Sword Art Online ( SAO )

Sword Art Online 

( SAO)

Written By : Reki Kawahara                                     Published By : ASCII Media Works 

PLOT 

In the year 2022, the Virtual reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) Sword Art Online (SAO) is released. With the Nerve Gear, a VR Helmet that stimulates the user's five senses via their brain, players can experience and control their in-game characters with their minds. But an unexpected event occurs on November 6, 2022 when Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of SAO, prevents the players from logging out. Akihiko issues them a challenge; if they wish to be free and log out of the game, they must reach the 100th floor of the game's tower and defeat the final boss. However, if their avatars die in the game, so will their bodies in the real world. As the game's 10,000 players try to accept their new deadly predicament, Kirito, a skilled player who tested the beta version of the game, is determined to reach the 100th floor and attain freedom. As he befriends other players along the way, including Asuna, who becomes his partner and love interest, Kirito faces many obstacles and eventually discover the true purpose of SAO.

After escaping SAO, Kirito, for a series of circumstances, takes part in other VRMMO games.

Trailer 

Main Character :

Name : Kirito (キリト) 

Real Name : Kazuto Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 和人 Kirigaya Kazuto)

Voiced By : Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

Kirito is the main protagonist of the series. He is a "solo" player as well as a beater (stands for beta tester and cheater), a player who hasn't joined a guild and usually works alone. Kirito is also one of the clearers in SAO. When it is announced that the players of Sword Art Online can no longer logout, he is surprised like everyone else, but unlike everyone else he quickly gets over it and accepts it, to an extent. He mainly uses a one-handed sword "Elucidator" and usually wears all black in-game, as it adds to stealth, and gives him his nickname "The Black Swordsman" (黒の剣士 Kuro no Kenshi^?). In SAO, he is the possessor of «Dual Blades», a unique skill which he only uses in emergencies to avoid attention for being one out of the two people to have unique skills.

His game alias is Kirito, which is created by taking the syllables of the first and last Kanji of his real last and first names respectively: (Kirigaya Kazuto). In the real world, he lives with his mother and younger cousin/sister in a family of 3. He was adopted by Kirigaya Minetaka and Midori (Suguha's parents). His mother (who is actually Midori's sister) and father passed away after an accident when he was about 1 year old. When he was 10 years old, he found out the truth. He treats playing in a VRMMO the same as living in the real world (a result of living in SAO for two years).

He is very much in love with Asuna, as shown when he asked Kayaba Akihiko to prevent her from comitting suicide if he were to die during their duel and, in Volume 4, when he tries to fly up the World Tree uncaring whether he falls and his avatar dies or not. He is later on asked to register in Guns Gale Online in order to investigate murders of the game's players in real life apparently linked with assassinations in-game. It is soon revealed that the murders are committed by survivors from Sword Art Online who were part of a player killing group known as Laughing Coffin. His actions result in the capture of two out of three culprits, one of whom is a member and the other is a sibling. The last member escapes and is not heard of until the events of volume 9, and is responsible for an attempted murder of Kazuto. Furthermore he has a very strong will, so much so that he can resist a VR environment's effects to a certain extent, like delaying his death for a few seconds or moving an immovable object. Also, he can apply the fighting skills he learned in VRMMOs in real life. He is very keen and used to games. In Alfleim he still can still manually use two swords and has developed two new Outside System Skills.

In the Alicization Arc, he has been assisting in the development of the fourth generation full dive interface, Soul Translator, by testing its thought acceleration functions. However he has no memory of what he has been doing as a result of his memories being suppressed, voluntarily, by the system. Is attacked and poisoned by Jony Black in the real world. Wakes up in UnderWorld with no memory of the game or how he got there. Meets up with Eugeo and helps him out of some tough situations, during which he partially remembers his time with Eugeo and Alice during his "childhood" in UnderWorld. Decides to aid Eugeo in finding Alice while he searches for a way out, back to reality.

Asuna 

Real Name : Asuna Yuuki (結城 明日奈 Yūki Asuna) 

Voice By : Haruka Tomatsu

Asuna is the main female protagonist of the series. She is a friend of Kirito and is a sub-leader of the guild Knights of the Blood Oath, a medium-sized guild of about thirty players, also called the strongest guild in Aincrad. Being one of the few girls that play SAO, and even more so that she's extremely pretty, she receives many invitations and proposals. She is a skilled player earning the Title "Flash" (閃光Senkō^?) for her extraordinary sword skill. The KoB has assigned her two bodyguards, one of whom despises Kirito.

Her game alias is the same as her Real World name. Later, she falls in love with Kirito and they marry in-game. In real life, she lived a very stressful life, forced to live up to the high expectations of her parents. She felt that she would live her life following her parents rule, and never once went against that idea. But after living in SAO and meeting Kirito, she gain more emotions and realized what it was like to actually live, and looks back on her past with disgust. She has a very strong will, able to sacrifice days of sleep to level up. She deeply loves Kirito and once explained he was her reason of going on in the game, she could not survive without him. He saved her by showing her people could live well in SAO, he saved her from her nightmare. She also told Kirito she would commit suicide if he were to die during the 75th boss raid, after he asked her to stay away from the fight. She intended to do so and she became desperate when Kirito asked Heatcliff to prevent her from comitting suicide if he died during their duel. She sacrificed herself to save him; however, she was reunited with him shortly after he "died" defeating Heatcliff in a place Kabaya created for all three to talk.

After Kirito defeated Heathcliff, she was supposed to have been freed but instead she was imprisoned in ALfheim Online and forced to play the role of Titania the Queen of Fairies, by Nobuyuki Sugou who similarly played the role of Oberon the Fairy King. This was done so that Nobuyuki Suguo could marry Asuna in the real world, while she was unconscious, and thus take over RECTOR Progress Inc. She constantly tries to get out of the World Tree where she is imprisoned and escape going so far as to steal a GM card which she throws out of the window when she hears Yui's voice. Upon being freed she created two avatars for Alfleim, Asuna (being the healer of the team) and Erika (a battle type avatar) and went on living with Kirito.

In the real world she became his girlfriend, she shows that her dream is to marry Kirito and have a family with him when they were walking in the park and saw a nearby family.

Lyfa

Real Name : Suguha Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 直葉 Kirigaya Suguha)

Voiced By : Ayana Taketatsu

Kirito's younger cousin in the real world. She's a diligent worker and has been practicing Kendo for 8 years. Kirito/Kazuto calls her "Sugu". After Kazuto got trapped in Sword Art Online, she began playing ALfheim Online in order to understand him better. She has feelings for Kazuto but understands that Kazuto's feelings for Asuna are too strong. Coincidentally, she meets Kirito in ALfheim and aids him in searching for Asuna unaware that Kirito is Kazuto. After understanding the depth of Kazuto's love for Asuna she resolves to give up on him and instead becomes attached to Kirito in ALO. Unfortunately, she is heartbroken when she finds Kirito's real world identity in ALO. Nevertheless, she pulls herself together and aids Kirito in rescuing Asuna.

Sinon 

Real name: Shino Asada (朝田 詩乃 Asada Shino^?)
Voiced By : Miyuki Sawashiro (drama CD)

A female sniper that Kirito first meets in Gun Gale Online. She has a childhood trauma concerning guns and thus started playing Gun Gale Online in an attempt to overcome it. She is the owner of the rare gun "PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II". She originally considered Kirito as an opponent, but she later developed feelings for him. She later joins ALO on their recommendation as a Caith Sith archer, wielding a long bow. In Gun Gale Online she's known as 'Hecate' while in the real life she's usually called 'Sinonon'.

Alice Schuberg (アリス・ツーベルク Arisu Tsūberuku^?)

A mysterious girl who was Kirito's "childhood friend", along with Eugeo, in UnderWorld. Is captured and supposedly taken away to be executed by the Integrity Knights for breaking the rule by "entering" the Dark Territory. She contacted Kirito, in spirit form, and aided in Eugeo's healing, showing that she is still alive and remembered both of them. She also implored them to come find her.

Eugeo (ユージオ Yūjio^?)

A young lad who was also Kirito's "childhood friend", along with Alice, in UnderWorld. Has his memories of Kirito purged, along with the rest of the villagers, but recovers them later on, to a certain degree. Has a strong desire to find Alice and, in order to do so, begins learning "Aincrad style" sword skills from Kirito.

Secondary Characters

Klein

Real Name :  Ryōtarō Tsuboi (壷井 遼太郎 Tsuboi Ryōtarō^?)

Voiced By : Hiroaki Hirata

A friendly player that meets Kirito at the start of the game and quickly befriends and learns from him. He and Kirito later separate because he has friends who were also new to the game, and since he was taught by Kirito who was an experienced player, he couldn't leave them. He uses a katana to fight and leads a party. Klein has reunited with Kirito after two years when they run from a monster and start having lunch. He regularly meets with Kirito and his friends and occasionally go with them in quests in ALO, especially after the release of the World Seed .

Agil 

Real Name :  Andrew Gilbert Mills

Voice By : Hiroki Yasumoto

An axe wielder who owns a shop in SAO. He is 180 cm tall with muscular body and set his hairstyle to be bald. Despite his scary figure, he is kind hearted and allocated most of his earnings to help players in middle floors. Kirito is a regular in his shop and they seem to have a good relationship. He runs a shop named «Dicey Cafe» in the other side, which had been kept from closing for two years of his absence by his wife. That shop then becomes Kazuto and company's meeting place in the real world.

Heathcliff 

Real name: Akihiko Kayaba (茅場 晶彦 Kayaba Akihiko^?)

Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera

Akihiko Kayaba is the Director and Creator of the Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online, and is the main antagonist of the series. He traps all the players within Sword Art Online by using the Nerve Gear to cease sending signals to the users' body. Any attempt at removal, loss of power for a certain period, or if the user dies in the game will also kill the user. His motivation is to observe what happens after he traps them. Later, it is discovered that he had been masquerading as Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of Blood. Although he can give his character immortality, he can easily defeat other players without it because he already knows how to counter the skills that he designed. Defeated by Kirito at the end of Volume 1, he died, leaving behind a program that granted Kirito the World Seed, at the end of Volume 4. His death was his own doing since he had also rigged his own Nerve Gear device to fry his brain when he was defeated.

Silica (シリカ Shirika^?)

Real name: Keiko Ayano (綾野 珪子 Ayano Keiko^?)

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka

A side story character in SAO. One of the rare beast tamers in the game. She, very early in the game was able to tame a dragon which gave her immense fame, but she was just a mid-level player. Due to her fame and being a girl, many tried to get on her good side, causing her to get a bit of an inflated head. She usually stay away from the males, who tried to marry her despite the fact that she was only 13. After getting lost in a forest, she lost her beast and only friend in the game. Kirito rescued her, and helped her as she resembled his sister. She gained feelings for him, but once she realized his skills, she realized that they could never be together in the game. Later on it is revealed that Pina (her beast) was revived. She joins Kirito and his friends in ALO right after they meet in the real world; they often go together in quests.

Lisbeth 

Real name: Rika Shinozaki (篠崎 里香 Shinozaki Rika^?)

Voiced by: Ayahi Takagaki

A side story character in SAO. Her profession is a blacksmith. She is a close friend of Asuna who recommended her to Kirito. Kirito commissioned her to forge a second sword for him, as good as his first sword «Elucidator». Then he accompanied her in the quest for the special ore required for the job. During the quest, she also develops feelings for Kirito. She is devastated when she finds out that Kirito is Asuna's crush. But finds solace when Kirito tells her about the "Black Cats" and that for the first time after losing his guild he had felt natural while partying with her. In the end when the game clear message appears she instinctively knows that it was Kirito who did it and declares her love for him. Proposes a one-month truce with Scilica after Asuna wakes up but is shown regretting it. She becomes a regular player in ALO and frequently takes on quests with Kirito and his friends and takes up tasks of upgrading their equipment.

Yui 

Voiced by: Kanae Itō

Initially a side story character in SAO, later becomes an accompanying/support character in ALO. At first thought to be a lost child in SAO, she is actually an artificial intelligence program. Her full designation is «Mental Health - Counselling Program», MHCP version 1, codename, «Yui». She was designed to monitor the emotions of players and appear at their sides to hear and help them out. However, since the moment everyone was imprisoned in Sword Art Online, she was forbidden to come in contact with the players and complete her prime directive. Unable to do anything but suffer as she monitored the emotions of the trapped players, she came upon Kirito and Asuna whose emotions were those of joy and peace in the sea of fear, despair and rage. She sought them out. Appearing to them as an amnesiac child. They adopted her. In the end she was nearly deleted by Cardinal, the management system of SAO. But Kirito saved her by converting and storing her data into his own Nerve Gear. Later shows up in ALO as a Private Navigation Pixie and helps Kirito along with Lyfa to find Asuna. Refers to Kirito as "Papa" and Asuna as "Mama". And gets very annoyed if any girl other than Lyfa or Asuna gets close to Kirito. Kirito uses his skills and resources in the real world to make a device for Yui to view the real world even whilst she is in virtual reality and gives her the ability to communicate with them.

Sachi 

Voiced by: Saori Hayami

A side story character in SAO. She was a member of "Black Cats of the Full Moon" which was the first guild Kirito joined. Kirito was especially attached to her. However she died along with the majority of her guild members which led to Kirito wallowing in despair and self-loathing until he read the time delayed message she left for Kirito. Even after the message gave him the strength to live, he never joined another guild until the events of Volume 1. 

Oberon the Fairy King

Real name: Nobuyuki Sugō (須郷 伸之 Sugō Nobuyuki^?)

( no picture SORRY T^T )

Nobuyuki Sugō is the villain who is responsible for keeping 300 Nerve Gear victims, including Asuna, prisoner even after SAO had ended. He did this by transferring them all into ALO for experiments regarding human subjugation via fulldive technology. That and taking over RECTO Progress Inc. by marrying Asuna while she is unconscious are his goals. In ALO he took on the identity of Oberon the Fairy King and made Asuna his queen, Titania. When he and Kirito finally meet, he flaunts his GM status as well as the results of his research by causing Kirito immense amounts of pain after increasing Kirito's pain limit and impaling him. He was defeated when the "Ghost Program" of Akihiko Kayaba reminded Kirito of how "he" was defeated by Kirito's determination. And then aiding him to overcome Oberon's GM status. After being defeated, all the 300 victims were released but Noboyuki still attempted to attack Kirito while he was en-route to Asuna in the real world. Was once again defeated by Kirito using what he had learned about combat in SAO to his advantage.

Yuuki 

Real name: Yuuki Konno (紺野 木綿季 Konno Yuuki^?)

(no picture sorry T^T )

The main character in Volume 7. She was an Imp in ALO, she started dueling anyone promising an 11-hit OSS if she's defeated; due to her undefeated status she's given the title 'Absolute Sword'. Eventually Asuna fights her but loses. After the fight Yuuki asks her to help defeating the 27th floor boss with her guild the Sleeping Knights. After certain events, which include the defeat of the 27th floor boss it is revealed that Yuuki has AIDS and the Sleeping Knights members were patients in terminal state; with the time passing Yuuki's condition gets worse and after she entrusts her OSS Mother's Rosario to Asuna she dies peacefully in ALO, surrounded by over 1000 players from every tribe in the game, including her guild members, Asuna and her friends.

Selka 

( no picture sorry T^T )

Younger sister of Alice and an apprentice of Sister Azariya. She is capable of wielding the Sacred Arts but dislikes being compared to her sister. Does not remember Kirito but is put in charge of him upon his "return".

Opening And Ending Song Of Sword Art Online