Sword Art Online

Sword Art Online (ソードアート・オンライン Sōdo Āto Onrain^?) is a Japanese light novel series by Reki Kawahara, with illustrations by abec. It has been adapted into three manga, an anime, and a video game.^[2]

Plot

See also: List of Sword Art Online characters

In the year 2022, the Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG), Sword Art Online (SAO), is released. With the Nerve Gear, a virtual reality helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds.
On November 6, 2022, all the players log in for the first time, and subsequently discover that they are unable to log out. They are then informed by Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of SAO, that if they wish to be free, they must reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However, if their avatars die in-game, their bodies will also die in the real world. The story follows Kirito, a skilled player who is determined to beat the game. As the game progresses for two years, Kirito eventually befriends a female player named Asuna with whom he ultimately falls in love. After the duo discover the identity of Kayaba's avatar in SAO, they confront and defeat him, freeing themselves and the other players from the game.
Upon returning to the real world, Kirito learns that Asuna and a small group of SAO players have still not awakened yet. Following a clue about Asuna's whereabouts in another VRMMORPG called Alfheim Online (ALO), Kirito also logs in there. Helped by his sister Suguha, he learns that the trapped players in ALO are part of a plan devised by Nobuyuki Sugō to perform illegal experiments on their minds to put them under his control, including Asuna, whom he intends to marry in the real world in order to take over her family's company. After Kirito stops Nobuyuki's plans, he finally reunites with Asuna in the real world.
Soon after, Kirito plays another game called Gun Gale Online (GGO) to investigate the mysterious connection between it and deaths occurring in the real world. Assisted by a female player he meets in the game called Sinon, he identifies and exposes the culprits, who include some former members of a murderous guild he had previously encountered in SAO.
Kirito is later recruited to assist in the development of a state-of-the-art game, UnderWorld (UW), which has an interface that is far more realistic and complex than the previous games he had played. In UW, the flow of time proceeds thousands of times faster than in the real world. However, he ends up falling into a trap set by one of the murderers from GGO and wakes up inside the game, unable to log out, with his real self left in a comatose state. As he starts to question if he is the real Kirito or an artificial intelligence modeled after him, Asuna, Suguha and Sinon also log themselves into UW in an attempt to help him.

Setting

The light novel series spans several virtual MMORPGs, not exclusively the eponymous world of Sword Art Online.

Sword Art Online

The first virtual game world, as well as the setting of the first arc of the story. The world takes the form of a giant floating castle called Aincrad, with 100 floors in it. Each floor has a medieval-themed setting and a dungeon with a boss, which has to be defeated before players can advance to the next higher floor. Like most RPGs, it implements a level-based system.

Alfheim Online

The setting for the second arc of the story. All players in the game have wings and are capable of flight. It is a large world, divided into separate 'homelands' for each of its fairy races. In Alfheim's center is a very large tree called Yggdrasil, the World Tree, and the goal of the game is to reach the top. It implements a skill-based system with players increasing their stats by developing both their combat and non-combat skills. Aincrad, the castle of the first game, is later accessible to ALO players as well.

Gun Gale Online

The setting for the third arc of the story. It is a virtual game world with a main focus on guns, although melee weapons like lightsabers and knives also exist.

UnderWorld

The setting for the fourth arc of the story. According to Kirito, it is graphically the most realistic of all VRMMOs to date. The flow of time in UW is much faster than the real world's just like Accel World. Even so, it seems that even Kirito was misled as to the actual rate of UW's time flow, so it is still unknown. However, in the "There is but one ultimate way" side story, the rate is said to be 1,000 times faster than that of the real world.

Media

Light novels

Reki Kawahara wrote the first volume in 2002 as a competition entry for ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Game Novel Prize (電撃ゲーム小説大賞 Dengeki Game Shōsetsu Taishō^?, now Dengeki Novel Prize), but refrained from submitting it as he had exceeded the page limit. He instead published it as a web novel under the pseudonym Fumio Kunori.^[3] Over time, he added three further volumes and several short stories.^[4][5] In 2008, he participated in the competition again by writing Accel World, this time winning the Grand Prize. Aside from Accel World, he was requested to get his earlier work, Sword Art Online, published by ASCII Media Works.^[3] Kawahara agreed and withdrew his web novel versions.^[5] The republication as a paper novel began on April 10, 2009. The paper novel excluded chapter 16.5 of volume 1 of the web novel, due to its explicit nature. On October 10, 2012, the first volume of the Sword Art Online: Progressive series was released. Progressive covers Kirito's adventures on the first and second floors of Aincrad, and includes a rewrite of two side stories, Aria in the Starless Night and Rondo of the Transient Sword.

No.	Title	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN
1	Sword Art Online 1: Aincrad	April 10, 2009	ISBN 978-4-04-867760-8
2	Sword Art Online 2: Aincrad	August 10, 2009	ISBN 978-4-04-867935-0
3	Sword Art Online 3: Fairy Dance	December 10, 2009	ISBN 978-4-04-868193-3
4	Sword Art Online 4: Fairy Dance	April 10, 2010	ISBN 978-4-04-868452-1
5	Sword Art Online 5: Phantom Bullet	August 10, 2010	ISBN 978-4-04-868763-8
6	Sword Art Online 6: Phantom Bullet	December 10, 2010	ISBN 978-4-04-870132-7
7	Sword Art Online 7: Mother's Rosario	April 10, 2011	ISBN 978-4-04-870431-1
8	Sword Art Online 8: Early and Late	August 10, 2011	ISBN 978-4-04-870733-6
9	Sword Art Online 9: Alicization Beginning	February 10, 2012	ISBN 978-4-04-886271-4
10	Sword Art Online 10: Alicization Running	July 10, 2012	ISBN 978-4-04-886697-2
11	Sword Art Online 11: Alicization Turning	December 10, 2012	ISBN 978-4-04-891157-3
12	Sword Art Online 12: Alicization Rising	April 10, 2013	—

No.	Title	Japanese release date	Japanese ISBN
1	Sword Art Online: Progressive 1	October 10, 2012	ISBN 978-4-04-886977-5

Manga

There are three manga adaptations of the series, which are serialized in Dengeki Bunko Magazine. Sword Art Online: Aincrad, illustrated by Tamako Nakamura, ran from September 2010 to May 2012 and consists of two manga volumes. A comedy four-panel manga titled Sword Art Online 4-koma and illustrated by Jūsei Minami, was serialized in September 2010 with one manga volume published thus far. A third manga titled Sword Art Online: Fairy Dance and illustrated by Hazuki Tsubasa, began serializing on May 2012 after Sword Art Online: Aincrad ended.

Anime

See also: List of Sword Art Online episodes

An anime adaptation of Sword Art Online was announced at Dengeki Bunko Autumn Festival 2011, along with Reki Kawahara's other light novel series, Accel World.^[6] The anime is published by Aniplex, produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Tomohiko Ito with music by Yuki Kajiura.^[7] The anime began airing on Tokyo MX, tvk, TVS, TVA, RKB, HBC and MBS on July 7, 2012 and on AT-X, Chiba TV and BS11 at later dates.^[8] The series is also streamed on Crunchyroll and Hulu.Aniplex of America confirmed during its live streaming panel on Friday that its release of the Sword Art Online television anime series will include an English dub.Aniplex will hold an exclusive screening of the dub at Seattle's Sakura-Con convention in March, followed by a question-and-answer session with Sword Art Online light novel series creator Reki Kawahara. The anime's theme song performers Eir Aoi and Luna Haruna will also appear at the event.The opening theme song for the first 14 episodes is "crossing field" by LiSA^[9] and the ending theme song is "Yume Sekai" (ユメセカイ^?, lit. "Dream World") by Haruka Tomatsu.^[10] From episode 15 onward, the opening theme is "Innocence" by Eir Aoi and the ending theme is "Overfly" by Luna Haruna. The anime has been licensed in North America by Aniplex USA.^[11] and in Australia by Madman Entertainment.^[12] The anime was simulcast by Crunchyroll.^[13]

Video game

A video game adaptation, titled Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment (ソードアート・オンライン -インフィニティ・モーメント- Sōdo Āto Onrain: Infiniti Mōmento^?), is developed by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation Portable. The game was released in both regular and limited edition box sets on March 14, 2013.

Reception

Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku hails Sword Art Online as the smartest series in recent years, praising its deep insight on the psychological aspects of virtual reality on the human psyche, its sociological views on creating a realistic economy and society in a massively multiplayer online game setting, and the writing staff's ability to juggle a wide variety of genres within the series.^[14] Eisenbeis particularly noted how the romance between Kirito and Asuna is explored bringing "definition to exactly what love is like in a virtual world."
According to Oricon, Sword Art Online was the top selling light novel series of 2012, with eight volumes figuring among the top selling light novels.^[15][16]

Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate

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Kiss x sis

Kissxsis is an anime adaptation of the manga written by Bow Daitama produced by Feel. The series revolves around a boy named Keita Suminoe who finds himself the centre of attention of his twin step-sisters, Ako and Riko. The anime adaptation consists of two series, an ongoing original video animation series and a twelve-episode anime television series. The first OVA was released on December 22, 2008, with subsequent episodes released with volumes of the manga. The anime television series aired on AT-X between April 5, 2010 and June 21, 2010, and was released on DVD from June 23, 2010. For the OVA series, the opening theme is "Our Honey Boy" (ふたりのハニーボーイ Futari no Hanībōi^?) by Ayana Taketatsu and Yuiko Tatsumi, while the ending theme is "Starry Sky Story" (星空物語 Hoshizora Monogatari^?) by Nana Takahashi. For the television series, the opening theme is "Balance Kiss" (バランスKISS Baransu KISS^?) by Taketatsu and Tatsumi, while the ending theme is "Steady Boy" by Yui Ogura and Kaori Ishihara. The ending theme for episode 12 is "The Two of Us" (ふたり Futari^?) by Ogura and Ishihara.

Episode list

OVA

#	Title	Original air date
01	"Start from Scratch" "Zero Kara Hajimeyō" (ゼロから始めよう)	December 22, 2008[1]
Keita Suminoe has trouble resisting the sexual advances of his twin stepsisters, Ako and Riko, who want him to attend the same high school.
02	"Under the Same Roof" "Hitotsu Yane no Shita" (ひとつ屋根の下)	May 22, 2009[2]
Keita injures his hand at school and Ako and Riko compete to help him out.
03	"Christmas for Two" "Futari de Kurisumasu" (ふたりでクリスマス)	November 20, 2009[3]
At Christmas, Keita, Ako and Riko go to a karaoke bar where they all end up getting very drunk due to a.
04	"Practice in Secret" "Himitsu no Yokō Renshū" (ひみつの予行練習)	June 4, 2010[4]
While searching through Keita's room, Ako and Riko find a dirty magazine featuring siblings in a threesome. Wondering if they may end up doing the same thing with Keita, they have a 'practice threesome' with each other while using a dummy to represent Keita.
05	"The Supreme Bliss' Hot Spring Trip" "Shifuku no Onsen Ryokō" (至福の温泉旅行)	November 22, 2010[5]
Keita, Ako and Riko parents got a free coupon tickets to a hot spring resort,Their parents suggest them to the hot spring resort,they end up in an erotic museum, and find themselves in some compromising situations surrounding one of Ako's alcoholic purchases from the museum.
06	"Engrossed in Bewilderment" "Gorimuchū de Muchumuchu" (五里霧中でむちゅむちゅ)	June 22, 2011[6]
Ako and Riko see their parents kissing at the front door, and hear their mother say, "When you come back, you can have all the fun you want." That evening, Keita, Ako, and Riko, studying together, try to block out the sounds of ecstasy coming from their parents' bedroom, and end up in a compromising position in the process. After becoming so aroused by their parents' sounds (which, as it turns out, they misinterpreted), Ako, Riko, and Keita cannot get to sleep that night, which leads to further intimate actions by the trio.
07	"Mmm! Physical Examination" "Mumumu! na Kenkōshidan" (むむむっ!な健康診断)	November 30, 2011
As the school takes a fitness exam, Ako and Riko compete with each other for the best results. Meanwhile, Keita gets into all sorts of trouble trying to keep the other boys from spying on the girls.
08	"Peach Flowers Bloom in the Rainy Season" "Chō Tsuyuni Saita Momo no Hana" (長梅雨に咲いた桃の花)	July 6, 2012[7]
As Keita gets soaked on a rainy day, Mikazuki invites him to her house, where he ends up having to hide from Yūzuki when she suddenly comes to visit.
09	"After All!? The Eventful Home Visit" "Yappari!? Haran no Kateihōmon" (やっぱり！？波乱の家庭訪問)	February 6, 2013[8]
Yūzuki visits Keita's home for a school visit, where their luck runs true to form and something embarrassing happens. Fortunately for Yūzuki both of Keita's parents are very open minded. Maybe a little too open minded.

Anime television series

#	Title	Original air date
01	"Wonderful Days" "Wandafuru Deizu" (ワンダフルデイズ)	March 28, 2010 (pre-release) April 5, 2010 (TV)
Keita Suminoe has a problem with his twin step-sisters, Ako and Riko, being overly romantic towards him while his parents are away. He is uncertain what to do when his parents cannot attend a parent-teacher session. When Ako and Riko find the notice letter while looking in his room, they go over to his school, only to be chased by several of their old admirers. Keita stops everyone and tells his sisters off for bothering him, but when he realizes why they came, he catches up with them and apologizes, revealing he turned down a recommendation to another school, and that he intends to study to get into their high school.
02	"A Lesson for Two" "Futarikiri no Ressun" (二人きりのレッスン)	April 12, 2010
Ako decides to help Keita study in order to improve his chance of passing, though both have a little trouble staying focused on the matter at hand. Ako shows Keita her chest in order to encourage him to study, but this ends up being all Keita can think about in class. Ako decides to try an alternative method, writing the notes on her body. Despite embarrassing himself in school while distracted, he fares better on the tests. However, when Keita likens a kiss from Ako to a penalty game, Ako gets mad and corners him, eventually tricking him into a wrong answer so he has to take the penalty kiss. They press on, but are interrupted by Riko, who has been learning how to prepare food and made a snack for Keita, though it turns out to be inedible. In the end, Keita manages to improve his grade, if only slightly, and he gives all the credit to Ako, who he thanks profusely, while Riko watches jealously.
03	"Alluring Sweets" "Miwaku no Suītsu!" (魅惑のスイーツ!)	April 19, 2010
Keita gets annoyed with being kissed by Ako and Riko all the time and instigates a ban on kissing. Overhearing that Keita likes sweet things, Riko tries to make him some chocolate, but can only manage something horrific. After finding one of her father's dirty DVDs, she gives Keita some chocolate lipstick, persuading him to eat it off her lips. Before they manage to go any further, they are interrupted by Ako who destroys the lipstick. Riko gives Keita another chocolate lipstick, however it was made from the horrible tasting chocolate that she had made, and leaves Keita disgusted.
04	"Qualifications of a Lover" "Koibito no Shikaku" (恋人の資格)	April 26, 2010
While Keita studies at school, Ako and Riko reminisce on when they started going to junior high, the first time they were apart from Keita. When they watched Keita perform athletics, they fell in love with him. Meanwhile, their teacher, Yūzuki Kiryū, eavesdrops on their discussions and begins to worry about what is going on with them. After studying, Keita runs into Ako and Riko at the shrine, where they were praying for his success. He remembers when he was young and prayed to marry both Ako and Riko, only to be told by his father that polygamy is illegal. Keita makes his wish and the three return together.
05	"I'm Sorry!" "Gomen Nasai!" (ゴメンナサイ!)	May 3, 2010
While talking to his friends, Keita accidentally gropes his fellow student, Miharu Mikuni, and gets slapped. Ako and Riko become suspicious about whether Keita has been 'cheating'. When Keita goes to study at the library, Miharu, who is the librarian, becomes too intimidated by Keita to go to the bathroom, believing he would attack her if she took her eyes off him. Before she can go to one, Keita tries to return a book she dropped (which looks like Miharu's student identification booklet) and chases after her, dragging her into various hiding spots to hide from Ako and Riko. However, they end up getting locked in the gym storage room and their hashed escape plan leads Miharu to relieve herself on Keita's back. They eventually manage to escape and Keita promises to keep Miharu's incident a secret, though gets beaten up when he accidentally sees where Miharu had removed her panties from.
06	"Uneasiness at Akihabara" "Munasawagi no Akiba" (胸騒ぎのアキバ)	May 10, 2010
Unable to view and get porn from the internet using a PC their father won at a raffle, Ako and Riko decides to buy erotic games in Akihabara. But in the process Keita has to accompany them, so they devise a way to hide their real purpose for going to Akihabara. Ako distracts Keita by taking him to a cosplay shop while Riko investigates the adult section of a game shop. While changing, they run into Ako's teacher, Yūzuki Kiryū, who is a closet otaku (dressed as Mahoro from Mahoromatic Maiden). Riko later encounters her while trying to get a special edition game. After meeting Keita and being reminded about Ako and Riko's crush on him, Yūzuki drags him off to talk to him, inadvertently taking him to a cosplay-themed love hotel. After later being found by Ako and Riko, the group are encountered by Keita's kōhai and Yūzuki's younger sister Mikazuki, who covers for Yūzuki by stating she was buying the game for her. In return for bailing her out, she gets Yūzuki to cosplay as Mai Shiranui for her that night.
07	"Wh-What!? A Dripping Wet Midsummer Delusion" "Na, Nan to~?! Bisho Nure Manatsu no Mōsōkyoku" (な、なんと～っ!?びしょ濡れ真夏の妄想曲)	May 17, 2010
One of Keita's friends, Toda, coaxes him into going to the pool with him and Mikazuki and inviting Ako and Riko. Suspicious of what they might be up to, Yūzuki decides to tail them, despite having a financial dilemma (since admission to the pool is costly). While trying to hide from them in the bathroom, she is found by Ako and Riko who, mistaking her for a peeping tom, splash her with water. With her clothes soaked, Yūzuki borrows Keita's gym outfit. Later that night, Yūzuki becomes entranced by the smell of Keita's outfit and masturbates while wearing it and having sexual fantasies about Keita. She wakes up the next day to find that she had soaked his pants in the process. Oddly, Keita is having a nightmare about his teacher doing "stuff" with him.
08	"It's Always That in August" "Hachigatsu wa Itsumo Are" (八月はいつもアレ)	May 24, 2010
The summer festival comes, and it is the only day Keita is free from all the prep school work. This means that Ako and Riko will have to compete for a night at the festival with him, although they all go to the festival together. But a few incidents involving paraders enables Ako and Riko to indeed spend some time with Keita alone. They also had to contend with Yūzuki, who was patrolling the fair and catches Riko and Keita in the forest; Mikazuki, who is Miss Mikoshi; and a naughty chick that Ako bought that caused Keita to see Miharu peeing in the bushes. When Keita comes back to where his sisters are located, they barely recognize him.
09	"Turning to God Only in Times of Suffering" "Kurushii Toki wa Kamidanomi" (苦しい時は神頼み)	May 31, 2010
As Keita tries to study, Ako and Riko compete with each other to be the most helpful. While alone in the room, Riko and Keita end up doing some 'footplay' under the kotatsu until Ako catches on. While looking up on good luck charms to help Keita with his studies, Ako and Riko learn of one that is made using pubic hairs. After much deliberation, the sisters pluck their own hairs to make the charm and give it to Keita, convincing him not to look inside. Keita takes it to school with him, though, and Ako and Riko are understandably embarrassed.
10	"At Last, the Real Thing!" "Tōtō Honban" (とうとう本番！)	June 7, 2010
Keita becomes ill before the big exams, and Ako and Riko step up to the mark by getting out of school and making Keita feel better by nursing him back to health. However, a slow recovery is the last thing Keita wants as his two stepsisters fight for the place closest to his heart. Both of them end up licking the sweat off his body, which passes the cold over to them while Keita makes a full recovery. Yūzuki, who proctors the exam, is surprised to find Keita there. While Keita takes his exams, Ako and Riko remember how Keita was there for them when they were taking their exams. After returning from his exams, Keita gives his thanks to a "sleeping" Ako and Riko, who are surprised about it once he leaves.
11	"Nitpicking a Good Day!" "Ii Hi, Damedashi!" (いい日、ダメ出し!)	June 14, 2010
Keita eagerly awaits the results of his exams, with Ako and Riko trying to give him good luck, though encounter several unlucky omens along the way. When they get to the notice boards, Keita's number wasn't listed and the trio become depressed. However, Yūzuki shows up after they leave to put up a few more numbers on the board, including Keita's. After noticing the celebratory preparations Ako and Riko prepared, Keita cheers up and decides it's best not to waste it. Later that evening, Keita is visited by Miharu, whose dog had previously nabbed Keita's posted results from his mailbox. After reading them, Keita learns that he had in fact passed the exams, hugging Miharu in his excitement. After Miharu gets scared off by Ako and Riko, Keita tells them the good news.
12	"One, Two, Threesome!" "Ichi, Ni no, San Pī!" (いち、にの、3P!)	June 21, 2010
After Keita's graduation, Ako and Riko arrive to find they were too late to get the second, much less any of the buttons, off of Keita's blazer. (2nd button on male uniform is over the heart and suppose to be given to the girl he loves to confess his feelings.) They decide, against Keita's will, to hold a draw for consolation prizes from Keita, with Ako, Riko, Mikazuki and Miharu as participants. Ako's hope backfires and ends up getting Keita's shirt collar, Mikazuki wins the opportunity for Keita to flip her skirt, though he is unaware she wasn't wearing any underwear. Riko wins a chance to kiss Keita in front of everyone, but is too embarrassed to do it. Miharu gets the remaining prize, to spend five minutes in the equipment room alone with Keita to do anything. Keita simply uses the time to thank Miharu, but after a slip up, they end up in a compromising position, leading Ako and Riko to assume the worst. Later that night while Keita goes to sleep, Ako and Riko make a move on him, though this just gives Keita weird dreams. As he unconsciously grabs his jacket, a button he had been saving for them falls out, and they decide to leave him alone for the night. As the new semester starts, Keita walks hand in hand with Ako and Riko to high school together.