Sword Art Online is seen by many as the catalyst behind the current isekai anime boom, and rightfully so. It was and still is immensely popular, leading to the story receiving multiple spinoffs and adaptations. One of these is Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, which takes place after the events of the Aincrad arc. This light novel series includes all-new characters, a new MMORPG and eventually spawned an anime of its own.
Even though SAO remains massive, the Sword Art Online Alternative anime has so far only gotten one season. With the multi-year gap continuing to grow, fans are wondering if they'll ever see the rest of the popular light novels put on screen.
The Plot & Origin of Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
Like the main series, Sword Art Online Alternative began as a light novel before being turned into all manner of other media. It takes place after Kirito and Asuna's escape from the original death game, with the trapping of thousands of gamers inside a fatal VR realm having huge ramifications on society. Only the release of a safer VR headset, the AmuSphere, allowed VRMMORPG games to come back into fashion. The protagonist of Alternative is Karen Kohiruimaki, who feels at odds with her self-image due to her extraordinary height compared to other girls. When she's given a different, much shorter avatar named Llenn in the world of Gun Gale Online, she quickly becomes enamored with the game.
Produced and animated by Egg Firm and 3Hz, the SAO Alternative anime was announced back in 2017 before airing in spring 2018. The series' 12-episode run was quickly put out on physical media, with Crunchyroll and Hulu handling the streaming releases. A real-life FN P90 submachine gun was even made to promote the series -- naturally clad in pink -- and was distributed via raffle through Pizza Hut in Japan. Despite all the aplomb, however, it's now been over three years since the series' arrival.
Will There Be a Season 2 of Sword Art Online Alternative?
Sword Art Online Alternative only adapted about half of its source material at the time of release, but the light novels are still being published. Thus, there's still plenty of story left to put on the small screen. The question is, however, whether or not that will happen.
The disc sales of the physical media for Season 1 were considered in the range to warrant a continuation, with the show being on streaming networks only increasing the revenue potential. There's also the fact that the Sword Art Online franchise as a whole is still popular, and as mentioned, the source material is ongoing. Despite all of this, 3Hz has yet to say anything one way or another about continuing SAO Alternative, but it's certainly not outside of the realm of possibility.