‘Sword Art Online’ Season 3 Reveals New Key Visual

Sword Art Online is heading for a comeback, and its new season has a surprise for fans. This fall, the high-tech series will return with season three, and a new poster for Sword Art Online: Alicization has gone live.

And, as you can see below, Kirito has traded in his usual sword for a rustic axe of sorts.

Over in Japan, the new key visual went live when a set of recent anime magazines went live, and the new issue of Dengeki Bunko had something in store for fans. The Sword Art Online visual shows Kirito to the left while a new boy named Eugeo stands next to him. Both boys are seen dressed in civilian clothes, and Kirito has an axe propped over his shoulder.

Oh, and Eugeo has a sword. Clearly, Kirito hasn’t leveled up enough to wield such a ritzy weapon on his latest journey. Well, for now that is.

The magazine update shared new character designs from Sword Art Online‘s third season as well. The art, which can be found below, shows off black-and-white sketches of characters like Kirito, Eugeo, and Alice. A few setting designs can be found in the bottom left-hand corner, so fans can see how the virtual world of Underworld will look on the screen.

Premiering this October, the third season of Sword Art Online is set to adapt the ‘Alicization’ arc which takes part in Volumes 9-18 of Reki Kawahara’s light novel series. In 2026, Kirito is offered a job with Rath. He’s asked to work for the firm in order to test a new type of FullDive equipment known as the Soul Translator. But Rath had no plans to make a new FullDive gaming console. Instead, the firm is working to make a new military AI.

For those unfamiliar with Sword Art Online, the series was originally created by Reki Kawahara with illustrations provided by abec. The series follows a boy named Kirito after he and thousands of gamers get trapped in a virtual reality video game known as Sword Art Online. The gamers must band together to defeat the game’s final level to escape, but Kirito and his guild learn there is more behind their prison than they were originally told.

The series began as a series of light novels published through Dengeki Bunko in 2009, and has been adapted into eight different manga series by ASCII Media Works and Kadokawa. The series has been licensed for an English language release by Yen Press, and has been adapted into an anime series by A-1 Pictures.

What do you make of these new designs? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!