Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online (Japanese: ソードアート・オンライン Hepburn: Sōdo Āto Onrain?) is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The series takes place in the near-future and focuses on various virtual reality MMORPG worlds. The light novels began publication on ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint from April 10, 2009, with a spin-off series launching in October 2012. The series has spawned eight manga adaptations published by ASCII Media Works and Kadokawa. The novels and four of the manga adaptations have been licensed for release in North America by Yen Press.

An anime television series produced by A-1 Pictures aired in Japan between July and December 2012. An Extra Edition episode aired on December 31, 2013, and a second anime series, titled Sword Art Online II, began airing in July 2014. A video game based on the series, Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment, was released on PlayStation Portable in March 2013, with a second game, Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment for PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) released in April 2014. A third game, Sword Art Online: Lost Song, will be released on PlayStation 3 and PS Vita in March 2015.

Sword Art Online has received widespread commercial success, with the light novels having over 16 million copies printed in several countries including Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Thailand, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The anime series has received mixed to positive reviews from critics, with some praising the exploration of the psychological aspects of virtual reality, while others criticized the series' pacing and writing.

## Plot

In the near future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online has been released where players control their avatars with their bodies using a piece of technology called: Nerve Gear. One day, players discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive unless they reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However, if they die in the game, they die in real life. Their struggle for survival starts now...

## Media

### **Light Novels**

Reki Kawahara wrote the first volume in 2002 as a competition entry for ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Game Novel Prize (電撃ゲーム小説大賞 Dengeki Game Shōsetsu Taishō?, now Dengeki Novel Prize), but refrained from submitting it as he had exceeded the page limit. He instead published it as a web novel under the pseudonym Fumio Kunori. Over time, he added three further episodes and several short stories. In 2008, he participated in the competition again by writing Accel World, this time winning the Grand Prize. Aside from Accel World, he was requested to get his earlier work, Sword Art Online, published by ASCII Media Works. Kawahara agreed and withdrew his web novel versions. Working with illustrator abec, the first volume was published in print on April 10, 2009, and 15 volumes have been published as of August 9, 2014. Kawahara also writes the Sword Art Online: Progressive series, which covers Kirito's adventures on the first few floors of Aincrad. The first volume of Progressive was released on October 10, 2012, and two volumes have been released as of December 10, 2013. The first volume of a light novel series based on Sword Art Online titled Sword Art Online: Alternative, written by Keiichi Sigsawa with illustrations by Kouhaku Kuroboshi, was published by ASCII Media Works on December 10, 2014.

### **Manga**

There are eight manga adaptations of the series, all written by Reki Kawahara and published by ASCII Media Works. Sword Art Online: Aincrad (ソードアート・オンライン アインクラッド?), illustrated by Tamako Nakamura, was serialized in Dengeki Bunko Magazine between the September 2010 and May 2012 issues. Two tankōbon volumes of Aincrad were released on September 27, 2012. A comedy four-panel manga, titled Sword Art Online. (そーどあーと☆おんらいん。?) and illustrated by Jūsei Minami, began serialization in the September 2010 issue of Dengeki Bunko Magazine. The first volume of Sword Art Online. was released on September 27, 2012. A third manga, titled Sword Art Online: Fairy Dance (ソードアート・オンライン フェアリィ・ダンス?) and illustrated by Hazuki Tsubasa, began serialization in the May 2012 issue of Dengeki Bunko Magazine. The first volume of Fairy Dance was released on October 27, 2012; the third volume was released on June 27, 2014. The Aincrad and Fairy Dance manga have been acquired for release in North America by Yen Press. The first volume of Aincrad was published on March 25, 2014.

### **Anime**

An anime adaptation of Sword Art Online was announced at Dengeki Bunko Autumn Festival 2011, along with Reki Kawahara's other light novel series, Accel World. The anime, which adapts the first four books of the series, is published by Aniplex, produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Tomohiko Ito with music by Yuki Kajiura. The anime aired on Tokyo MX, tvk, TVS, TVA, RKB, HBC and MBS between July 7 and December 22, 2012, and on AT-X, Chiba TV and BS11 at later dates. The series was also streamed on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

The opening theme song for the first 14 episodes is "crossing field" by LiSA and the ending theme song is "Yume Sekai" (ユメセカイ?, lit. "Dream World") by Haruka Tomatsu. From episode 15 onward, the opening theme is "Innocence" by Eir Aoi and the ending theme is "Overfly" by Luna Haruna. The anime has been licensed in North America by Aniplex of America and an English-language dub premiered on Adult Swim's Toonami from July 27, 2013 to February 15, 2014.

The series was released by Aniplex of America in four DVD and Blu-ray sets, with special extras on the BD sets, between August 13 and November 19, 2013. Manga Entertainment released the series on BD/DVD in the United Kingdom in December 2013, whilst Madman Entertainment released the series in Australia and the English-language version began airing on ABC3 on June 7, 2014. Sword Art Online has been available on Netflix in North America since March 15, 2014.

## Video Game

A stage event at the Dengeki Bunko Autumn Festival 2011 revealed that Reki Kawahara's light novels would get video game adaptations. The first Sword Art Online adaptation, titled Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment (ソードアート・オンライン -インフィニティ・モーメント- Sōdo Āto Onrain: Infiniti Mōmento?), was developed by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation Portable. The game follows an alternate storyline, in which a glitch causes Kirito and the other players to remain in Sword Art Online despite defeating Heathcliff, and players from other VMMORPGs such as Leafa and Sinon get sucked into the game themselves. The game was released in both regular and limited edition box sets on March 14, 2013.

Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment is a PlayStation Vita game released in Japan on April 24, 2014 rated C on the CERO rating scale. Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment takes place in the same alternative storyline as Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment, and it includes all content of "Floor Clearing" from that previous game with the addition of new unexplored "Hollow Area" of Aincrad. The protagonist Kirito will cross swords with a mysterious player who would become one of the key characters in the game. The game sold 145,029 physical retail copies within the first week of release in Japan, topping the Japanese software sales charts for that particular week.The game had also been released in Taiwan by Namco Bandai Games Taiwan with Chinese and English subtitles. A digital-only North American, European and Australian release was released in August 2014.