BEWARE THAT IF YOU ARE NOT UP TO DATE WITH THE ANIME OF SWORD ART ONLINE, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!
One of the biggest Anime airing right now is Sword Art Online. The anime, which is based off it's Light Novel tells the story of Kazuto Kirigaya and his journey around the world of Sword Art Online (SAO), a Virtual reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG).
With the first Arc officially done and dusted as of the 14th episode (the anime will go for 24 episodes), here are some facts you may or may not know about Sword Art Online!
The Author of Sword Art Online, Reki Kawahara is also the author of the popular Light Novel Accel World.
Have you ever noticed that there were some similarities between the two? Well there is! Reki Kawahara currently writes both Light Novels side by side with each volume having a two month gap between each other in Japan.
For example, let's say Sword Art Online volume 8 gets released in January, two months after that in March; Accel World volume 10 will get released followed by Sword Art Online volume 9 in May!
The community in SAO created a special colour cursor for Player Killers.
The act of killing another character in MMO's is known as Player Killing (abbreviated to PK'ing) and in Sword Art Online it's no different - except the person is also killed in real life.
In SAO, committing crimes and hurting other green players (a neutral status given to everyone at the start of the game) will turn the cursor of your character orange. Player's doing this up to three times can become neutral over time but on the fourth time must complete a special quest to reform themselves with the fifth offence rewarding the player with a permanent Orange cursor. This permanent orange cursor is also automatically given to Player Killers.
However, the community in SAO created a special "Red Cursor" for these PKers to separate these murderers from the normal petty orange players and guilds.
Fun fact: Attacking or Killing a player with an Orange Cursor won't change the colour of your cursor as the system interprets it as someone defending themselves or others.
A total of 3853 people were killed playing Sword Art Online
On November 7, 2024 at 2:55 PM when Kirito defeated Heathcliff on the 75th floor, 6147 players were able to successfully log out.
The other 3853 players unfortunately perished and the rumour that people didn't actually die in real life (which a lot of PKers believed) was indeed real. The death tally adds up from players committing suicide in the game, interference from the outside world (like people forcefully removing the nervegear) and general deaths by other players and monsters.
There are a known total of 6 unique skills in SAO out of a possible 10
As the name suggests, SAO has a known total of 6 unique skills that could only be learnt by one person each. Two of these skills were revealed during the first 14 episodes of the anime with Heathcliff possessing the unique skill of
Holy Sword, a skill that allowed the player to switch between offence and defence - allowing for a near impenetrable defence.
The second shown skill is of course Kirito's
Dual Blades ability which is given to the player who has the fastest reaction time. The player with this unique ability is also meant to face the final boss of SAO.
According to the SAO Wiki, the other 4 skills that were revealed in Sword Art Online Material Edition 7 were intended to be awarded on the 90th floor of Aincrad and were respectively called:
1. Darkness Blade
2. Battoujutsu (The ability to quickly draw your sword and sheath it, normally resulting in a killing blow)
3. Shurikenjutsu (The ability to manipulate and use Shurikens)
4. Infinite Spear
The Voice Actress for Asuna is also famous for many other roles
Haruka Tomatsu, the voice behind Asuna Yuuki in SAO is also known as the Seiyuu/Voice Actress for many other popular roles including:
a) Lala from To LOVE-Ru
b) Yuina from Hanasaku Iroha
c) Naruko from Ano Hi
Image source: MAL
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