Sword Art Online Progressive is a storyline in Sword Art Online (SAO) franchise that focuses on the events that happened in one of the best arcs in the entire SAO history, the Aincrad arc. Reki Kawahara, the original writer of SAO created the Progressive storyline back in 2012, and it is actually still on going to this day. Other than the light novel, there’s also a manga adaptation drawn by different artists. However, the one that caused the most buzz is the 2021 anime movie, Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night.

With the overwhelming support and excitement of the fans, the sequel for the movie is quickly announced not long after the first one. It’s called Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night, and it is scheduled to be released in September 2022. Here’s what you can expect from this upcoming sequel.

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The Different Adaptations of Sword Art Online Progressive

Sword Art Online Progressive versions

As mentioned earlier, there are at least three different versions of Sword Art Online Progressive out there. What you need to know is the fact that all of them are different from one another, to some extent. The overall story progression is still based on the original light novels, but both the manga and the movie version have taken some creative choices that differ from the original source.

The biggest change that the anime movie version of Sword Art Online Progressive has taken is adding a new character named Mito. This character doesn’t appear in any other version of SAO Progressive, so if you’ve watched the movie and wish to know more by reading either the light novels or the manga version, then expect to see some differences in the details of the story.

Skipping Some Volumes

Sword Art Online Progressive Scherzo of Deep Night Novel Manga

The first SAO Progressive movie adapted the first volume of the light novel, Aria of Starless Night. The upcoming second movie, however, skipped volumes 2 and 3, and goes straight to volumes 4, Scherzo of Deep Night. If the first volume told the story of their adventure conquering the first floor of Aincrad, the fourth volume will focus on the fifth floor.

This decision clearly sparked some questions among the fans. After all, the two arcs in volumes 2 and 3 contain numerous important story elements, such as new characters, events, places, and many others. All of which are crucial for the story in the Scherzo of Deep Night. So why did the anime production team decide to adapt volumes 4 for the second movie?

Well, Reki Kawahara took to twitter and gave some context to the fans. There are various reasons as to why they decided to do it this way, but the biggest one is because there’s a big story arc that is supposed to begin in volume 2 called the Elven War Campaign. This big arc will span across numerous subsequent volumes, and unfortunately Reki Kawahara hasn’t finished writing the story yet. So, rather than showing a cliffhanger story, they decided to tell a rather stand-alone arc, which is volume 4: the Scherzo of Deep Night.

Taking Side Quests and Visiting Interesting Places

Sword Art Online Progressive Asuna Run

Volume 4 of the light novels will see Kirito and Asuna exploring the fifth floor of Aincrad, which is a massive City of Ruins. There, they will take on different activities that the level has to offer. Looking for hidden relics and artifacts, visiting a hidden restaurant at the edge of a cliff, and the most important one of them all, taking some side quests. From looking for a missing cat to investigating a mysterious supernatural phenomenon, there are a variety of side quests that can be taken in this city of ruins.

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If that’s not enough, there is also a vast underground dungeon buried underneath the city, teeming with different kinds of monsters. And just like the first movie, there’s also a big boss battle at the end of this arc. One thing to note, however, it’s unclear how much of it will be adapted into the movie, but you can at least expect to see some of these activities turned into a gorgeous anime.

New Storyline That Doesn’t Exist In Any Other Adaptation

Sword Art Online Progressive Asuna Kirito Mito

The main storyline of Scherzo of Deep Night is about the rivalry between the two biggest guilds in SAO at the time, the Aincrad Liberation Squad (ALS) and the Dragon Knights Brigade (DKB). To make matters worse, there is also a group of Beta players that tries to manipulate both of these groups from the shadows.

The light novels and the manga version of this arc basically tells the same story, with some minor differences here and there. But it is unclear whether or not the upcoming movie will do the same. After all, there are two major differences that set the movie apart from other versions of SAO Progressive. The new character introduced in the first movie, and the untold story arcs from volumes 2 and 3.

The formation of the guilds, the nefarious Beta players, the rivalry, all of those things are introduced in the second and third arcs of Progressive. So it’s a bit puzzling as to how they intend to introduce these story elements in the new movie. Add to that the fact that they have to incorporate Mito, the new character, into the story, and we get a rather unpredictable story on our hands.

So as you can see, there are a lot of uncertainties about these upcoming movies. That being said, it also means that both the fans that have read the novels/manga and those who only watch the anime will get a brand-new story that is exclusive to the movie. That is enough reason to be excited about this sequel, don’t you agree?

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