Anime Limited to release Sword Art Online II
Ian Wolf •
In the first of what can be expected to be a series of announcements during this weekend’s MCM London Expo, All The Anime has revealed it will release Sword Art Online II on DVD and Blu-Ray.
This release will mean that SAO has now jumped ship, with the first series previously being released by Manga Entertainment. The first series revolved around a group of people trapped in a video game where being killed in the actual game meant also being killed in real life. The second series takes place one year after the original arc, with hero Kirito being asked to investigate a series of killings carried out in the cyberpunk shooting game “Gun Gale Online”.
The series will be released in four parts, with the first collection of seven episodes to be released in August. It will be available as a standard DVD (SRP: £24.99) or as a Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray and DVD set (SRP: £39.99). According to All The Anime’s blog: “The Collector’s Edition version will come packed in a rigid box, a digipack to hold the discs, a booklet containing information about the series as well as behind the scenes details and features exclusive to our release. In addition to this we can also confirm we intend to create a UK Exclusive storage box to house all four parts of the Collector’s Edition versions and this will be included with Part 1. We’ll have more details on this storage box, content to be included and release information for the other parts at a later date.”
In the same blog post All The Anime’s President Andrew Partridge wrote: “We’re really excited to be releasing Sword Art Online II on Blu-Ray and DVD. We have some pretty exciting plans for the release and it’s great to be able to bring this title to fans in the UK. The collector’s edition will be a combi pack, which allows us to bring the collector’s edition to as many people as possible – which is very important to us here at Anime Limited HQ. That being said, the addition of the DVD to the set doesn’t impact the overall costs of the release so we thought that would deliver the best of both worlds. Considering it’s a 4 parter, this made the most sense to us. It’s great to have Sword Art Online II as part of the Anime Limited family of titles and we can’t wait to share this with fans later on this year.”
Synopsis
1 year after the SAO incident, Kirito is approached by Seijirou Kikuoka from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Department “VR Division” with a rather peculiar request. That was an investigation on the “Death Gun” incident that occurred in the gun and steel filled VRMMO called Gun Gale Online (GGO). “Players who are shot by a mysterious avatar with a jet black gun lose their lives even in the real world…” Failing to turn down Kikuoka’s bizarre request, Kirito logs in to GGO even though he is not completely convinced that the virtual world could physically affect the real world.
Kirito wanders in an unfamiliar world in order to gain any clues about the “Death Gun.” Then, a female sniper named Sinon who owns a gigantic “Hecate II” rifle extends Kirito a helping hand. With Sinon’s help, Kirito decides to enter the “Bullet of Bullets,” a large tournament to choose the most powerful gunner within the realm of GGO, in hopes to become the target of the “Death Gun” and make direct contact with the mysterious avatar.
