June is coming to a close and yet another anime is all out of anime. Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online (henceforth AGGO) is an adaptation of a spin-off of the Sword Art Online franchise. SAO began as a light novel project way back in 2001 by Reki Kawahara. Initially published online under a pseudonym, it wasn’t until 2008 that it was picked up by publisher Dengeki Bunko. SAO was turned into an anime in 2012, and despite being popular enough to spawn a very healthy franchise, it has a lot of critics (me included).
I binged the first season of SAO several years ago, and I recall some misgivings about it then. But last year I tried to re-watch it, and I’m honestly not sure how I finished it the first time. There are some major problems with SAO, but this isn’t an SAO review.
Gun Gale Online is a virtual reality first person shooter MMORPG featured in one arc of the main SAO story. AGGO began as a light novel by Keiichi Sigsawa and has been adapted as both manga and now anime.
AGGO follows Karen Kohiruimaki a tall, self-conscious college student who is convinced to give Gun Gale Online a try to help build her confidence and give her an escape from the everyday world. In the MMO, she becomes LLENN, a short, pink-geared engine of destruction. The story takes place mostly in the game and covers LLENN’s initial experience with MMOs and her battles through two intense competitions called Squad Jams.
The stakes in AGGO are lower than in the franchise’s main shows, but the characters are fleshed out and compelling. The mechanics of the MMO are consistent and logical, and I really wish some real games would take a lesson from the tutorial sequence.
Karen/LLENN’s arc is believable and rewarding, and the rest of the cast is just the right amount of outrageous to get me engaged. AGGO has a sense of humor, and the show just wouldn’t work without it.
AGGO makes Gun Gale Online look like a game I would want to play. It’s also pretty obvious that Sigsawa is a bit of a gun nut. The battles are plausible while still being fun to watch and simple enough to understand the tactics in play.
There are some plot holes toward the end of the series that TV Tropes indicates are explained in the source material but not the anime. I felt like the first Squad Jam was more fun to watch. The second Squad Jam had some really strong moments, but it didn’t click for me. It’s much more character-driven than action-driven, and there are some key motivations that just didn’t click for me. I also don’t really get why we needed a recap episode five episodes into a series this short.
I was hesitant to get near anything SAO related again, but AGGO was definitely worth it. I doubt I’ll be revisiting it, but I can recommend giving it a watch. If you like guns and battles, you should at least watch the first five or so episodes. AGGO is available via Crunchyroll.
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