The recent November issue of Dengeki Bunko magazine has released some images for the character designs for two characters from the upcoming arcs for Sword Art Online II. A look into Shinon’s in the Calibur arc and new character Yuuki Konno, from the Mother’s Rosario arc, were released.
The first new character design is for Shino Asada’s avatar, Shinon, in Alfheim Online during the Calibur arc – airing tomorrow at 11:30pm JST. She is a member of the Cait Sith race in the game. The arc is from a short story from the 8th volume of Reki Kawahara’s light novel series. It is set between the end of the Phantom Bullet arc and the Mother’s Rosario arc. In this arc, Kirito and the gang are back in Alfheim Online as they go on a search for the legendary sword Excalibur. She also has a tail and her reaction in the bottom left is from when Kirito pulls on her tail, which also occurs in Reki Kawahara’s light novel series:
The second character design is for Yuuki Konno, a new character who will debut in the Mother’s Rosario arc – airing from November 8th. She will be voiced by Aoi Yuuki (Madoka Kaname in Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica). The arc is from the entirety of the 7th volume of Reki Kawahara’s light novel series. It is set between the end of Calibur and the beginning of a future arc, Alicization. In this arc, a fierce swordsman known as Absolute Sword is challenging and defeating players in Alfheim Online’s Aincrad, enticing them with the offer of a 11 hit Sword Skill. Asuna investigates and goes to challenge this mysterious swordsman. Yuuki herself made her animated debut in Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment on the PlayStation Vita.
Sword Art Online is a light novel series written by Reki Kawahara, who also is the author of Accel World. The light novel series began in 2009 being published in ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Bunko. Since then it sold millions of copies, topping the charts in 2012. Additionally in 2012, an anime adaptation was released. The Sword Art Online anime aired in July and was produced by A-1 Pictures, which received a large reception. Since then, the series has appeared on a plethora of media from handheld and browser video games, to spin-off mangas and international merchandise. The latest canonical light novel, the thirteenth in the series, was released in Japan on August 10th 2013. In addition, Kawahara has relaunched the series as Sword Art Online: Progressive, a re-release of the light novels with additional content. The second issue of the re-releases launched in December 2013.
Here is a synopsis of the anime from MAL:
1 year after the SAO incident, Kirito is approached by Seijiro Kikuoka from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Department “VR Division” with a rather peculiar request.
That was an investigation on the “Death Gun” incident that occurred in the gun and steel filled VRMMO called Gun Gale Online (GGO). “Players who are shot by a mysterious avatar with a jet black gun lose their lives even in the real world…” Failing to turn down Kikuoka’s bizarre request, Kirito logs in to GGO even though he is not completely convinced that the virtual world could physically affect the real world.
Kirito wanders in an unfamiliar world in order to gain any clues about the “Death Gun.” Then, a female sniper named Sinon who owns a gigantic “Hecate II” rifle extends Kirito a helping hand. With Sinon’s help, Kirito decides to enter the “Bullet of Bullets,” a large tournament to choose the most powerful gunner within the realm of GGO, in hopes to become the target of the “Death Gun” and make direct contact with the mysterious avatar.
The next episode of Sword Art Online II is the 15th, which will be airing on Saturday the 18th of October at 11:30pm JST. The episode will begin the new Calibur arc, with Shinon’s new character design.
You can visit the anime’s official website here: http://www.swordart-online.net/
And follow the latest developments on their Twitter: @sao_anime
So what do you think of the character designs? And what about Cait Sith Shinon?
“Sword Art Online”, “Sword Art Online II″, images, video and all associated brands and titles © 2014 Reki Kawahara, A-1 Pictures, ASCII Media Works and the SAO Project.