Sword Art Online (Japanese: ソードアート・オンライン, Hepburn: Sōdo Āto Onrain) is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. Originally released as a web novel on Kawahara's website from 2002 to 2008, the light novels began publication under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint in April 2009, following them approving his request to publish it. The series takes place in the 2020s and focuses on protagonists Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki as they play through various VRMMORPG worlds, and later their involvement in the matters of a simulated civilization. Multiple spin-offs have been released, including Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, Sword Art Online: Progressive, and Sword Art Online: Girls' Ops. Several adaptations into other media have been produced, including more than ten manga and an anime television series, which aired for three seasons from July 2012 to September 2020; a television film was released in December 2013. Anime film adaptations have been released in February 2017, October 2021, and October 2022. Several video game adaptations and board games have also been released. Sword Art Online's themes include the dangers associated with virtual reality and allowing an external device to control a person's brain. The early volumes, as well as the anime, have received praise for the premise, world building, and the bond between Kirito and Asuna, while the pacing, writing, and treatment of female characters have been criticized; Kawahara has expressed regrets about the latter and critics felt that his writing improved in later volumes. The series has frequently ranked in Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! and has 30 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling light novels. It has also helped popularize web novels, VRMMORPG, and isekai fiction.
Synopsis
Setting The light novel series spans several virtual reality worlds, beginning with the game, Sword Art Online (SAO), which is set in a world known as Aincrad. Each world is built on a game engine called the Cardinal system, which was initially developed specifically for SAO by Akihiko Kayaba, but was later duplicated for Alfheim Online (ALO), and a consolidated package is later given to Kirito in the form of the World Seed, who had it leaked online with the successful intention of reviving the virtual reality industry. A third world known as Gun Gale Online (GGO) appears in the third arc and is stylized as a first-person shooter game instead of a role-playing game, and is the main setting of Alternative Gun Gale Online. It was created using the World Seed by an American company. A fourth world appears in the fourth arc known as the Underworld (UW). The world itself was created using the World Seed as a base, but it is as realistic as the real world due to using many powerful government resources to keep it running. A fifth main world called Unital Ring (UR) was formed under mysterious circumstances from the merging of all of the Seed MMO worlds, and is the main setting of the Unital Ring arc along with the Underworld.
Plot
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