Anime Anime Global

‘Sword Art Online Progressive – Aria of a Starless Night: Eve Festival’, a special program for ‘Sword Art Online Progressive – Aria of a Starless Night’, will stream exclusively on the new future TV ABEMA on October 29th, 2021 at 8pm. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Haruka Tomatsu, and Inori Minase will attend along with “SAO fan comedians & video creators”.

“Sword Art Online” (hereinafter “SAO”) is based on Reki Kawahara’s light novel series which has a total of 26 million copies in circulation. Set in an imaginary next-generation online game, the story depicts the main character Kirito’s adventure. The series received a great response from the public for its powerful action scenes and setting that game over means “death in real life”. There have been four anime series since its first anime adaptation in July 2012.

The new movie ‘Sword Art Online The Movie: Progressive – Aria of a Starless Night’ will be released on October 30th. The movie depicts the series’ origin “Aincrad Arc” from the heroine Asuna’s point of view.

‘Sword Art Online Progressive – Aria of a Starless Night: Eve Festival’ is a special program that will be exclusively streamed on ABEMA’s ‘Anime LIVE channel’ on the night before the movie release.

There will be Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Kirito), Haruka Tomatsu (Asuna), Inori Minase (Mito), as well as Rika Adachi, Mako Kijima, Keisuke Takai (GIRLY RECORD), Hajime Syacho, and Mushimegane (TOKAI ONAIR) to explain the charms of SAO as “SAO fan celebrities & video creators”. Tetsuya Yanagihara (America Zarigani) will serve as the host to share the latest information and highlights of the movie with the viewers.

In addition, on the night before (October 29th) at 7:30pm, there will be live streaming of ‘Mito Kairakuen Fireworks’ and ‘SAO’ collaboration. Viewers can enjoy the brilliant fireworks by Japan’s best pyrotechnicians at Nomura Hanabi Kougyou collaborating with SAO’s music and videos. Matsuoka, Tomatsu, and Minase will also attend the event to give live comments.

There will also be a marathon broadcast of the “Aincrad Arc”, episodes 1 to 14 of SAO season 1, starting from October 29th at 1:30pm and 9pm on ABEMA.

The special program, marathon broadcast, and fireworks all together will be a great opportunity for fans to get immersed in the ‘SAO’ world on the day before the release of ‘Sword Art Online the Movie: Progressive – Aria of a Starless Night’.

(C)2020 Reki Kawahara/KADOKAWA/SAO-P Project
(C)2020 Reki Kawahara ASCII MEDIA WORKS/SAO Project