We finally get to see John Smith in action this episode. I actually really like how the anime sets things in an industrializing world. One of the things it means is that John Smith gets to have his fights with wires on a train rather than just on the open road near a horse-drawn carriage like the LNs. A confined space like a train car makes the wires feel much more threatening and oppressive in my opinion. Also, in case you were wondering if Cid recognized who 666 was, that is still no. In the LN he just refers to this group as "Mitsugoshi's hit women".
The other bit of action this episode focused on Gamma and her unconventional fighting style. If it wasn't very clear from the very short flashback in this sequence, basically Cid gave up trying to teach her proper fighting technique due to her clumsiness. So, instead he told her to just use loads of magic and swing her sword hard and fast while making a swoosh noise. Thus, Gamma's fighting style was born.
The other interesting bit about this Gamma sequence is that in the LNs, it is Nu that accompanies Gamma rather than Kai and Omega. In fact, Kai and Omega don't really play much of a role at all in the LNs despite being characters in the original WN. From interviews during the first season (and some easter eggs in the show), it is clear that the director was a fan of the original WN and has worked to try to incorporate Kai and Omega into the story where it won't have a negative impact. They even get their turns at singing the ED this season (this episode was Omega).
Really looking forward to the next episode to see some more John Smith action.
I am not very familiar with the WN or the LN, but the industrial setting is the same in the manga, so I wonder if this is something the author decided worked better after the fact.
And just how bad Gamma is really comes across so much better when it's animated. Probably the highlight of the episode for me.
The author changing his mind after the fact wouldn't be out of character. He has done that about other plot points that the anime changed and then he incorporated them into the LN's later. Off the top of my head, an example of something the anime did but was only later incorporated into the LN storyline would be:
Very minor Rose LN spoiler (but is not a spoiler if you have seen season 1, episode 20 of the anime)
Rose didn't have her hair cut when she became 666, but the author added it later in LN Vol. 4 after the anime team brought it to him as an idea.
Industrial feels abit more unique compared to standard medieval but the world not having any concept of paper money or credits before SG is abit strange.
Another great episode but the Gamma scene felt funnier in the manga. It's was still hilarious. She was like a baby with a cannon lmao. The steel threads John Smith used looked cooler and scarier than the manga, by just the way they moved, i love it. And ofc the camera angles, they did an amazing job catching all the ass shots.
Cid got a lot of screen time again for being just a background character.
And I feel like the Gamma scene worked better in the anime for me. Truly shows just how much she's just relying on her ridiculous specs while still being awkward and uncoordinated.