Synopsis
Continues the story of Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale
Four years after the infamous Sword Art Online incident, the year 2026 sees the rise of Augma, a groundbreaking new device. Unlike previous Virtual Reality gear like the NerveGear and Amusphere, Augma utilizes an Augmented Reality system that keeps users fully conscious and aware of their real-world surroundings, establishing it as a safe and widely embraced consumer choice. The platform's most coveted application is Ordinal Scale, a fantasy role-playing game centered around player rankings and rewards. While Kirito initially harbors doubts about this technology, he ultimately joins his friends who are already deeply immersed in Ordinal Scale. What begins as a harmless pastime quickly escalates into a far more perilous and ominous situation.
In this installment
In Sword Art Online: Alicization, the Soul Translator marks a monumental advancement in full-dive technology by interfacing directly with a user's Fluctlight, the digital manifestation of a human soul, bypassing traditional brain-signal methods. Kazuto Kirigaya, a survivor of the original Sword Art Online tragedy, collaborates with the private research institute Rath to evaluate the Soul Translator within the Underworld, a fantasy realm generated by the system. Bound by a nondisclosure agreement, all memories formed inside this virtual world are wiped upon returning to reality, leaving Kazuto with only a faint recollection of the name Alice, which triggers a deep sense of unease whenever it is spoken in the real world. One evening, while walking Asuna Yuuki home, Kazuto confronts a former adversary and suffers severe injuries during the battle, causing him to lose consciousness. Upon waking, he discovers he is completely trapped within the Underworld with no immediate way to return to the real world. Driven by resolve, he sets out on a quest to find a path back to his physical life.
Background
Sword Art Online: Alicization is an adaptation of volumes 9 through 14 of Reki Kawahara's Sword Art Online light novel series.
