Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night, release date and poster

Sword Art Online Progressive

Sword Art Online Progressive film: Aria of a Starless Night, based on the Sword Art Online Progressive novels by Reki Kawahara and abec, produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Ayako Kōno, finally has a release date. >
Aniplex Online Fest has indeed announced that the film will debut in Japan on October 30, 2021. For the occasion, a new key visual has been released:

Sword Art Online Progressive: the film

The film is produced by A-1 Pictures (Fairy Tail) and directed by Ayako Kōno (Love Live!), Featuring character designs by Kento Toya (Sword Art Online: Alicization - War of Underworld, The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments) and music by Yuki Kajiura. Yasuyuki Kai (Haikyu !!) directs the action scenes.

As for the cast, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka returns as Kirito and Haruka Tomatsu as Asuna. Inori Minase will voice the new Myth character.



Sword Art Online Progressive describes the story of the meeting between Kirito and Asuna, thus covering the events that take place on the first floor of Aincrad, in particular Asuna's initial struggle to cope with the reality of her new world.

This is the second film in the franchise after Sword Art Online - The Movie: Ordinal Scale, set between the second and third anime seasons.

Sword Art Online Progressive: The Novel

The novel series was launched in 2012 as a retelling of Sword Art Online's original Kawahara novels. The story describes Kirito's journey through Aincrad's floating castle from the beginning, floor by floor.

The Italian edition of the main light novel series and manga is edited by J-POP (on Amazon i Sword Art Online Progressive boxes):



Reki Kawahara returns to the origins of his most famous saga, reimagining its first narrative arc, Aincrad, in this reboot.

While playing a virtual reality game, the young Asuna Yuuki is trapped despite her in the videogame world of Sword Art Online, along with thousands of other players.

Armed with her brilliant student skills, the girl will have to learn the mechanics of the game as quickly as possible in order to finish it… or her stay in SAO will never end.

With the help of Kirito, a seasoned player who invites her to his expert user group, Asuna will fight to become an SAO champion, to return to the real world as soon as possible.

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Sword Art Online Progressive Anime Film Reveals October 30 Premiere

Sword Art Online Progressive Anime Film Reveals October 30 Premiere

In addition to Anime Expo Lite, this weekend had Aniplex Online Fest 2021 delivering plenty of fresh news about upcoming titles. One of the big ones was an update on the Sword Art Online Progressive anime film, including release timing and a brand new visual.

Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night will adapt the light novel series that retells the Aincrad arc of Reki Kawahara’s saga when it opens in Japan on October 30. Check out the new visual below.

Ayako Kawano is directing the film, with Kento Toya back on the Sword Art Online circuit as character designer and Yasuyuki Kai returning from the TV anime as action director at A-1 Pictures.

Yen Press publishes the series in English and describes it:

‘There’s no way to beat this game. The only difference is when and where you die…’ One month has passed since Akihiko Kayaba’s deadly game began, and the body count continues to rise. Two thousand players are already dead. Kirito and Asuna are two very different people, but they both desire to fight alone. Nonetheless, they find themselves drawn together to face challenges from both within and without. Given that the entire virtual world they now live in has been created as a deathtrap, the surviving players of Sword Art Online are starting to get desperate, and desperation makes them dangerous to loners like Kirito and Asuna. As it becomes clear that solitude equals suicide, will the two be able to overcome their differences to find the strength to believe in each other, and in so doing survive? Sword Art Online: Progressive is a new version of the Sword Art Online tale that starts at the beginning of Kirito and Asuna’s epic adventure–on the very first level of the deadly world of Aincrad! 

Source: Official Twitter