Review of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
tl;dr: An anime that has good action but is pretty weak beyond that. This is a spin-off to the incredibly well known VRMMO series Sword Art Online that’s specifically centered around the game focused on in the second season, Gun Gale Online. The connection is only that the setting is the same however, and thus beyond recognizing some cameos you won’t miss anything if you watch this without having watched SAO II. The novel series this is based on was written by a completely different author, one who didn’t seem to particularly care about trying to give the anime a similar feel, and thus it’s ultimatelyan incredibly different anime from the main SAO series.
In terms of how it’s better, the action is noticeably better than the action in the main series. It goes pretty in depth into the various VRMMO mechanics that apply and ends up using them quite skillfully in the action in a way that feels logical but exciting. It’s overall better than the main series at this, but it’s especially better than the GGO portion of the main series which was pretty lacking comparatively, as the writing in the main series regarding GGO felt kind of half assed and like the writer simply didn’t know enough about weaponry to write a VRMMO surrounding them properly. The writing in this very clearly was written by a gun enthusiast that put a good deal of thought into how different weapons and tactics would end up applying in the context of a VRMMO. The action is also well choreographed and well paced so it’s pretty enjoyable throughout.
Beyond that however, the anime is severely lacking. There isn’t really much of an overarching plot at all, it’s basically just a bunch of characters playing an MMO together. It doesn’t take itself all that seriously, having quite a lot of comedy and having some comedic undertone during the intense portions. I think that would be fine if it had some likable characters, but none of the cast is likable, rather I would say the entire main cast leans towards unlikable. The main characters are crazy enough to be amusing which helps with comedy, but that doesn’t help at all at making the viewer care about them or feel invested in their stories. That’s not to say it didn’t try at times, as it did give some serious character development to a few characters, but it was pretty bad and didn’t land well at all. Thus, without any sort of overarching plot and lack of good character stories, this is an anime you should watch purely for the action without caring much about the who or why.
The art and animation are solid enough and work well for the action. The character designs were mostly pretty dull though, with only the main character, LLENN’s, standing out. The world design fit well enough for it’s purpose. The soundtrack was pretty solid and fit well with the action. The OP and ED were also both solid in terms of audio and visuals.