Impression
It’s show time!
I don’t often jump the gun like this (haha) but I really loved the way Sinon was shot! Well, not the fact that she was shot to begin with, but rather how A-1 handled that scene. There was hardly any suspense leading up to it -she was busy sorting out her feelings towards Kirito- and then when it happened it was so sudden and without warning at all. I suppose that’s what it must be like to be sniped for real, although it’s rather odd to see Sinon on the receiving end for once. Bet she didn’t see that coming herself! It’s left her quite literally in a bit of a bind, and we already know that she’s a potential target for Death Gun – which increases the chance that he’s actually able to kill her in the real world. It’s actually because she’s one of Death Gun’s targets that I’m finding it odd that he’s really after Kirito instead while merely using Sinon as a method of confirming he’s the “real one”, as if those sword skills weren’t enough – but oh well, two birds with one stone I guess. I was hoping she’d end up managing to retaliate by herself, but Kirito will probably save the day this time given that the so-called Death Gun is identical to the one involved with her trauma.
Of course, that gun and a few other happenings are starting to shed a bit of light on exactly who Death Gun is. First of all, you could cast suspicions on Shinkawa, the creepy kid who was most likely told about the intricacies of Sinon’s past, and would actually be a sadistic guy if he decided to run around with an identical gun to the one in her story. Then there’s the name PoH, who’s associated with the catchphrase that Death Gun uses – Klein and Asuna recognized his identity as a Laughing Coffin member purely from that and the Darth Vader mask. Looks like she’s off to confront that bastard Kikuoka, and I doubt she’ll be taking any shit from him. It’s also confirmed that he’s Sterben, as Gunner X is off somewhere else targeting Rikoko. That name has significance in itself, so I won’t be talking about the nuances of that just yet. Similarly, although it was subtle, the inconsistencies surrounding Death Gun revealed a tiny bit about exactly how he’s “killing” players. This time, he shot Pale Rider directly – who logged out as a result. But with Zexceed way back in the pilot episode, it was merely through a screen. And he never went after Dyne at all, even though he’s supposed to want to inspire fear and terror or whatever it is through invoking “true death”. If he managed to shoot someone through an in-game screen, I doubt it’d matter if his target’s avatar happened to be dead. If he’s the real deal, that is.
Finally, I’m liking this temporary alliance between Kirito and Sinon. She’s more like a rival instead an enemy, but both Sinon and Death Gun happen to be Kirito’s opponents in this battle royale – which means it could have been messy if Sinon had decided to gun him down instead of listening. She’s slowly but surely turning dere though, so I think the former would probably never have happened at this stage. Aww, look at her hugging her rifle anxiously.