Sword Art Online fans have been loving the differences between its Gun Gale Online spin-off series and mainline story, and one of the major differences that have stood out to fans was the difference between Kirito and the new lead, LLENN.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Fans finally were introduced to LLENN’s real life identity, Karen Kohiruimaki, and after learning how she found Gun Gale Online they have fallen in love with her all over again.
In the series’ second episode, fans were shown how the mysterious, tiny pink speedster LLENN found her way into Gun Gale Online. Karen Kohiruimaki, a college student attending school but has a lot of trouble making friends due to a crippling shyness that comes from her embarrassment over her height.
After looking into the world of online MMOs because of the idea of becoming someone else, she ventures into any different games in her search of becoming a “cute girl.” Stumbling through many different wild games that give her strange avatars, she finds her way into Gun Gale Online and grows to love her new avatar, who she names LLENN.
The cut backs to Karen in the real world reveal she’s flourishing more in the online world of Gun Gale Online more so than in her actual life, and she even made a new friend in the mysterious Pitohui. But fans are wondering how much Karen is falling into LLENN, and unlike Kirito, fans are worried that Karen will grow to love herself as LLENN rather than accept her own body.
But surely this conflict between her two worlds will be explored as the series goes on as it presents an intriguing look into a franchise we’ve only seen through Kirito’s eyes.
For those unfamiliar with the spin-off, the synopsis for Sword Art Online: Alternative Gun Gale Online is as follows:
“In the world of guns and steel that is Gun Gale Online, LLENN has been a devoted, female solo player. She is obsessed with two things: donning herself entirely in pink and honing her skills with consistent game play. She soon discovers her love for hunting other players (a.k.a. PK), soon to be known as the “Pink Devil.”
Meanwhile, LLENN meets a beautiful yet mysterious player, Pitohui, and the two click right away. Doing as she is told by Pitohui, she enters the Squad Jam group battle.”
For those unfamiliar with Sword Art Online, the series was originally created by Reki Kawahara with illustrations provided by abec. The series follows a boy named Kirito after he and thousands of gamers get trapped in a virtual reality video game known as Sword Art Online.The gamers must band together to defeat the game’s final level to escape, but Kirito and his guild learn there is more behind their prison than they were originally told.
The series began as a line of light novels published through Dengeki Bunko in 2009, and has been adapted into eight different manga series by ASCII Media Works and Kadokawa. The series has been licensed for an English language release by Yen Press, and has been adapted into an anime series by A-1 Pictures.
Its first season aired in 2012 and ran for 25 episodes, while its second season, Sword Art Online II, aired in 2014 and ran for 24 episodes. The series currently gearing up for its next big arc in the light novel series, “Unitial Ring,” and the next season of the anime is set to adapt “Alicization.”
