New Sword Art Online Movie To Release In 2022

Sword Art Online has become an institution since its release in 2012. The anime, based on light novels by Reki Kawahara, has spawned several films. The upcoming movie, Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Kuraki Yūyami no Scherzo follows on the heels of the 2020 film: Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night.

The main plot of Sword Art Online

The series follows the exploits of two main protagonists, Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki. Those two are trapped in a Virtual Reality-based multiplayer online role-playing game known as Sword Art Online. The game is played through an advanced headset called NerveGear. It stimulates the 5 senses, so a player experiences a game as though they are in real life.

Players log into the game only to find out that they cannot log back out. The Game Master announces that death in the game will result in death in real life as well. This causes panic. The virtual world descends into anarchy, as the game master listed no further rules. This is temporary however, a society soon develops. Players collaborate or clash with one another to achieve different ends.

Kirito, having previously been a tester for the game, opts to play alone. That is because he wished to avoid any discrimination or victimization having had previous experience with the VR title. He soon meets Asuna. They form a close relationship which leads to marriage.

They soon discover that the game master was hiding in plain sight, as the head of a guild to which Asuna belongs. Kirito finally escapes the game, but revealing and dark real-world plots which tie into in-game action.>

First Sword Art Online Movie

Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night is the first film that follows the Progressive story arc. The upcoming movie,  Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Kuraki Yūyami no Scherzo follows Asuna’s experiences with the Sword Art Online game before and after meeting Kirito.

The day that she happened to don the NerveGear, Asuna Yuuki was a third-year middle school student who’d never even touched an online game before. On November 6, 2022, the world’s first VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, was officially launched. But the players, still euphoric over having logged in, suddenly find themselves trapped inside the game when the Game Master deprives them of any way to log out.” The premise of the movie, According to Funimation.

Upcoming movie details

The studio behind the film has offered little detail as to what one ought to expect from the new film. No announcements on international release yet either. However, we know that the title will release in Japan sometime next year.

The title of the upcoming film is a reference to volume four of the light novel manga series. That suggests the movie may cover Asuna and Kirito’s advancement through a giant metal floating castle, Aincrad.