New York News
Sword Art Online Progressive Sequel Raises the Stakes for Asuna’s Journey
by 
January 29, 2023
Disclosure: The author also works as Senior EN News Editor for Crunchyroll News, and a digital screener was provided for the film.
Despite the fact that Kirito, Asuna and the rest of the Sword Art Online cast have really been put through the wringer over the years, the first arc remains the most quintessentially SAO. With that in mind, it makes sense that author Reki Kawahara revisited the Aincrad arc in the Sword Art Online Progressive spinoff light novels, which take us through familiar territory from a different perspective. Rather than keeping our sights set firmly on Kirito for the entire run, Progressive takes a look at the events from the eyes of Asuna, resulting in a theatrical two-parter that’s both fresh and familiar.
The first part, Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night,already had screenings outside of Japan and is now available to stream on Crunchyroll, so it’s time to turn our attention toward the sequel, Sword Art Online -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night, ahead of its U.S. theatrical run on February 3.
When we last left our death game heroes, they had just cleared the first floor of a whopping 100, defeating the boss with the help of some insight that Kirito and other beta testers had into its various attack patterns. As we learned then, not everything is the same as it was in the Sword Art Online beta, so even the most experienced of players are constantly dealing with curveballs as they attempt to avoid dying in the game—and thus also in real life