Sword Art Online Season 3 Reportedly Announced

Sword Art Online fans, it is time you start paying closer attention to the franchise. The tech-friendly series made its anime debut back in 2012 before a second season followed in 2014. However, the show’s front has been quiet since the anime came to an end, but that all looks like it’s about to change. Next month, Sword Art Online will be getting its newest feature, and the movie’s first screening was shown to a slew of lucky fans. And, according to those fans, the event ended with a very important revelation.

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That’s right! If this article’s title weren’t clear enough, it looks like a third season of Sword Art Online has finally been announced. During test screenings of the anime’s new movie, fans were treated to a special clip after the feature aired which teased that Sword Art Online was returning.

Over on Twitter, fans who were lucky enough to attend test screening shared their stories with eager fans. User @tuki0811 wrote, “”I just saw the world’s first test screening of SAO lol. It was so good I got goosebumps lol. Oh, by the way, season 3 was announced~”

Another user who runs a popular anime blog known as Yaraon also commented on the new season of Sword Art Online. “‘sao will return’ is written in the end credits of Ordinal Scale. The third season of the anime is comiiiiing!”

Of course, there’s no official word from A-1 Pictures about the season. However, it seems likely that official confirmation will be given closer to the Japanese release of Sword Art Online Movie -Ordinal Scale- in February.

Right now, the action-packed feature is expected to come out on February 18th in Japan. The movie will be released simultaneously as with a sub that day as well, and it will hit U.S. theaters in March. If you want to learn more about the movie, then you can check out its synopsis below:

“In 2022, the world of virtual reality was upended by the arrival of a new invention from a genius programmer, Akihiko Kayaba, called NerveGear. It was the first full-dive system, and with it, came endless possibilities to VRMMORPGs.

In 2026, a new machine called the Augma is developed to compete against the NerveGear and its successor, the Amusphere. A next-gen wearable device, the Augma doesn’t have a full-dive function like its predecessors. Instead, it uses Augmented Reality (AR) to get players into the game. It is safe, user-friendly and lets users play while they are conscious, making it an instant hit on the market. The most popular game on the system is “Ordinal Scale” (aka: OS), an ARMMORPG developed exclusively for the Augma.

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Asuna and the gang have already been playing OS for a while, by the time Kirito decides to join them. They’re about to find out that Ordinal Scale isn’t all fun and games…”

[HT] Otaku USA Magazine