10 Second Anime - Sword Art Online II - Episode 13

Sword Art Online II - Episode 13



Kirito defeats Death Gun with Sinon's help at a critical time, but Shino needs Kirigaya's help to fight off Death Gun's real world accomplice.

Hmm.

When I first saw how the aiming assist red line worked in GGO, I figured that at some point Kirito would use it to maneuver his opponent into a spot where he was aiming his sword. The circumstances of this fight with Death Gun, and Sinon, a sniper without a scope, added in that great feeling of teamwork. That was well done. And forcing Kirito to use his gun, but in the context of dual-wielding, was icing on the cake for fans of the first season.

One detail that caught my ear was how Shinkawa explained that he was the one playing Sterben for the other gaming murders, but it was his brother the SAO survivor who used the avatar for the tournament. In a way, this maneuvered the plot for a more satisfying battle with Kirito, because only another sword user with as much experience as Kirito would have lasted that long against him. This was actual sword fighting.



Thrust, parry, trip, tumble, slash. This is the stuff we saw in a life or death match from being trapped in Sword Art Online. Shinkawa the younger could not have done this. The use of the estoc here was well done too, showing that only the point does the damage, but the wielder can use the rest of it as a club for slight damage and to knock the opponent off-balance to create an opening. Still, it's a little weird to be enjoying such a great sword fight in the middle of a gun-based game.

The Shinkawa brothers having access to their father's hospital certainly lined up with Kirito's conjecture about using drugs on prone victims. There's also the darkness in the older Shinkawa which led him to player murder in the SAO, and whether his little brother shared that trait congenitally, or picked it up after his brother was rescued from that game. Either way, a germ of evil or madness grew and infected both brothers.

Heh.

Nooo! Sinon Ass Online is over! Here's a couple of shots (hoh) to remember her by.



Sinon can see you in the dark, so watch what you do with your hands...



Oops. Looks like she caught you doing something.

The whole scene with Sinon forcing co-champions captured her relationship with Kirito, all 24 hours of it, to a T. She never got to hurt him in-game and she finally made him as uncomfortable as he made her. Here, have a live grenade.



Her satisfied squeal as she literally hugged Kirito to death was one of my favorite parts of the whole show so far. She got to hug him. She got to kill him. Her love is like a bomb.



It's too bad she didn't get to appreciate the afterglow for very long before her demented neighbor attempted to rape her. If only every attempted rapist got a knee right to the face, the world would be a better place, that's for sure.

The real world violence ended at the right place for a cliffhanger too. I want to see Kirigaya and Shino team up again to take out Death Gun. Or one of Death Gun's "hands." That will also be cathartic.