Bullet of Bullets

Key Events

The main tournament is basically a 30 people Battle Royale on one map with the last man standing taking the win.

Kirito gives Sinon the list of 30 and asks who’s new to BoB. Apart from Kirito there’re 3 other newcomers; Sterben, Gunner X and Pale Rider. Because Death Gun joined after the second BoB, it’s logical to believe that he is one of the newcomers. Kirito also decides to sorta explain to Sinon what he’s after and she seems to have understood. But still insists that she’ll settle the score for the qualifiers loss.

The game begins. The deaths start to pile up and only 21 remain. At that point Sinon find Pale Rider chasing Dyne, she’s about to shoot Dyne but Kirito intervenes as he wants to see Pale Rider. She agrees for now and they both watch the proceedings. Pale Rider appears, his movements are fast and his acrobatic abilities are high enough to dodge Dyne’s shots until he’s close enough to kill him at point-blank range.

However a stun bullet from Death Gun immobilises Pale Rider. He uses the Silent Assassin, a very rare silent sniper. He brings out a handgun to finish off Pale Rider and Kirito panics shouting at Sinon to shoot him.

Thoughts

A half comical episode turned serious and panicky intense cliff-hanger. Have to remind yourself that this isn’t SAO and those people won’t actually die, but Kirito’s fear makes it feel otherwise.

Will Sinon hit? That’s the main question. Unlikely, as one, that would be anti-climatic, and two, Death Gun should sense their presence with how unsubtle Kirito’s being. He’ll either run or attack creating a 2v1. Would be a good time for Death Gun to show off his skills if he takes the 2v1 fight. But with Kirito’s mobility and Sinon’s sniping they should win. Also I think the reason they didn’t sense him was due to his cape as it probably has some sensing negating abilities, which won’t help in close range combat.

Kirito’s doing his job of attracting attention at least, if you got charm, why not work it to your advantage, whatever it takes to get the job done. Even if it means pretending to be a girl to build up a good rapport with the in game community, it’s all part of his cover anyway. Makes me want to see Asuna and Suguha’s reaction to this cutesy act though.

Speaking of pretending to be a girl, there was this very small detail that made me think, another one of my ‘tiny details that doesn’t really matter but I feel like I need to write a paragraph about it’ things. It was when they were in the preparation rooms and whilst Kirito was with a few others, Sinon was by herself. My first thought was that it was divided by male and female rooms but then of course that would blow Kirito’s ‘cover’. The second thought logically went to that they can pick their preparation rooms, but if so why would you pick one with other people in? To talk? Doesn’t seem like that’s the case, you need get gear ready and mentally prepare yourself. Of course it could just be random and Sinon was lucky enough to get a room to herself, but I still find it strange and an odd way to place people for pregame preparation. There should be one per person. The other thing could be that there are limited rooms and Sinon got an empty room and when people saw Sinon’s name they avoided her, but why? You can see I was thinking about this for some time, pointless detail but interesting nay?

I thought it was a little soon to meet Death Gun in the tournament, but it worked as a good cliff-hanger. This arc doesn’t feel it’ll last more than a few more episodes, I may read into what’s after this arc, although I’m not sure if this season is going to be 24 or so episodes. I’d like it to be as it’d feel short otherwise. But if this episode was anything to go by, then at least it looks like an intense finish. I liked the atmosphere they created with Kirito’s fear and panic especially making it seem like more than just a game, though Death Gun has been able to kill people so I guess the worry is real.

People watching must really be confused about what’s going on with Sinon and Kirito again, I think I may have said this before, but if there are commentators, I’d love to hear what they say during the Kirito and Sinon scene. Though I guess everyone assumed that they’re friends being the only two female gamers, or so they think… and always together.

Anyway, I hope the final fight for Sinon and Kirito will actually be a ‘proper’ fight, this has been much more about skirmishes and duels which is expected in a scenario like this. I like the heavy machine gun guy though, not really a tactic, but he’s got guts to stay there. I wonder if there’s a time limit on the whole tournament, if he sits up there forever no one will go near him, but I guess the main thing is that he is out in the open which does have its own risks and he’ll run out of bullets eventually. But first, let’s worry about the main problem at hand.