The first slightly more then half of season 2 of Sword Art Online.
One detail I notice is how the one Full Dive VRMMO Video Game of the SAO Universe that is specifically said to be developed in America not Japan is the Shooter. This actually does reflect the real world Game industry, Extra Credits has a video called The Myth of The Gun on why First Person shooters are the one genre of Games that America dominates rather then Japan. I like to add that America's unique fixation on Guns perhaps partly has to do with us being the one Major nation of the world that is younger then the existence of Guns. So while other cultures prominently feature Swords, Spears and Bows&Arrows in their founding myths, our founding myths are about battles fought with Guns.
As a Leftist, specifically an Anarcho-Libertarian-Communist, my position on Gun Laws is one of the few things on which I take what America considers the "Conservative" position, but in truth it's only in America that belief in Arming the Proletariat is considered Right Wing. My beliefs in Gun Rights are the same as Karl Marx, and philosophically my attitude towards Guns is not the same as that of a typical card carrying NRA or GOA member. I wish Guns didn't exist, but we can't just give fire back to Prometheus.
It's from that perspective that I have observed how Sinon's story in the Phantom Bullet Arc can quite unintentionally appeal to American Gun Nuts. As a little girl she was a good guy with a gun who stopped a bad guy with a gun, but because Japan's Liberal society so irrationally fears guns everyone looked at her as a freak instead of a hero and that is what traumatized her. And so now she's playing this Gun themed video game to deal with her trauma, and then she gets pulled into this Death Gun crisis and again helps save the day with her Gun skills before finally getting the thanks she deserved for her original act of heroism.
Normal Anime fans when critiquing this arc of SAO will sometimes say they wish it was just about Sinon and Kirito didn't have to be there stealing the spotlight. I suppose my hypothetical Gun Nut watching the show for this reading might feel the same way. But I like to argue that even if we watch it as if she was the lead, Kirto's role in her story is the same as her role in Kirito's, they're making a connection with someone else who has their own PTSD to deal with.
However the one common criticism of the Phantom Bullet Arc that these hypothetical viewers would most jump to agreeing with is it allowing Kirito to just use a Lightsaber so he can transfer over his RPG sword skills. Usually the reason this bothers people is because it's Bad Game design that this Gun themed Game allows you to win Gun fights without actually using a Gun. And that it would be more interesting to actually make Kirito have to adjust to something he's not already good at.
However this hypothetical Conservative American viewer would have a more deeply philosophical problem with it. Remember one of the most Iconic images of American Cinema is a "savage" POC showing off their sword skills only to be quickly and easily gunned downed by an American who isn't even a professional gunman. While one of the most popular recurring images in Japanese Animation is a Samurai using their Sword to easily disarm entire legions of gun wielding goons.
However the aspect of the Phantom Bullet Arc that really shows how it doesn't actually agree with this American romanticisation of guns is the villain. More specifically the Villain who's an actual character in the story. His infatuation with Sinon is because she killed someone with a Gun and has thus completely fetishized that Gun. Almost as if he's the audience insert for the people who'd be watching it for that reason.
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