Sword Art Online

[MasterOfMoogles]

Favorite parts of the episode:
1) "Now, don't freak out, but there's this guy standing at your bedside right now with a syringe."
2) The numerous cuts to Sinon's butt to try to spice up the explanations. I particularly liked the one where Kirito looks at it and then Sinon looks up at him and he smoothly redirects his gaze back to her face while continuing his explanation.

Mfauli, the murderer wouldn't actually be wearing a Death Gun costume, lol. That was just a visual representation based on Kirito's explanation.

[MFauli]

Mfauli, the murderer wouldn't actually be wearing a Death Gun costume, lol. That was just a visual representation based on Kirito's explanation.

i thought that, too, but then ... this is SAO :/

[Ryllharu]

I think the bigger problem would be Kirito miraculously resolving the mystery with nearly 100% speculation and almost no real evidence to back it up.

"He's actually doing the cross to secretly check on his watch that I don't know that he even wears about the improbably convenient pre-arranged time!"

instead of

"He's using the cross as a signal to his partner who is watching the streamed feed from a cellphone in the real world to start the injection."

The only one that I can actually accept is the inspiration that there are two people involved in "Deathgun" because Kirito thought from the beginning that it was impossible to kill someone from within the game with amusphere tech.

Kirito is also able to give Deathgun a full psych profile because he's not only the best gamer in the world, he's the best detective and a qualified psychoanalyst. It's such a shame the author doesn't ever pull back on the Gary Stu bullshit when we know he can write significantly better than this (Accel World).

And why the hell is Kikuoka playing other games instead of keeping an eye on the tournament?

The fanservice was indeed a pathetic attempt to spice up a horribly boring episode.

[Buffalobiian]

Props to Sinon's character design. I'm convinced Kirito gets inspiration from looking at her ass. Too bad her nendoroid has weird arms.

[shinta|hikari]

Props to Sinon's character design. I'm convinced Kirito gets inspiration from looking at her ass. Too bad her nendoroid has weird arms.

Props to you for understanding the whole point of GGO.

@Ryll and Kraco - Perfectly valid criticisms.

@Mfauli - I don't even understand what you're complaining about. Horror..? LOL.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm actually amazed someone thought that was what actually happened...

[Munsu]

I'm actually amazed someone thought that was what actually happened...

I'm amazed that in an anime like this one would discard the possibility of something this ridiculous actually occurring... Not that I think it did, but I wouldn't be so quick to discard it either.

[shinta|hikari]

No, you are exaggerating now. It was really obvious it wasn't reality.

[DarthEnderX]

No, you are exaggerating now. It was really obvious it wasn't reality.

Yeah, because the video game killing you would have been a ridiculous conclusion to jump to.

If, you know, that hadn't been what the entire first arc had been about.

For pages people were complaining about how stupid it would be if he was some uber hacker. And now that it is explained in a feasible way, it is boring?

Two different groups of people?

I don't think I ever though the hacking explanation was stupid. And I do think the current explanation is so mundane. To the point where the police shouldn't have required some kind of online specialist to solve it.

I guess the problem is that the first two arcs were based on the idea that people could be trapped in the VR and bad things could happen to them there, things that would affect their RL as well. This one is kind of a reverse. Kirito's theory would mean there would be nothing peculiar about this game at all. It would be just a perfectly ordinary murderer going around in RL, killing people in their houses, in their sleep for all practical purposes. Selection of the victim would merely rely on the game, which means it wouldn't need to be a VR game at all. It could be sports, chess, academic excellence, beauty, romantic jealousy, whatever has appeared as motives in the millions of crime literature, TV series and movie pieces. And reality.

This.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Yeah, because the video game killing you would have been a ridiculous conclusion to jump to.

If, you know, that hadn't been what the entire first arc had been about. Derp.

No, the ridiculous conclusion is that someone is cosplaying as Death Gun in the real world, not that there actually is someone in the real world.

Two different groups of people?

I don't think I ever though the hacking explanation was stupid. And I do think the current explanation is so mundane. To the point where the police shouldn't have required some kind of online specialist to solve it.

Over time, sure, I would believe the police would figure it out. The problem is currently nobody was even really looking into it.
I thought this was a very interesting way to take the story and a good way to switch it up from the previous arcs.
Is there a different method you think would have been more interesting or would have liked better?

[MasterOfMoogles]

If we're going to talk about crazy visualizations, I was super happy they brought back Death Gun shooting someone through the ethernet cable. That one is my favorite.

inb4, "That was exactly how Kirito thought he was killing people."

[shinta|hikari]

@Darth - Wearing a fancy costume in RL when you are about to stealth kill someone is leagues beyond any ridiculous thing SAO has ever shown. It also serves no purpose story-wise, unlike most of the bullshit that SAO throws out.

The scene was also presented in a way that showed Sinon was imagining it. Her freak out face was shown immediately after the bedroom scene.

EDIT:
@Moogles - Wait, you mean Darth misunderstood my post? I'm pretty sure that a partner killing the people via drugs is firm now.

[MasterOfMoogles]

@Moogles - Wait, you mean Darth misunderstood my post?

Yes, exactly.

[Ryllharu]

Wearing a fancy costume in RL when you are about to stealth kill someone is leagues beyond any ridiculous thing SAO has ever shown. It also serves no purpose story-wise, unlike most of the bullshit that SAO throws out.

It's someone wearing a costume as a disguise (like from a horror movie) while they murder someone. That's actually pretty normal when the perpetrator doesn't want to get caught. If they weren't so focused on it being a game, it wouldn't be a leap to assume they would get just as many jollies finding people in the games and then murdering them and posting videos to the net. While I certainly agree that the scene was imagined...it isn't leagues beyond any ridiculous thing SAO has shown.

Hell, everything in the climax of the ALO arc was more ridiculous and implausible than some kook dressing up in a matching costume to murder online game players. Also, what are the odds of finding your own sister in a video game in the first place? At least the GGO arc gets one thing right, Kirito and Sinon have never met IRL.

[shinta|hikari]

A disguise is different from a fancy costume, which is why I worded it that way. If someone sees you walking around and fiddling with people's locks wearing the Death Gun outfit, you will not only attract attention, but get arrested.

Yes, leagues beyond. And like I said, it serves no purpose to the story if it was actually like that.

[DarthEnderX]

@Moogles - Wait, you mean Darth misunderstood my post?

I guess I thought you were arguing something else.

A disguise is different from a fancy costume, which is why I worded it that way. If someone sees you walking around and fiddling with people's locks wearing the Death Gun outfit, you will not only attract attention, but get arrested.

This.

One assumes this person doesn't possess the horror movie trope of just appearing and disappearing at will. So wearing a scary costume only drastically increases your chances of being notice/caught, not reduces it.

[Kraco]

One assumes this person doesn't possess the horror movie trope of just appearing and disappearing at will. So wearing a scary costume only drastically increases your chances of being notice/caught, not reduces it.

While I actually do agree it was imagination for the sake of visualising the crime method, I wouldn't put it past this show. These guys are obviously crazy from the society's point of view. There are understandable reasons for murder, such as hatred, revenge, jealousy, and such, but these guys are serial killers, who are always labeled as insane. Why wouldn't an insane person wear a costume? Especially since their point is, for the greater audience, to make it seem like Death Gun in GGO caused the death. I imagine the other guy in RL, who's basically a tool, would feel left out if he didn't look like the part as well. Naturally they could be switching places all the time, assuming both are master lockpickers, but that still wouldn't change the fact that only the person in GGO is Death Gun, the one breaking into a player's house is nothing but an ordinary human murdering somebody using an ordinary method. However, with the costume, he could imagine they are the same person, one manifested in the game, one in reality.

[DarthEnderX]

True enough I guess. No accounting for crazy.

[kmkze04]

I'm getting the feeling that the Death Gun duo theory will end up being at least a trio, if not a whole guild remnant of LC operating in both GGO and reality. We already knew from that blip of the reality Death Gun that he was targeting Sinon, so Pale Rider must've been a secondary target and would have to have someone else stalking him at the same time.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm getting the feeling that the Death Gun duo theory will end up being at least a trio, if not a whole guild remnant of LC operating in both GGO and reality. We already knew from that blip of the reality Death Gun that he was targeting Sinon, so Pale Rider must've been a secondary target and would have to have someone else stalking him at the same time.

That actually makes sense, since his partner would have had to have been in Pale Rider's house, then somehow traveled all the way to Sinon's house before Death Gun decided to kill her.

Which, I guess means that unless these people all live in the same town, doesn't seem very likely without more than one person outside.