Anime Lovers

On November 7, 2024, Kirito cleared the death game in Sword Art Online. This particular scene happened in Episode 14 of Season 1. The series held a countdown stream for the “GAME CLEAR” event to commemorate the exact moment of Kirito’s accomplishment, as the real life calendar finally caught up to the timeline of the series. They also revealed a new visual featuring Kirito and Asuna when the game got cleared.

Kirito cleared the game at exactly 2:55 in the afternoon, freeing a total of 6,147 trapped players for 2 years since the game started in 2022. He uncovered the identity of Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the Sword Art Online death game, and had a decisive battle on floor 75 of the floating castle, Aincrad, after defeating the boss monster residing there, the Skull Reaper.

To all Sword Art Online fans out there, November 7, 2024, might also be a special day for you. On this particular day, we also saw Kirito’s golden eyes for the first time, and he was branded a hero, not only in the VRMMO environment but also in the real world after he logged out. It is also the start of his new conquest to rescue Asuna in the hands of Oberon, which will take place in January 2025.

The special visual for the event was released at exactly 2:55 PM JST. You can see it below.

Sword Art Online Season 1 premiered in 2012, and it was followed by the second season in 2014. The franchise returned in 2017, with the anime film, Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scalewith improved animation.

In 2018, the sequel titled Sword Art Online: Alicization aired, with Sword Art Online: Alicization -War of Underworld- following in 2019. A spin-off anime film titled Sword Art Online: Aria of a Starless Night had a theatrical screening in 2021 and it was followed by Sword Art Online: Scherzo of the Deep Night in 2022.

The franchise celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2022, which is also iconic to the series since the story of the Sword Art Online anime series began in the year 2022. During the event, a new original movie was also announced.

The anime is based on Reki Kawahara’s Sword Art Online light novel series. ASCII Media Works has been serializing it with abec’s illustrations since 2009, and it currently has 28 volumes with 30 million copies in circulation. Volume 28 of the series was released recently on June 7, 2024. Yen Press is publishing the original Sword Art Online light novel series in English and describes the plot as:

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online – a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other – debuts, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG – a log-out button. Now trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad, their bodies held captive by NerveGear in the real world, users are issued a chilling ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of Aincrad to regain your freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, “game over” means certain death – both virtual and real…

Screenshots via Muse Asia
© Reki Kawahara / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project