Just dodge the damn telegraphs, Sinon. Haven’t you played Wildstar? Anyway, I really don’t have too much to say about this episode, other than it’s the worst of the season so far. Kirito did some bullshit because reasons, while Sinon stood around explaining gameplay mechanics that aren’t likely to ever play any significant role again. This is what I don’t like about SAO: the writing is far too lazy. Instead of using the gameplay mechanics it goes out of its way to demonstrate and establish in order to create compelling constraints for the characters to overcome, the series just plays the Deus Ex Machina card as much as it can. It felt like they copy-pasted an episode from season 1. Likewise, I hate how Kirito doesn’t have to worry about the stat mechanics and shit in this “hardcore” game. You might want to withdraw that adjective, as no “hardcore” game I know of allows that kind of nonsense. Whatever.

I was delighted by the fact that they hired a native English speaker–or at least someone who knows how to pronounce the language–to voice the gunman NPC. “I’m gonna shoot you from here to the Moon!” You’re getting there, Japan. Keep trying. Go for it with gusto. Moreover, I didn’t buy how somehow the game offers melee weapons but makes them completely useless. MMO players are notoriously good at optimization and min-maxing. If someone figured out how to pull off a melee build with success, it would’ve been done long before Kirito Sue ever showed up.

Yeah, kinda of a letdown compared to the last two episodes. We saw the seeds of Sinon falling for Kirito too at the end there. Blaaaaaaaaaaah. I’ll be a little bummed if this turns out to be the season’s peak. Let’s hope not.