SAO Alternative: Gun Gale Online – Episode 9 – Ten Second Massacre [Review/Recap – SPOILERS –]

By: v.o.lynn(Trigger Warnings for this episode only: flying body parts [bloodless, technically], references to sexual assault)With so many different teams signed up for Squad Jam 2, it makes complete sense to take as many out as possible in one blow, and Pitohui makes the perfect target. This episode is all about mass executions by small partiesM is hidden away to draw attention at the beginning of the episode, and despite having taken a few bullets, but still uses grenades to draw anyone waiting to join firefight. With the distraction in play, M’s men offer their own hail of bullets.Pito in her element is an absolute joy to behold, in a terrifying way. Her fighting style is voracious, like a bloodthirsty child at play. She moves like a dancer, spinning, light on her feet with hands free to borrow weaponry from her fallen victims – things like grenades, previous weapons, even a few bare-handed moves (noted by the audience watching the broadcast). There’s flying body parts, and general terror in her wake.And that’s just the first six minutes of the episode.A party of approximately 30, whittled down to two, Pito appears to be taking mercy on the last pair of comrades in the group, waiting for at least one of them to arm himself before taking him out – but M arrives to hurry her along. Pito has a valid point afterwords, though: they’ll probably be buddies when they return to the losers lounge, buying each other drinks at the bar. The lack of permanence to their game, the lower stakes, the simpler reward, it all makes a lot of sense, really. As she puts it:The seven leaders, elsewhere on the map, get butchered by an M107A1 – a real gun by Barrett if you look it up, with .50 caliber BMG (Barrett Machine Gun) shells. It’s fast, and in-game it’s rare. As Llenn mentioned previously that she’d never seen Pito with the same gun twice, it’s likely that she was saving this one for a special occasion.

[MEANWHILE]

Llenn and Fuka are still trying for the straightest line between themselves and Pito’s team, via going through the dome, which turns out to be a savannah with tall, grass and very little cover. Three other teams await them there, a trap not unlike the one set up for M’s team earlier in the episode. Lamenting the waste of bullets when she should be saving them for her confrontation with the formidable Pito, Llenn and Fuka fill the dome with a dusty pink haze to let Llenn’s battle camo shine.The really uncomfortable part comes in with a segment where one of the raiders basically promises to feel up Fuka’s lifeless body “when he kills her” because her corpse will be around for ten minutes as an immortal object. The villain monologue comes to an end brilliantly with Fuka’s self-defense being to bludgeon the jerk to death.After the battle, Llenn finds a survivor playing dead, and convinces them to dump all of their ammo (as it fits her P-chan, and the last battle likely depleted most of what she had) in exchange for a quick kiss on the cheek.The banter lasts too long, though, allowing Memento Mori to sneak in and set the scene for next episode.