It has been announced that a memorial project will be held for 2:55 p.m. on November 7, 2024, the anniversary of when the protagonist Kirito of the popular light novel Sword Art Online (SAO) by Kawahara Reki completed the next-generation virtual reality (VR) game Sword Art Online. The project will be held at a time when the story of SAO will catch up with reality.
In addition to selling merchandise commemorating the completion of the game at the online shop Aniplex Online, a special program will be broadcast on TOKYO MX from 2:52 p.m. on November 7, where the show will be hijacked to introduce merchandise commemorating the completion of the game, called Ouchi de Kaima SHOW!! SAO Complete Commemoration Special.
Episodes 1, "The World of Swords," through 14, "The End of the World," will be streamed for free on Aniplex's official YouTube channel from 9:33 a.m. on November 7. The episode will be released so that the "clear time" of 2:55pm on the same day will coincide with Kirito's clearing of the game in episode 14.
Dengeki Bunko's official YouTube channel will release a special commercial and promotional video to coincide with the anniversary of the clearing. The commercial will feature a star-studded cast, and the promotional video will look back on famous scenes.
"SAO" is set in a near future where virtual reality has been realized through a device that directly connects the brain to virtual space, and depicts the events surrounding various online games. The series has sold over 30 million copies in total. The first TV anime series was broadcast in 2012.
(C) Kawahara Reki Illustration: abec (C) Kawahara Reki/ASCII Media Works/SAO Project (C)2020 Kawahara Reki/KADOKAWA/SAO-P Project
