A third series had been confirmed for Reki Kawahara’s sci-fi action adventure work, “Sword Art Online” and is set to release in October 2018. Based on the novel’s fourth arc told from its ninth to 14th volumes, the new series is titled, “Sword Art Online: Alicization.”
Along with the reveal of the third season’s premiere, the official website for it was updated with a new key visual drawn by anime character designer Shingo Adachi. Featured in it is the introduction of characters Kirito, Alice, and Eugeo.
Playing as them along with Alice Zuberg are the following:
Kirito/Kazuto Kirigaya voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka Asuna/Asuna Yuuki voiced by Haruka Tomatsu Eugeo voiced by Nobunaga Shimazaki Alice Zuberg voiced by Ai KayanoWith the staff, Tomohiko Ito, rather than directing the new season as he had for the previous two, will be replaced by Manabu Ono, the director behind “Saki.” He will be working at A-1 Pictures. No other details for cast or staff has been confirmed.
“Sword Art Online”, as stated was created by Reki Kawahara. It began as a light novel series that released in April 2009 under the publication of ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Bunko. Later in 2012, the series spawned a spin-off series which was followed by eight manga adaptations published by ASCII Media Works and Kadokawa.
The anime adaption of the series made its debut in July 2012 with A-1 Pictures as its producers. The first season of the series ran for a total of 25 episodes before ending in December 2012. It was two years later that the second series of the anime made it’s release and spanned for 24 episodes. Other than the two seasons, the anime also had an animated film released in February 2017 and was titled “Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale.”
The story of the series begins with the release of the massive online role-playing game called Sword Art Online (SAO) and how people, with the use of “NerveGear” technology, can control their avatars within the game using nothing but their own thoughts. The focus of series is Kazuto Kirigaya, nicknamed “Kirito,” who along with ten-thousand other players suddenly finds themselves trapped within the game by the creator. Now Kirito faces new challenges as he must adapt to his new reality, fight for his survival, and hopefully break free from his virtual hell.
Source: Crunchyroll News