is a Japanese

light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...

series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by . It has been published by

ASCII Media Works , formerly , is a Japanese Publishing, publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing headquartered in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It originally formed on April 1, 2008, as a result of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger bet ...

under its

Dengeki Bunko is a publishing imprint (trade name), imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (a division of Kadokawa Future Publishing formerly called MediaWorks (publisher), MediaWorks). It was established in June 1993 with th ...

imprint since February 2009. The series has spawned three

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series; ''Accel World'' by , published in '' Dengeki Bunko Magazine'' from April 2010 to June 2017; ''Acchel World'' by , published in the same magazine from April 2010 to June 2016; and ''Accel World / Dural: Magisa Garden'' by Ayato Sasakura, published in '' Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh'' from January 2012 to June 2017. The light novel series and its manga adaptation of the same name have been licensed for English release in North America by

Yen Press Yen Press is an American manga, graphic novel and light novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published '' Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, ...

. A 24-episode

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

adaptation produced by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

aired between April and September 2012. It was licensed by

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

and began streaming in English on its Neon Alley service in April 2013. Two video games were released for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

in September 2012 and January 2013, each containing an

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

(OVA) episode. An anime film titled '' Accel World: Infinite Burst'' featuring an original story by Kawahara premiered in Japan in July 2016.

Plot

Haruyuki "Haru" Arita is a short, overweight boy who is frequently ridiculed by delinquents at the Umesato Junior High School. Using his Neuro Linker to escape the torment of real life, he logs onto the school's local network cyberspace where he always plays virtual squash alone, and his innate video game skills bring him to the attention of Kuroyukihime (literally meaning "Black Snow Princess"), the school's popular, highly intellectual and attractive female student council vice-president. After helping him against the delinquents, Kuroyukihime introduces Haruyuki to Brain Burst, a secret program that is able to accelerate the human cognitive process to the point at which time appears to stop. Haruyuki soon learns that Brain Burst is more than just a program, but an augmented-reality massively-multiplayer online (ARMMO)

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

where people fight each other in fierce duels in order to obtain burst points, which can be spent for acceleration abilities in the real world. Kuroyukihime then enlists Haruyuki's help in reaching level 10 within Brain Burst by defeating the "Six Kings of Pure Colour" and ultimately meeting the creator of Brain Burst to learn its true purpose. With every challenge they face in the accelerated world, Haru and Kuroyukihime, under their aliases "Silver Crow" and "Black Lotus", gather trusted allies and confront treacherous enemies. Their bond grows stronger while working to attain their ultimate objective: to reach the highest in-game level and meet the game's creator, who will reveal why the game was created and the true purpose of it.

Media

Light novels

''Accel World'' began as a light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by . Originally, Kawahara entered the first novel in the series into

' 15th Dengeki Novel Prize in 2008 and the novel won the Grand Prize. The first novel was published by ASCII Media Works on February 10, 2009, under their

imprint. As of March 2024, 27 volumes have been published. At their

Japan Expo USA Japan Expo USA was a three-day anime convention held in August at the San Mateo Event Center in San Mateo, California, United States. The convention was organized by SEFA Entertainment, based in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. It was t ...

panel,

announced the rights to publish the light novels in English. The English version is translated by Jocelyne Allen. The first volume was released on July 22, 2014.

Manga

''Accel World''

adaptation by was serialized in ASCII Media Works' '' Dengeki Bunko Magazine'' between April 10, 2010, and June 9, 2017. Its chapters were collected in eight volumes, released between July 27, 2011, and July 27, 2017. In North America, the manga has been licensed for English release by

. The English translation is by Jocelyne Allen. The volumes were released between September 23, 2014, and December 11, 2018.

''Acchel World''

A four-panel

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

manga by , titled , was serialized in ''Dengeki Bunko Magazine'' between April 10, 2010, and June 10, 2016. Five volumes were released between July 27, 2011, and October 26, 2013.

''Accel World / Dural: Magisa Garden''

A spin-off manga written and illustrated by Ayato Sasakura, titled , was serialized in ASCII Media Works's '' Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh'' from January 27, 2012, to June 27, 2017; its chapters were collected in eight volumes. It spotlights female burst linkers who attend a private school, Kiyomi Gakuin, in Nakano,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. Some of the characters from the main story also appear.

Anime

television series adaptation aired between April 7 and September 22, 2012. The opening theme until episode 13 is "Chase the world" by May'n and the ending theme is "→unfinished→" by Kotoko. From episode 14 onwards the opening theme is "Burst the Gravity" by Altima and the ending theme is "unite." by

Sachika Misawa is a freelance Japanese voice actress and singer from Yamanashi Prefecture. As a voice actress, she was previously affiliated with numerous agencies, with the recent being Stardust Promotion, departing from the agency in March 2023. As a singer ...

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...

, Sunrise and Genco were involved in the production of this adaptation.

announced the streaming of the anime on

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

on April 6, 2012. An English-dubbed version premiered on Viz Media's online streaming service, Neon Alley, on April 19, 2013. An anime film titled '' Accel World: Infinite Burst'' featuring an original story by Kawahara was released on July 23, 2016. Hanabee Entertainment has licensed the series alongside Little Busters!, and previously From the New World, Campione!, and The Familiar of Zero in May 2014.

Muse Communication Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of Japanese animation. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and E ...

has licensed the series in Asia-Pacific and is streaming on Muse Asia's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel.

Video games

Two video games based on the series were developed by B.B. Studio and published by

for

and

. The first of these, , was released in Japan on September 13, 2012. The second one, , was released in Japan on January 31, 2013. The limited edition versions of these games include an

(OVA) of the anime series (

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

for the PS3 version, DVD for the PSP version). In '' Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman'' for PSP, Silver Crow is an unlockable costume. In '' Sword Art Online: Lost Song'', Black Lotus is an obtainable character and is also one of the opponents you can defeat. An

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a video game genre that combines core elements from both the action game and Role-playing video game, role-playing game genres. Definition Action role-playing games empha ...

titled '' Accel World vs. Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight'' was announced in October 2016. The game is a crossover with ''

Sword Art Online is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The series takes place in the 2020s and focuses on protagonists Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki as they play through various virtual re ...

'', developed by

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...

for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

and released on July 7, 2017. The

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PC version was released on September 12, 2017.

Reception

Rebecca Silverman of

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...

reviewed the series and gave a story rating of A−, stating a similar basis of ''

'' with improved characters. Richard Eisenbeis of

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

praised the anime for its well-thought out story, relatable main character, and great villain protagonist, but criticizes the anime for its third arc. At the end, he says that the anime starts out strong, but ends on a weak note.

References

External links

*
Video game official website
* {{Hiroyuki Yoshino 2009 Japanese novels 2010 manga 2012 anime television series debuts 2012 manga 2013 anime OVAs Adventure anime and manga Anime and manga based on light novels Anime and manga set in schools ASCII Media Works manga Bandai Namco franchises Dengeki Bunko Dengeki Comics Dengeki Daioh Fantasy anime and manga Fiction about augmented reality Fiction about brain–computer interface Fiction about time Fiction about virtual reality Fiction set in 2046 Kadokawa Corporation franchises Light novels Massively multiplayer online role-playing games in fiction Muse Communication PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Portable games Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Shōnen manga Sunrise (company) Viz Media anime Yen Press titles