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

Keiichi Sigsawa is a Japanese light novel author. In 2000, his work ''Kino's Journey'' was a finalist for the 6th Dengeki Novel Prize, and was subsequently serialized in ''Dengeki hp'' magazine in March of the same year, marking his debut. ''Kino's Journey'' p ...

and illustrated by

Kouhaku Kuroboshi , also known as , is a Japanese illustrator and character designer. He is from the Kanagawa Prefecture and lives in the Fukuoka Prefecture. He is probably best known for his frequent collaborations with writer Keiichi Sigsawa as the illustrator/c ...

. The series is a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

Reki Kawahara is a Japanese novelist. He is best known as the creator of ''Sword Art Online'' and ''Accel World'', both of which have been adapted into anime series. Career Kawahara wrote the first volume of ''Sword Art Online'' in 2001 as a competition en ...

's ''

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 ...

'' series. A

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 ...

adaptation by Tadadi Tamori launched in 2015, and an

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 ...

television series adaptation produced by studio

3Hz was a Japanese animation studio established by ex-Kinema Citrus animators. Yuichiro Matsuka founded the studio in March 2013. The company is referred to as Studio 3 Hz in anime credits. On June 17, 2024, 3 Hz announced that it had tran ...

aired between April and June 2018. A second season produced by

A-1 Pictures is a Japanese animation studio and production company founded by ex- Sunrise producer Mikihiro Iwata. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan's anime production firm Aniplex. History The company was established by SMEJ's animat ...

premiered in October 2024. Both the light novel and the manga adaptation are published 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, ...

, while the anime is licensed by

Aniplex of America Aniplex of America, or Aniplex USA, is an anime distributor based in Santa Monica, California that serves as the American distribution enterprise of Aniplex, an entertainment company owned by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, where its goal is to ...

Plot

Due to the incident that occurred in VR

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

''—where 10,000 players were trapped in the game on launch day—the popularity of VR games has plummeted due to fear of similar incidents. The NerveGear, SAO's VR device, was recalled and destroyed, but with the launch of its successor, the AmuSphere, combined with release of the license-free development support package the "Seed", the popularity of VR games saw a sudden resurgence. The story follows Karen Kohiruimaki, a university student with a

complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

about her abnormal height. She begins playing a VR game called ''Gun Gale Online'' after it gives her the short, cute

avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

that she has always wanted.

Media

Print

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 ...

announced on September 18, 2014, that

would be writing a

based on

's ''

'' light novel series. The series is supervised by Kawahara and illustrated by

, and

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 ...

published the first novel under the Dengeki imprint on December 10, 2014. During their panel at

Anime NYC Anime NYC is an annual four-day anime convention held during August at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Programming The convention typically offers arcade games, an artist alley, concerts, manga library (Carolina Manga Li ...

on November 18, 2017,

announced that they had licensed the series. Tadadi Tamori launched a

adaptation in

''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Dengeki Maoh is a Japanese seinen magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks (publisher), MediaWorks). It first went on sale on October 27, 2005, and is sold every month on the twenty-seventh. The magazine features information on video games ...

'' on October 27, 2015. During their panel at

Sakura-Con Sakura-Con is an annual three-day anime convention held during March or April at the Seattle Convention Center in Seattle, Washington. The convention, which is traditionally held over Easter weekend, is the largest anime convention in the Northw ...

on April 15, 2017,

announced that they had licensed the series in North America.

Anime

television series adaptation was announced at the Dengeki Bunko Fall Festival 2017 event in October 2017. It is produced by

Egg Firm is a Japanese company with its business focused on production, planning and management for anime. History The company was founded in March 2015 by ex-Genco producer Nobuhiro Osawa with the objective of being a production and planning company for ...

and animated by studio

, and directed by

Masayuki Sakoi is a Japanese animator, storyboard artist, and director from Kagoshima Prefecture. He is a professor in the department of design at Sapporo City University in Hokkaido, Japan. Anime involved in *''A3!'': Series Director *'' Aishiteruze Baby'': ...

, with scripts written by

Yōsuke Kuroda is a Japanese anime screenwriter from Mie Prefecture, Japan. He has his own studio, Studio Orphee. Kuroda is noted for his work on authoring the scenario, screenplay, and story composition of the anime series ''Excel Saga'', '' Please Teacher!'' ...

, and character designs by Yoshio Kosakai. The opening theme song is performed by

Eir Aoi is a Japanese singer from Sapporo, Hokkaido, signed to Sacra Music. After being discovered through the Japanese video sharing website Niconico, Aoi made her major debut in 2011 with the release of her first single "Memoria", which was used as t ...

, and the ending theme song is "To See the Future" performed by

Tomori Kusunoki is a Japanese voice actress and singer who is currently affiliated with the Sony Music Artists agency. She made her voice acting debut in 2017 and in the same year, she was cast in her first main role as Kirara, the heroine of the Japanese mobil ...

as her character LLENN. The series aired from April 8 to June 30, 2018, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV (channel 9), branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent station, independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city and parts ...

and other networks. The series was released on 6 home video sets with 2 episodes each, for a total of 12 episodes.

licensed and simulcasts the series on

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

and

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 ...

Anime Limited Anime Limited, also known as All the Anime, is a British anime distribution company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It releases anime for British, Irish, French and other European audiences. The company was established in 2012 by Andrew Partridge, ...

announced that they had acquired the series for release in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...

licensed the series for release in Australia and New Zealand, simulcasting it on

AnimeLab Crunchyroll Pty. Ltd., trading as Crunchyroll Store Australia, and previously known as Madman Anime, is an Australian video publisher and distribution company focused on Asian entertainment. The company handles licensing and distribution of anim ...

. A second season was announced at the Dengeki Bunko 30th anniversary event in July 2023. The main cast and staff members returned from the first season, with

as the studio, replacing 3Hz. It aired from October 5 to December 21, 2024. Muse Asia reported that they have licensed the distribution of ''Gun Gale Online II'' in Asia. The English dub began streaming on Crunchyroll on November 1, 2024.

Airsoft collaboration

To promote the anime, Tokyo Marui made a limited edition

FN P90 The FN P90 is a personal defense weapon chambered for the 5.7×28mm cartridge, also classified as a submachine gun, designed and manufactured by FN Herstal in Belgium. Created in response to NATO requests for a replacement for 9×19mm Parabe ...

submachine gun with a pink finish as part of a collaboration with Keiichi Sigsawa and Kōji Akimoto, the latter who worked on the air gun's color. The pink P90 was raffled to the public through a raffle in a collaboration with Pizza Hut Japan, in which two of them were awarded to contestants. A limited edition Vorpal Bunny pistol made by Tokyo Marui was announced initially for a release in 2019. It was eventually released in 2020. TM announced a rerelease on February 1, 2025. An unoffical clone of the Vorpal Bunny (AM45 Pink) was also released by Double Bell.

Video game

Llenn, Pitohui, M, and Fukaziroh made their video game debut in '' Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet'' as a free update. They later have a major role in the DLC episode "Dissonance of the Nexus", which is also the first time they interact with the main series characters.

Reception

During the first half of 2015, the series was the eleventh best-selling light novel series, with its first and second volumes ranking at eighth and seventeenth place, respectively. The fourth volume also managed to be the 25th best-selling novel during the first half of 2016. By May 2018, the series had one million copies in print.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{A-1 Pictures television series 2018 anime television series debuts 2014 Japanese novels 3Hz A-1 Pictures Adventure anime and manga Anime and manga based on light novels Aniplex franchises Comedy-drama anime and manga Dengeki Bunko Dengeki Daioh Fiction about virtual reality Girls with guns anime and manga Isekai anime and manga Isekai novels and light novels Japanese adventure novels Japanese comedy novels Japanese science fiction novels Kadokawa Corporation franchises Massively multiplayer online role-playing games in fiction Muse Communication Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Sword Art Online Television shows written by Yōsuke Kuroda Tokyo MX original programming Yen Press titles