If you thought the Sword Art Online: Progressive anime film was going to be a one-and-done affair, you’ve got another thing coming. Literally, we mean. There’s another thing coming, and it’s a second film that’s due out in Japan sometime in 2022.
The first film—titled Sword Art Online The Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night—opened in Japan on Saturday, and it ended with a tease for the followup. Based on the light novel series by Reki Kawahara that retells the first arc from Asuna’s perspective, the second part has the subtitle “Scherzo of the Deep Night.”
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劇場版
ソードアート・オンライン
-プログレッシブ-
冥き夕闇のスケルツォ
- --2022年公開決定-#sao_anime pic.twitter.com/c68GzsUmRe
— アニメ ソードアート・オンライン 公式 (@sao_anime) November 1, 2021
The story of the second Sword Art Online: Progressive film comes from the fifth level as depicted in the light novel series’s fourth volume. Here’s how North American publisher Yen Press describes that entry:
It’s been just two months since they were trapped in the game of death that is Sword Art Online, and Kirito and Asuna continue their struggle at the vanguard of progress through the game. The fifth floor of Aincrad is a mazelike ruin, and the two dare to take pleasure in raiding it for the treasure it contains. Upon returning to the fourth floor, it’s time to do some questing on behalf of the Elf Lord Yofilis–but here begins Asuna’s discontent, for in doing so they will have to face her least favorite monster ever…
Via Crunchyroll