New details for the "Sword Art Online" anime film will feature new characters joining Kirito and Asuna, as well "SAO" season 3 possibly airing first before the movie.
Aniplex USA revealed new characters joining the cast of "Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale" anime during the Sakura Con event last week along with different character designs and visual art The film's artist Shingo Adachi created the "Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale's" first visual art featuring the main heroes Kirito and Asuna.
The added characters for "Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale" are Silica, Lisbeth, Sinon and Klein featuring new outfits for the movie. There also designs for the new VR machine called Augma which will be used in the movie to allow the characters to enter the new MMORPG world called "Ordinal Scale". The design of the Augma looks like a pair of small earphones. Although in terms of size and portability, it is far superior to the existing VR machine “Atmusphere”, Crunchyroll reported.
Augma VR machine does not have a full-dive function from the previous devices, however, its AR function is greatly enhanced to compensate for it. It can transmit visual, audio and tactual sensation data to players while they are awake, thus enabling the users to enjoy fitness and health management like a game.
Gamers can only use Augma to play "Ordinale Scale" as it allows them players can raise their rank by collecting items that appear in various places in the real world and by defeating monsters. The ranking system features of the game are indicated by an ordinal number instead of a cardinal number. This resulted in high ranking players having overwhelming power and often rank has become a major factor in deciding the outcome of a PvP battle, AnimeNewsNetwork reported.
"Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale" is set to release in Japan on 2017, which leads to the question that anime fans are wondering about. Will "Sword Art Online" season 3 come out first before the anime film?
Past reports and rumors claim that "Sword Art Online" season 3 could launch in the summer this year in the the 'SAO' Subreddit page. Anime producer Shinichiro Kashiwada stated in an interview that he would like to see the "Alicization" arc in season 3 since the storyline has not been adapted into the anime. However, Kashiwada added that the "Progressive" novels could also be implemented in season 3, thus both storylines will be featured within the show soon.
"Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale" will take place after the "Mother's Rosario" arc in season 2 and director Tomohiko Ito stated taht it will echo its events to that of "Avengers: Age of Ultron".
Anime fans will be excited to see "Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale" sometime next year.