© 2023 Keiichi Shigurezawa/KADOKAWA/GGO2 Project
In the final episode of this storyline, one thing becomes very clear: this storyline was never Ren’s story, but Pitoue’s. Last season showed us the results of her obsession, and given the life-or-death nature of their fight, it’s no surprise that this is the focus. However, with the story having much lower stakes, this season allows us to delve more into the “why” behind her obsession, both for thrills and for Lian herself.
Ultimately, Pitohui is a victim of her own genius. Her life is in easy mode. She knows exactly what to do and how to take action to achieve success. Not only is she a popular professional singer, but she is basically the best in every game she plays. Because of this, her life has always been ordinary and without any challenges.
However, there were two moments in Pitohui’s life when she was beaten – moments in which she experienced fear. These were the most crucial events in her life, determining all her future actions. The first one is in Sword Art Online During the beta test, she fought Kirito. Of course, he had two levels of advantages over her, but she had always relied on her talents to overcome difficulties before. The fact that she couldn’t beat him – that there was someone better at what she did best – filled her with fear deep inside. Along with this emotion comes excitement.
But then Sword Art Online As it happened, she faced Kirito again and was rejected. Worse yet, if she competes, their fight will be a life-or-death one with the highest stakes possible. Regret plagued her, lingering in her mind until she decided to let Ren create her own death game in Kirito’s place. When the armless Ren began to slit her throat with his bare teeth, Pitoue was convinced that she was going to die. She felt the same fear again – that emotional excitement. She achieved her goal and made her life worthwhile for a brief moment.
But Lian gave her a way out, a loophole to continue living. So Pitovi survives, once again pursuing a brief emotional high. However, that’s not all. With his second life, Pitohui doesn’t just want to experience fear. She was determined to overcome it. As we see in this episode, it doesn’t matter that the life-or-death stakes are gone – the fear is still there because it’s connected to both Ren and Kirito.
The real problem plaguing Pitohui this time is that her determination to achieve her goals has exceeded her common sense. In Squad Jam 2, we saw Pitohui at his best. She’s calm, collected, in control, and seems a thousand steps ahead of everyone else. However, by the end of Squad Jam 3, she’s at her worst. She was out of practice and mentally exhausted, long before AmuSphere would have written her off. Heck, in her final moments she was delirious and talked more about her inner image of Ren than the real Ren lying next to her.
In the end, it wasn’t even Lian who defeated Pitohui, but Pitohui himself. Lian is not particularly smart. What’s more, Pitohui barely remains conscious, focusing on the fight she craves to the exclusion of everything else – and is therefore surprised again and again. Despite his second loss, Pitohui refused to give up. Her determination was unwavering. The only dilemma she now faces is how to launch her next attack on Lian – and what drastic actions she’s willing to take to get it.
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Random thoughts:
• If you’re wondering why Pitohui is soaked and naked in the final scene, you can see two sensory deprivation pods in the background, each apparently equipped with a NervGear.
• The song “Toxic” we hear in the end credits is a message to Llenn: Pitohui tells her directly about her frustrations and determination.
• If you have read the full version of “Sword Art Online Animation Timeline” I wrote, you may notice that the ending quietly jumps the story time to after the Yakuza War. (Squad Jam 3 takes place on July 5, War of Underworld on July 6, and Epilogue on July 26.) Are we supposed to assume that Pitohui and Fukaziroh weren’t involved because they were exhausted? Because I don’t think that would stop any of them from participating – even on the bad guy’s side.
• The epilogue ends on an interesting note, as despite being a two-time Squad Jams winner and widely regarded as one of, if not the, strongest player in Gun Gale Online, Lian still considers herself is a weakling.
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II Currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the majority shareholder of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
