'Sword Art Online' Season 3 May Be Its Longest Yet

Sword Art Online has been quiet on the TV front for some time, but that will all change this year. The series is slated to debut its third season this fall, and it looks like the order may be Sword Art Online's biggest yet.

Recently, Los Angeles saw thousands of fans descend upon Anime Expo 2018, and it was there Yoshitsugu Matsuoka made a special appearance for Sword Art Online. The actor, who voices Kirito in Japan, attended a panel dedicated to the anime and dropped a teaser about season three.

According to Matsuoka, the 'Alicization' arc will be the long story adapted for Sword Art Online. While the actor couldn't give any specifics, Matsuoka's big comment aligned with on-site reports confirming that season three will adapt all of the 'Alicization' arc.

If this news all lines up, then Sword Art Online could run for quite awhile. Season one covered 25 episodes with two arcs per half-cour. As for season two, the follow-up covered 3 different arcs in 24 episodes. So far, it seems Sword Art Online's next season will cover just the one arc, but its length could push the order to 40+ episodes if the show stays consistent with its pacing.

So far, A-1 Pictures hasn't dropped any official notes about the length of season three. The brand-new project is set to debut this October and covers volumes 9-18 of Reki Kawahara's original Sword Art Online light novels.

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.

Do you think Sword Art Online needs a larger episode order for this season? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!