The Sword Art Online saga is making its way back to the big screens in Fall 2021 in the highly anticipated Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night. Fans of the isekai franchise have been waiting for this animated SAO expansion for a while, hoping it will reawaken the early glory of the anime’s first (and best) arc: Aincrad. The announcement that the adaptation would be in a movie format, however, is a major letdown for those who value the episodic storytelling of the original series.
Aria of a Starless Night will be based on the Sword Art Online: Progressive light novels written by Reki Kawahara. These chapters dive into the characters’ adventures in Aincrad floor by floor, with six volumes already complete and a seventh on the way. How will a Sword Art Online movie fare when it comes to tackling this ongoing story? The chances of a fulfilling and long-lasting Progressive retelling seem slim in this format.
Why Fans Are Excited For Sword Art Online: Progressive
One of the biggest gripes fans have with Sword Art Online is how rapidly the show speeds through the Aincrad arc. This story introduces the addicting premise of “you die in the game, you die in real life,” resulting in countless anime lovers latching onto the isekai series. In the beginning, SAO seemed set to progress through Aincrad for the game's entire duration, so fans were surprised when Kirito skipped ahead to slay the final boss (Kayaba) by Episode 14, long before reaching floor 100. The story that then continues outside of the game is utterly lackluster in comparison. At this point many Sword Art Online fans dropped the series because ALO, GGO, and even Alicization simply don’t measure up in terms of the classic high-stakes video game adventures the characters lived through in Aincrad.
The SAO Progressive light novels reclaim that initial Aincrad magic by starting from a new perspective and slowing down the pace of progression considerably. There are 100 floors in Aincrad after all, and Sword Art Online Season 1 depicted a tiny fraction of the giant conical castle. This large-scale Aincrad revisit means it’s not a reboot of Season 1, but a fresh take to unveil untold stories hidden in the vast gaps. With this original source content feeding animated adaptations, fans old and new felt a new wave of hype – that is, until it was revealed that the story would once again be squished, this time into the minimal timespan of a movie.
What Will Sword Art Online: Progressive Look Like Long Term?
While Sword Art Online: Aria of a Starless Night certainly isn’t attempting to fit all of Progressive into one movie, it will have to tie the chapters together without natural chapter breaks. The movie will focus on the first volume of the Progressive series, which explores the first floor of Aincrad and begins one month into the SAO death game. Except this time, the early chapters will tell the story from Asuna’s point of view, as seen in the trailer where she’s still learning the ropes and sporting that little red hood look.
With the amount of content Aria of a Starless Night covers, the film will likely be around average movie length -- one or two hours -- which would translate to about six or seven episodes if it were a series. It’s unclear how the story will be continued from there, or whether the movie will be the first of many to come, exploring the floors in each new installment. Would there be one movie per floor or perhaps two to three movies per Progressive light novel? With so much content on the horizon, it seems as though the movie route might be unsustainable long term.
How a Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie Differs From a Series
The difference between watching a movie versus a series is huge. After movie theaters shut down globally during the pandemic, a shift to streaming services enticed entertainment seekers to try more shows as opposed to theater outings. This spurred a new appreciation of the TV format which has many advantages. Episodic storytelling allows for more gradual character development with natural breaks. Moreover, TV series give their stories a longer run time with more time to digest instead of cramming a whole arc with exposition, climax and denouement into one sitting. The whole point of Sword Art Online: Progressive is to make the story less rushed, so an anime series seems like the superior choice.
On the other hand, because Sword Art Online: Progressive will stir up many of the same events already told, a tighter playthrough may lessen the redundancy and provide a nice introduction to the Progressive anime adaptation. Animated movies do have more potential at the moment because they’re easier to produce without filming. Could Aria of a Starless Night reignite the craze for films?
At the very least, fans can look forward to what’s likely to be a big budget hit with dazzling animation sequences, similar to Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale. However, there’s hope that SAO Progressive won’t devolve into fan service tropes or the introduction of useless, underdeveloped characters (save for the new character Mito.) Ordinal Scale earned over $30 million USD worldwide, so there’s no doubt Aria of a Starless Night will also rake in millions. The popularity of the new anime movie Demon Slayer: Mugen Train also hints at SAO Progressive’s looming success.
Optimistically, a movie could really work if this big budget adaptation serves as a kickstart to a full series. But a film release is risky considering it could turn out to be a flop, thus burying the potential of an extended delve into the SAO Progressive light novels. Moreover, the movie may establish a precedent -- its successors would have to keep up with 75+ floors of Aincrad content. Who would have the stamina to produce or watch that many Sword Art Online movies?