still they dont go too deep in what happened and You most likely won't even like both this and SAO. I list what it is NOT so I don't have to mark it as spoiler because I want those that think watching it to see this. GGO isn't Harem. There is no Kirito or male MC altogether here. GGO is smaller scale. Its not about saving world or Huge amount of players. Maybe my biggest plus for this anime is that main antagonist is not pedophile that tries to take part of MC's harem. Characters here are more human and not antagonized overly. Some characters have some unhealthy aspects. I like it but think top 3 questionable fetish and you most likely find them here. I didn't like moments where MC slowed down to question her personality. That is why gave it some minus.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online This show is can be for lot of people. If you wanted the Phantom Bullet arc to be a little more tactical and gun based, you should give this a shot. If you are not a fan of the main series, you probably wont enjoy this either. Characters – 7/10 There are some really good characters in this series, like M and Pito. Pito has complicated beliefs and passions that contradict with the energy of the main characters. She is mixed in as the teacher as well as the antagonist, in a mostly fun story with little conflict. M reflect off of Pito in a semi-stereotypical way, but his expertise in weapons makes him very fun to figure out as the story goes on. The main characters Karen and Miyu are typical protagonists; nothing to hate or be intrigued by. Animation & Art - 6/10 The art is as impressive as the Gun Gale section in SAO II. It’s standard and does the job. The main character’s avatar design is quite good and fits into how she plays the game. The other characters and art style are very typical to SAO. Story - 5/10 The first half of the story was really solid. The character relations and set ups were all intriguing. I wanted to she how the story developed and how the characters would fit into it. When the second tournament began however, I started to care less about what was happening. The driving motive of the antagonist also felt shaky, it didn’t really feel like it was real. Action – 7/10 The action improves on the Gun Gale section of the part in SAO II. Tactics and movement are a lot more defined, which makes scenes for a show trying to replicate a battle royal. Everything is very easy to follow, but still keeps a fast pace. There are some brutal scenes, and although they’re not emotional because being in a game, they are still exciting.

From the get go I was really turned off by the way they made this all bright and warm compared to the brooding original. The complex also seemed rather overplayed -- to be an almost turn off. I guess everyone has their reason to want a new self though--even if it's unintentionally catfishing. Still friends don't care about visuals as much. Didn't realize until years later that this is kind of a doujin of sorts so decided to give it a try from a fresh glance. It was a rough start for sure (took 2 or 3 restarts to actually make it through it.), but I heard even a lot of people who didn't even enjoy the original series rave about how much potential it had-- comparing to the Aincrad arc. After getting passed the 3rd episode though, I see what they meant. It's an easy watch. Sure there wasn't a single surprising moment, and there were some horribly obvious plot armor that was cringey (even for me). But that said, between the contrast of real life to online life as well as "the friendships we made along the way" -- it's a show I'd probably rewatch atleast once. It was also fascinating to watch someone play the game with the game mechanic in mind as well as a technical noob's perspective. Like I said, the show definitely had its flaws..and then some. But it lives up to the original series in it's own crooked way. Had you asked me to rate this when I dropped it, I probably would have given it a one...maybe a two given that I thought it was written from the SAO author. But on second glance -- while watching I was constantly contemplating if it deserved a seven..or maybe a high six. I think it would have been an easier watch had it not been associated to SAO officially, although I understand it's from the same universe. I'd argue it has further resemblance to other shows. But that aside -- trying to give this show the most objective score I can I'll give it an eight due to how fair paced this was. Also, between the last 4 episodes as well as just how beautiful the sound was for this, it does in some way carve out to be a really good watch. It gives me a newfound respect to ReOna and Aoi Eir. They really helped to capture the rollercoaster that this show should have been. To say the least, I was on the edge of my seat. We get to meet Pit in real life too, which albeit cheesy and a bit generic -- was also really cool to see her in relation to her...personality. All in all it's a C or D tier plot-- nothing new, but if you can actually watch your way through it-- it's a B tier production. While I don't think the story writing can really hold a flame to the original creation of SAO (i.e. Aincrad SAO only), nor the darker more edgier concept -- I'd argue it's wayyyyyy better then GGO. It feels like a brighter version of what GGO SHOULD have been. Honestly, I'd even contemplate it might be better then Ordinal Scale which as a whole I REALLY enjoyed. A bonus 10 points that they don't use rape or harrassment at all; additionally no truly shit villains -- just humans playing a game that reflect their real personality

Guns and cute girls. There's the summary. Not complaining though. Story: 5/10 The story is just a generic tournament arc with an added "twist" having to do with one character in the second half that doesn't really affect the plot at all. That being said, the story being told here is not offensively bad and was engaging enough for me to continue watching. Art: 7/10 One thing SAO (almost) never gets wrong is the art, and this series is no exception despite the change in studios from A-1 Pictures to Studio 3Hz. Everything looks lively and cozy, and action scenes are hype-worthy. Sound: 7/10 Another strong point of this series. Despite the somewhat forgettable OP (which is notably uncommon throughout the main series' 100+ episode run and 8 OPs), the ED is super catchy with beautiful visuals, more than making up for it. Voice acting in the original Japanese audio is all solid if not a bit over the top at times. Character: 5/10 While not bad, none of the cast are standouts here. The protagonist, LLEN (or Karen), is tall in the real world and wishes she weren't. That's about as deep as her character goes. The rest of the cast are similarly forgettable. Enjoyment: 7/10 I'm a big fan of some parts of the main series and found a lot to like here. The art and sound were good (as expected) and the series was short enough to not overstay its welcome. Overall: 6/10 Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online is fairly inoffensive. Sporting art with vibrant colors and cute character designs as well as a great ED, but a fairly average story with bland characters, it certainly isn't the worst piece of media to come from Sword Art Online. Recommended for both fans of the series and newcomers (as long as you keep your expectations in check).

This is such a baffling franchise. Not even a month ago, I was an outsider, I followed the common toxic hive mind of the weeb culture, if it's SAO, you must hate it. Turned out, all washed up words for the sake of hate, I enjoyed the first season, and found the second decent as well, but then, I stumbled across this one, the alternative story that the fans praise to death, “This is better than the real thing” they always say, guess what; Not 👏 Even 👏 Close 👏. - Story (6/10): With SAO II, we got to explore the game GGO, as we've been fed, it's a dusty wasteland, filled with dark plot points, but with this side story, we get to see the actual fun part of the game, the competitive side that does not give in to the cliché SAO trope, a literal game of death where the stakes are high until it was not. Karen, a 20 years old introvert with a giant complex, having been always the tallest among her peers, she sought an escape from VR games, she would try several of them until she played GGO because of how tiny and cure her avatar looked. Simple and straight forward to kick in a plot so far. Most of the fun comes from the fact of how competitive GGO under the hood really is, watching it feels like diving into an intense Battle Royal stream by professional, but I have to say, it felt so forced to have the players stress out over a certain somebody's death it had me mumble “Oh yeah, this is SAO, it's been SAO and it's going to remain as SAO as SAO was itself”. Running after this fake goal of mind ruined a big portion of entertainment, having me literally say “It's just a game bro”. The story was very brief that seeing the first 5 episode was enough to get the complete experience, I had already seen all that GGO could offer, and I would argue that it was the better half too. People would make a big deal on how plot-armor reliant SAO was while on the same breath praise the living hell out of how this one was superior in every way. This show literally has a talking, conscious plot armor shoved in on your face more than one occasion. People always miss the hit on the protagonist, and what's the universal excuse? “Ah, she's so tiny”, ok, I'll buy that, not a problem, but for the 100th time in a row? And then they call it luck. And it does not stop there, I guess, missing from less than 10 meters would be a stupid logic, so what do we do in that case? Ah, let's have the P-50 talk and invoke its own will to alter the outcome of the battle. I'm so done. - Art (7/10): It's very weird with this show, I guess I'll have to blame that on the setting. It's very weird to see the character in real life act all moe and stuff while looking moe as hell, only or a few moments later, they are battlefield gorillas covered in dust and scary expressions all over their faces, it was not coherent at all. The huge absence of close combat action (except for like 2 times) took a huge burden on the animators it seems, the scene is moved more by dialog and tactic monologues than it does by sheer movement and motion. Everyone lines up shoot several rounds of fire and then takes cover, all while looking fabulous. - Sound (7/10): Definitely, the weakest in the franchise when it comes to the vocals. None of the voice actors struck me surprised or anything, Pito's laugh was annoying and unbearable to listen too, a bit unnecessarily over the top. And everybody else was just average. The opening and ending theme songs were alright, nothing that keeps you going back, but they were just kind of there. - Character (7/10): Surprisingly enough, a doll plot is driven by some interesting people. Karen was a good lead for this story, Fuka was a great support character and M was just the best, this dude even gives the cast from the main plot a run for their money, that dude should make more cameos in the parent show. Pito, however, was just off-putting. Annoying laugh, no so good voice acting, and contradicting personality, I think that they were trying to push her as a quirky sadist, they managed to promote the sadistic part, but fail everything else. I wouldn't say she's a villain per se, I mean, =It's just a game bruh, but man, she does not get that line. - Enjoyment (7/10): This would have been a notch higher if it stopped at episode 5, by then, I had already seen what the show can offer, but it kept on repeating the same thing over and over again. I gotta give it to the show though, the fact that the stakes weren't as high really made me root for everyone, not just the protagonist, I would be cheering some random background filler squad all the time. - Overall(6.8/10): One thing keeping this show ahead of the original is the fact that it's a standalone show that one can enjoy without having seen the parent shows, it shares the same world, following the events of the Phantom Bullet arc from SAO II but man, everything else it does itself. It's always nice to see references from the parent show but not noticing them cuts nothing from the overall experience. Although referencing the dullest nitpick is more satisfying than anything about the show. Watch with caution.

Exploring a complex in a young woman through the medium of VR battle Royal, is a novel idea, but so many decisions are just wrong or boring, a height problem for the MC is both boring and too subjective to be relitebale, the game is too generic (PUBG with lightsabers), so any setting background is out the window, the decision to go with an action plot is a mistake due to the lack of any conflict in the setting, that in turn can't house anything but mundane characters, with normal boring relationship acted by gamers who love to roleplay. The action plot need a good villain, but neither the setting nor the conflict between the characters can offer any, so we have yandere wanna-be who want to die in a game, which is impossible so what is the value in a narrative about her? is it about suicidal tendencies because the whole thing is too stupid and brushed off with a game of PUBG. A big plus though is the snappy dialogue outside the game, if only it had a better plot, setting and characters it would have been great.

This show consists of 12 episodes of impossible victories and cheap tricks, only to conclude with an obvious reveal that every single viewer will definitely have predicted in the second episode. Would only recommend to someone who also enjoys watching all of the alternate and spin-off versions of a show they once cared greatly about. Even the gunfights, some of which are actually artistically rich, are ruined by glaring inconsistencies. For example, some characters are immediately killed by a sniper round to the head, but others can even survive a magnum round through the eye and still recover with a standard heal item. Consolations: cute characters, yuri, guns, and pitohui.

The original Gun Gale Online season had actual things going on. It made you want to know more about what was going on and who was behind it all and at the end, although a little weak and anticlimactic, it delivered some satisfaction and closure. This one on the other hand is just the story of this super tall girl who's playing the game as a tiny girl and happens to be really good because of plot reasons. That's it. There's nothing else to it. At the end they try and add some sort of story with a villain but it just doesn't work because of the next point; the characters. The characters in this one are bland at best. Most of them feel really artificial. The plot wants you to believe that they're charismatic and awesome but they're just not, they just don't have that organic factor that makes a character likable. The worst one by far is the so called "villain" of the show. Another one of those "ultra strong because the plot says so" aka "we pulled this character out of our arse" characters. It felt to me like they couldn't decide what they wanted this character to be. It starts as a good character and then turns out to be the bad kid in the block and by the end of the whole thing you're not even sure if the character is suppossed to be good or bad or insane or what the hell is going on anymore. The whole mini arc involving the villain is just annoying and the "finale" is lame and kind of weird. Overall, looks good, sounds good, plot is nonexistant, characters are average at the very best.

I was expecting something different, but I found something quite generic. At the time of its release, I watched a few episodes (I don't remember exactly how many) mostly because of the hype surrounding Sword Art Online. However, since I didn't like the premise very much and realized there was practically no focus on the characters we already knew from the main series, I ended up dropping this spin-off quickly. Recently, I decided to give it another chance and watch it all more calmly, thinking that maybe my opinion could change over time. Unfortunately, the result was more or less what I expected: I found it quite bad. Basically, the story follows four characters participating in a Battle Royale within Gun Gale Online, the same game that appears in the second arc of the main series. On paper, the idea of ​​exploring this second game in the canonical universe more deeply seems interesting. Gun Gale always had great potential for being a different environment from Aincrad or Alfheim, with firearms, strategy, and a more competitive atmosphere. The problem is that this potential is hardly exploited. The execution of the idea is very superficial. Instead of truly expanding the game's world, its mechanics, or the impact it has on players, the work ends up being basically a sequence of Battle Royale matches. At various points, it feels more like an "anime version of Fortnite" than a story with its own identity within the franchise's universe. There's a lack of depth in how the game works, a lack of exploration of the virtual world, and even a lack of a greater sense of narrative progression. What could have been an interesting expansion of the universe ends up becoming quite shallow. Regarding the characters, unfortunately, there's not much to praise either. None of them have truly remarkable charisma or a development that makes the audience connect with them. They seem to exist only to fulfill roles within the matches. The only one who initially had some potential for charisma was M-san, who even starts out as an interesting character with a different dynamic. However, as the story progresses, the narrative built around him becomes increasingly exaggerated and even somewhat ridiculous, which destroys much of the little interest he managed to generate. Another major problem is that the game lacks a truly strong narrative objective. There's no major villain, a memorable rival, or a significant threat to heighten the plot's tension. Everything revolves solely around the game's matches, without generating a real sense of danger or urgency. There's a lack of a larger conflict that would give weight to the situations and make the viewer care about the outcome. Ultimately, the feeling is that the story exists only to justify the matches, not the other way around. It's almost like trying to fit a deep narrative into a CS:GO match: it might work if done very well, but here it ends up seeming irrelevant and weak from a narrative standpoint. As a spin-off, it could have enriched the universe of the main game or introduced truly memorable characters. However, what we have is something forgettable, generic, and with very little of its own identity. For those who are big fans of the franchise, it might still have some value in revisiting Gun Gale, but for me, it was an experience far below what it could have been. My final rating is a solid 4/10 and I do not recommend this anime. =================================================================================================================Versão em Português===================================== Esperava algo diferente, mas encontrei algo bem genérico. Na época do lançamento eu cheguei a assistir alguns episódios (não lembro exatamente quantos) muito por causa do hype que ainda existia em torno de Sword Art Online. Porém, como não gostei muito da premissa e percebi que não havia praticamente nenhum foco nos personagens que já conhecíamos da obra principal, acabei dropando esse spin-off rapidamente. Recentemente decidi dar outra chance e assistir tudo com mais calma, pensando que talvez minha opinião pudesse mudar com o tempo. Infelizmente, o resultado foi mais ou menos o que eu já esperava: achei bem ruim mesmo. Basicamente, a história acompanha quatro personagens participando de um Battle Royale dentro de Gun Gale Online, o mesmo jogo que aparece no segundo arco da obra principal. No papel, a ideia de explorar mais profundamente esse segundo game do universo canônico até parece interessante. Gun Gale sempre teve um potencial grande por ser um ambiente diferente de Aincrad ou Alfheim, com armas de fogo, estratégia e um clima mais competitivo. O problema é que esse potencial quase não é aproveitado. A execução da ideia é muito superficial. Em vez de realmente expandir o mundo do jogo, suas mecânicas ou o impacto que ele tem nos jogadores, a obra acaba se resumindo basicamente a uma sequência de partidas de Battle Royale. Em vários momentos parece mais um “Fortnite em versão anime” do que uma história com identidade própria dentro do universo da franquia. Falta aprofundamento no funcionamento do jogo, falta exploração do mundo virtual e falta até mesmo um senso maior de progressão na narrativa. O que poderia ter sido uma expansão interessante do universo acaba virando algo bem raso. Sobre os personagens, infelizmente também não há muito o que elogiar. Nenhum deles tem um carisma realmente marcante ou uma construção que faça o público se apegar. Eles parecem existir apenas para cumprir papéis dentro das partidas. O único que inicialmente tinha algum potencial de carisma era o M-san, que até começa como um personagem curioso, com uma dinâmica diferente. Porém, conforme a história avança, a narrativa construída ao redor dele acaba ficando cada vez mais exagerada e até meio ridícula, o que destrói boa parte do pouco interesse que ele conseguia gerar. Outro problema grande é que a obra não apresenta um objetivo narrativo realmente forte. Não existe um grande vilão, um rival marcante ou uma ameaça significativa que aumente a tensão da trama. Tudo gira apenas em torno das partidas do jogo, sem que isso gere um verdadeiro senso de perigo ou urgência. Falta um conflito maior que dê peso às situações e que faça o espectador se importar com o resultado. No fim das contas, a sensação que fica é que a história existe apenas para justificar as partidas, e não o contrário. É quase como tentar colocar uma narrativa profunda dentro de uma partida de CS:GO: até pode funcionar se for muito bem feito, mas aqui acaba parecendo irrelevante e fraco do ponto de vista narrativo. Como spin-off, poderia ter servido para enriquecer o universo da obra principal ou apresentar personagens realmente memoráveis. Porém, o que temos é algo esquecível, genérico e com pouquíssima identidade própria. Para quem é muito fã da franquia talvez ainda tenha algum valor por revisitar Gun Gale, mas para mim foi uma experiência bem abaixo do que poderia ter sido. Minha nota final é um solido 4/10 e não recomendo esse anime.

It's still enjoyable and could have been better, but the blatant wokisto neofeministo paedophile overhaul (found in most adaptations of good works) makes the anime hard to stomach. It could have been worth a 7, but the 5 wins out because of this ostentatious ideological vomit. A false complex justifying the main character. There is nothing realistic about the main and secondary characters. The characters are therefore developed with a realism. No originality. Throughout the story, we are led to believe that there is real danger generating tension, when in fact it is all just hot air! The animation, on the other hand, is pretty good in my opinion. I watched it until the end because, as I said, it's still enjoyable, but I was hoping for a more adult storyline, and in that respect, it was very disappointing. Not as good as SAO as a whole.

I just finished rewatching it for the second time since it came out, probably about 5 or 6 years ago since the last time I watched it. For some scenes and storylines I even forgot about them. Since there is a second season, I watched it again to find out how the storyline developed from the beginning. The first thing I want to say is, I don't really like female MCs, but since this is still part of SAO I watched it. For character design, graphics, and others, I think there is no need to question the quality, it is already very good and does not reduce the value of the previous SAO Anime at all. The downside for me is the storyline itself, I like battle anime, but having a female main character makes me dislike it a little. And what I don't like the most is Pitohui, I don't understand why a crazy character like this is included in the story, but if I think back to the other SAO series, crazy characters are always there. However, the difference here is that Pitohui is included as a main character, while the others are only supporting characters or antagonists. After seeing Pitohui's character again I'm hesitant to watch the second season, but since I'm a fan of SAO I'll watch it even though I'm hesitant. Addition! Please make a sequel to the main story of SAO soon, I can't wait to see what happens to Kirito and his friends, thank you!

tl;dr: An anime that has good action but is pretty weak beyond that. This is a spin-off to the incredibly well known VRMMO series Sword Art Online that’s specifically centered around the game focused on in the second season, Gun Gale Online. The connection is only that the setting is the same however, and thus beyond recognizing some cameos you won’t miss anything if you watch this without having watched SAO II. The novel series this is based on was written by a completely different author, one who didn’t seem to particularly care about trying to give the anime a similar feel, and thus it’s ultimately an incredibly different anime from the main SAO series. In terms of how it’s better, the action is noticeably better than the action in the main series. It goes pretty in depth into the various VRMMO mechanics that apply and ends up using them quite skillfully in the action in a way that feels logical but exciting. It’s overall better than the main series at this, but it’s especially better than the GGO portion of the main series which was pretty lacking comparatively, as the writing in the main series regarding GGO felt kind of half assed and like the writer simply didn’t know enough about weaponry to write a VRMMO surrounding them properly. The writing in this very clearly was written by a gun enthusiast that put a good deal of thought into how different weapons and tactics would end up applying in the context of a VRMMO. The action is also well choreographed and well paced so it’s pretty enjoyable throughout. Beyond that however, the anime is severely lacking. There isn’t really much of an overarching plot at all, it’s basically just a bunch of characters playing an MMO together. It doesn’t take itself all that seriously, having quite a lot of comedy and having some comedic undertone during the intense portions. I think that would be fine if it had some likable characters, but none of the cast is likable, rather I would say the entire main cast leans towards unlikable. The main characters are crazy enough to be amusing which helps with comedy, but that doesn’t help at all at making the viewer care about them or feel invested in their stories. That’s not to say it didn’t try at times, as it did give some serious character development to a few characters, but it was pretty bad and didn’t land well at all. Thus, without any sort of overarching plot and lack of good character stories, this is an anime you should watch purely for the action without caring much about the who or why. The art and animation are solid enough and work well for the action. The character designs were mostly pretty dull though, with only the main character, LLENN’s, standing out. The world design fit well enough for it’s purpose. The soundtrack was pretty solid and fit well with the action. The OP and ED were also both solid in terms of audio and visuals.

I watched Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online. Just to clarify, this is the single-cour anime which aired during Spring 2018. Here are my thoughts: This is just a short review strictly addressing the SAO Alternative: GGO anime. Nothing I've written here is targeted towards the rest of the SAO franchise. For the record, I have seen (a few years ago) the second season of SAO where the GGO setting is featured. Again, I'm not going to discuss SAO as a whole, just the SAO Alternative: GGO anime. Some people have really strong opinions about SAO and I'm not looking to start arguments. SAO Alternative: GGO is unique from the rest of the SAO anime in that it is made by Studio 3Hz, instead of the usual A-1 Pictures. The visuals of this anime could be better, but they weren't bad either. I expected a slightly higher level of visual production quality from an anime bearing the SAO brand. However, there were a lot of action scenes to animate so I can't blame the studio if the budget was a little stretched. Still, I think that improving the animation quality would have enhanced the show considerably, particularly during the battle scenes. Art style was fairly generic. In case you couldn't tell from the all-pink gun-carrying girl with a bunny-ear hat in the promo art, this anime is fairly silly. It is not something you should take seriously. This goes without saying, but don't expect realism from this anime (this sentence is directed at all the armchair Navy SEALs out there on the internet). That said, it is a pretty fun show to watch. The battle scenes are fun and entertaining. Although often silly, there is a fair amount of suspense during the battle scenes. I found them engaging. The main character LLENN is likable and cute. All of her facial expressions, particularly during the battle scenes, enhanced my enjoyment of the show. In fact, her reactions to things in general were enjoyable. I liked her as a main character. However, I didn't like anyone else in the cast. Thankfully LLENN is almost constantly on-screen. The writing is really bad. Don't expect a good story from this because you won't get it. All I will say is that the writing is ridiculous but in a bad way. If this anime didn't have a firearm-combat theme then it could probably pass as a kids' show (perhaps this is an intentional artistic decision). The story feels like a 14-year-old wrote it (maybe not surprising considering the SAO audience demographics). Fortunately, the story is not very intrusive and can be fairly easily ignored by the viewer. Although the exception to that is the last ~2 episodes, which are very plot-centric because this is when the story climaxes -- unsurprisingly these are also probably the worst episodes in the entire anime, in my opinion. Also, the ending of the story is very underwhelming -- don't get your hopes up for any kind of satisfying conclusion. I should mention that the writer for the source material (a light novel) of this anime is different than the writer of the original SAO series. Interestingly, the author for SAO Alternative: GGO is the same person who wrote Kino no Tabi. The sound effects are alright, could have been better. From what I could hear between sounds of gunfire and explosions, the OST was decent. However, they kept plugging this singer into the story under a fictional name, and apparently this singer made her IRL debut using her real name shortly after the anime aired. It seemed like some kind of promotional deal but I don't know the specifics. I'm fine with promoting vocalists in anime since music is a major source of my enjoyment of the medium, but I wish that the promotional arrangements were less transparent than they seemed here. I don't know the full story but it simply irked me a little. As for voice acting, LLENN's VA actually did a great job, but nobody else impressed me. My overall rating: 7/10 This anime is very easy to watch -- I completed the entire thing within three days of watching the first episode. It was really fun (particularly the battle scenes), although the writing is quite bad. In terms of characters, LLENN pretty much carried the entire show. The simple fact is that watching a girl dressed in all pink run around and shoot opponents with her P90 submachine gun ("P-chan"), all the while making cute facial expressions and reactions, is entertaining as hell. I would definitely watch a second season, even if the writing were just as awful. My advice to someone planning to watch this: set your expectations based on the positive and negative attributes identified here. Don't take this anime seriously. Fun things are fun. Lastly, this anime can be enjoyed by people who haven't seen any other SAO show. However, there are some infrequent references to the second season of SAO, so the optimal time to view this is after watching season two of the original series. It's no big deal either way though.

SAO with guns? This isn't SAO!!! as the protagonist says many times... Starting this series, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Thankfully, it had almost nothing to do with SAO& you don’t need any knowledge from it. -The story felt really short and flat, with some key points making not much sense or effect on the viewer. It’s basically intro, battle 1, battle 2. -The characters were okay but I couldn’t really feel for them. They seemed childish and shallow, with very one-dimensional motivations. That wasn't exactly unreasonable though, as for them this was just a game to blow some steam. There were few moments I enjoyed, like P-chans spotlight moments and the some of the team’s reasons to play. -The fights I really enjoyed though, direction, animation& tactics wise. Not mind blowing, but definitely pleasant to watch. Overall, it felt like watching a well-directed stream with some extras. -The game mechanics weren’t analyzed a whole lot unless for moments where it serves the plot. What it did show of them is pretty good. -Sound was also pleasant, enough for it to not be noticed in a negative way. Voice acting was good& music did a good job at setting the mood for each scene. -The art was good, with the eyes looking slightly off in some shots, but that’s a minute detail. Overall, its a good VR MMO RPG anime as a light watch without a heavy plot looming over through seasons. It has a beginning, ending& some good moments. If that sounds good to you, give it a go!