I'd like to start out by saying that I enjoyed the first season of the anime (which covers Volumes 1-3 of the light novels and the first two Squad Jams), and would recommend it to people, particularly those who enjoyed the Phantom Bullet arc of SAO and wished the series spent more time in Gun Gale Online. Instead, I'll mainly focus on the third Squad Jam arc, which hasn't been adapted(meaning that a significant portion of the fandom hasn't seen it), and which highlights of the series' shortcomings.
If you haven't heard of the series before, it takes place in Gun Gale Online, a game that allows players to fight monsters and each other with a variety of real world firearms and laser swords. The main protagonist, Karen "LLENN" Kohiruimaki competes in the Squad Jam tournament, a team-based tournament (unlike the main series' Bullet of Bullets, which was an individual tournament), alongside her fairly colorful friends against equally colorful rivals.
The third Squad Jam is fundamentally similar to the first two, but with a different arena and two new rules. The first is that the arena is an island with a rising tide that forces all the teams inland. The second is a surprise twist that helps shake things up.
Unfortunately, even with these changes, Squad Jam is still fundamentally the same as before. Virtually all the major players from the previous two tournaments are back, and none of the newcomers are very significant. The only major difference in the roster is that LLENN, Fuka, M and Pito are now all on the same team. While SJ 2 was in many ways similar to SJ 1, it also upped the stakes, forced LLENN into a leadership role and pitted her against the more experienced Pito and M, who'd been her mentors in the past.
Another significant problem is LLENN's development, or lack thereof, since she doesn't seem to have any real desire to participate this time. The first two times, she had definite goals for participating, but in SJ 3, she only really wants a rematch with Team SHINC, something that doesn't end up happening. It's also a bit frustrating that, after taking charge in the last part of SJ 1, and being leader of her team in SJ 2, she's once again following M's lead in SJ 3. Furthermore, nothing seems to have really changed in real life; Karen still doesn't have any friends at her school, and the plotline about Karen keeping her GGO playing a secret from her family seems to have been dropped.
In short, while the first two arcs did a good job of establishing the premise and upping the ante, the third arc shows that the series somewhat struggles with keeping things fresh. I personally hope that future arcs deviate from the formula a bit more, possibly even having an arc that mainly focuses on real life with minimal in-game action, a bit like Mother's Rosary from SAO. As such, while I recommend the anime, I'm more hesitant to recommend the third arc of the light novel.
Squad Jam 3 (Volumes 4-5): Getting Stale
I'd like to start out by saying that I enjoyed the first season of the anime (which covers Volumes 1-3 of the light novels and the first two Squad Jams), and would recommend it to people, particularly those who enjoyed the Phantom Bullet arc of SAO and wished the series spent more time in Gun Gale Online. Instead, I'll mainly focus on the third Squad Jam arc, which hasn't been adapted(meaning that a significant portion of the fandom hasn't seen it), and which highlights of the series' shortcomings.
If you haven't heard of the series before, it takes place in Gun Gale Online, a game that allows players to fight monsters and each other with a variety of real world firearms and laser swords. The main protagonist, Karen "LLENN" Kohiruimaki competes in the Squad Jam tournament, a team-based tournament (unlike the main series' Bullet of Bullets, which was an individual tournament), alongside her fairly colorful friends against equally colorful rivals.
The third Squad Jam is fundamentally similar to the first two, but with a different arena and two new rules. The first is that the arena is an island with a rising tide that forces all the teams inland. The second is a surprise twist that helps shake things up.
Unfortunately, even with these changes, Squad Jam is still fundamentally the same as before. Virtually all the major players from the previous two tournaments are back, and none of the newcomers are very significant. The only major difference in the roster is that LLENN, Fuka, M and Pito are now all on the same team. While SJ 2 was in many ways similar to SJ 1, it also upped the stakes, forced LLENN into a leadership role and pitted her against the more experienced Pito and M, who'd been her mentors in the past.
Another significant problem is LLENN's development, or lack thereof, since she doesn't seem to have any real desire to participate this time. The first two times, she had definite goals for participating, but in SJ 3, she only really wants a rematch with Team SHINC, something that doesn't end up happening. It's also a bit frustrating that, after taking charge in the last part of SJ 1, and being leader of her team in SJ 2, she's once again following M's lead in SJ 3. Furthermore, nothing seems to have really changed in real life; Karen still doesn't have any friends at her school, and the plotline about Karen keeping her GGO playing a secret from her family seems to have been dropped.
In short, while the first two arcs did a good job of establishing the premise and upping the ante, the third arc shows that the series somewhat struggles with keeping things fresh. I personally hope that future arcs deviate from the formula a bit more, possibly even having an arc that mainly focuses on real life with minimal in-game action, a bit like Mother's Rosary from SAO. As such, while I recommend the anime, I'm more hesitant to recommend the third arc of the light novel.