Likewise, Carly Smith of The Escapist found Sinon to be a "breath of fresh air" in a show like Sword Art Online, which could have "ended after its first arc, halfway through the first season." In reviewing the second episode of the Sword Art Online II anime, Salvador GRodiles of Japanator.com wrote that "Sinon isn't a pushover in battle" and is also "a force to be reckoned with", and found her character to be enjoyable. In concluding his review of Sword Art Online II, Sinon's character and story were praised again, writing "Overall, A-1 were able to wrap up Sword Art Online II'''s Phantom Bullet nicely. We got to see Shino slowly recover from her trauma and the show did a decent job in explaining the process behind Shinkawa and his older brother's evil scheme – even if their scheme had some far-fetched elements. To top it all off, they were able set things up for the next big storyline in the series." GRodiles also praised the interactions between Sinon and Kirito after Kirito revealed to her his true gender, claiming "the series deserves some props for the way how they executed Kirito and Sinon's recent interaction [...] While most viewers might criticize SAO for having Sinon react negatively towards Kirito when he told her the truth, the guy kind of deserved it for not being honest with her when they first met. Thanks to this situation, we can see both characters develop in a way that won't turn into a mindless sequence where Kazuto pretends to be a woman; thus destroying any distractions that would prevent the show's plot from moving forward." In a review of the first Blue-Ray disc of the Sword Art Online II anime, Theron Martin of Anime News Network praised Sinon as a "strong female co-lead", noting how unlike the other recurring female characters of the franchise, she is the only one not defined by her relationship with Kirito, but rather an incident from her past. Martin continued his review in part two, where he lauded the writing of Sinon's backstory and sufferance of PTSD as "masterful", writing "The way she falls apart even in her Sinon persona when faced with a particular stressor is quite credible, as is the way she struggles to cope with her crushing fear; she is desperately afraid to die, but even more afraid of living with the fear [...]