Kazuto Kirigaya (Kirito)

Kirito Render

The Black Swordsman (黒の剣士)

17 (Phantom Bullet Arc, Alicization Arc)

«Gun Gale Online»

«Ordinal Scale»

«Project Alicization»

Knights of the Blood (SAO)

Kirigaya Midori (Aunt, Adoptive mother)

Kirigaya Minetaka (Uncle-in-Law, Adoptive father)

Kirigaya Suguha (Cousin, Adoptive sister)

Yuuki Asuna (Girlfriend/In-Game Wife)

Yui (In-Game Adoptive Daughter)

Unnamed Grandfather (Deceased)

### Occupation

Middle School Student (Start of Aincrad Arc)High School StudentPart-Time Tester for Rath

## First Appearance

### Game

Infinity Moment

***Spoiler Alert:** This article or section contains details about plotlines not covered in the anime. Do not proceed unless you wish to be spoiled.*

**Kirigaya Kazuto** (桐ヶ谷 和人, *Kirigaya Kazuto***?**), born as **Narusaka Kazuto** (, *Narusaka Kazuto***?**), and known as **Kirito** (キリト, *Kirito***?**) in «Sword Art Online» (SAO), «ALfheim Online» (ALO), «Gun Gale Online» (GGO), and «Project Alicization», is the protagonist of the main Sword Art Online series.

Kirito was chosen to be one of the one thousand beta testers for the closed beta of Sword Art Online, the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) for the NerveGear, and later joined the official version of the game. He thus became one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in Sword Art Online, where he remained a solo player for the majority of the game, willingly taking on the role of a Beater to reduce discrimination against other former beta testers, as well as actively taking part in Boss battles as one of the Clearers. Kirito temporarily became a member of the Moonlit Black Cats after helping them safely escape a dangerous dungeon, but returned to being a solo player when a fatal error resulted in the death of the other guild members. At some point in the game, Kirito became known as the «Black Swordsman» (黒の剣士, *Kuro no Kenshi***?**) due to his tendency to wear black clothing. Near the end of the game, Kirito joined the Knights of the Blood due to losing a wager with its leader, Heathcliff. Kirito eventually put an end to the game by defeating the final boss, thus clearing the game.

As Asuna and a small group of Sword Art Online survivors were not logged out from Sword Art Online in the aftermath of the incident, Kazuto began playing ALfheim Online as a Spriggan due to seeing an in-game screenshot of what resembled Asuna, and thus wanting to investigate the matter. After freeing the three hundred remaining captives, Kazuto continued playing ALfheim Online, under new management, with his old friends from Sword Art Online, as well as new friends from ALfheim Online.

Due to the request of Kikuoka Seijirou, Kazuto temporarily converted his ALfheim Online avatar to Gun Gale Online via The Seed to investigate a series of strange deaths, rumoured to be associated with a mysterious player, referring to himself as Death Gun. Thus, Kirito took part in the largest tournament in the game, the Bullet of Bullets, to attract the attention of the mysterious player.

In the aftermath of the incident, Kazuto returned with his avatar to ALfheim Online and continued playing it with his friends. Several months later, Kazuto was offered a part-time job to test a new FullDive machine known as the Soul Translator, but unbeknownst to him, he was actually helping with a military project known as Project Alicization.

## Appearance

### Real World / Sword Art Online / Project Alicization

Kirito described the appearance of his avatar at the beginning of the game and the beta-testing phase as having the appearance of a ridiculously handsome protagonist from some fantasy animation, looking noticeably older than he actually was. His in-game height was equal to that of his height in the real world to prevent the extra height from hindering his movements.

In the full version of the game, during Kayaba Akihiko's tutorial, all player avatars were changed to reflect their real life appearances. After this change, Kirito's SAO avatar had slightly long but neat black hair and black eyes. His delicate face showed no trace of masculinity, allowing people to easily mistake him for a girl.

Kirito's clothes later in the game consisted of black pants with a black belt that had a large silver buckle, a black V-necked shirt that was worn underneath a black trench-coat with gray lining going down the sleeves, and black boots with silver plates to protect his shins. He had a silver plate worn on the left side of his coat, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. He wore a strap that went over his right shoulder and under it to wrap around his left side. In the last months of the game, he used «Elucidator» and «Dark Repulser» as his main weapons. After being defeated by Heathcliff in a public duel and being forced to join his guild, Kirito donned the red and white uniform of the Knights of the Blood.

At the beginning of Project Alicization, Kirito wore a hand-sewn pale blue short-sleeved shirt with a V-shaped cut on the chest which was tied with a light brown cord along with trousers and hand-sewn leather shoes. Two years later, after he became a valet in the Sword Mastery Academy, he wore the standard gray uniform, like all first years and non-elite swordsmen do. In the second year of the academy, after he became one of the twelve elite swordsmen in the academy and was allowed to choose a color for his uniform, he wore a pitch black uniform.

### ALfheim Online

Kirito's initial appearance was that of a default «Spriggan», which he chose because of the race's black-themed equipment. Instead of the normal black forelocks hanging from his head, his black hair stood in natural spikes. His large eyes appeared mischievous, his ears were pointy, and he had dark greyish blue wings. He was equipped with a large greatsword, intended for larger players, such as «Imps».

On June 23, 2025, Kirito changed his previous spiky hairstyle into his old SAO style due to Yui complaining about it being hard to sit on the spiky hair. Later, he also acquired a new coat and switched his greatsword to a new long sword, with an extra one in his inventory.

On December 28, 2025, he obtained the «Holy Sword Excalibur», and used it as his second weapon when dual wielding, but only in extreme cases, as he promised himself not to use the sword for personal gain.

### Gun Gale Online

Kazuto's avatar in Gun Gale Online belongs to the rare «M9000» series. It is an avatar that many male players dream of having, due to its feminine appearance. Kazuto's avatar in Gun Gale Online is both shorter and more slender than his spriggan avatar in ALfheim Online. Although the two avatars share the same black hair and eyes, his hair now flows down to his shoulder blades, while his eyes are larger and shinier. The innocently bewitching gaze from his eyes, framed by long eyelashes, was so different from his previous avatar that Kirito himself momentarily forgot that he was looking at himself when he inspected his appearance for the first time. The avatar also has pale white complexion and red lips. These characteristics often allow others to confuse him as being female. This often causes great confusion to people, such as Sinon. He is equipped with a 5.7mm «FN Five-Seven» handgun and «Kagemitsu G4» photon sword.

## Creation and conception

In an interview with series creator Reki Kawahara, when asked whether Kirito's personality and character were based on his own, the author responded that he does not usually put aspects of himself into his characters, and jokingly remarked that "but if I had to say there was a point of similarity between Kirito and myself, it is the fact that neither of us are good at forming parties. We [both] tend to play solo in these games a lot." He also added that he wrote the series to change popular opinion of online gaming; viewing it not a social ill or just an escape from real life, and thus decided to show games in a more positive light in his light novels. When fans asked him about Kirito using a sword in a gun-based game, Kawahara responded that the energy sword in *Halo* can be the most powerful weapon if used properly.

Many fans have asked Reki Kawahara whether there would be an eventual crossover between *Accel World* and *Sword Art Online*, to which he answered that while he had already written a scenario where Kirito and Haruyuki Arita meet and fight, such a prospect would be difficult due to *SAO* taking place in 2022 and *Accel World* in 2046.

### Voice actors

In an interview with Kirito's Japanese voice actor Yoshitsugu Matsuoka on the similarities between him and his character, Matsuoka opinioned that "I'm thinking about our workplaces – in both of our workplaces, there's only one chance [for success], so there's a lot of people who are putting in their all. I always think that I have to do the best acting I can for the sake of those who came to see me or watch the show. I feel like I have to pull along people with my acting. I feel like, I have to pave the way for the others."

## Personality

Kazuto is someone who is not good with words, as stated by Klein,*[citation needed]* and can be quite direct.*[citation needed]* This is due to him not having many friends and closing others off because of his love for computers.*[citation needed]* Thus, he can appear to be rude to others, such as Lisbeth and Sinon.*[citation needed]* Sometimes, he actually seems to enjoy angering and teasing people as well.*[citation needed]* Also, from time to time, Kazuto can be quite overconfident thinking he can do things others cannot.*[citation needed]*

Kazuto is almost always a calm and collected character, rarely showing any signs of distress. When Kayaba Akihiko announced that Sword Art Online had become a Death Game, Kirito was able to quickly accept the new conditions of the game and take immediate action to increase his chances of survival.

However, Kazuto is actually a kind person, willing to sacrifice himself to help others. When the death of Diavel during the 1st Floor Boss battle resulted in players accusing Kirito of withholding information as a beta tester that led to their leader's death, he decided to become a scapegoat by naming himself a Beater to distance himself from the average beta tester, ensuring that they would not become victims of unfounded hate by drawing all the ire of the players onto himself. He also tends to comfort others when they experience hardship, such as Silica after she lost Pina.

Kazuto is also a very emotional person and lets his emotions control him from time to time. The deaths of Sachi and the Moonlit Black Cats had haunted him until his marriage with Asuna in Sword Art Online. Sachi's death, in particular, had a huge effect on his personality and motives, making him very distant from others for a while. Kirito also temporarily lost his will to live when Asuna was killed by Heathcliff.

Kazuto is a person with incredibly strong resolve, willing to do anything and everything in his power to accomplish something that is important to him without any hesitation. When Asuna was being held in ALfheim, Kirito was bound and determined to set her free and immediately attempted to fly up World Tree when Yui confirmed that she detected Asuna being at its top, despite this being an impossible task. He also attempted to fight his way to the top by himself twice despite being annihilated the first time.

After escaping Sword Art Online, Kazuto attempted to atone for his past mistakes, such as mending his relationship with his cousin Suguha, whom he had ignored before becoming trapped in the death game.

## Background

Born on October 7, 2008, Narusaka Kazuto was adopted by his aunt and uncle a year after his birth, when his biological parents died in an accident. Raised by his foster parents as a son, Kazuto was originally forced to train with his cousin in the neighborhood kendo dojo; however due to his aunt's influence as an editor for a computer systems magazine, Kazuto became more interested in computers and dropped kendo after two years. This decision earned him a heavy beating from his grandfather, prompting Suguha to defend him by promising to practice enough for both of them. At the age of ten, Kazuto discovered that he was adopted from erased Juki Net records and since then unintentionally began distancing himself from Suguha.

## Chronology

### Aincrad Arc-Alicization Arc

Kirito is one of 1,000 testers in the previous closed beta of *Sword Art Online* (*SAO*), the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) for the NerveGear, a helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, allowing players to experience and control their in-game characters with their minds. He later joins the official version of the game where he becomes one of the 10,000 players to log into *SAO*'s mainframe cyberspace for the first time, only to discover that they are unable to log out. Kayaba appears and tells the players that they must beat all 100 floors of Aincrad, a steel castle which is the setting of *SAO*, if they wish to be free. Those who suffer in-game deaths or forcibly remove the NerveGear out-of-game will suffer real-life deaths.

With the advantage of previous VR gaming experience and a drive to protect other beta testers from discrimination, he isolates himself from the greater groups and plays the game alone, bearing the mantle of "beater", a portmanteau of "beta tester" and "cheater". As the players progress through the game Kirito eventually befriends a young girl named Asuna Yuuki, forming a relationship with and later marrying her in-game. After the duo discover the identity of Kayaba's secret ID, who was playing as the leader of the guild Asuna joined in, they confront and destroy him, freeing themselves and the other players from the game.

In the real world, Kazuto discovers that 300 *SAO* players, including Asuna, remain trapped in their NerveGear. As he goes to the hospital to see Asuna, he meets Shouzou Yuuki, Asuna's father, who is asked by an associate of his, Nobuyuki Sugou, to make a decision, which Sugou later reveals to be his marriage with Asuna, angering Kazuto. Several hours later, he is informed by Agil, another *SAO* survivor, that a figure similar to Asuna was spotted on "The World Tree" in another VRMMORPG cyberspace called *Alfheim Online* (*ALO*). Assisted in-game by his cousin Suguha "Leafa" Kirigaya and Yui, a navigation pixie (originally an AI from *SAO*), he quickly learns that the trapped players in *ALO* are part of a plan conceived by Sugou to perform illegal experiments on their minds. The goal is to create the perfect mind-control for financial gain and to subjugate Asuna, whom he intends to marry in the real world, to assume control of her family's corporation. Kirito eventually stops the experiment and rescues the remaining 300 *SAO* players, foiling Sugou's plans. Before leaving *ALO* to see Asuna, Kayaba, who has uploaded his mind to the Internet using an experimental and destructively high-power version of NerveGear at the cost of his life, entrusts Kirito with The Seed – a package program designed to create virtual worlds. Kazuto eventually reunites with Asuna in the real world and The Seed is released onto the Internet, reviving Aincrad as other VRMMORPGs begin to thrive.

Soon after, at the prompting of a government official investigating strange occurrences in VR, Kazuto takes on a job to investigate a series of murders involving another VRMMORPG called *Gun Gale Online* (*GGO*), the AmuSphere (the successor of the NerveGear), and a player called Death Gun. Aided by a female player named Shino "Sinon" Asada, he participates in a gunfight tournament called the Bullet of Bullets (BoB) and discovers the truth behind the murders, which originated with a player who participated in a player-killing guild in *SAO*. Through his and Sinon's efforts, two suspects are captured, though the third suspect, Johnny Black, escapes.

Kazuto is later recruited to assist in testing an experimental FullDive machine, Soul Translator (STL), which has an interface that is far more realistic and complex than the previous machine he had played to help develop an artificial intelligence for the Ministry of Defense (MOD) named A.L.I.C.E. He tests the STL by entering a virtual reality cyberspace created with The Seed package, named UnderWorld (UW). In the UW, the flow of time proceeds a thousand times faster than in the real world, and Kirito's memories of what happens inside are restricted. However, Black injures Kazuto with suxamethonium chloride. The MOD recovers Kazuto and places him back into the STL to preserve his mind while attempts are made to save him. Meanwhile, it is revealed that UnderWorld was created as part of an experiment to create artificial intelligence that could be used for military purposes.

### Versus

Kazuto is recruited by Takeru Higa to test out the unnamed 4th generation FullDive equipment. Being an SAO survivor, Higa speculates that he may be able to adapt to the machine better, as the other members of the development team experienced "VR sickness" during the dive. Higa notes that the device will use his "self-image" to generate his avatar. Before diving, Higa warns him about a "ghost" the staffers claimed to have seen, then clarifies that multiple staff members saw a mysterious, indistinct figure when diving.

Kirito dives as his Sword Art Online avatar, equipped with his Blackwrym Coat, as well as Elucidator and Dark Repulser. He finds himself in a barren, dilapidated city not unlike modern Tokyo. He notices Silver Crow and studies him with guarded curiosity. He surmises the setting is a futuristic fighting game and tries to question Silver Crow. However, neither can hear one another. When Silver Crow attempts to make a move to close the distance, Kirito panics and draws his weapon. He concludes that when the duel concludes, he will be ejected from the stage, and decides to give the battle his all.

After a fierce struggle utilizing sword skills and martial arts, Kirito draws Dark Repulser. During the struggle, he notes the simulated pain is on a level illegal in modern-day VR games. When the battle reaches its climax, Kirito and Silver Crow and both disconnected before a deciding blow can be struck, and both are forced to consider it a draw.

Kazuto then tells Higa about the duel, but he doesn't believe him. Any other attempts to re-visit ends in failure, and anyone diving simply lands in the pre-prepared environment. Kazuto speculates that the machine was 'satisfied' after the duel, and has therefore 'fixed' itself.

During the duel, Kirito uses multiplle sword skills from SAO, including Sonic Leap, Meteor Fall, and Double Circular.

### In other media

Kirito makes a cameo appearance in the eighth episode of the anime series *Eromanga Sensei*, with Yoshitsugu Matsuoka reprising his role.

## Relationships

### Yuuki Asuna

Asuna is Kirito's partner and main love interest in the series. Among all the people Kirito has met, she is the closest and dearest to him. Originally the two of them only thought of clearing the game, but their relationship began when they partied on the 1st Floor. During the boss fight on the 1st Floor, he called Asuna by her name for the first time, noticing earlier her character name below the HP gauge. She was also one of the two people (the other being Agil) who knew the reason why Kirito branded himself a Beater. When the two parties meet again on the 74th Floor, Asuna normally cooks for Kirito. As the series progresses, the two of them fall in love with each other. After the two of them declared their love for each other, they are only concerned for the other's safety.

This led to the two characters getting married in-game where they resided on the 22nd Floor for two weeks as their honeymoon until being called back to the front lines. During those two weeks, Asuna reveals to Kirito and Nishida that in the beginning, she would cry due to the fact she was trapped in a death game and she would take that sadness and turn it into determination thus allowing her to level up extremely quickly. She explained to them that it was Kirito who taught her that there are people trying to experience this world for what it is and that he is the reason why she is alive and looks forward to tomorrow.

Their feelings for each other have created abstract situations. Their relationship is very serious, to the point that they cannot live on if one of them dies. An example is shown when Kirito asks Asuna not to take part in the boss fight in the 75th Floor to which she replies if he did not return, she will commit suicide thus joining him in the fight saying she will protect Kirito when fighting with the final boss on the 75th Floor. As Heathcliff's sword comes crashing down at Kirito after the boss fight, Asuna, while still paralyzed, was able to jump in front of Kirito, taking the hit for him and costing her to lose her life in-game. Heathcliff announces that there is no programmed way to cure paralysis without a crystal or waiting for the paralysis to wear off. Also, because of Asuna fueling Kirito's determination when Kirito was stabbed by Heathcliff, he was able to successfully defeat Heathcliff by stabbing him in the chest after a message appears announcing Kirito was dead.

Kazuto/Kirito also does not give concern for his safety when it comes to rescuing Asuna. One example of this was when he tried to fly up the World Tree uncaring whether he fell and his avatar died or not. Kirito said that nothing would end and nothing would start until Asuna was released from the virtual world. After rescuing Asuna in ALfheim Online (ALO), the two of them finally met face to face and they officially became a couple in the real world.

Kazuto/Kirito tends to take things on to himself when it concerns Asuna, as shown in the Gun Gale Online (GGO) incident where he did not tell Asuna that there was a risk of him dying and took part in the mission in secret since he did not want to risk her safety. Asuna eventually found out the details on her own and rushes to Kazuto's side, holding his hand as he is fighting in GGO. Kazuto/Kirito said that it was her warmth that gave him the strength to win.

The two maintain a happy relationship even a year and a half after the SAO incident. Even though Kazuto had decided to go to school in America for the summer to pursue his mechatronics career, he asked Asuna to accompany him overseas, as he could not live without her, even if it was a very selfish desire. Asuna replied that her answer to that question was decided a long time ago.

In Underworld, Kirito still retained his memories and feelings for Asuna, but is unable to remember anything after the time he asked her to come to America with him. Upon realizing that he was trapped in the world, he was torn between finding a quick way to escape so that he could reunite with her and playing out his role in this new world.

### Tsuboi Ryoutarou (Klein)

Klein is Kirito's first friend before meeting Asuna. He became Kirito's friend after he asked Kirito to teach him to play SAO. Klein was one of the few people that Kirito considered as a "friend". Klein really cares for his friends and is dedicated to keeping them all alive, which Kirito greatly respects. Klein tends to worry about Kirito, since he knows his loner nature, and tells Asuna to "take care of him" and that he "isn't a bad guy" to which she replies she will and she has long since known respectively.

Klein is also responsible for giving Kirito extra strength, as shown when Kirito was unable to revive Sachi because the time of her death was too long for the Divine Stone of Returning Soul. He regularly meets with Kirito and his friends and occasionally go with them in quests in ALO, especially after the release of the World Seed. One such instance includes the quest for Excalibur.

### Andrew Gilbert Mills (Agil)

Agil is an axe wielding merchant who has a good relationship with Kirito. He was one of the two people who knew the reason why Kirito became a Beater. Like Klein and Asuna, he also respects Kirito, and always offers any help he can when Kirito needs it (like sheltering him when Kirito became famous after his Dual Blades becomes known, or implementing the "Seed" that Kayaba gave Kirito). Agil is the first person that Kirito goes to when he wants to have someone examine any items he obtains from fighting or selling an item.

### Ayano Keiko (Silica)

Silica is a player that Kirito met when he was wandering around in the 35th Floor. When Silica asked him why is he being kind to her, he gave her a "manga-like" answer that she resembles his "sister".

### Shinozaki Rika (Lisbeth)

Kirito first met Lisbeth when he came to her shop to look for a second sword after being referred to her by Asuna. Kirito requested a custom sword, and after he broke the best sword she had in stock, she forced him to accompany her on a quest to find the special ore required for the job. During the quest, due to his actions and his unexpected kindness and virtues, she develops feelings for Kirito. After the quest, she requests to become Kirito's personal blacksmith, hinting a romantic nature. She is devastated when she finds out that Kirito is Asuna's crush and there are mutual feelings between the two. Though her feelings were unrequited, she finds solace when Kirito tells her about the "Black Cats" and admits, for the first time after losing his guild, he had felt alive again when he was partying with her.

Despite initially giving Kirito to Asuna when the game is cleared, she knows right away that Kirito is the one who did it and among all the cheers she shouts out at the top of her lungs that she loves Kirito and that she swears they will meet up in the real world. Right after they meet in the real world, she becomes a regular player in ALO and frequently takes on quests with Kirito and his friends and takes up tasks of upgrading their equipment. She also goes to school with Kirito, Asuna, and Silica.

### Sachi

Sachi was a member of the guild Moonlit Black Cats who Kirito befriended. They became very close, to the point of sleeping together in the same room; their relationship described as "two stray cats licking each other's wounds" as they comforted each other. Their relationship was close enough that they had a shared page in each other's inventory (similar, but not quite at the level of married players who had combined inventories). Kirito promised her that she would not die, though unfortunately, he would not be able to keep his word. Even after her last message gave him the strength to live, he still never fully was able to escape his guilt until he married Asuna.

In the web version of SAO1 written back in 2002, Kirito told Asuna they have had a private relationship and in a 2005 Q&A activity, Sachi was revealed to have been Kirito's first love within the canon of the Web Novel. However, as of 2006, there are barely any traces of this in the web novel version of Red-Nosed Reindeer, in which Kirito denied the existence of any form of romantic relationship between him and Sachi. Additionally, in the published version of the story, the parts describing their relationship were edited, once and for all making the web novel's version of their relationship no longer viable and thus Sachi is no longer treated as Kirito's first love in the canon of published version.*[citation needed]*

### Yui

Yui is Kirito and Asuna's in-game daughter who is an «Artificial Intelligence» (AI). While Kirito loves Asuna as his fiancé/wife, Kirito loves Yui as his own daughter. In the real world, Kazuto uses his skills and resources to make a device for Yui to view the real world even whilst she is in virtual reality and gives her the ability to communicate with them.

Yui is one of Kirito's most beloved people. In ALO, she takes the form of a navigation fairy who is always seen on either Kirito or Asuna's shoulder, or napping inside Kirito's breast pocket. Yui tends to misunderstand why humans aren't direct in expressing their feelings, saying if she was the one who did it then she would simply be forward about it (she then kisses Kirito on the cheek). She also gets annoyed when any girl other than Asuna, Leafa, Sinon, or any of their friends from SAO interact with her "Papa".

When in ALO, Kirito trusts her with sensory duty, given her AI affinity for it. He tends to show affection to her pixie form by playfully poking her head, which she finds a little annoying. He is very much a doting father, making sure she stays safe during a battle and doing whatever he can to make her comfortable. Though Yui loves Kirito dearly, she has disapproved of a few of his shenanigans, like biting Leafa, and scolds his "bad behavior".

Yui finds great delight in watching Kirito battle, showing unrestrained glee at his ultraviolence while other members of the party are more concerned about the battle.

### Kayaba Akihiko (Heathcliff)

Kirito mentioned in the beginning of the series that Kayaba Akihiko was his hero, and he looked up to him. When Sword Art Online became a "Death Game", Akihiko became his enemy. Akihiko is indirectly responsible for numerous tragedies around Kirito, as it was because of him that the players who would die in the game would die in real life as well. Nonetheless, Kirito and Akihiko are shown to have mutual respect for each other.

### Pina

Pina has a strange attraction to Kirito, as Pina is said to fly off of Silica's shoulder and curl up on Kirito whenever she came across him sleeping. Even when Kirito is not sleeping, Pina is still attracted to him, like when Silica invited Kirito to a restaurant to celebrate her birthday, Pina became interested in Kirito's tart, even though Tamed Monsters are only supposed to be interested in food when fed by their tamer, and then curled up on his head.

### Kirigaya Suguha (Leafa)

Kirigaya Suguha is Kirito's real life adopted-sister/maternal cousin. Kazuto created distance between them when he found out they weren't real siblings but instead cousins. After clearing SAO, this becomes something he regrets as he tries to reforge their relationship. When Kirito was trapped in SAO, Suguha was conflicted with her feelings for Kirito and eventually realized she loved him. She originally joined ALO, using the alter-ego name Leafa in an attempt to better understand him. She becomes depressed when Kazuto visits Asuna on a consistent basis, realising where his feelings lie.

She unknowingly met Kazuto under his screen-name Kirito while he was trying to save Asuna in the World Tree. She eventually developed feelings for him without knowing Kirito was really Kazuto and was distraught when she found out his identity. After helping him rescue Asuna, she had come to deal with her feelings and instead acted as a supportive sibling towards her cousin, similar to their original relationship.

### Asada Shino (Sinon)

When Kirito first logged into Gun Gale Online, he soon became lost and attempted to ask the first person he met for directions. Due to his new avatar being shorter than his spriggan avatar, Kirito did not realise that Sinon, the first person he encountered, was a girl until he had already attracted her attention. Kirito pondered how to act in this situation, fearing that Sinon would think that he was trying to flirt with her, but when he realised that Sinon had mistaken him for a girl, he decided to use this misunderstanding to his advantage.

Kirito quickly gained respect from Sinon the instant he tackled an extremely difficult arcade game and won on the first try. However, when he inadvertently saw Sinon changing her equipment in preparation for the Bullet of Bullets preliminaries, he finally decided to inform Sinon that she had mistaken his gender. The circumstances caused a rift to form between them, transforming Sinon's early amicability to a heated sense of rivalry.

On the other hand, Kirito tried to remain friendly to her throughout. He also acknowledged Sinon's sniping abilities, believing that she was a dangerous sniper, and valued her experience in Gun Gale Online, such as when he relied on her input when they formed a team to defeat Death Gun during the main Bullet of Bullets tournament.

The rift in their relationship was gradually mended over the course of the tournament, especially after Kirito and Sinon shared their mutual traumatic experiences of having killed another person with one another. In the aftermath of the Death Gun incident, Kazuto, with the help of Asuna and Rika, arranged for Shino to meet Oosawa Sachie, the young mother Shino had saved during the post office incident, and her daughter Mizue, helping Shino tremendously in overcoming the guilt that had burdened her for years.

A couple of weeks later, Kirito invited Sinon to join them on a quest to find the Holy Sword Excalibur in ALfheim Online. On the way there, he jokingly grabbed her tail in response to one of her quips, thus angering her. When Sinon later retrieved Excalibur as it was falling towards the Great Void, she decided to return the favor by teasing Kirito that she would return it to him on the condition that he thought about her every time he used it.

### Eugeo

Eugeo was Kirito's best friend in Underworld, whom he shared the «Sacred Task» of cutting the «Gigas Cedar» with.

### Alice

Alice is one of Kirito's friends during his first dive.

### Sortiliena Serlut

Sortiliena is Kirito's senior in the Sword Mastery Academy, whom he acts as a valet for. The two mostly had a relationship strictly platonic between a valet and an Elite Swordswoman, though he personally grew special flowers to give to his mentor.

### Ronye Arabel

Ronye acts as Kirito's valet during his second year in the Sword Mastery Academy.

### Cardinal

Cardinal wanted Kirito to facilitate her plan of defeating Quinella and then cease the existence of Underworld before the Load Experimental phase could take place. She secretly followed and guided Kirito's actions via Charlotte for more than two years to do so. Although Kirito does not agree with the plan, he still decided to help with the first part of her plan. In addition, Kirito gave Cardinal a warm hug under her request, to which she exclaimed that she finally experienced what it meant to be a human and that she had finally been rewarded for her two hundred years of work.

### Charlotte

Although Charlotte was originally indifferent to observing Kirito and Eugeo according to Cardinal's command, as, in appearance and verbalism, they were not much different from those of the same area and age. However, throughout her months of observing them, Charlotte became influenced by them and emerged a sense of emotion in helping them complete their mission, despite not being given such orders, thus she secretly helped them throughout their trip.

### Selka Zuberg

Selka is the one who was taking care of Kirito when he came to Rulid Village during his second FullDive into Underworld. Before they parted ways, Kirito kissed Selka's forehead and promised to bring Alice back to the village as a test to confirm if he was an artificial Fluctlight or not.

### Nurse Aki

Nurse Aki is a nurse who Kirito was acquainted with. She took care of Kirito previously during his long rehabilitation. She watched over Kirito when he was going to investigate the Death Gun incident. Outside his friends from SAO, she learned about Kirito's dark secret, "the fact that he killed three players from SAO." After that, she encouraged Kirito that he had done the right thing, stating that "a minority has to be sacrificed to save the majority." She appears to have respect for Kirito's maturity in handling his guilt and as he enters GGO calls him a "Hero."

### Kikuoka Seijirou

Kikuoka Seijirou is an investigator in the «SAO Case Victims Rescue Force» who Kirito was acquainted with. He has taken a personal interest in Kirito's abilities, thus uses the GGO incident to forge a relationship with him. Kirito does not trust him at all, since he never reveals the full truth, going so far as to tail him to another meeting. Kirito still feels grateful to him since he was the first one by Kirito when he woke up from SAO and was also the one who told him where Asuna and the others were located. Kirito seems to not hold Kikuoka in high regard, for multiple reasons such as his career as a bureaucrat, and suspicions of him having ulterior motives. Kirito even uses casual speech when addressing him, which would normally be considered very rude in Japanese culture. That said, Kirito has claimed to see him as highly skilled, and very competent; and not someone to be taken lightly.

### Konno Yuuki

Kirito heard of the name Absolute Sword in the New ALO and had a fight with her when Yuuki was challenging others to street fights to find a player strong enough to challenge Floor Boss of New Aincrad to leave every one of her team members' names on the Monument of Swordsmen before her death. Although Kirito was a worthy opponent, he was defeated when he let his guard down to remark that Yuuki was living in the virtual world, thus Yuuki thought that Kirito could not help her to achieve their goal due to discovering that Yuuki was a Medicuboid user, even though his sword skills were strong enough. Sometime later, after Asuna met Yuuki in hospital, Kazuto managed to construct a system for her to let Yuuki go to school, among other places, like her old home. During that time, Yuuki visited the Kirigaya residence, and become good friends with Kazuto.

### Kirigaya Midori

Midori is Kazuto's aunt and Suguha's mother. She became his guardian after the death of his parents and raised him as her own son, even hiding the fate of his real parents. However, Kazuto later discovered by himself that she was not his real mother, but even so, he still treated her the same.

### Silver Crow

Kirito meets the Silver Crow while testing a 4th generation FullDive device, the Soul Translator. Instead of appearing in peaceful grassland as expected, Kirito finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world where he sees what seemingly looks like a robot. Although Kirito attempts to make contact with the entity, apparently called Silver Crow, the other party is apparently unable to hear him. Kirito then carelessly makes a step while still holding onto his sword, thus provoking the panicking Silver Crow to attack him. After the battle ended with a draw, back in the real world, Kazuto admits that he has dueled an amazing opponent.

## Reception

### **Critical commentary**

In a review, Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku hailed Sword Art Online as the smartest series in recent years; Eisenbeis particularly noted how the romance between Kirito and Asuna is explored bringing "definition to exactly what love is like in a virtual world." However, the two characters' relationship in the second half of the novels was criticized, with Eisenbeis complaining about Asuna being deregulated to a damsel in distress stock character for Kirito to fight for, lamenting that the "strong female lead" had been "reduced to nothing but the quest item the male lead is hunting for." The love triangle between Kirito and the other female characters was also scrutinized; Eisenbeis considered it "ludicrous" that Kirito would consider abandoning Asuna, especially considering his devotion to her in the previous storyline. Nevertheless, Kirito was considered a likable and "fun" character.
In response to criticism directed at the series that Kirito was a "Mary Sue" type character, Karen Mead of Japanator.com wrote that "I don't think we ever see enough of Kirito's weaknesses to balance out his strengths: he's pretty much a genius at video games, as well as a kind, giving person, and those are some pretty major positives. However, she praised the positive aspects of Kirito's character, and his "competent and noble" self distinguishes him from other harem protagonists in that he actually earns the girls' affection. Carly Smith of The Escapist criticized Sword Art Online II and compared it unfavourably to the original storyline, summarizing "welcome to Sword Art Online II: the show where everyone loves Kirito and nothing matters", and that the anime doesn't "start to shine" until "Kirito is pushed to the sidelines". In an interview with Bryce Papenbrook, Kirito's English voice actor, when asked whether he would pick Kirito or Eren Yeager (whom he also voiced) from Attack on Titan in a fight, Papenbrook joked that "Inside a game, obviously Kirito would win, because he has God Mode running at all times. I think in real life, Kirito is strong-willed and passionate, but I think Eren would slice him up in real life. He's just too crazy.

### **Popularity**

Kirito is one of the most popular characters in Sword Art Online. In a fan poll by anime website Charapedia, 10,000 respondents voted on their favorite couples in anime, with Kirito and Asuna topping the list. Kirito's confession to Asuna also placed third in a list of the top twenty "anime and manga love confessions" by the same website. A third Charapedia poll, where respondents ranked the "top 30 [anime] characters they’d like to work for", had Kirito placed twenty-ninth and Asuna twenty-sixth. Additionally, a Chinese website, bilibili, took a reader poll to find the most "moe" characters of 2015; Kirito placed sixth in the male top 8 and Asuna third in the female top 8. Asuna and Kirito were awarded first and second respectively in a character poll by Dengeki Bunko (the publisher of Sword Art Online) for their light novels. Asuna and Kirito once again made a list of the "[Top] 7 Couples Who Make Love and War" by Anime News Network, writing "love blossoms on the virtual battlefield and the two wed before taking on the game's creator together.
Otamart, a popular Japanese app that specializes in anime, manga and idol products, polled users in which characters look best in swimsuits and yukatas, with Kirito (as Kazuto Kirigaya) placing 11th (for swimsuits) and 13th (yukatas) respectively in the male character category.
Another Otamart poll asking users to rank the anime characters they would want to give chocolates to for Valentine's Day had Kirito placed 15th on the "top 20 characters men want to give chocolates to" category. The August 2014 issue of Newtype published results of a recent character popularity poll, with Kirito placing 1st overall for male characters; Asuna placed 4th for all female characters. Another poll which would decide the characters placed on a Sword Art Online artbook had Kirito placed in fourth place. "Kazuto" (Kirito) was also fourth on a list of the "top 20 anime characters Japanese fans would name their children after"; "Asuna" placed first. Italian restaurant La Ricetta in Zama, Kanagawa features pancakes prepared with anime and video game character art, including Kirito and Asuna.

### **Merchandise**

The character has received positive critical reception, and his popularity has led to him being featured in several promotional efforts and merchandise of the series. Kirito makes an appearance in an April 2015 campaign which promotes Namco gaming arcades. Fan-made replicas of Asuna's "Lambent Light" and Kirito's "Elucidator" rapiers have been built by the Man At Arms team of blacksmiths and craftsmen. There are also Kirito, Asuna, and Sinon Sword Art Online-branded perfumes for sale; "Kirito" is described as "dry citrus with a touch of brandy, meant to evoke a mature spirit. It uses green apple, apricot and lime above Muguet, Rose, Jasmine, grapefruit and a musk and brandy base." Sword Art Online glasses based on the characters had a "Kirito" model; "these matte black frames feature a cross and the excalibur on each arm [of the glasses]." A series of anime-inspired Christmas cards featured characters such as Rin Matsuoka from Free!, Godoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Kirito. He has also appeared in several Sword Art Online-related video games. This includes Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, in which several characters appearing under the Dengeki Bunko imprint are featured. In a costume swap between video games Sword Art Online: Lost Song and God Eater 2: Rage Burst, Lost Song received a Julius costume for Kirito and an Alisa costume for Asuna whilst Rage Burst received costumes of Kirito and Sinon. Asuna, Kirito and Leafa appeared in a campaign by the "Manga Anime Guardians" project in combating anime and manga piracy, with the project being supported by 15 anime production studios and manga publishers

## Trivia

### Sword Art Online

* The name Kirito is a contraction of his real name, Kirigaya Kazuto ("Kiri" from **Kiri**gaya and "to" from Kazu**to**).
* Kazuto currently lives at Kawagoe City in the Saitama prefecture with his family, though his uncle is frequently away from home.
* Kazuto has notable skill with computers, managing to build a computer from parts during elementary school, finding his erased records in the national registry at the age of ten, as well as managing to stop the SAO server from deleting Yui by converting her program into an object and storing her into his NerveGear as environmental data.
* Kazuto rides a bike which has also had a multitude of passengers including Asuna, Suguha, Shino and Alice.
* Kirito is a two-time first place winner for the Top 10 Male Characters in the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! awards (for 2012 and 2013). He placed third in 2011 and 2014.
* Kirito/Kazuto usually refers to himself using the personal pronoun ore (俺**?**).
* Kirito likes calculating random things, like the volume of the cake that he is going to eat.
* Kirito has a tendency of using a window instead of a door to exit the room more quickly, usually when he senses danger or in awkward situations, though sometimes just for convenience.
* Kirito's favorite skill is fishing. He even continues raising his fishing skill in ALO.
* Kirito has attempted to climb Aincrad via its outer wall. However, his ascent was halted by a system barrier, nearly causing him to fall to his death.
* Kirito uses a self-made PC with a 24 GHz octa-core CPU.
* If Kirito were to be an animal, he would be an orange wolf.
* Kazuto's favourite dish is brown stew chicken with mushrooms due to its similarity to Ragout Rabbit Stew from SAO. Due to Asuna's influence, his other favourite dishes include teriyaki and mayonnaise hamburgers, shio ramen, and honey pies.
* Kirito used to dislike spring onions until Asuna cooked some for him.
* Kirito believes he would have pursued Asuna as a love interest sooner if she had not been so cute. He now regrets this, as he only had good food in SAO when he was with Asuna.
* Kirito has attempted wielding three swords at once but had to abandon his idea when he realised that it felt like his teeth would fall out.
* Kazuto/Kirito likes to poke on the cheeks of sleeping girls. He has already done that with Asuna, Yui and Suguha.
* Kirito said that it seemed that everyone in SAO, including Asuna, viewed him as being older than he really was and, since he had never denied it, he had trouble admitting it to her at some point in the story.
* Kirito suspected Asuna to be older than him but thought she probably viewed him older than he really was.
* Kazuto got an extremely average IQ score in the test he took during middle school.
* Ever since the second year in SAO, Kirito has been known to sleep a lot. His sleep also seems to be an "AOE" skill, as people looking at him sleeping, with Pina and Yui sleeping on him, get sleepy themselves. He himself states that sleeping when one can is the 2nd most essential point of the Aincrad-style.
* Kirito was an ideal person whom Kawahara wanted to become. Kawahara commented that he always hesitates to act, pointing out that it took him seven years to finally apply for the Dengeki Award.
* Kirito's preference for black clothing began with the first rare item he obtained from a boss drop: the black coat called the «Coat of Midnight». After that, he began to like colour black and, by the end of the game, all of his clothes were mainly black.
* According to Yui, Kirito's in-game yawns last about eight seconds on average.
* When doing Kirito's GGO character design, abec first drew him with breasts to not think of him as being male and then erased the breasts when the designs were done.
* Kazuto's GGO avatar is informally referred to as «Kiriko». The series' author acknowledged this as a commonly used name.
	+ In Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, a non-canon game adaptation set in Gun Gale Online, Kirito's secondary avatar, with his canon Gun Gale Online appearance, was registered in the game as «Kiriko» by Kikuoka Seijirou, when he created the avatar for Kirito to use for the Bullet of Bullets.
* In an official character popularity poll hosted by Dengeki Bunko for the cover of abec Art Works, Kazuto's SAO avatar ranked fourth, GGO avatar ranked nineteenth, his Alicization avatar ranked twenty-eighth, while his real life persona ranked twenty-second.
* In the web version, Kazuto's avatar in SAO's beta was twenty centimetres higher than his actual height and with long, mint color hair.

### Accel World

* The 4th generation FullDive equipment may refer to the "Soul Translator (STL)", and thus this takes place before or in the beginning of Alicization arc.
* The manga reveals that voluntary flight in ALO actually needs at least some minor body movements. Suguha speculates that it's because humans don't actually have wings.
* Kazuto may have some medical knowledge, or at least about the brain, as he knows which part of it that the AmuSphere (or NerveGear) interface with.
* Kazuto is able to analyze an opponent or deduce other things (such as his location) in a short amount of time, as he does with Silver Crow during the duel.

## External Links

1. https://swordartonline.fandom.com/wiki/Kirigaya\_Kazuto
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirito\_(Sword\_Art\_Online)
3. https://swordartonline.fandom.com/wiki/Kirigaya\_Kazuto/Relationships