'Sword Art Online' Staff Shares New Season 3 Details

It looks like 2018 will be the year of Sword Art Online for lots of fans. The ever-popular series will not only debut a spin-off anime come April but release its third season as well. And, over in Japan, staffers on the show revealed new details about season three.

Not long ago, an official fan-club meeting for Sword Art Online was hosted in Japan. Hundreds of fans came together to celebrate all things VRMMORPGs with the cast of the anime, and it was there fans learned a very important fact about season three.

So, yes — the new season will cover all of the 'Alicization' arc.

During the festival, Sword Art Online's editor asked Kirito's voice actor whether the anime would cover all of its new arc in season three (via ANN). Yoshitsugu Matsuoka said he couldn't divulge too many details about season three at this time, but he did say season three will cover the entire 'Alicization' arc.

Matsuoka was not the only one vouching for the arc. Shinichiro Kashiwada also said 'Alicization' would be covered in its entirety. The producer also joked the show would last for 48 cours, but fans know that estimate is more than unrealistic. Such a number would give Sword Art Online's third season over 600 episodes, but fans do hope the installment gets at least two cours.

If you are not familiar with Sword Art Online's upcoming arc, then you have a bit to read up on. The storyline is covering in volumes 9-18 of Kawahara's light novel series. The story stars in June 2026 after Kirito is offered a job with a company called Rath. The hero is asked to work for the private firm to test out a new type of FullDive equipment known as the Soul Translator. However, as fans could expect, Kirito's job wasn't laid out fully before he took the gig.

As it turns out, Rath has no plans to make a new FullDive gaming console. Instead, the firm is working to make a new AI for military purposes. The company was able to copy a child's soul into the machine, but Rath could not make its AI break laws or do anything humanistic. As such, they brought in Kirito to act as a human influence on the AIs until one finally broke their virtual world's law. When Kirito was brought out of the machine, Rath blocked his memories of his time in Underworld, but Kirito learns there are plenty who'd like to shut him up permanently about his time spent with the AI named Alice.

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