The Progressive series expands on the "Aincrad arc" of the original and still ongoing Sword Art Online series. Both the main series and Progressive Sword Art Online are written by Reki Kawahara with illustrations by abec. Progressive's first volume shipped in 2012, while the eighth and final volume shipped in June 2021. A manga adaptation began in 2014.
Sword Art Online is a light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec, who is also the author of Accel World. The light novel series began in 2009 and was published in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko. A total of 26 volumes have been published to date. Since the series debut, the series has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The series received a television anime adaptation in 2012, produced by A-1 Pictures. Since the first broadcast of the anime, the franchise has grown in popularity. The anime was followed by a recap film, a second season, and an original anime film that was released on more than 1,000 screens worldwide. Since then, the series has appeared in a large amount of media with international merchandise, various manga adaptations of the light novel arcs, and video games. Additionally, Kawahara relaunched the series as Sword Art Online: Progressive, a relaunch of the original light novels with additional content in 2012.
Director: Ayako Kouno
Writer: Reki Kawahara
Stars: Haruka Tomatsu, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Shiori Izawa
2022 will see the release of Sword Art Online -Progressive- Kuraki Yuuyami no Scherzo, another anime film based on the Sword Art Online Progressive light novels. The announcement comes after the October 30 premiere of Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night in Japan.
The Aria of a Starless Night movie, the first adaptation of the Progressive series, is inspired by one of the stories from the first volume of the light novel. However, the film features an original character named Mito and focuses on the series' heroine Asuna.
The Aria of a Starless Night staff includes Ayako Kounou as director, Kento Toya (Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld character designer and chief animation director) as character designer and director as chief animator, and Yasuyuki Kai (key animator for My Hero Academia: World Heroes' Mission, joint action animation director Haikyu! The Movie: Battle of Concepts) as action director and monster designer.