Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online S2 - From Tower Defense to Stealth Missions (2024)

After constantly moving at top speed since the start of the season, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online Season 2 finally slows down for a bit in episode 5. The Squad Jam 3 has entered its last phase, so episode 5 was all about preparation, particularly regarding the newly formed betrayal teams.

So, technically speaking, episode 6 is the official start of the final phase of the third Squad Jam. This is the start of the end, and the tension couldn’t be higher. After all, as the only one who is already inside the ship, the betrayal team has a clear advantage over the other teams. And with Pitohui in charge, things immediately descend into chaos.

Different Approach to Key Characters

Although Llenn is the main protagonist of the first season of Gun Gale Online, she arguably shares that role with Pitohui for this second season. As we’ve seen since the start of the season, these two gunners clearly have remarkable teamwork. But this episode is the one that shows how different they truly are.

Llenn & Pitohui

Llenn is the perfect example of somebody who is born with innate talent. Everybody can focus their character build on speed—one team in this competition did exactly that—but what makes Llen special is her remarkable agility and spatial awareness. She knows the best path to choose to achieve her objective and move in a way that nobody else can. For example, in this episode, as she tries to get close to the Ocean Liner, a member of team Betrayal relentlessly shoots at Llenn, yet she manages to come out unscathed. She outmaneuvered literal bullet storms.

Pitohui doesn’t really have such a stand-out combat talent. M is a better sniper than her, and she is possibly only slightly better in pure gunfights than Llenn or Fuka. Pito’s gift, however, is in her outstanding strategic thinking ability and the ruthlessness to do whatever is necessary to achieve her objective. For example, in this episode, Pito uses her iconic photon sword to cut the cable that hangs the Emergency Boats so that they’ll fall and close the holes surrounding the Ocean Liner, thus preventing the other team from entering the ship.

Different Kinds of Geniuses

Both Llenn and Pitohui are geniuses, there’s no question about that. What makes them interesting, however, is how different they are. Llenn can make any plan work, no matter how absurd it might be, simply due to her incredible movement ability and remarkable combat instinct. But she would never be able to come up with some of Pito's ingenious ideas.

Likewise, Pito can formulate outrageous plans that might seem odd at first but turn out to work better than expected while simultaneously manipulating other people to do her bidding. However, she could never escape torrents of bullets that rain down on her through sheer physical ability alone like Llenn. By once again pitting these two types of geniuses against each other, we get to see their unique strength and weaknesses, which makes this final fight so much more interesting.

Pacing and Tension

There are a lot of great things about this new season of GGO, but two of the most notable ones are its pacing and tension-building. They know when to move the story and they know when to fasten the face and when to slow it down a notch. Also, this season of GGO knows how to build tension to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats.

Moving Fast and Slow

Pacing is one of the most important aspects of a story. Too slow and the story will bore people to sleep. Too fast and the viewers will have no idea what actually happening. So the key is to know when to push and when to pull back. As it turns out, GGO is a master at this. Episode 6 is the perfect example of their mastery in pacing a story.

For the first half of the episode, the main objective is to get into the Ocean Liner while trying not to get shot by the Betrayal team from the front and the other teams from the side. Speed is of the essence for this part, and the pacing reflects that with the characters constantly moving or doing something.

The second half of the story is calmer and more mysterious. In this type of situation, every movement and dialog matter, so they slowed the pace down in order for the viewers to fully take in the information presented on the screens. It’s the perfect push and pull.

Water From the Back, Bullets From the Front

For this episode, GGO uses several different ways to create tension that not only keeps the viewer’s eyes glued to the screen but also dictates the pacing of the story. The first one is the time limit, which is achieved through the rising tide. The seawater that slowly creeps in from behind forces the outside teams to keep moving forward amidst the hail of bullets to get into the ship. And they can’t take their sweet time either because the tide is rising fast, so time is of the essence.

The second one is limited options. By closing the entrance to the ship, the outside teams are forced to rush into any remaining entry points. And once they’re inside, the long corridors and the many levels and rooms of the ships mean the characters need to take extra precautions before making their next move. Otherwise, they would be ambushed and killed. So as you can see, limiting the characters’ time and options is a great way to keep the tension high.

The Great Shift

We’ve touched upon the difference in pacing and tension between the first and second half of episode 6. Apart from those, there is actually another great shift that clearly marks the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half of the episode. This shift is responsible for the dramatic change in the tone and the style of the story.

From Tower Defense to Stealth Mission

The first half of episode 6 where one team has to defend their base while other teams try to come close and infiltrate the base is basically the most basic version of a subgenre of strategy games called Tower Defense. Just like some of the best games in the genre—Bloons TD 6, Kingdom Rush, and Orcs Must Die!, just to name a few—there are a lot of actions going on along with some battle tactics as well. It’s loud, flashy, and fun.

The second half, however, is a lot more solemn and chilling. Once the outside teams successfully get into the Ocean Liner, they immediately shift into a different combat mode. Something akin to going on a secret mission in games like Call of Duty: Black Ops. They crouch in the corner of a long corridor and plan their next move with the limited information that they have.

The Adrenaline Rush to Collective Anxiety

Another interesting shift is in the tone of the story. In the first half of the episode, everything is bright, loud, and dynamic. The people, the environment, the actions, everything feel over the top and have a sense of urgency to them. This is the fun and engaging part of the episode.

In the second half of the episode, however, everything is gloomy, quiet, and passive. The people, the environment, the actions, everything feel subdued and have a sense of mystery to them. This is the tense and thrilling part of the episode. The first half induced an adrenaline rush into the viewers, while the second half put us into a collective anxiety. How fascinating! Can’t wait to see what’ll happen next.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online S2 is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Sword Art Online

Isekai

Action

Fantasy

Release Date

July 8, 2012

Seasons

3

Based On

Novel & Light Novel

Creator

Reki Kawahara

Number of Episodes

96