Reaction: Gun Gale Online – Episode 9

The episode starts off and we’re immediately bombarded by still frames. Oh, A-1 Pictures, you.

So Kirito’s harem is in some room watching the BOB tournament. And of course, all they can do is talk about how AMAZING Kirito is. And that he’s sooo smart and such an amaaazing strategist.

All hail Digital Jesus!

WE GET IT. He’s amazing and you all want the D. Now SHUT UP. Please.

DEASU GUNNU kills someone and the overly dramatic bad guy speech ensues. Hey, Kirito! Sinon! While he’s giving his stupid speech why don’t you try to…you know…attack him? Sinon fires one shot, misses, and they just…sit there.

DEASU GUNNU leaves and our two GGO heroes go after him. But not before they get attacked by some nameless guy and they beat him. Nothing new.

I suck at shooters and I hardly play them, so I can’t really criticize the tactics they use. But even I know that there were A LOT of idiotic things that characters did throughout this tournament. Starting with that guy who went after both Kirito and Sinon. Yes. Go after not only the 2 best players in GGO, but go after TWO people at once. Genius.

Also, can I just say again, WHY ISN’T EVERYONE A SNIPER?! Clearly you’d have a huge advantage in this stage! But, whatever.

Kirito tells Sinon that DEASU GUNNU can actually kill people in real life and she’s in disbelief that “someone like that plays GGO”! How dare a psychopath play her precious video game.

What’s even worse is that as he tells her this, she has another one of her flashbacks and starts freaking out. Sinon THEN proceeds to tell Kiritina that she has a hard time believing his story.

Uh, if you don’t believe him, why are you freaking out? Sigh.

Oh yeah, and we now know that Sinon CAN get panic attacks in GGO. So all these people saying that the “headgear keeps her trauma in check” can now SHOVE IT.

If anyone is actually fearing for Sinon’s life…and were at the edge of their seat at this scene…. I seriously laugh at you.

Who wants to bet that in the next episode, Kirito will show up and “heroically” save his haremette? No one? That’s right, because it’s so painstakingly OBVIOUS that’s what will happen.

Misogyny Online. Where females can’t save themselves. Ever.

If you haven’t noticed the trend, Kawahara CONSTANTLY uses the whole “damsel in distress” trope as a way to heighten drama. And when Kirito inevitably saves said damsel, he’s suppose to be glorified as some kind of mighty savior.

-throws up-

This all goes back to the whole self-insertion theme that is Krito. When something good happens to him…you cheer NOT because you’re cheering for Kirito, but because you want that to be you.

And the “Highlight of the Episode” award goes to….

Heck, I don’t even know anymore.

Next episode, I guess.

Reaction: Gun Gale Online – Episodes 5 – 8

Well…

To be honest, I have been watching every new GGO episode since episode 4. The reason I never posted anything was because I got lazy. There. Now you know.

So I guess I’ll just do a giant review in one sitting!

Pretty much, all you need to know is that Kirito/Kiritina whupped Sinon’s butt in the tournament (No shocker there), there’s more BS going on about Laughing Coffin, and more backwards story writing. 

(RETCON HERE WE COME!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ngep0xq7lk

All hail DraconisMarch. He’s said all that I’ve wanted to say (and MORE) in all his reaction videos. So I’m going to be lazy again and say if you want to know what my view on the latest episodes were…just watch his videos. xD

So much for that “review”. But I’m too lazy to care.

I’ll do a proper rant/review for episode 9. Promise. XD

 

Freakin’ Procrastination…

I’ll keep this short and sweet.

School + Homework + No time + Procrastination = Going on a break for a while. :I

I’ll start up writing again once I get more time! 🙂

Reaction: Gun Gale Online – Episode 5

Well, I’ll say this much about the SAO franchise: It knows its audience and EXACTLY how to pander towards it. But since the core of SAO is wish fulfillment and nothing more, this is NOT a good thing.

The episode starts off with Kirito– er….Kiritina… and Sinon “just barely” making it to the sign up for BOB. It’s funny because Sinon says “hurry!” as they casually WALK in. Nice.

As Kiritina is about to enter his info for sign ups, the form asks for his real information in order to sign up. Obviously he can’t say he’s a male because….no. There is no logic behind that. What’s even funnier is the fact the form he entered was EMPTY. (That’s right. EMPTY.) AND HE WAS STILL ABLE TO ENTER THE TOURNAMENT!! What? He entered a BLANK form and was able to get into the tournament? How????? 

Actually, I’m not surprised. This is SAO afterall. Where logic does not apply. (“THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THE AMOUNT OF DATA!!”)

Wrong, Sinon. You’re both in Block F because of plot convenience. 

Something I forgot to mention last episode is the fact KIRITO STILL LOOKS MALE. Look at him! Look! He’s just a male with long hair and big eyes! Jeez.

So they go to the dressing room and Sinon strips down. Kirito, being the “oh so pure and innocent” boy he is immediately acts bashful and reveals he is in fact, a male. And then there’s that stupid 30 second pause before Sinon actually reacts. (WHY do they always take so long?! WHY?!?!) And she pulls the stupid moe-tsundere face –

And then she slaps him of course. Because…I don’t know. It’s suppose to be funny I guess? Because that trope hasn’t been done in THOUSANDS of other anime, obviously. Really though, look at that stupid moe face. THIS is why SAO is popular. For the pandering. Who needs actual good writing, right?

So then Sinon is all upset for whatever reason. Because, a male using a female avatar online is SO rare.

Some people counter this and say “Kirito lied to her, she felt betrayed! That’s why she’s so upset.” Seriously? That’s the best you can come up with? At most I would feel awkward. And it’s not like Kirito took advantage of her account or anything! Honestly.

It’s her fault for believing he was female in the first place. Doesn’t she know anything about stranger danger? The online world is full of lies, Sinon. Don’t you live in the future? Don’t they teach anything about online safety or whatever? Apparently not!

Anyways, Sinon is pissed off at Kirito but tells him not to lose in the tournament.

Get off your high horse, Sinon. You don’t teach Digital Jesus. Digital Jesus teaches YOU.

Really though, they were probably together for like, an hour or two? The only things she taught him were things that SHOULD’VE been explained in one of those first-time user tutorials. But there was no such thing, because this is SAO. Where video games are nothing like video games.

Kirito enters his first fight (but not before Sinon pulls yet ANOTHER moe-tsundere face) and if you thought he would have ANY trouble winning, you’re obviously watching the wrong show. (And if you are, keep it that way.)

He acts like deflecting bullets will actually be difficult for him. Har. Har.

I’m still laughing at how he’s seriously the ONLY user with a lightsaber. Of course we need to make him a super special snowflake. But the thought of NO other users having a melee weapon? I assure you TONS of other people would have one if not simply for the cool factor. Also, why WOULDN’T more people have a melee weapon?! WHY?! Don’t tell me Kiritina is the only person who thought of using a gun for distraction and having a sword as the main weapon. But that’s EXACTLY how it is! He is literally the only one! 

Ugh. 

Anyways, Kiritina wins and is ported back to the lobby. The fact that they took the time to show Sinon’s friend was still in the lobby only PROVES he’s related to DEASU GUNNU!! They tried to be “clever”, however and trick the viewers into thinking this isn’t the case because DEASU GUNNU himself appears in the lobby too. But it’s still so blatantly obvious how they’re playing this out…it’s pathetic.

The two have a stare-down and the only thing I can think of is Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

Wait a second.

WAIT A SECOND.

Lightsabers….Cyberpunk….. A villain that looks like Darth Vader himself?! GGO IS A POOP COPY OF STAR WARS!!! The Gary Stu Mary Sue is strong with this one.

(They missed a perfect opportunity to call DEASU GUNNU, “Darth Gun”!!)

So, Kirito realizes that DEASU GUNNU is also a SAO survivor and the episode ends.

Boy was this episode dry. Obvious and forced “suspense”, idiotic dialogue, more moe-tsundere faces and fanservice that will boost rating…Same stuff, different day.

Sighhhhh.

This episode gets no “Highlight of the Episode” award. I’m mostly watching this series now so when people ask me “Have you seen SAO?” I can say “yes I have and it’s garbage!”. And I won’t be accused of saying that, quote, “only because I haven’t watched it all.”

Also, it’s still a lot of fun to laugh at. Onto episode 6!

Reaction: Tokyo Ghoul – Episode 5

Major episode spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.

Not gonna lie, guys…. This week’s episode was a MESS. 

The way this has been progressing is abysmally awful. The story is fine, but they way events skip around is SO frustrating and confusing!

The opening scene starts off with Kaneki having a nightmare about Tsukiyama (the flamboyant blue-haired dude) and he wakes up in a cold sweat at…some office. Wait, wait, wait. What? How did he get there? What happened at the ghoul restaurant?! Did they just let Kaneki go?! They left off at a cliffhanger last week and they’re not even continuing from that point?!?! WHAT HAPPENED?!

As the episode went on I thought that maybe they would at least mention the events from last week…. Boy was I pissed off.

Nothing. They gave us NOTHING. They didn’t tell us how Kaneki escaped, they didn’t show Kaneki even asking Tsukiyama why he did what he did – NOTHING! It’s like they stopped mid story and started a new one!!! If they’re trying to pull a Scheherazade on us, it’s not working.

Tsukiyama: “I may have been a bit hard on you. Can we forget about this?” Don’t you DARE tell me this is legitimately how they ended things. You’re kidding me. No. *Frustrated growling*

Something else I immediately noticed right off the bat was the animation quality. 

Okay, what the heck happened there? In the first few episodes, I highly praised Tokyo Ghoul for it’s strong art and animation. I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but both have been progressively dropping. Character movements were strange and choppy, and the way characters were drawn was pretty disappointing in most scenes. 

The biggest flaw I’m seeing with Tokyo Ghoul so far is how RUSHED everything is. Events happen so quickly and don’t connect well to one another. The story line feels choppy, like they’re leaving out lots of important points.

Moving on to characters, there’s one in particular that bothered me this episode – Hinami.

I like Hinami’s character, I really do. Which is why I was disappointed with last week’s episode because she didn’t show up. Well…she showed up this week, but now I just have to wonder… WHY? Maybe she’ll be important to the story later, but I feel like the only reason she showed up this episode was…just for the heck of it. Just so she can wave at the audience and be like “yeah, I’m in this show. Remember me? I’m that one character.” There’s no point in putting a character into an episode if they’re not going to either A) progress the plot, or B) foreshadow something. Which Hinami did neither of.

Anyways, we get to the real meat of this episode where Kaneki finds Nishiki being beat up by some ghouls in an alley.

He fights them, wins, yadda yadda. But the way he won was just like….Really?

Last week, they LITERALLY showed 3 seconds of Kaneki’s “training”…and now we’re suppose to believe he’s the melee king? No kidding, he punches out a burly ghoul with one hit. I completely facepalmed during this scene. Just….sigh.

Kaneki takes Nishiki back to his home where Nishiki’s girlfriend, Kimi, a HUMAN, is waiting. Remember her? Yeah, me neither. Until about 17 minutes into the episode where I was like “…Oh, she’s that one chick from episode 2!”

It was frustrating the way she spoke as if she’d been in the anime the whole time. Ugh.

Kimi then talks to Kaneki and he….promises her he’ll “see what he can do”. That is, about Nishiki being a ghoul….Are you kidding me?! What do YOU know about being a ghoul?! You were only recently turned into one! He really had the nerve to act like he’s some ghoul expert and can help the couple’s relationship. Or…actually, he never even MENTIONS what he’ll help her with! Again – WHAT THE F**K IS GOING ON!?

And Kimi immediately trusts Kaneki (to do whatever the heck he’s going to do) like as if they hadn’t just met 2 seconds ago. This is so laughable. SO laughable.

So, blah blah blah, Kimi is kidnapped by Tsukiyama so Kaneki and Nishiki go to save her. A fight happens, of course, and Touka shows up.

I feel like I’m mostly watching this anime just for the sake of Touka. Because seriously, she’s BY FAR the best character.

As much as I’ve been slowly turning to somewhat dislike Kaneki….1000 awesome points to him for roundhouse kicking Tsukiyama in the face.

So we get halfway through the fight and Nishiki starts having flashbacks about his past.

Okay, fine. I do have sympathy for what happened to him. But the way everything was executed was SO melodramatic. It was like, I had a sister, she died, now I have a girlfriend.

That is literally how I felt it was presented. I couldn’t get invested into his story at all.

Touka takes a bite out of Kaneki, Tsukiyama flips out, the episode ends…and I’m still wondering what the heck happened after the events at the ghoul restaurant.

I’m just….SO disappointed in this episode. It was an utter atrocity. Plot holes, forced drama, rushed events, dropped art/animation quality, and SO many times I facepalmed.

And the “Highlight of the Episode” award goes to..

Touka. Just like last week. Because she’s slowly becoming the main reason I’m watching Tokyo Ghoul.

Let’s hope episode 6 plays out better 😛