The Sword Art Online official staff are celebrating the clearing of the eponymous game on November 7, 2024 at 2:55 PM by Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki. A new visual featuring the two characters was also revealed.
The game clearing event occurred on the anime’s 14th episode of its first season in 2012, coinciding with the real world date today. Episodes 1-14 of the series were all previously streamed at once on YouTube leading up to today’s date. Merchandise based on the newly released visual can also be found on Aniplex Japan’s official online store.
In addition to the release of the new visual, a 15-second fake news report commercial was also posted online, detailing the Sword Art Online players waking up from the game.
A special edition flier poster was also given out today at the Animate Ikebukuro Main Store, which is promoting an upcoming abec/BUNBUN character exhibition in Tokyo, starting in March 2025.
The Sword Art Online anime first premiered in 2012 for 25 episodes, followed by the 24-episode Sword Art Online II in 2014, and the 47-episode Sword Art Online Alicization and Sword Art Online Alicization – War of the Underworld series.
The series has also inspired several anime films, video games, light novels, manga series, as well as the spinoff Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online.
The original light novel series is written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. It was first published by ASCII Media Works on April 10, 2009 and has released 28 volumes as of June 2024. The series were originally self published by Kawahara between 2002 to 2008. Yen Press releases the light novels in English.
Crunchyroll is streaming all seasons of Sword Art Online, describing the main synopsis as:
In the near future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online has been released where players can control their avatars through brain waves using technology called “NerveGear.” When players enter the game, they discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive. To escape, players must beat the game by defeating each boss on all 100 floors; however, if they die in the game, they die in real life too. Their struggle for survival starts now…
Source: Sword Art Online Official Anime Twitter, Crunchyroll News
