Today marks the day that in the Sword Art Online universe, Kirito beat the virtual reality MMORPG and saved around 6,000 people from the confines of Aincrad – though 300 remain asleep, including Asuna. In the real world, to celebrate the achievement, the official Sword Art Online accounts released a new visual of Kirito and Asuna standing in front of Aincrad floating in the sky, as well as a video of a Japanese news report of the players waking up.
Alongside the new visual, the real-life Sword Art Online games will host collaboration events to celebrate the occasion, with Aniplex releasing goods that are available based on the new visual.
The Sword Art Online light novels, written by Reki Kawahara, have been published since 2009 after being web novels from 2002 to 2008. Since then, the series has been adapted into two ongoing anime series, the main Sword Art Online adaptation and the Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online spin-off, a bunch of manga and video games, three anime films with another in production, and a live-action Hollywood adaptation having been announced.
The two Sword Art Online anime series and three currently released anime films are available to stream on Crunchyroll, which describes the first season as such:
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…
Source: Sword Art Online on X (formerly Twitter)
