Meeting Date: 5/26/2018
Disclaimer: The Herald Anime Club discusses shows as they’re airing. Naturally, there will be spoilers for a given episode. You have been warned!
Samantha Ferreira: Hi everyone, and welcome to the Herald Anime Club! I’m Samantha Ferreira, and I’m joined by L.B. Bryant.
L.B. Bryant: Hello!
Samantha Ferreira: Tonight, we’re taking heading back to GGO for Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online Episode 7: My Little Grenade-wielding Psycho Can’t Possibly Be This Cute!
L.B. Bryant: My subtitle for this episode: A New Loli Approaches
Samantha Ferreira: That works, too.
L.B. Bryant: This was such a fun episode for me though :)
L.B. Bryant: I absolutely adored the new character
Samantha Ferreira: It really was. Sure it was just build-up, but it was build-up done well.
Samantha Ferreira: Fukaziroh is just amazing.
Samantha Ferreira: From the beginning, she was great… whether she was debating selling her account, bragging about building a stable, or just talking about having a “Papa”
L.B. Bryant: The moment I knew I loved her was when she started fawning over the grenade launchers
Samantha Ferreira: That was priceless.
L.B. Bryant: I liked her before that but when she started gushing over those despite having no clue what they were, I loved her.
Samantha Ferreira: That was amazing. that whole “I love them! WHAT DO THEY DO” moment was great
L.B. Bryant: Overall I was really surprised at how quickly Fukaziroh was able to take the lead spotlight and not miss a beat.
Samantha Ferreira: Same.
Samantha Ferreira: The ice cream bit had me giggling
L.B. Bryant: Normally new characters have to warm up and slowly earn their time in the spotlight, she was able to force her way in from second one and did a great job with it.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed. She just dominated the stage from moment one. She’s snarky, she’s goofy, and she’s just such a vibrant character.
Samantha Ferreira: She’s up there with LLENN
L.B. Bryant: I think that shows just how good the writing of this series can be.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed. It shows what SAO can be with a talented writer. (Yes, I went there)
L.B. Bryant: lol
L.B. Bryant: /gif burn
Samantha Ferreira: Hehe.
Samantha Ferreira: I kind of like how they clearly specified that the scanner was no longer an immortal object, too
L.B. Bryant: Yes! That irked me so bad during the last SJ
Samantha Ferreira: Haha… I kind of expected it from the get-go with how much they pulled them out
L.B. Bryant: Though it does kind of surprise me that M’s monster, game breaking shield is still allowed as a legal object
L.B. Bryant: lol
L.B. Bryant: You’d think one of the admins would’ve stepped in and said “Um… dude?”
Samantha Ferreira: lol – it’s in the game, so…
L.B. Bryant: At least as far as we know it’s still legal. I didn’t see him carrying it in the waiting room of SJ but it was mentioned by LLENN so I assume he still has it.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed.
Samantha Ferreira: I wonder what Pito will be wielding
L.B. Bryant: A little bit of everything I’m assuming.
L.B. Bryant: Btw… speaking of wielding, I need to mention something else about Fukaziroh: How CUTE was it that she has a combat knife holding up her hair?!?
Samantha Ferreira: I loved that detail!
L.B. Bryant: It’s such an interesting and bizarre design choice but it just works for some reason.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed… it’s such a GGO thing.
L.B. Bryant: So, where do we go from here with SJ2… any predictions?
Samantha Ferreira: Hm. Honestly, I see every single team trying to take out LLENN and Fukaziroh, because she was the winner last time
L.B. Bryant: That makes sense.
Samantha Ferreira: Also given the reactions on the pre-game.
Samantha Ferreira: At the same time, we’re going to see this turn into a game of cat and mouse, as Pito and M hunt down other teams who are hunting for LLENN who’s hunting down Pito
L.B. Bryant: Speaking of the pre-game, I have an idea. Since the GGO audience are allowed to place bets on how many shots will be fired over the course of SJ2, I say we do the same. I predict around 75,000 shots will be fired by the end of the battle royale. :)
Samantha Ferreira: Hmmm. I say it depends on automatics in play and how long our machine gun buddies last.
Samantha Ferreira: Getting a figure – 1 sec
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, the machine gun team are going to be unloading ammo by the bucket lol
Samantha Ferreira: Squad Jam 1 had 49,810 shots fired in total
Samantha Ferreira: I’m going to say in the 63,000 – 68,000 range if the machine gun buddies make it
Samantha Ferreira: about 58-60,000 if they don’t
L.B. Bryant: hehe alright
Samantha Ferreira: So, that said, I’m still firmly on the ‘Pito is Elza Kanzaki” train – at this point, you can see it from space
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, unless some kind of massive swerve is thrown in I have to agree.
Samantha Ferreira: I’m guessing M is her manager
L.B. Bryant: Yeah probably. I’d love to see them throw in some kind of twist though.
Samantha Ferreira: Same… but it’d have to be believable. Sigsawa’s too good to throw in some ham-handed twist.
L.B. Bryant: Yeah that’s true
Samantha Ferreira: I am curious about Memento Mori, too
L.B. Bryant: They are a wild card.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed. Their leader has history with Pito, which is intriguing since we’ve only seen her filtered through LLENN’s views
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, I had almost forgotten about that but that’s true.
Samantha Ferreira: Yeah… if you think about it, she’s only been seen through LLENN… and that one recap episode where she showed some of her true colours
L.B. Bryant: I suppose that’s true though the way others speak about her seem to paint a pretty picture as well.
Samantha Ferreira: Yeah.
Samantha Ferreira: Still, I love her as a character. Her entrance at the Squad Jam kind of reinforced that.
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, it’s going to be fun watching her in SJ2
Samantha Ferreira: It really is. She’s that delightful rogue of a character who’s just an asshole, but you have to love her
L.B. Bryant: hehe she hasn’t quite reached asshole levels for me yet. She’s still in that mysterious psycho range for me. :)
Samantha Ferreira: I say it in a good way. She reminds me of someone I used to play with in FFXI
L.B. Bryant: hehe ah alright
Samantha Ferreira: That’s really what I like about the show. The characters are just believable – they’re not uber-gamers, they’re just people who spend too much time power-leveling. That said, I’m kind of sad that at least one apartment hasn’t been littered with shit like instant ramen cups
L.B. Bryant: lol
Samantha Ferreira: Well… I say that and we just had Fukaziroh eating like a dozen pints of ice cream and getting indigestion
L.B. Bryant: lol I’m loving the comments regarding that scene I’m hearing from people on Twitter and Discord.
Samantha Ferreira: oh really?
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, I don’t want to quote anyone directly but the comments I’m seeing are some of the best things to come out of this series so far lol
Samantha Ferreira: Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy /fatbot
L.B. Bryant: :)
Samantha Ferreira: Anyway, I believe that we’ve covered just about everything this week. Any final comments?
L.B. Bryant: Always remember: Multiple pints of ice cream before a major VR tournament is bad. Please consume responsibly. :)
Samantha Ferreira: Well said! Have a great night!
L.B. Bryant: Night!
