Saying theSword Art Onlineis a popular anime is a massive understatement. It may have started as a humble web novel, but the series ended up becoming one of the largest media franchises and single-handedly helped launch the"isekai" genreinto its current state of popularity.
Out of numerous mediums that have theSword Art Onlinename, the most famous and influential one has to be the anime series. After all, the series helped bring attention to the story from the original light novels, giving them new life in the process. However, after three whole seasons and nearly 100 episodes aired since 2012,Sword Art Onlinehas nearly exhausted all of its source material. In that case, what’s next forSword Art Online? Are there any other adventures left forKirito and his friends? As it turns out, there are still quite a lot of things to look forward to.
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The Main Sword Art Online Light Novels
Since the first episode ofthe Aincradarc to the last episode of the War of Underworld arc, the anime series has been continuously adapting the story from the main light novel series. Reki Kawahara is a highly prolific writer. Other than the main story arc such as the Aincrad arc, Fairy Dance, Phantom Bullet, Alicization, and many more, he also wrote other stories based onSAOcharacters on the side.
Since the main light novel series is still ongoing, the logical continuation for the next SAO anime series is certainly the next arc after the War of Underworld, called Unital Ring. Reki Kawahara said that Unital Ring will be the last arc forSAO. The light novels for the Unital Ring arc is still ongoing right now, and it’s highly likely that the anime will pick it up right after the light novels are finished.
In the meantime, it is also possible that the anime will adapt a short story called Moon Cradle. This short storytakes place within the Alicization arc, but it hasn’t been turned into an anime yet. Considering the fact that Moon Cradle is only two volumes long, it may be adapted into a movie instead of the usual TV series.
Continue Adapting the Sword Art Online Progressive Light Novels
As mentioned earlier, other than the mainSword Art Onlineseries, Reki Kawahara also wrote tons of side stories. One of the biggest ones is theSword Art Online Progressiveline of light novels that focus on Asuna and Kirito’s early days in the Aincrad.
As of right now, there is already one movie based on the novels calledSword Art Online Progressive: Aria of the Starless Night. The second movie,Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of a Dark Duskis planned to be released sometime in 2022.
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Based on the light novels, there is enough left for a couple more feature films. As a matter of fact, the light novels for the Progressive story itself are still ongoing right now. So if the production team is truly committed to this story, then it can easily evolve into a movie series, just like theRebuild of Evangelion.
Adapting the Official Sword Art Online Short Stories
Other than theProgressivestories, there are also many other short stories set in theSword Art Onlineworld and feature characters from the main series. All of them are written by Reki Kawahara.Every major archas its own share of short stories involving mini-adventures or interacting with minor characters.
The only reason why these short stories are notpart of the mainSAOstorylineis simply that they don’t advance the overall narrative. They’re just a collection of interesting things that happened in the world ofSAO. If these short stories are to be adapted into an anime, fans can expect to get around two new seasons worth of content. There may not be any connection between one episode to the next, but it is still new content nonetheless.
Adapting Sword Art Online Spin-off Stories
Aside from the many short stories written by Reki Kawahara, there are also numerous spin-off stories written by other writers under the supervision of Kawahara. These spin-offs usually feature some supporting cast from the main story, or they can also simply take place in the world ofSAO.
One of these spin-offshas actually been adapted into a stand-alone anime;Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online,written by Keiichi Sigsawa. The anime itself only adapted the first three out of twelve volumes of the light novels, so there is potential for another series.
Other than that, there’s also the short light novelsSword Art Online Alternative: Clover’s Regret, written by Souichirou Watase, and a manga calledSword Art Online: Girls Ops.Girls Opswas actually written by Reki Kawahara himself with illustrations by Neko Nekobyou. Overall, there istons of new content that fans can enjoy after the end ofWar of Underworld. For now, fans can expect more stories to come from theSword Art Online Progressiveseries.
