Impression
Sinon is fucking awesome.
Now I don’t even have to spend any time trying to convince you of that, because Sinon just did it for me. And all she needed was a single episode. While Sword Art Online does tend to feature strong heroines as a complement to Kirito, I think this latest incarnation is easily a cut above the rest – Sugu does not even compare, for example. And although Asuna was arguably as powerful as Kirito during the Aincrad arc, she was quickly demoted to a damsel in distress for the whole of Fairy Dance. Sinon has more balls than her entire team put together, and there’s something refreshing about her icy demeanour and badass sniping that makes her a lot of fun. Of course, it’s worth noting that schoolgirls don’t usually start off as hardened gamers intent on destroying their opponents at any cost – in fact, I doubt schoolgirls are part of GGO’s targeted demographic in the first place. Add that to her occasional monologues and her subdued expression after logging out and there are hints that she’s doing all this for herself – that she’s trying to get emotionally stronger through GGO to overcome something that happened in her past. I actually thought they would hint at it, but it seems like they’re saving it all for next week’s episode so I’ll keep quiet on that front for now. It’s certainly a darker backstory for a heroine that quite nicely complements the sort of game GGO is – at least compared to being in love with onii-chan, that is.
…Maybe I’m being a bit harsh to Sugu today.
While this was clearly supposed to be a breather episode providing some exposition to the world of GGO before Kirito storms in and steals the show, it definitely made up for the lack of action in last week’s pilot episode. Shootouts really are much better animated than described on paper – note that this was merely a minor scene in the novels meant to introduce the goddess that is Sinon, not the final of the Bullet of Bullets or anything. The Kajiura Yuki OST and A-1’s fluid animation reminded me of one of the things I really liked about the original SAO – you can say what you like about the show itself, but you can’t fault its action sequences. A couple of game mechanics that become important later were subtly hinted at too – for example, after an initial shot, guns in GGO will emit a red laser indicating the line of fire, which allows for further shots to be dodged… or blocked, perhaps. And the reason the entire monster-hunting party didn’t all have Miniguns was because a) it probably weighs a ton and b) it’s a rare item, like Sinon’s Hecate II. I do apologize, by the way – it turns out that NPC monsters do exist in GGO after all. The rest of Sinon’s party ended up being wimps who merely wanted an easy kill through looting some players who had come back from hunting, especially the guy who suggested logging out. I’m definitely not used to this – I had completely forgotten that logging out was even an option!
It’s good that they’re taking their time with Phantom Bullet, because the last thing we need is for erratic pacing to ruin what is otherwise a really good adaptation thus far – for reference purposes, Mahouka’s upcoming third arc looks like it’s going to be mutilated beyond recognition, because there simply aren’t enough episodes left to fit it in. I doubt SAO will ever end up like that, though I do think they’re being a bit lax by adding in some Silica tentacle rape, cheerfully reminiscent of the first season – if you couldn’t tell, that was an anime-original segment probably designed to give the supporting cast some screen time. For Sinon fans (i.e. everyone) you’ll be pleased to know that next week’s episode will also be heavily Sinon-centric. You’re welcome.
” for example, after an initial shot, guns in GGO will emit a red laser indicating the line of fire, which allows for further shots to be dodged… or blocked, perhaps.”
The ballistic prediction line is visible on a person-by-person basis, depending on whether or not you are aware of the person who is about to shoot. If anyone in the other group had known where Sinon was before her first shot, they would have seen the line even before she shot the first time. Since they didn’t, she got one shot for free. As soon as they knew she was there, however, the system showed them where she was aiming, and they were able to dodge any followup shots. The only way for her to become effective as a sniper again would have been for her to get out of sight for 60 seconds, after which the system would judge that her location had become unknown again, after which she could take another shot without a prediction line showing up (unless someone saw her as she was going for that next shot, in which case that person would get a prediction line for her, because he or she would know where Sinon was).
No, I TOTALLY didn’t read this story a half-dozen times or more because it was one of my favorites, I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT! <__>
Now I’m feeling woefully inadequate over my lack of knowledge xDD Even after seeing the lines it took me a while to remember how they worked – and that was in conjunction with me racking my brain over exactly how Kirito could even begin to go about blocking bullets with a sword. Maybe I should skim through the story again…
Oh, Kirito doesn’t depend on the lines. That’s one of the things that shocks people so much. He starts moving his lightsaber BEFORE the lines appear. One of his early comments to Sinon was “you just have to predict the prediction line,” which he tosses off as if it’s the simplest thing in the world.
That’s it, I’m definitely rereading Phantom Bullet for next week. I’ve forgotten far too much about GGO and Kirito’s hax skills for someone who should have read the novels. Have I been desensitized by onii-sama perhaps?
I just went back to double -check some stuff myself. To be fair, in the actual battles he does mostly make use of the prediction lines, due to distance. The trick I was talking about was that he could tell where people were going to shoot because they would instinctively look there ahead of time, which he uses early on (thoroughly shocking Sinon in the process), but that’s not always something he can see at combat range.
I hop kirito will save sinon I really hop thats how they meet
I’m hoping that’s NOT how they meet – Sinon’s too cool to need saving!