A Brand-New Battlefield Awaits!The second Squad Jam plays out with Pitohui's actual, real-world death on the line. The only way to prevent the most horrific outcome is for Llenn to kill Pitohui herself...Determined to engage in the battle, she teams up with her friend and recent ALfheim Online convert from back home, Miyu, hoping to take down all who stand in their way. As they race to reach Pitohui, Pitohui is madly obliterating enemy teams, almost as though she is enjoying the death game...Can Llenn save Pitohui before it's too late?
The finale of the 2nd Squad Jam arc, this volume was pretty much wins style points for the batshit insane finale, even if it made almost zero sense.
While GGO was my least favourite arc in the original SAO work, Keiichi Sigsawa's renowned lust for guns does much justice to the setting, which he masterfully stretches the limits of, but never trying to upend it.
Kawahara's writing can tend to focus more on the thematic struggles or ethical questions of the setting, but Sigsawa really just doesn't give a fuck about them and has maximum fun with it. It's an apples vs oranges comparison really, but I'm surprised at how good this pairing comes off.
Looking forward to the next volume as it finally covers post-anime adaptation events.
This is the finale to the second Squad Jam. It’s got everything great about the last 2 volumes as well as two important factors that put this over the edge for me. Everything is wrapped up. No more mysteries. I’m excited to see where these characters go from here. And also, there is a surprising amount of Bi representation! What?! Go GGO!