Sword Art Online the Movie – Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night officially has a release date for fans outside of Japan looking to see the latest in the Sword Art Online anime series.
RELATED: Sword Art Online Movie: Progressive Aria of a Starless Night Release Date
After launching in Japanese theaters on October 30, 2021, Funimation will bring the highly anticipated film stateside, where it will release in theaters and on IMAX screens on December 3, 2021, in the United States and Canada. The new film will then release on December 9, 2021, in Australia and New Zealand, with tickets for both releases going on sale on November 5 and November 9, respectively.
Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night serves as a re-telling of the popular series’ Aincrad arc. The original story was written by Reki Kawahara and spans seven volumes. The upcoming Sword Art Online movie hails from A-1 Productions. Ayako Kono makes their directorial debut, with Kento Toya handling its character design, and Yuki Kajiura composing the film’s music. Yasuyuki Kai will serve as the action director.
The official Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night synopsis reads:
This is a tale of the time before “Lightning Flash” and “The Black Swordsman” were known by those names…
The day that she happened to don the NerveGear, Asuna Yuuki was a third-year middle school student who’d never even touched an online game before. On November 6, 2022, the world’s first VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, is officially launched. But the players, still euphoric over having logged in, suddenly find themselves trapped inside the game when the Game Master deprives them of any way to log out.
The Game Master then gives them this warning “This may be a game, but it’s not something you play.” If a player dies in-game, they die in the real world.
Hearing this, all of the players panic, and pandemonium reigns. One of those players is Asuna, but despite not yet knowing the rules of this world, she sets off to conquer the floating iron castle, Aincrad, whose peak is too high to be seen. As the days go by in this world where death is never very far away, she has a fateful encounter. And then, a parting…
Though she’s at the mercy of the reality before her eyes, Asuna fights on with all her might until someone appears before her: the aloof swordsman, Kirito…
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Haruka Tomatsu will reprise their roles as Kirito and Asuna respectively. The new Sword Art Online character Mito will be voiced by Inori Minase. They are known for their work on Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-.
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Sword Art Online originally was a self-published web novel series by Kawahara that released back in 2002. The Japanese light novel series, which was written by Kawahara and illustrated by abec, was first published by Dengeki Bunko in 2009. The anime television adaptation made its debut in December 2012.
