During the A-1 Pictures panel at Anime Expo 2015, President Tomonori Ochikoshi has revealed that the studio has no plans to slow down the production for future seasons of the Sword Art Online anime, as long as Reki Kawahara continues to write more light novels.
Ochikoshi has stated at the panel that they will continue to produce the Sword Art Online anime as long as more light novels are being published. The ending of the second season of the anime covered the Mother’s Rosario arc from the light novels, which covered the 7th volume of the light novel series. The next major arc will be the Alicization arc, covering volumes 9 through to the most recent volume, 15.
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. To date a total of 15 volumes have been compiled in the series, with the 16th releasing this August. Since its the release, the series has 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 with handheld and browser video games, international merchandise, and the many spin-off manga of the light novel’s arcs. The latest manga volume, Sword Art Online: Caliber, began serialization in the September issue of Dengeki G’s Comic magazine. In addition, Kawahara has relaunched the series as Sword Art Online: Progressive, a re-release of the light novels with additional content.
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 Sword Art Online anime is not going away anytime soon. As long as the novels are continually being written the anime adaptation will not be too far behind. The question now is when?
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 and all associated brands and titles © 2015 Reki Kawahara, A-1 Pictures, ASCII Media Works and the SAO Project