When it comes to anime, “Sword Art Online” certainly is at the top of the roster, especially in the game and sci-fi/fantasy genre. The anime was quite slow in the making after its first appearance back in 2012 and the second season 2014. Nevertheless, its popularity continued to grow because of its charismatic characters and outstanding story. After three more years, the franchise released its first ever movie adaptation that became a worldwide phenomenon. However, “SAO” is not yet finished because they are riding on the momentum of the film. Shortly, there will be a third season of the anime series.
Project Alicization
After the end of the very successful “Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale” movie, filmmakers teased us that “Sword Art Online will return once again for the highly anticipated season 3 of the anime series. Last weekend, the folks behind the anime made a huge announcement at the recently held Dengeki Bunko Festival in Tokyo. They confirmed that the hit anime series will return soon and adopts the storyline of volumes 9-18 of Reki Kawahara’s light novel of the same name. The story will start off where the movie left off and it will focus on an undertaking called ‘Project Alicization.’ The first episode is called the ‘Alicization Arc.’
The story will resume in June 2026, almost two years after the ‘SAO incident.’ The protagonist, Kirito, will be offered a job by his close associate Kikuoka Seijirou, VR Crimes Division member.
The job will be to test out a 4th generation Full-Dive machine called Soul Translator for a company called Rath. However, unbeknownst to Kirito, the company is associated with the Japanese military who aim to develop artificial intelligence entities to boost up Japan’s defense technology.
New characters introduced
As part of the Dengeki Bunko Festival, the “SAO” panel released a 44-second teaser that revealed the new key visuals for the new virtual world called Underworld.
Additionally, two new charters are making their way into the limelight, and the two of them will serve as Kirito’s new team in the Underworld. As for the cast, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Haruka Tomatsu will return as Kirito and Asuna respectively, while Ai Kayano and Nobunaga Shimazaki will voice the newcomers Alice and Eugeo.
Alice will be a new addition to the characters of the series, and she will be portrayed as a beautiful girl with sparkling blue eyes and long golden-blonde hair.
She will serve as a childhood friend for Kirito and Eugeo in the upcoming arc. Eugeo, on the other hand, will serve as Kirito’s partner and best friend. Eugeo will sport flax-brown, slightly wavy hair, green eyes, and a cream colored skin.
