Recap

Sinon, the best sniper in GGO, joins a group that targets monster hunting teams. Things fall apart quickly when she decides to trust her commanding officer over her gut instinct.

Jel’s thoughts

Big battles and generally making a spectacle of things are what SAO does best and this episode delivered the goods. Sinon is already way cooler than any other character in the series. Whether it’s her visual design, her voice work by Miyuki Sawashiro, or the fact that I usually play sniper in shooters and I have a soft spot for them, I enjoyed watching her go to work. The actual battle itself was fun too, with the new game mechanics and general different feel of a gun fight making this a much different experience than previous fights in the show.

Of course we don’t really learn much about Sinon (or whatever her real name is) as a person yet, and as soon as she takes off her gear I begin to worry about the direction they’re going to go. Is her cool, battle hardened persona in the game just an act? Is she really a shy and fragile girl in real life just waiting for Kirito to save her? Part of me really wants to hope she doesn’t fall in love with him but I suppose that’s inevitable. I’ll try and enjoy her time alone while it lasts.

Speaking of Kirito, it’s probably telling that I enjoyed this episode and he happens to get less than a minute of screentime. Can’t we just let him hang out with his friends and let Sinon handle this? I’ll be curious to see if he actually tells Asuna what he’s up to or if he’s going to lie to protect her or whatever. Considering I’ve seen no indication that her or any of his other haremettes jump into GGO so I’m assuming they’ll be shelving their partnership for yet another game. TRUE LOVE! Anyway, this was a fun blast of action and we’ll see if the show can keep any momentum when Kirito inevitably enters the game next week.