During the post credits scene of the Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale anime film, it was revealed that the next season of the anime will follow the light novel’s next major arc, Alicization. The Alicization arc is the 4th main arc in the Sword Art Online series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=178smn1vZf0
The end of the film ended with the following tagline:
SAO will return
The Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale anime film has earned a cumulative 1,370,738,380 yen (about $12.03 million USD) and hassold 1,012,331 tickets in Japan as of Monday. In its third weekend, the film earned 425 million yen (about $3.73 million USD) to rank #3. The film opened in Japan on February 18, and sold about 308,376 tickets for 425,762,760 yen (about $3.76 milion USD) in its opening weekend. The film is the first anime film to rank #1 in both weekend attendance and weekend box office receipt totals since Makoto Shinkai’s Kimi no Na wa.
Here’s the most recent trailer for the movie:
The third trailer previews the theme song performed by LiSA:
The second full trailer for the film has been revealed online with English subtitles. The video introduces the new game and AR technology and the new characters that will debut in the film:
The first full theatrical trailer.
The main cast of the previous two anime seasons returned for the upcoming movie with new original character designs:
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Sora in No Game No Life) will be back to voice Kirito
- Haruka Tomatsu (Haruka Takayama in Sakura Trick) returns as Asuna
- Kanae Itou (Ruiko Saten from Toaru Kagaku no Railgun) voicing as Yui
- Rina Hidaka (Airi Kashii in Ro-Kyu-Bu!) as Silica
- Ayahi Takagaki (Mikako Satsukitane in Sora no Otoshimono) will voice Lisbeth
- Ayana Taketatsu (Kirino Kousaka from Oreimo) voicing Leafa
- Miyuki Sawashiro (Celty Sturluson from Durarara!!) is back as Sinon
- Hiroaki Hirata (Sanji from One Piece) will return to voice Klein
- Hiroki Yasumoto (Germany from Hetalia) as Agil
- Koichi Yamadera (Togusa in Ghost in the Shell) will reprise his role as Akihiko Kayaba
The new characters that will debut in the film includes:
- Sayaka Kanda (Shioji from Gamba: Gamba to Nakama-tachi) will voice Yuna
- Takeshi Kaga (Chairman Kaga from Iron Chef) will voice Dr. Shigemura
- Yoshio Inoue (Debut Role) as Eiji
Sword Art Online is a 2009 Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by Abec. The series takes place in the near future and focuses on various virtual reality MMORPG worlds. The light novels began publication on ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Bunko imprint from April 10, 2009, with a spin-off series launching in October 2012. The series has spawned eight manga adaptations published by ASCII Media Works and Kadokawa. The novels and four of the manga adaptations have been licensed for release in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series produced by A-1 Pictures aired in Japan between July and December 2012, with an Extra Edition episode aired on December 31, 2013, and a second season, titled Sword Art Online II, aired between July and December 2014. Four video games based on the series have been released on the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation 4. An animated film titled Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale featuring an original story by Kawahara premiered in Japan and Southeast Asia on February 18, 2017, and was released in the United States on March 9, 2017.
Sword Art Online has received widespread commercial success, with the light novels having over 19 million copies sold worldwide. The anime series has received mixed to positive reviews, praised for its animation, musical score, and exploration of the psychological aspects of virtual reality, but criticized for its pacing and writing.
Sword Art Online synopsis:
In the year 2022, virtual reality has progressed by leaps and bounds, and a massive online role-playing game called Sword Art Online (SAO) is launched. With the aid of “NerveGear” technology, players can control their avatars within the game using nothing but their own thoughts.
Kazuto Kirigaya, nicknamed “Kirito,” is among the lucky few enthusiasts who get their hands on the first shipment of the game. He logs in to find himself, with ten-thousand others, in the scenic and elaborate world of Aincrad, one full of fantastic medieval weapons and gruesome monsters. However, in a cruel turn of events, the players soon realize they cannot log out; the game’s creator has trapped them in his new world until they complete all one hundred levels of the game.
In order to escape Aincrad, Kirito will now have to interact and cooperate with his fellow players. Some are allies, while others are foes, like Asuna Yuuki, who commands the leading group attempting to escape from the ruthless game. To make matters worse, Sword Art Online is not all fun and games: if they die in Aincrad, they die in real life. Kirito must adapt to his new reality, fight for his survival, and hopefully break free from his virtual hell.
Visit the film’s website here: http://sao-movie.net/
Check out their International site here: http://sao-movie.net/us/
And follow the latest developments on their Twitter: @sao_anime
