

On several occasions, Phantom's role in Inferno is described by Scythe Master.
For example, in the beginning of ep. 11:

> Phantom… the strongest assassin in Inferno… the title given to the top
> sniper in the organization…

I can see how Ein and Zwei are the strongest assassins in Inferno, but I'm
confused by the designation of "top sniper." To me, "top sniper" suggests that
the person specializes and is especially proficient in, well, sniping. But Ein
and Zwei spend a lot of time in the series (at least up to ep. 10) in close
quarters combat or situations that lead to close quarters combat. It was
probably intended that they fight in such situations, given that they follow
certain instructions when carrying out orders. They also seem to have been
specially trained for such situations, based on what I remember from ep. 2 and
3. The only instance that I recall where Phantom serves as a sniper outright
is in ep. 7, where Ein is ordered to shoot people who are overseeing a
narcotics shipment.

In contrast, other fictional snipers that I can recall, such as Riza Hawkeye
from _Fullmetal Alchemist_ and Sinon from _Sword Art Online_ , clearly have a
background in sniping, even if they end up in close quarters combat on
numerous occasions.

How is then Phantom a "top sniper"? Or is there something I'm
misunderstanding, either about the nature of Phantom's work, or about what
snipers typically do?


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2018-10-26T04:41:56.410
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2018-10-26T04:41:56.410
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question
requiem-for-the-phantom
How is Phantom a "top sniper" when they seem to spend little time actually acting as snipers?