Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched”: Plot Twister [Review]

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched” is just one big plot twister of an episode. First is us finding out about the other key teams in the tournament, which is its own blend of high-intensity fun. Then as the title suggests: the devs of GGO decide to do something special for this tournament in terms of the rules. Something designed explicitly to shake things up in a most interesting way.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched”: Details

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched” is the fourth episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, and Ep. 3 here) of the second season of this science fiction, adventure, and comedy-drama anime. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online light novels and manga by Keiichi Sigsawa (Kino’s Journey, Tale of a Single Continent).

Originally, 3Hz (Dimension W, Princess Principal, The Devil Is a Part-Timer!!) was the animation studio behind the first season. However, for this second season, the animation studio is instead A-1 Pictures (Black Butler, Sword Art Online, Solo Leveling).

Production Cast

Daisuke Tsukushi is the director behind Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched”, with Hirohide Shikishima as the storyboarder. As for Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II as a whole, we do still know that Masayuki Sakoi remains the director behind the anime, with Yōsuke Kuroda as the writer, and Yoshio Kosakai as the character designer. Starving Trancer (aka. Yusuke Seo) is the one who composed the music you hear in this second season.

Speaking of which: the opening theme song for Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II is “GG” by ReoNa. Meanwhile, “Little Dancer” by The Jazzin’ Park is the ending theme song for the same.

Voice Cast

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched” features the voices of Tomori Kusunoki (Reba Buhr in English dub) as LLENN / Karen Kohiruimaki, Yoko Hikasa / ReoNa (singing) (Allegra Clark in English dub) as Pitohui / Elsa Kanzaki, Chinatsu Akasaki (Faye Mata in English dub) as Fukaziroh / Miyu Shinohara, and Kazuyuki Okitsu (Ray Chase in English dub) as M / Gōshi Asōgi.

When and Where to Watch

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched” made its airing and streaming (read: simulcast) debut on October 25, 2024. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can only watch this season only on Crunchyroll due to this season of the anime being an exclusive there. However, you can watch the first season not only on Crunchyroll, but also on Hulu or Prime Video.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched”: Synopsis

Alas, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II only just recently began its run. In fact, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched” only made its debut six days ago as of this writing. Thus, I will present to you Crunchyroll’s official synopsis for this episode instead of a spoiler-filled plot summary. You can read that synopsis below:

Clarence and Shirley defeat and destroy the allied team. KKHC is wiped out after the two kill each other in a fierce battle. Meanwhile, LPFM rides a truck inside a freight car and calmly heads over to UNKNOWN as if going through a deserted field.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched”: The Good

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched” continues the tradition of having the story be the best part of each episode. Mostly due to this episode having a serious level of plot complexity in showing off what the other teams are doing while LLENN is just traipsing along in their borrowed truck. Basically: this episode shows off just how good SHINC and the other high level squads are compared to the average noob players. Even the silly machine gun team shows that they’re surprisingly good at this game despite how silly they are.

Then there’s the plot twist at the end of this episode in the form of that special rule the devs came up with. I won’t go into detail about what this special rule is. I will only say that it shows that Keiichi Sigsawa not only understands how video games work, but also how devs can shake up multiplayer experiences to make the game more interesting for everyone. It certainly shows that he’s a much better writer than Reki Kawahara.

All that story is complemented by the animation. A-1 Pictures continues to show that they’re the animation studio behind Sword Art Online. The animation quality certainly calls to mind Kirito’s adventures in that anime series. Just focused entirely on guns and gunplay, as is appropriate for both this gun-centric anime and its author.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched”: The Bad

Honestly, the only complaint you might have against Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 4 “A Special Rule Launched” is that the action, while violent, isn’t particularly bloody. In fact, there’s no blood at all in this anime due to the fact that it all takes place in a video game. I suppose it was a decision on the devs part to censor out the blood and any serious gore to avoid having the game’s rating increase, which is understandable.

However, if you’re looking for blood and gore in an anime, then might I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, and/or DAN DA DAN? Those have more than enough blood and gore to satisfy any action junkie.

Tune back in to THS to find out more about Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online and other anime when we do.

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Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 3 “Clarence And Shirley”: Sniped [Review]