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Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 3 “Clarence and Shirley”, as you can tell by the title, features a sniper duel. Actually…no, that’s not accurate. It’s more accurate to say that it’s an episode where the sniper picks off some rather helpless targets. However, there’s a twist at the end where I can guarantee that your jaw will be hanging open by the time you’ve finished watching this episode.
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 3 “Clarence and Shirley”: Details
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 3 “Clarence and Shirley” is the third episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1 and Ep. 2 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. 3 “Clarence and Shirley”, with Kenichi Kawamura 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. 3 “Clarence and Shirley” 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. 3 “Clarence and Shirley” made its airing and streaming debut (read: simulcast) on October 18, 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. 3 “Clarence and Shirley”: 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. 3 “Clarence and Shirley” only made its debut 11 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:
LPFM managed to defeat many members of the allied enemy team, but the island continued to sink, drastically decreasing the physical space they could move around in. LLENN and her comrades avoid areas near the sea and whip up a plan to cut across the northeast section of the island where members of the allied team have gathered. Clarence joins the allied team at this time. She suggests splitting the team into smaller groups of two people and launching waves of attacks against LPFM. However, immediately after they launch this plan, she betrays her teammates and attacks them. In addition, Shirley, who left the KKHC to fight alone, begins joining in on the attacks against the allied team!
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 3 “Clarence and Shirley”: The Good
Honestly, there’s no question that the story of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 3 “Clarence and Shirley” is the best part of this episode. It’s what allows the action to flow so smoothly, as well as proving that Keiichi Sigsawa is a much better writer than Reki Kawahara. Case in point: this episode shows the horror of being a sniper’s target despite the lack of blood, gore, and perma-death. All because it takes place in a video game. This makes Shirley’s sniping of the other players tense while still retaining a light-hearted silliness to it all. Quite reminscent of a sports anime, really.
Oh, and the final duel between Shirley and Clarence really takes the cake. I won’t spoil it for you, but let’s just say that no one will be expecting what happens during that duel or its outcome.
However, the story isn’t the only thing great about this episode. A-1 Pictures shows us once again that they are the original studio behind the Sword Art Online anime that this one is a spinoff of. All because this episode is a very good-looking one in terms of animation. Seriously, when you can watch Shirley smoothly pull back the straight-pull bolt action of her rifle, you can tell that a whole bunch of animators were working very hard on getting that gun action just right.
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 3 “Clarence and Shirley”: The Bad
Honestly, the only reason I can think of for anyone to not like the action in Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 3 “Clarence and Shirley” is because it all takes place in a video game. That doesn’t mean that there are no stakes at risk here. It just means that the stakes are a bit different, and failure isn’t permanent as with a more serious anime. If you want that kind of anime though, then may I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, and/or DAN DA DAN? Those anime have enough serious fights to satisfy any action junkie.
Tune back in to THS to find out more about Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II and other anime when we do.
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