Buckle up and get ready to go back to Aincrad, the place where it all started! Just this weekend, on the last episode of the Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of the Underworld series, the ending credits announced that Reki Kawahara’s Sword Art Online: Progressive light novel series is getting an anime project!
The official social media accounts of the SAO franchise released a short teaser clip for the upcoming adaptation, which you can watch here. The video is narrated by Asuna, who recounts the fateful day when everything started: November 6, 2022, the day when the then-hotly anticipated Sword Art Online game launched.
A teaser visual was also released, depicting Asuna (in starter player clothes it appears?) with the floating castle of Aincrad in the backdrop.
No release window has been announced yet for the new project.
Sword Art Online: Progressive is a retelling and a soft reboot of the popular series’ original Aincrad story arc. It was first launched in October 2012 and retells Kirito’s story up the floating castle of Aincrad in a more detailed way, with the narrative focused on his journey up the castle floor by floor. The Progressive series also gives a more detailed look at Asuna’s backstory—how she started out in the virtual world and honed her skills to become the Lightning Flash—and her adventures in Aincrad as well.
Sword Art Online is a light novel series created by Reki Kawahara, with illustrations by abec. The series was first written as a web novel published in Kawahara’s website from 2002 to 2008; by 2009, the series was picked up by ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Bunko for publication. The English release for both the light novels and the manga adaptation of the series is held by Yen Press. In 2012, the series was adapted into a TV anime series by A1 Pictures, enjoying widespread success that the series received two more seasons: Sword Art Online II and the latest, Sword Art Online: Alicization.
Source: Anime News Network