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italicwatches · 6 years ago

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Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online - Episode 06

I should probably watch some anime today. It’s Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, episode 06! Here we GO!

-It’s February 11th, just a bit after the Squad Jam. And LLENN is in GGO, down in the cash shop where THEY HAVE A NEW P90 IN STOCK FUCK YEAHHHHHHH! P-chan, daughter of P-chan, is born! LLENN loves her submachine guns so much. It’s a wholesome love between a woman and her gun.

-And hey, there’s Eva! What’s the Boss doing in a place like this?

-Opening! You know, sidenote, I’m wondering if GGO has some level of self-identity thing going on. Like, it’s one thing that Karen and Saki each happened to get a form that matched who they wanted to be…But the entire team of tiny girls who wish they were bigger and got more respect, waking up in GGO as tall, buff amazons? On top of Karen, who wants to be cute and adorable and the little spoon, waking up as literally the smallest size the system allows? That feels a little too unlikely to just be the odds.

-The 15th. It’s the post-credits from episode one, as the whole of Saki’s crew is there watching the highlights from Karen’s performance in the Squad Jam, and seeing just how much crazy shit she pulled off before they fought her. You’re a MONSTER, Karen-san! A total BADASS!

-Karen is still trying to properly hook this gaggle of adorable schoolgirls she’s somehow befriended, to the terrifying amazons who pushed her to the brink. Saki is all huffy about how Karen is still kind of scared of Eva. Well what about Sophie, huh? Look at their gunner, she’s huge!

-Yeah but she has a gentler demeanor, as we start getting connections. So, Saki is Eva. Kana, with the bob cut, is Sophie. Mi, the blonde, has the sharpshooter Toma, and has learned to drive stick because she’s been overseas. The one with those cutesy rounded eyebrows, Shiori, is Roza the other heavy-gunner. Their second sniper is Moe, who is deeply embarrassed about how she puts on such cool airs in the game. And then there’s Risa, who is Tanya the scout, the closest to anyone’s real self…But still tall and muscled, just the sleek muscles of a runner.

-So that’s the whole gang! By schoolday, they are but the humble high school rhythmic gymnastics club. But by night, they are a vicious crew…And they’re here to talk strategy. They want to walk through the entire encounter and figure out where they dropped the ball! They’re in your care, Karen-san!

-Episode 06! “SAO Loser”

-Also they devour the snacks she gives them because they are, after all, athletic teenagers. And it turns out they’ve only known each other since last April, when they all joined the club…And they were fucking terrible. It’s actually why they got into VR gaming, to learn to communicate physically and sync up properly…After their coach got fed up and quit on them.

-As for why GGO? IT was the fact that it was so different, so far out of their usual context, that they could start from zero and not the outright negative position they were in with their actual sports. A crisp, clear goal, that they all knew they knew nothing about accomplishing. And of course, it’s just plain a good game, so they got super hooked on it!

-Which is why now they’ve got to push for victory in the next proper Squad Jam! What about rhythmic gymnastics…? That too. BUT ESPECIALLY GGO. Now, will you be in the next one?!

-Karen’s…Not so sure. This was kind of sprung on her. She’s not gonna say no, but she can’t say yes. And she doesn’t even know if M will keep playing, let alone want to team up with her again going forward…

-…Saki is sad now. But eventually, they’re all ready to head out, and Karen’s got to get ready for her big trip back to her parents’ place for spring break. Saki is still sad about not having a LLENN to war against in the inevitable next Squad Jam.

-The 24th. Karen’s back in her hometown, out with Miyu, and kind of wishing neither of those things were the case judging by the look on her face. Miyu keeps taking photos of her new look and she saw the highlight reel of you and that M guy! You kicked ASS! Tell her everything, everything! What made you want to split up from M? That was BANANAS!

-So Miyu learns everything…And yeah this Pito chick sounds like a nutter. Just make sure she never knows your meatspace identity and you’ll be fine. Oh, hey, this karaoke bar has some new Elsa songs! You wanna do one? Miyu’s gonna do one. They are gonna get that next set of concert tickets!

-A few days later, Karen’s on the plane back home, and gets a promo email saying that the second Squad Jam has just been announced for early April.

-Sidenote, these things don’t make any sense. Like, look, it was…fifteen teams to start, right? That means the absolute maximum player count in a single Squad Jam is 90 people, holding the 2-6 size limit. Both of the major battle royale centric games right now, PUBG and especially Fortnite (but especially Bart) can rack up a hundred players in…about 30 seconds, give or take. Even in their own squad modes, from what I’ve seen it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to get into a match, tops.

-Now, okay, that’s on an American game audience, with something that uses heavy amounts of cross-play and can be played on an incredible variety of devices. So I will freely admit it’s not a 1:1 comparison to VR. But unless the Japanese server only has a couple thousand people on it, tops, getting 30-90 people into a match shouldn’t be the kind of thing so huge it only happens once every few months…Because if it is, how the hell is the game able to keep running and pay for what I have to imagine would be much better servers than an ordinary FPS, to deal with the immense amount of data a full-dive VR player would be sending?

-I know I’m overthinking it, and they’re getting the feel of gaming right. It’s just…I don’t know. Kind of weird the way they’re trying to make the Squad Jams, as an entire concept, into these big Events when that’s not how this shit works. Anyways, it’s another personal sponsorship, with some fine tuned rules, and any of the top four teams are pre-seeded if they choose to enter.

-Oh, and then Saki emailed Karen immediately because WOOOOO SECOND SQUAD JAM! Also, her message is full of more emojis and text emoticons than I think I’ve ever seen in one place. Also Saki wants to eat her treats again so please invite them over sometime soon. …Shit, that kid is blunt.

-When Karen gets back to her place, she finds a guy waiting for her who gets WAYYYY too close and it’s M. So that removes one possibility I had. And now she’s twice freaked out because how the fuck did he find her? Can they go somewhere private to talk about that? Because shit’s gotten Real.

-And that’s how they end up in a little cafe area in the apartment building, I think? Hard to say. But, bluntly, M has to admit that he has no proof of any of his claims, but there’s some shit you need to know. Also, he gives a real name, one Asougi Goushi. Goushi is RIGHT UP ON HER and begging for her help because people’s lives are, for real, on the line.

-His, and Pito’s. …Oh fuck me, what is Pito doing. She’s insane, and they both know it. She’s going to participate, and form a team…And in real life, she said she intends to kill herself if she doesn’t take the gold. But not until she confirms his death.

-Karen would like off this ride now please. This is ludicrous and you should go to the police.

-But…Well, here’s the deal. You know the SAO Incident, right? Thousands of people locked in, forced to fight for their lives. Pito…Wasn’t in that group. She was a beta tester, and became obsessed with the game. On launch day, something came up. She had to delay her entrance into it for just a few hours…Enough for the lockdown to happen, and SAO to become a sealed bubble she couldn’t enter.

-She watched it all on the news. She watched everyone else go through the greatest crucible of their lives. And it broke her. That she lost her shot at entering that crucible, turned her inside out. To have a chance to burn her life out in battle…Ever since VR games became popular again, she’s been throwing every spare moment she had into them. But they don’t satisfy her yearning for the void.

-For a little while, though, things were…stable. Until the SAO Incident was solved, and the survivors started talking. Pito had to confront her ‘lost opportunity’, and learned about the player killers, who committed genuine murder inside the world of SAO. Most of the deaths, outside of those first few chaotic days, were in fact from player killers or from self-defense against them.

-Other sidenote, I don’t know if it’s just one of those Manga Things where shit gets enshrined and used and reused because it’s an easily understood story path, but Japanese gaming culture seems to have this really different attitude towards PvP and attacking other players in general.

-And Pito…Pito envied them. Their chance to put their lives on the line, to kill or be killed. To be them or to strike them down. That’s how fucking insane Pito is!

-Things weren’t so bad when she was burning of steam in GGO…But then she missed the Squad Jam, the first big script-changer event! And it’s caused a relapse. …So she’s going to try and turn Squad Jam 2: Gunfire Boogaloo into a death game. Yes, yes! So again. Why not the cops or professionals.

-…He can’t. Pito’s too important to him. If he goes to the police or psychiatrists, she’ll be killed, jailed or put in a psychiatric ward, and if they try to lock her up she’ll find a way to kill herself. She’d die, and not before destroying herself in the eyes of all the people who rely on her.

-…This is over her pay grade, man. She can’t help you here.

-KABEDON

-Goushi corners her up with the very important move that is Kaibedon, and look. He, loves, Pito! That’s why he has to find a way for this to end in her survival, so he can get her back to center! Karen’s first kabedon, and it’s to hear a guy confess his love for someone else. This is bullshit.

-So they end up sitting back down, with Goushi drinking black coffee, which he hates, but he drinks it because Pito likes it. …Dude just have a sweet drink and mellow. So, okay, talk it out. What’s your plan and why aren’t you scared like when she had P-chan aimed at your damn head?

-Because his real fear isn’t death…It’s leaving Pito behind without him there to keep her grounded. Say he dies. Hell, say Pito kills him. Then…Then what. What if she doesn’t have the will to kill herself? What if she tries for suicide by cop, or worse, what if she breaks down and her resolve cracks entirely? She’d be destroyed. She wouldn’t even have the dignity of death, she’d have a hollow life.

-And okay, explain in very small words how Karen’s supposed to help.

-Enter the SJ 2, face Pito, and defeat her in battle!

-…WHAT?!

-You are the one person who she will accept a defeat from. She made that promise to you! If you defeat her honestly, and if she knows it’s an honest fight…She’ll be stuck to her promise. She’ll have to stay alive, so she can meet you. And that’ll give him time, to pull her back to center and out of this relapse state.

-…This is insane. This is ludicrous. But…If it’s the only option on the board…Guess she’s entering.

-Credits!

-Aftercredits! Karen’s back in bed, and now has Goushi’s personal email as a way to talk…But Karen needs someone to enter with. Who the hell can LLENN rely…on…Miyu! MIYU SHE NEEDS YOUR HELP! …Miyu is so fucking down. They’re gonna rage, Karen!

I guess SAO’s gonna SAO, huh. Gotta be honest, I would’ve enjoyed this more without the death game angle. But oh well, let’s try and enjoy ourselves next time, in episode SIX of SAO Alt: GGO! Wait for it!

#where I watch #recap #anime #sword art online #gun gale online #sao alternative

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apprenticemages · 6 years ago

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Hinamatsuri once again hits one out of the park… I take a look at this week’s carrots… and I try my hand at poetry! All this and more after the jump! The shows that I am watching are in bold, shows my wife and I are watching together are in bold italics. Question marks denote shows not watched yet (during the premiere weeks), and strikethrough marks dropped shows.

3D Kanojo / Real Girl Ep 8

What a mess… Turns out that Iroha isn’t as cool as she thought with Tsutsui being anywhere near Ayado. Even just holding her hand while he’s treating a burn sets her off. And of course, from her point of view, it’s all Tsutsui’s fault… There’s been hints all along, but I think this ep cements my thoughts that she’s got a streak of self centeredness. She keeps expecting him to change – and while he’s trying hard to work things out, he honestly is socially inept. And she just doesn’t get that, she isn’t even trying.

I did enjoy watching Takanashi stomp Ishino’s advances into the mud. She has become something of a friend to Tsutsui & Co., but she’s also shamelessly using them for her own ends. She deserved that.

Anyhow, cliffhanger time… Iroha ran off into the woods after seeing Tsutsui trying to help Ayado, and now she appears to lost.

Comic Girls Ep 7

Poor Kaos-chan. One step forward, one step back… she just can’t catch a break. Every time she makes progress, she discovers another flaw in herself.

Why did it take me so long to figure she’s a HUGE idol otaku? I mean we’ve all seen her figure collection any number of times. And if you look over the left, though you make have to look at full size, that grouping of three looks to me to be a Love Live homage.

Best Girl Tsubasa rocks her glasses… And speaking of her, both she and Ruki outed themselves as otaku this episode. That leaves only Koyume (and I guess Fura-senpai) not outed. I guess I should have expected that.

Crossing Time Ep 7

This week… a girl composes haiku while waiting at the crossing. I spent most of the episode cringing for two reasons… First, what she was composing was much closer to senryu than haiku. Second because they were just so awful. Though it’s hard to tell how much was the intention of the production staff, and how much was an artifact of translation. That is, was it translated literally or poetically? I suspect the former.

Though I did appreciate her frustration with not being able to produce a finished poem in one go. It took me a long time to appreciate just how much work goes into even a simple haiku. Actually, I think any Creator can appreciate that.

If you’re wondering what she was going on about when she was talking about a seasonal word – that’s called a kigo, and is vitally important in classic haiku.

Her final poem… I think there’s something good in there, but after fiddling with it for a couple of days I haven’t been able to find it with certainty. What I ended up with was this:

Snow drifting A crossing gate bars love

It drops the sense of love than cannot be restrained… But maybe brings in a sense of impatient waiting? Or maybe not. And yes, I know the syllable count is off, it’s a work in progress. If anyone cares to take a swing in the comments, feel free! I’d love to see what folks come up with. (More information about haiku from a previous posting.)

Hinamatsuri Ep 7

Hina’s segment was laugh out loud funny… I’m impressed as hell that they can keep returning the same schtick and still make it so engaging. Nitta and Utako’s segment was… I don’t know quite how to put it. Happy and sad, but not bittersweet? Nitta has certainly transitioned from player to seriously looking to build a family, but doesn’t quite grasp that it’s not quite that easy.

And someone on Twitter pointed out… The end title card has changed. On the left, the original – with Utako behind the bar. On the right, she’s absent after this week’s events. What’s going on here? will she still be in OP next week?

But once again… Anzu steal the show. Not a tearjerker like last week’s ep, but no less powerful. OK, OK, when she was bathing the onion ninjas weren’t attacking in force but there were a few scouts sneaking around.

I’ve seen a name plaque on a kid’s door in plenty of anime… But it was a real kick in the feels for Anzu’s to be the one from the shed she lived in at the homeless camp.

Worth reading: Matt & Irina’s joint review of episodes 6 & 7. Be sure and stick with it all the way to the end.

My Hero Academia 3 / Boku no Hero Academia 3 Ep 7 (Ep 45)

It turns out that the League Of Villains has adopted a new strategy. They’re not out to kill heroes (or at least that’s not now the whole of their strategy), they’re out to destroy them. And by handing the pro Heroes a decisive defeat and kidnapping a student, they’ve succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. The public is questioning and criticizing UA. The teachers are UA are questioning and criticizing themselves. Of course, discrediting heroes is an ancient trope in the comic book world, but I find myself curious to see MHA‘s take on it.

The split between the students is interesting… It was pretty predictable that Lida would take the “let’s follow the rules” position, but the others appear to be wavering. Deku of course won’t waver long – he’s never let the rules stand in the way of doing what is right.

And it’s very cool to see Yaoyorozu’s powers be used in interesting new ways.

Worth reading: Luminous Mongoose over at Anime Junk takes a look at the ‘edgy’ characters in MHA, and what makes them so: Revelry in the Dark – The Refined Edginess of My Hero Academia.

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori Ep 6

As I said last week, I was about ready to give up… But this week gave us a ton of history and backstory on Rokuhoudou, Kyousi, and Tokitaka. We knew Sui had a business background, but I found it interesting that Tokitaka has been (still is?) an artisan (a potter) rather than a salaryman. I don’t find it all surprising that he became Rokuhoudou’s cook, almost all of the talented artisans I know IRL are also very good cooks. All the talented Makers I know love nothing better than the see stuff meant to be used actually being used…* The fusion of seeing someone enjoy the food you cooked on plates you made? That just has to be powerful as all hell.

A few years back our local SCA culinary group was the pastry/bread team for a feast and we all had to bring our own rolling pins. Of the twelve pins, eleven of them had come from the hand of the same woodturner. He was at the feast, and when I told him about this he had to come to kitchen and see… and was grinning like an idiot the whole time. Pleased as punch to see his stuff getting used.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online Ep 6

OK, we knew Pito was messed up… But who could imagine that messed up? Though M-san (who we know have a name for – Asougi Goushi ) himself isn’t exactly a shining example of mental health.

Either way, now we know at least the basic plot for the remainder of the season.

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai / Tada Never Falls in Love Ep 7 Tada-kun has reverted to its usual way of doing business… All about the loves and emotions of everyone who isn’t the show’s main couple. This week, a quadruple dose of unrequited love. And while Nyanko Big can’t vocalize his feelings, there’s no damm reason why none of the three humans can’t do so.

Yata at For Great Justice dropped Tada this week, and I’m starting to get mighty tempted myself. I listed it as a keeper mid-season because last week’s ep seemed to show they were going to start making progress, but this week blew it.

However, this is cool:

https://twitter.com/Surwill/status/999725355333226496

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby Ep 9

This week’s carrots… Being bet during a game of Blind Man’s Bluff. And am I the only one who thinks that “This Week’s Carrots” would be a cool name for a band?

Anyhow, this week – another training camp ep. (They’re really pounding the tropes in here, aren’t they?) And finally Trainer-san gets off his dead ass and acts like a trainer with a clue. Seeing that Spe-chan‘s consideration for Silence is holding them both back, he finally confronts them. And they both realize that the other is not only their dearest friend, but their closest rival. Both of them run their little horse girl asses off – and handily beat the others, even with their head start.

It’s kinda annoying sometimes… Uma Musume seems to really badly want to be a proper sports anime, but doesn’t (or won’t) put in the work to sustain the tone.

Also, just now… Arby’s (who has a history of anime references on Twitter) tweets about Uma Musume…

https://twitter.com/Arbys/status/999681432166350848

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku Ep 6

Honestly, this week’s ep seems to have been mostly forgettable… When it came time to write this review, I pretty much couldn’t remember anything other than the gift scene at the end. Looking around the rest of the web, it becomes clear that I couldn’t remember because pretty much nothing happened.

I should be clear though… In this kind of semi-anthology/slice-of-life romance series, that’s not actually a glaring flaw. It’s pretty much par for the course in that genre.

I do sympathise with Nafuji though. I’m the oldest of five, and there’s seven years between me and my original youngest brother and sixteen years between me and my actual youngest brother. (Which sounds funny… But the explanation is simple, my parents had an unexpected late life (by the standards of the day) child.) I was in fourth or fifth grade when I grasped the truth about Santa – but my parents made it Very Clear that I was to keep my lips zipped for the sake of my younger siblings.

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And that’s this week! Remember, between the holiday weekend (which we traditionally spend geocaching) and preps for and recovering from the Kitsap Medieval Faire, there will be no weekly posts on the 30th and the 6th. I may or may not get some editorial content out, that just depends on time and energy.

So, what did you think of this week? Care to take a swing at poetry? Drop a comment and let’s chat!

Spring 2018 – Week 7 Hinamatsuri once again hits one out of the park... I take a look at this week's carrots...

#2018 Spring Season #3D Kanojo #Comic Girls #Crossing Time #Cutie Honey Universe #Hinamatsuri #My Hero Academia #SAOA:GGO #Sword Art Online #Tada-Kun #Uma Musume #Wotakoi #Yotsuiro

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