Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason To Fight”: This War Of Theirs [Review]

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight” gives us a real plot twister in this final episode of the season. A plot twist that involves actual military personnel, no less. Let’s just say that the NPCs are most definitely not what anyone expected them to be.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight”: Details

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight” is the 12th and final episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, Ep. 8, Ep. 9, Ep. 10, and Ep. 11 here) of the second season of this science fiction, adventure, comedy-drama, and gun-filled 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

Masayuki Sakoi and Yūsuke Murata are the directors behind Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight”, with Sakoi also being 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. However, this final episode features “Oh UnHappy Day” by ReoNa as the ending theme music.

Voice Cast

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight” 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. 12 “The Reason to Fight” made its airing and streaming (read: simulcast) debut on December 20, 2024. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. In fact, you can only watch this season only on Crunchyroll due to this second 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. 12 “The Reason to Fight”: Synopsis

Alas, while Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II is no longer an ongoing anime, it’s still a recent one. In fact, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight” only made its debut 10 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:

LLENN becomes the NPCs’ prisoner, so she frees herself by committing suicide. She looks at her watch while prepping her equipment in the waiting area. It shows the clock at 21:54. Respawning takes three minutes, so she’ll be back on the field at 21:57. By then, there will only be three minutes until the time is up. Her allies are doing the best they can, but the enemy is tough. Their defeat is inevitable. Pitohui takes out the bazooka she kept as her trump card, but it’s not enough to ensure victory. It’s up to LLENN whether they win or lose…!

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight”: The Good

Even in this finale episode of the season, it’s still the story that continues to captivate me. All because of the plot twist in Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight” that none of us could’ve ever seen coming. I won’t spoil the plot twist for those who haven’t watched this finale yet though. Let’s just say that the reveal has to do with the bots not being actual bots. But rather, they’re human players who are either currently serving military or ex-military, and they’re doing this for therapeutic purposes. The exact reasoning for the therapy is…odd, but it does make a certain amount of sense. Enough that it’s pretty clear Keiichi Sigsawa put some thought into this reveal.

Of course, that’s not saying that the action was bad. Far from it, it’s the kind of gunplay and gun fu that puts to mind a John Wick or The Matrix film. All in anime form and featuring a large female cast to boot, especially since our band of main characters in the form of team LPFM is themselves mostly female.

It’s a reveal that wouldn’t be nearly as good without the hard work of A-1 Pictures. Their animation team delivers yet another episode with high quality animation, proving once more that they are the studio behind the original Sword Art Online anime. Only this time, they turned the quality up a notch for this final episode. This is most evidence in the ending music sequence, which is a collage of different scenes in the daily offline lives of the main characters. All done in a very stylized animation that brings to mind watercolor paintings. As a fan of Valkyria Chronicles and Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF, both of which use a similar visual style, this appeals to me.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 12 “The Reason to Fight”: The Bad

Alas, despite the plentiful action in this finale, it may not be enough for some action junkies. All due to the lack of any actual blood and gore in the entire anime, due to said anime taking place within a game that censors that content. If you want blood and gore in your anime, then might I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, and/or DAN DA DAN? Those anime should have more than enough blood and gore to satisfy even the most rabid of action junkies.

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