Marwile watches SAO Zwei Part 14 "The End of Phantom Bullet... I hope"

Pretty normal week for me. Played video games (mostly Binding of Isaac and BBTAG), watched anime (Jojo, RWBY and Fall 18 stuff) and read fanfics (mostly a Jojo/RWBY crossover). So, yeah, let's just get this over with, because it's mostly just the obvious epilogue stuff.

The last episode ended with an admittedly pretty badass kick out into the face by Kirito. He manges to wrestle Shinkawa to the ground, but the their positions are quickly reversed and he injects Kirito with the poison. Shino finally knocks him out for good and is forced to watch as Kirito slowly dies in her arms... is what I'd like to say, but the syringe conveniently hit a coin-sized EKG electrode they forgot to remove from his chest. If someone asks what Plot Armor is, this is it... quite literally. It was nice to think he was going to die for the few seconds it lasted.

Some time passes and we see Shino meeting with her bullies, who this time pull out an actual gun to threaten her. Shino manages to keep her PTSD under control and they pull the trigger on her. Though it doesn't work because of the safety, so she takes the gun out of their hands and properly uses it to shoot at a tin can. So, do we just ignore that the girls actually tried to shoot her in the face?

Kirito's already waiting for her with black leather jacket and motorcycle. Did I mention he owns those, because of course he's edgy enough for those. They meet with the government agent and we get he recap of DG's background story, which is exactly what Kirito theorized a few episodes ago. We also get the obvious message of not confusing game and real world (let's ignore that Kirito spends his whole life in games) and an ominous message that might be a sequel hook (I doubt that).

Then they go to Agil's bar, where they meet with Asuna and Lisbeth. Did Lisbeth always have brown hair? (Looked it up, apparently you could color your hair in Aincrad) Anyways, did Lisbeth always have so much personality? These few seconds with her had more than the last few episodes. It nearly makes me regret skipping her episode back in S1. Anyways anyways, they reveal they visited Shino's hometown and found the woman, whom Shino saved when shooting the criminal and she thanks Shino for saving her life and the episode ends.

Phew, so that was Phantom Bullet. I can totally see why it's one of the contenders for worst SAO arcs. The game doesn't make sense, Kirito's character arc doesn't really exist and there was barely any action (only every other episode or so). The Laughing Coffin is intriguing as a concept, but because they barely played a role in SAO you don't feel the same connection Kirito's supposed to feel. I mean, the raid they constantly showed as a flashback didn't even happen in the original season. Sinon was a bit more useful, but kept jumping between edgy and weeping. And I'm pretty sure I missed about half of the butt shots, because of the kinda live commentary I did on Qrow's Discord.

Take my advice, rather watch SAO Alternative: Gun Gale Online. It takes the few good things that are hidden in Phantom Bullet and throws in new actually likeable characters, awesome action, humor and a good plot. It's not perfect, mostly because as a spin-off it's forced to also take some of the bad things of that world, but it's still leagues better. If I ever watch it again I'll probably be able to appreciate it even more. That's probably the only good thing that came out of watching this.

Next up, Caliber, the third arc that's competing for worst SAO arc. Will my suffering ever end?