What’s the show? Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, Episode 7.
So how are things this episode? In previous episodes the action has either been entirely confined to the virtual world or entirely set in the real world, and while I didn’t necessarily had a problem with this at the time—this episode, that cuts frequently between the real world and the virtual world—is so much better because of it.
How so? It benefits the show by never getting boring, never spending too much time on one individual scene and varying the characters we get to see. In fact I think every character with a spoken line in the previous six episodes gets at least a line if not more in this episode and it just goes to show the sheer quality of the characters here that all there’s not a dull moment throughout!
Alright, so what exactly happens in the episode? Well if it wasn’t abundantly obvious, a lot. Specifically though Miyu, Karen’s irl best friend comes into GGO and what are the odds but she spawns in the game as a tiny cute loli too! I’d quibble over how implausible this is, but I don’t really care, she’s just such a great character both the irl Miyu and her in-game persona Fukaziroh!
Best girl? Absolutely, err, actually no, maybe not…
Huh? What happened? Oh, well I almost forgot about SHINC, the group of ruthless “Amazonians” that came 2nd in the first Squad Jam. Their virtual avatars are great, but I absolutely adore them irl, because as you may or may not remember they’re actually a group of petite high-schoolers in the Rhythmic Gymnastics club.
Multiple girls can’t be ‘best girl’. I, err… whatever!
Uh-huh, moving on… So aside from our protagonist getting to play with her bestie in VR, what is this episode actually about? Well it’s the preparation for Squad Jam 2, and what’s surprising is that usually these ‘setting the stage’ episodes can be quite dull but this is quite the opposite for all the reasons I mentioned above. I’ve always enjoyed the show, even when it ‘jumped the shark’ last week what with the whole “death game” stakes that seemed shoehorned in. But this was just about the best this show has been so far and makes me hope this show can continue along with the impeccable quality.
Specifically? The character comedy was on-point, Fukaziroh commenting on how many male avatars were around and that she could start a ‘reverse-harem’ goes to show why she’s best a really great girl. The action—while mostly limited to training exercises between LLENN and Fukaziroh—is purposeful as it shows that there is a level of teamwork and synergy between their chosen combat styles. And I was particularly happy about the character development they’ve given to LLENN who seems exceedingly confident in her leadership abilities and tactics, especially when compared to how she was in Episode 1. All of this, plus a bunch of other little moments, equals an overall terrific episode.
Previous Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online Reviews:
Episode 1 Review
Episode 2 Review
Episode 3 Review
Episode 4 Review
Episode 5 Review
Episode 5.5 Review
Episode 6 Review
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Anime QandA 
I similarly felt the show coming into its own with this episode. Paradoxically, the line about the reverse harem points out what this show is *not*, to its credit.
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