Gun & Sword

Key Events

They make it on time to register however you have to use your real life details to be able to obtain the awards. Kirito chooses not to give his personal details. Sinon and Kirito end up in the qualifiers F block and won’t meet unless they both make it to the finals in which case both of them will qualify for the main event anyway.

With sign up complete, they move straight into the qualifiers. Because they need to change into their combat gear, Kirito kinda has to reveal that he’s male, during when Sinon was changing her reaction was understandably less than friendly and refuses to talk to him. She does at least tell him the tournament rules.

When it starts, everyone is teleported to a separate location with their opponent. The area is a 1km square box with terrain, weather and time randomly set. The winner will be sent back to the room with the loser sent packing. With 64 people, you need 5 wins to get to the final for a spot at the main event.

So first round begins and Kirito faces an assault rifle. But with his reaction speed combined with the in game assist he accurately predicts the bullets and melt them with his sword before impact.

He wins his match but then is greeted by Death Gun himself. He seems to recognize Kirito as he recognises Kirito’s sword skills and asks if he’s the ‘real thing’. But Kirito can’t figure out where they’ve met before as all his memories of Aincrad flood back. However he does see that on the person’s arm is a tattoo of the Laughin Coffin’s insignia.

Thoughts

Apologies for the Star Wars jokes, but you saw it coming.

Look who’s back, the Laughing Coffin, a pking alliance/guild/clan etc that we never really got to see fully in SAO I feel. Yes they showed themselves now and then, but they were much more a side-side-plot that felt very shallow and unexplored. I was thinking if they’d return during ALO, but I don’t remember them at all there. Perhaps the novels explored them more in SAO, however I’m glad we’ll see more of them now. They definitely weren’t destroyed back in SAO, and it’s fitting for them to be the murderers. Also I like that there is at least something from Kirito’s past.

I’m surprised they were leisurely chatting away at the sign up panel with so few seconds to spare. That said, sign up did not take 5 minutes. Even if you were to enter all your details, it’d still only take a minute or two, maybe 3 if you were slow at typing. Also, I thought not giving Kirito’s details was a no brainer. He’s here on government business, not to win awards.

I thought they moved into the qualifiers pretty quick, though I suppose there’s not much else that can go on. They’ve only revealed BoB to us and that seems to be the only way to get to death gun so it’s not surprising they’re getting straight into it. But some other fight scenes involving Kirito wouldn’t have been too bad.

Kirito introduced himself faster than I thought, hard not to in that situation. At least after that Sinon ‘lightened’ the mood. And he may have gone a little too far with his attitude, guess he learnt how to make enemies from being solo and making everyone hate you in SAO. Also, look at that killing intent from Sinon. I knew she wants to kill, I did say so before, she’s a natural.

Those lightsaber sounds were way too real, also the energy sword worked like actual lightsabers as the bullets melt. If he faced energy guns he’d probably be able to bounce them back. The guy melted slower than expected, not that he’s able to do anything whilst he’s being stabbed anyway, but that lag time allows for a potential teammate to shoot Kirito, he needs to chop off their head next time rather than stab. I felt that it’s becoming more and more like Star Wars, even Death Gun reminded me a little of Darth Vader… like that last scene… I think the ‘it’s a trap’ meme fits this too well on more levels than one.

Show’s going alright at the moment, I was right that I’d enjoy this more than Hamatora, but I feel they’re probably about the same at the moment. I would like to see some good fight scenes, which I think Hamatora lacks them at the moment. And with the whole killing people in game premise coming back, it’s more interesting wondering how it’s done.