Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown”: Final Duel [Review]

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown” marks the end of Squad Jam 3 with a bang. Also, the clangs and hisses of steel on not-lightsabers as the tournament ends in a fated duel. Needless to say, you will be on the edge of your seat the whole time.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown”: Details

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown” is the eighth episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, and Ep. 7 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

Yūki Nishiyama is the director behind Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown”, with Masayuki Sakoi 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. 8 “The Showdown” 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. 8 “The Showdown” made its airing and streaming (read: simulcast) debut on November 22, 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. 8 “The Showdown”: Synopsis

Alas, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II is still an ongoing anime, despite how final this episode may appear to be. In fact, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown” only just premiered four 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:

It turns out the true “betrayer” from LPFM was LLENN. Pitohui lied, saying she was the betrayer to fight LLENN with all her power. LLENN becomes outraged as she learns the truth and declares she wants to defeat Pitohui.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown”: The Good

There no doubt about it after watching Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown”. It’s the story that’s the best part of it, and it all comes down to the one on one duels going on this episode. It’s not just the duel between LLENN and Pitohui, although that is the main event and the source of a lot of the entertainment in this episode. Mostly due to how brutal it gets towards the end, but that’s par for the course whenever they get into a duel. That, and how oddly…intimate that duel becomes. Let’s just say that this episode reminds us that there is a certain level of yuri going on between them and their irl selves.

But getting back on track: it’s not just them that makes this episode great. It’s also the duel that goes on between Fukaziroh and Boss. That particular duel is just as amusing and drama-filled as the main duel. Let’s just say that you’ll be just as shocked at the result as I was. Truly, Keiichi Sigsawa is a great writer, which is quite appropriate given that he wrote Kino’s Journey.

Of course, that story wouldn’t nearly be as good without the amazing animation backing it up. Fortunately, A-1 Pictures delivers with their teams of animators, and show off that they are the studio behind Sword Art Online once more. Complete with some adorable chibi facial features for LLENN as well when she am-scrays.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown”: The Bad

I do have a single complaint about Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Ep. 8 “The Showdown”, but I recognize that it’s an extremely subjective one. That complaint has to do with Pitohui making a callback to Sword Art Online, and how she apparently admires Kirito as a “strong” person to look up to as a goalpost. I love this Sword Art Online spinoff, but I’m not a fan of the mainline anime. All because I think Kirito is a boring main character as well as certain directions with the story (mostly revolving around Asuna) Reki Kawahara took it that I’m not a fan of. I do recognize that this is entirely subjective though, so your mileage may vary.

The other thing to note for action junkies is that if you specifically want blood and gore, then this episode may disappoint you. Yes, it’s brutally violent, but there’s not a drop of blood anywhere. It’s all due to the setting taking place in an online game with age ratings, so the violence is a bit censored out and replaced with glowing red pixelated areas. If you want blood and gore, then might I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, and/or DAN DA DAN? Those anime series should have more than enough bloody action to satisfy the most rabid 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.