A new Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- poster reveals a fall premiere window for the second film in the series.
The new art was revealed on the series' official website and features art of Kirito and Asuna taking on a massive, glowing golem-type creature. The poster confirms that the second movie in the Progressive series, entitled Kuraki Yuyami No Scherzo (translated as "Scherzo of the Dark Dusk"), will be released before the end of the year. The reveal also confirms that the cast and crew from the first film will return, including director Ayako Kohno, who previously worked on The Seven Deadly Sins The Movie: Prisoners of the Sky, and character designer Kenta Toya, who has been working on the SAO franchise ever since Alicization - War of Underworld.
The Progressive movies are based on series creator Reki Kawahara's spinoff novels of the same name. The novels provide a retelling of the series' first story arc, which sees protagonist Kirito battling his way through the floating castle of Aincrad in order to free the game's players from their virtual prison.
The novels were first adapted into animation with the release of the first Progressive movie, Aria of a Starless Night. The movie was released last October and retold the events of the series' earlier chapters through the perspective of its female lead, Asuna. The film also introduced a new character, Mito, a spear-wielding warrior and Asuna's real-life classmate who introduces her to the "FullDive" virtual RPG known as Sword Art Online. When the game's creator traps players inside the game and starts killing people who die within its virtual world, Mito protects Asuna as she struggles to adapt to their new reality.
Voice actor Haruka Tomatsu reprised her role as Asuna for the film. Tomatsu is also known for her starring roles in anime such as CloverWork's high school romance Horimiya and another popular isekai series, Re: ZERO. Kirito's original voice actor, Yoshitsuga Matsuoka, also returned to once again voice the black-coated swordsman. Matsuoka is now also known for voicing the abrasive Inosuke Hashibira in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba. Inori Minase, who also voiced Itsuki Nakano in The Quintessential Quintuplets, joined the cast to provide the voice of Mito.
Aria of a Starless Night was given a theatrical release in North America by Funimation in 2021. Details about Scherzo of the Dark Dusk's release outside of Japan have yet to be announced.
Reki Kawahara's original novels are now available in English from publisher Yen Press. The SAO anime series is available for streaming from Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll and Funimation.
Source: Sword Art Online Official Website
