SAO II: Ep. 4 "GGO"

 

     Kirito has now entered into the world of GGO for the first time in search of the infamous Death Gun. To his surprise, he didn't quite appear as he expected. Upon entering the game Kirito finds that he has a female avatar and that it's actually an incredibly rare model. He obtained it when he transferred his profile from ALfheim to GGO. A player merchant offers large amounts of in game money and will stop at nothing to acquire his model. Despite his passion and pleading, Kirito politely refuses his offers and continues on his mission.

     Since he's new to the game and has some trouble getting around, he asks a passing Sinon for directions. She raises her guard to him as he approaches. So to ease her, Kirito musters up the courage and poses as a female gamer who is new to the world. Sinon smiles as she accepts and she begins to show Kirito around the downtown area. The first place they go is a weapons store. She asks him several questions and Kirito slowly starts to learn more and more about the game. He notices instantly that Sinon has a lot of knowledge and seems very experienced. He starts to feel worse and worse for being so deceitful to her after earning her trust. He also reveals that he wants to enter the latest B.o.B. tournament. This surprises Sinon because of how new and inexperienced Kirito is. She brushes it off as just new comers being to ambitious and they continue on.

     After looking around for a bit, Kirito realizes that he's going to need a lot of money and fast. Sinon shows him one of the gambling challenge games that you can find in the cities. We then learn about the red lines from previous fights. They are known as Bullet Paths. Gamers use them to predict the path a shot will take so they can avoid being hit. Kirito then shocks everyone by beating the game in only one try. He expertly maneuvers through the course with little trouble and wins the giant jackpot, giving him more than enough money for his gear.

     With money in hand he searches through the weapon list to decide how he wants to play. Sinon happens to mention there are energy swords in the game as well as guns. This gives him some hope since he's unfamiliar with shooting games. He shows off a bit to get acquainted with his new sword and Sinon watches with excited eyes. Though he appears to be very good with the sword, she decides that Kirito will still need a gun of some type in case he runs into some sticky situations. She picks him a low caliber pistol and they head to the gun range to learn how to shoot.

     Here we finally get to see how Kirito does with a gun. We learn quickly that firing a weapon accurately is actually incredibly difficult and takes some practice. He fires one round and is nearly knocked off his feet as he misses the target. Sinon smiles and encourages him to keep practicing as often as possible.
     Sinon then looks at a nearby clock by chance and she notices that they are going to be late to the sign ups. She starts to panic as she breaks into a sprint for the closest location to them. Kirito springs into action as he grabs her hand and leaps onto a motorcycle.

     He races through traffic and makes up all their lost time in minutes. She asks how he can possibly drive the bikes so well. Kirito mentions that he use to play a lot of racing games when he started out. Sinon laughs excitedly as they drive at high speeds on the interstate towards their destination...

REVIEW:

     I have been waiting a long time to see this episode. We finally get to see Kirito interact and enter GGO for the first time. Granted he hasn't had a real fight yet, but if it keeps to the true SAO tradition then there are many amazing fights that are soon to come. We also get a bit more information about the new setting. After being in Aincrad for the entire first season we learned a lot about the world our characters existed in. It was fascinating to see them interact with other people, creatures, and different environments as they progressed through the story. To have that same experience and excitement as we learn about the new game was the best feeling any returning SAO fan could hope for. I can't express how anxious I am to see how our new characters interact with the other elements of the new world...

-Otaku Anonymous

Episode Source: http://www.crunchyroll.com/sword-art-online/episode-4-ggo-656631