English Dub Review: Sword Art Online II “Cold-Hearted Sniper”

Spoilers Below

Sword Art Online II doesn’t really dilly-dally around when it comes to showing what GGO is all about. Second episode in, and we get to see how good one of the new characters, sniper extraordinaire Sinon. She is smart, cool, and calculating, knowing who to take out, and when. Unfortunately, the rest of her squadmates don’t exactly think on the level that she does. The PC’s in GGO think she’s hot, and SAOII threw in a couple gratuitous ass shots just to let you know.

Of course, this op doesn’t go as planned, and shit goes south. I found it rather fitting that the main baddie in “Cold-Hearted Sniper” has a mini-gun, not unlike the Rock in Furious 7. I know it’s coincidence, but I loved it nonetheless. The singular focus of “Cold-Hearted Sniper” was to introduce Sinon, and make her look as badass as possible. Well, this was achieved on both levels. We even get to see the person who plays Sinon. GGO already looks like it has more to offer than SAO.

As much as I play World of Warcraft, the whimical, tradition fantasy setting doesn’t really fit well when it comes to anime. SAO season one did well, but the introduction of Gun Gale Online makes the show a lot more accessible, because it’s essentially Battlefield, but in a VR setting. I think us Americans will flock to Sword Art Online II because of it. Granted, we have 23 more episodes after this, so I smell a lot more virtual gunpowder.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I love it when episodes take on a singular focus, and keep it for the whole episode. “Cold-Hearted Sniper” did it’s job, and conveyed what it had to when it came to introducing Sinon. The shit she can do is completely outlandish, and completely expected to see a pro player of any game to do. It’s like when you watch a first person shooter tournament. No matter how good you are, no matter how behind the pro player is, he will kill you. They have the right spec, the right guns, and they know the shit you only wish you knew. In the span of 24 minutes, “Cold-Hearted Sniper” layed it all out for all of you.

With that said, Sword Art Online isn’t fucking around. The writers laid the plot down last week, and this week we start assembling the new cast. We are going to shy away from SAO, hopefully, and get some guns into Kirito and Asuna’s hands. It was great to see SAO at the end of “Cold-Hearted Sniper,” but I am so excited to see what Kirito gets to pull off in GGO. Well, here’s to next week! Watch “Cold-Hearted Sniper” now. Sinon makes it worthwhile, by a mile.