Sword Art Online II Episode 01

World of Guns (銃の世界) is the first episode of the Sword Art Online II anime adaptation, as well as the first episode in the Phantom Bullet Arc. It aired on July 5, 2014.

Plot
A year after Sword Art Online was cleared, online in a bar on another VRMMO game, Gun Gale Online the players were watching the live stream of «This Week's Winning Group», which was featuring the winner and runner up of the last Gun Gale Online tournament, called Bullet of Bullets: XeXeeD and Yamikaze. XeXeeD was giving an interview about his victory in the tournament, remarking of how the age of AGI based builds was over as opposed to the STR build, which allowed wielding stronger and heavier guns. Most of the people in the cafe showed disdain for the top player and, once there was a break in his speech, a cloaked player stood up and took out a pistol, the cloaked player then proceeded to walk towards the television screen and give a speech about "judgement". Although, he was mocked at first, after the pistol was used to shoot the TV screen and, moments later, XeXeeD let out a face of pain and disappeared due to a disconnection error, everyone became shocked. The cloaked figure then declared himself as Death Gun and that he wielded true power through the Death pistol.

In real life, Yuuki Asuna and Kirigaya Kazuto (Kirito) met up for a date at the East Garden of the Imperial Palace. They discussed about things like the difference, which Kazuto declared was the amount of data, between virtual and reality. They also talked about the future such as the special nature of the Imperial Garden, future career prospect and such. Kazuto then had a flashback to around 4 hours ago, when Kazuto met with Kikuoka Seijirou at Salon de café. There Seijirou informed him about the Death Gun incident and got him to agree to help investigate it by entering Gun Gale Online on the basis of being paid. After the flashback, back at the Imperial Palace, Kazuto and Asuna talked a bit more about SAO then, right before they went on their way back home, Kazuto wanted to say something but held back and instead suggested that next time by spring they should have a picnic there together with Rika (Lisbeth) and Suguha (Leafa).

Meanwhile, in Gun Gale Online, Sinon shot a player from a monster hunting party with her PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II.

New Characters

 * XeXeeD
 * Yamikaze
 * Death Gun
 * Usujio Tarako (Mentioned)
 * Sinon
 * Behemoth (Cameo)
 * Dyne (Voice only)

Inventory

 * Death Gun
 * Type 54 "Black Star"
 * Sinon
 * PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II

Locations

 * SBC Gurokken pub
 * East Gardens of Tokyo Imperial Palace
 * Salon de café

Adaptation Notes

 * Adapted from Volume 5, Prologue and Chapter 1-3


 * Kazuto's comment about Yui having a little sister after seeing the twin girls was omitted.
 * Seijirou and Kazuto's conversation was greatly shortened. In the anime, they immediately began talking about the Death Gun incident, while in the novel they first talked about various other topics.
 * Various off topic remarks during Seijirou and Kazuto's meeting were omitted, including the joke about Usujio Tarako's and Hokkai Ikkura names.
 * Seijirou and Kazuto's discussion on the limit of AmuSphere functions was omitted.
 * Seijirou's talk about the Inuit Kiviak and how it resulted in the women of the nearby table leaving in disgust was omitted.
 * In the novel, Seijirou gave Kazuto a copy of the recording of Death Gun's voice to listen to.
 * Seijirou and Kazuto's meeting was changed into a flashback.
 * The conversation among Dyne's squad while they were waiting for their targets to show up was omitted.

Trivia

 * The title of this episode is similar to the title of the first episode in the previous season, World of Swords (剣の世界).
 * The episode was shown in several different premiere events worldwide before its public release. The event in Japan was held on June 29, 2014, while events in other countries were held on July 4, 2014.
 * The background music played in the cafe is Air on the G String.
 * The cafe shown in the episode is likely based on the Shiseido Parlour Salon De Café, as the exists in Tokyo in reality, because they coincide in term of shop name, location, interior design, dishes available, pricing, menu design, and other things are similar.

Quotes

 * "Presenter prprprprprprprprprpr" - Comment in danmaku
 * "It's true that, until now, the strongest strategy had been to raise your AGI, and fire a powerful physical weapon as fast as possible. But the balance of a MMO changes all the time. In particular, games with levels don't let you re-spec your stats. You need to constantly predict the future when you spend your points, because the best style for your level zone won't always stay the same." - XeXeeD
 * "XeXeeD... False victor...You will now be judged by true power! (Death Gun shoots XeXeeD's image and XeXeeD disconnects after several seconds) This is true power! True strength. Fools...Remember this name, and fear! The name of this gun and I share! Death Gun!" - Death Gun
 * "The amount of information. That's all." - Kazuto
 * "But that would mean that the world the commander tried to create was intended to taper off to a point and someday disappear. And a certain person made it explode midway. Without waiting to see the end" - Asuna
 * "This pressure, this unease, this terror...That's like tossing a wad of paper in a wastebasket. Yes...yes...Compared to that time..." - Sinon
 * "Next." - Sinon

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