It has been revealed that the Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night anime film, which is re-telling of the Aincrad arc, will be released to Japanese theaters in Autumn 2021.

Ayako Kawano is directing the film, with Kento Toya returning from Sword Art Online Alicization as the character designer. Yuki Kajiura is also returning to provide the music for the anime film. The animation will be produced at A-1 Pictures.

Source: Crunchyroll

Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld is an anime series based on a light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The anime is produced by A-1 Pictures and is directed by Manabu Ono. The first part of the series aired on Japanese television from October 12-December 28, 2019. The second half aired on Japanese television from July 11-September 19, 2020. As of this writing, Aniplex of America holds the North American license for Sword Art Online: Alicization.

Early on in this series, I felt like these episodes had a better grasp of pacing and story momentum than Sword Art Online Alicization did. In my reviews for these episodes, I kept commenting that this is the type of storytelling and pacing that the first series should have had.

It was an interesting plot point to see that Kirito had become mute and emotionless after the ending of Sword Art Online: Alicization. In fact, this plot point is there from the beginning of this series and lasts through a good portion of the second half of Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld. But when Kirito finally snaps out of this, that’s when it felt like the pacing of the story started being rushed. It was giving me flashbacks to the rushed ending that Sword Art Online Alicization had.

One thing that this series had going for it was the fact that were getting a lot more intercutting between the events of Underworld and what was simultaneously going on in the real world. Of course, considering the plot of this series, the storytelling had to change in this manner. We have some “baddies” in the real world who have infiltrated Ocean Turtle… hired Americans who have a mission to steal Alice. Two of the “baddies” dive into Underworld with superaccounts for characters in the Dark Territory. They decide to use these accounts to encourage the inhabitants of the Dark Territory to launch a war against the humans and others in Underworld. This actually makes up a good portion of the story of this series, hence the addition of “War of Underworld” to the title.

The two main “baddies,” Gabriel and Vassago, are both rather messed up individuals. There wasn’t going to be any redemption for these villains, that’s for sure. They were definitely the kind of villains that you “love to hate.”

This series also allowed Kirito’s and Asuna’s friends, who had been all but sidelined in Sword Art Online: Alicization, to play an important role and become involved with the events taking place in Underworld. We also get to see more of the characters from Rath who are on Ocean Turtle and how they have to deal with the invaders.

The first half of Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld was very strong, and it felt like it had been quite the improvement over the previous series, which I had been disappointed in by the time it ended. The second half of this series had started out strong, but after Kirito came out of his catatonic state, it felt like the story was being rushed again. And I wasn’t satisfied with how this series ended. The ending felt vague, and I found myself wondering why I spent time watching all 47 episodes (between Sword Art Online: Alicization and Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld) if this was the ending it was going to bring me to. The endings for the previous series of Sword Art Online didn’t leave me feeling so underwhelmed. Will I watch anything more from the Sword Art Online franchise in the future? Probably. However, I’ll be going in with lowered expectations.

Additional posts about Sword Art Online

• Anime Spotlight: Sword Art Online
• Anime Spotlight: Sword Art Online II
• Anime Spotlight: Sword Art Online: Alicization

The episode opens with Kirito getting a call from Rinko that Alice has disappeared from Rath. Suddenly, his doorbell rings, and there’s a deliveryman with a large package. It was pretty easy to guess that Alice had mailed herself from Rath headquarters to Kirito’s house. At first, Alice is rather angry with Kirito and she lets out all of the emotions she’s been feeling. Kirito finds the words to calm her down.

A lot of the episode shows Kirito interacting with Alice at his house. First, there’s a scene in the training hall, and we see they have a sparring match. It’s pretty short, though, because they both break their wooden swords, and Alice manages to get a headbutt in with her metal head. Ouch, that had to hurt. But they end up in an awkward position of Alice being on top of Kirito. I bet Asuna would’ve been ticked if she’d seen that.

We also get a scene of Kirito, Alice, and Suguha talking at the dinner table with Kirito’s parents. I remember seeing the mom in previous series, but I don’t recall seeing the dad prior to this. I could be misremembering, though. Kirito gets a talk from his parents, with the dad emphasizing Kirito’s future. Kirito announces his intentions to change his focus when he’s out of high school, which includes studying at a college in Japan and getting what he needs in order to work at Rath. This makes Alice happy, of course, because that would allow the two of them to be near each other. We see that while Kirito’s parents want him to think about his future, they’re also proud of him for how he’s saved both game worlds and the real world. His dad even knows Kirito’s nickname of “The Black Swordsman.” It was amusing to see Kirito’s reaction when his dad referred to him by that nickname.

Alice receives a message that she shares with Kirito. They determine it’s a code to reveal an IP address. Kirito believes it’s the IP address that will allow them to return to Underworld. Rinko believes this is Heathcliff’s doing, and she sends Kirito, Alice, and Asuna back to Underworld with that IP address. What they find there surprises them… and me. They end up in outer space, and are looking down at the planet that Underworld inhabits. A lot has changed since we last saw it. The descendants of Kirito and Eugeo’s pages are now flying fighter jets in order to fight against space monsters. While there is a gap of generations, these two girls look eerily similar to the pages. It must be something in the DNA, but they recognize Kirito and Alice. Yeah, I guess it was interesting to see this, but at the same time, I was kind of like, “Uhhh… what?” I know 200 years had progressed, but goodness! I was not expecting to see fighter jets.

To be honest, though, this episode is kind of a letdown. The ending was quite vague. Yes, it was leaving open the idea that there can be adventures in the future with these characters, but still. At least the previous Sword Art Online series didn’t have such unsatisfying and vague conclusions. And we still have the major loose end of Vassago’s whereabouts. I’m sure that if the story continues at some point, he will likely reappear as a villain. But this ending, though. It’s like, “I followed this series all the way through, even though the pacing was awkward in the first series, and this is the conclusion we get?” Can you tell I’m disappointed with this ending?

Additional posts about Sword Art Online:

• Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld Part 2: Episode 9 – “Beyond Time”
• Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld Part 2: Episode 10 – “Alice”