New ‘Sword Art Online’ Anime Series Reveal New Artwork

Get a look at some new artwork from the next #SwordArtOnline series: https://comicbook.com/anime/2017/11/01/sword-art-online-alicization-gun-gale-online-anime-art/

It’s been a few years since Sword Art Online has released any new anime episodes. The franchise debuted its first animated feature this year, but A-1 Pictures took everyone by surprised when it announced two new anime series are on the way. Sword Art Online Alicization and Gun Gale Online will be out soon enough.

So, it’s not surprising to see that some new artwork for the two series has just been released.

Over on Twitter, Moetron just shared two magazine scans from Japan which feature the two series. The pictures, which can be seen below, show the third Sword Art Online anime before moving onto the franchise’s spin-off.

The visual for Sword Art Online Alicization is a straight-forward one; The drawing shows off Kirito and Alice, but characters like Asuna and Eugeo are also shown. The latter is even seen holding his ornate light-blue sword, a weapon which contrasts with the black sword Kirito wields.

As for Gun Gale Online, the spin-off shows off Llen before giving M, Pitohui, and Fukaziroh their own headshots.

So far, there is no set date for either anime to premiere. Fans do anticipate Sword Art Online Alicization to drop first, so the fandom has started it dig into the anime’s upcoming arc.

If you are not familiar with Sword Art Online‘s upcoming story, 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.

Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale hits Blu-ray and DVD on December 19, 2017. It’s available to pre-order now.