The official website of the anime adaptation of Reki Kawahara’s light novel series Sword Art Online has released preview images for the 12th episode of Sword Art Online II. The episode will be airing this Saturday, the 20th of September, at 11:30pm JST.
Episode 12: Phantom Bullet
The Battle of Bullets competition is at the endgame, where 30 players have been narrowed down to 4 survivors: Kirito, Shinon, Death Gun and Yamikaze, a runner up of a previous BoB. After Kirito confirms that the possibility of Death Gun having an accomplice is undeniable, they decide to hatch a plan to take out both Yamikaze and Death Gun, who are both hiding. The plan is to have Kirito be a decoy to lure out the other two players and have Shinon snipe them from afar. Shinon needs to find the strength to use her sniper again since they both trusted each other. Kirito on the other hand is awaiting his final confirmation with Death Gun, but the two players are advancing on Kirito on opposite sides…
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:
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.
You can visit the anime’s official website here: http://www.swordart-online.net/
And follow the latest developments on their Twitter: @sao_anime
“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