Sword-Art-Online-Announcements-to-Be-Made-at-Dengeki-Bunko-2017

Sword Art Online Announcements to Be Made at Dengeki Bunko 2017

The official website of Dengeki Bunko Aki no Saiten 2017 has revealed that the stage event for Reki Kawahara and abec’s Sword Art Online light novel series will have some announcements for new exciting SAO projects.

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The Sword Art Online stage event at Dengeki Bunko 2017 will celebrate the Blu-ray release of the series’ original anime filmSword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale, and to take a look back at the movie and its popularity. The event will showcase a series of new project announcements, one of which will be a game.

The event will be hosted on October 1st at 11:30JST to 12:10pm JST at the UDX and Belle Salle in Akihabara, Tokyo. Voice actress Rina Hidaka (Airi Kashii in Ro-Kyu-Bu!), who voices Silica, will be hosting the event alongside other cast members, with Reki Kawahara, editor Kazuma Miki and Bandai Namco producer Yousuke Futami.

The post credits scene of the film strongly hints at the light novel’s next arc, Alicization, and also notes the following phrase:

SAO will return

During Anime Expo 2015, A-1 Pictures president Tomonori Ochikoshi a panel that they would continue to make more Sword Art Online anime as long as Reki Kawahara continues to write more light novels.

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Many recent video games based on the series have already started incorporating characters from the Alicization arc. Eugeo, voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki (Haruka Nanase from Free!) , and Alice, voiced by Ai Kayano (Utaha Kasumigaoka in Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata) have been featured in:

  • Sword Art Online: Code Register
  • Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag
  • Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization
  • Accel World VS Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight

The main cast of the series consists of:

  • Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Sora in No Game No Life) will be back to voice Kirito

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  • Haruka Tomatsu (Haruka Takayama in Sakura Trick) returns as Asuna

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  • Kanae Itou (Ruiko Saten from Toaru Kagaku no Railgun) voicing as Yui

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  • Rina Hidaka (Airi Kashii in Ro-Kyu-Bu!) as Silica

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  • Ayahi Takagaki (Mikako Satsukitane in Sora no Otoshimono) will voice Lisbeth

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  • Ayana Taketatsu (Kirino Kousaka from Oreimo) voicing Leafa

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  • Miyuki Sawashiro (Celty Sturluson from Durarara!!) is back as Sinon

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  • Hiroaki Hirata (Sanji from One Piece) will return to voice Klein

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  • Hiroki Yasumoto (Germany from Hetalia) as Agil

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Here is the film’s latest trailer:

The Director of first two seasons, Tomohiko Ito (Silver Spoon, Seikimatsu Occult Gakui), will return to direct the film alongside Anime Character Designer Shingo Adachi (Working!!, Galilei Donna). Yuki Kajiura (Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, Fate/Zero) will also return to compose the music and A-1 Pictures (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso, AnoHana) will be back to animate the film. Reki Kawahara will be writing the movie’s original story.

Sword Art Online is a light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec, 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 17 volumes have been compiled in the series. Since the series’ debut, the series has sold over 19 million copies, with 12.5 million sold in Japan alone. 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; it was followed by a recap film and a second season. Since then, the series has appeared on a plethora of media with international merchandise, various manga adaptations of the light novel’s arcs, and video games. 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.

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A series of new Sword Art Online projects will be announced at its panel during Dengeki Bunko 2017 on October 1st. Further details about the event, and possibly the projects, will be revealed in the next couple months.

You can visit the event website here: http://db2017fes.dengeki.com/stage/
Visit the anime’s website here: http://www.swordart-online.net/
And follow the latest developments on their Twitter: @sao_anime

Source Article and Image - Dengeki Bunko 2017

“Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale”, “Sword Art Online”, images and all associated brands and titles © 2017 Reki Kawahara, A-1 Pictures, ASCII Media Works and the SAO Project