Sword Art Online: Dive to Stage 9-Minute Highlights Video Released

The previously held Sword Art Online: Dive to Stage show has received a 9-minute highlights video on the official YouTube channel of Aniplex Japan. The show is a stage play portraying the events of Sword Art Online’s Aincrad arc (first 14 episodes of the first season). The video has English subtitles and you can watch it below:

The stage play was featured at the Tokyo International Forum from November 8 to 16, 2022. It is part of the franchise’s 10th-anniversary celebration. The lines in the show were originally recorded lines from the actual anime. The cast of the show includes:

• Rin Matsubara as Kirito (C.V. Yoshitsugu Matsuoka)
• Minami Tsukui as Asuna (C.V. Haruka Tomatsu)
• Yui Oikawa as Yui (Kanae Ito)
• Momoko Suzuki as Lisbeth (Ayahi Takagaki)
• Shuto Seki as Klein (C.V. Hiroaki Hirata)
• Aiichiro Miyagawa as Agil (C.V. Hiroki Yasumoto)
• Ayaka Hashimoto as Sachi (C.V. Saori Hayami)
• Arihiro Matsunaga as Diabel (C.V. Nobuyuki Hiyama)
• Takanori Ezoe as Keita (C.V. Toshiyuki Toyonaga)
• Hiroto Mitsunaga as Tetsuo (C.V. Kenji Akabane)
• Yoshiaki Hirashima as Sasamaru (C.V. Tsubasa Yonaga)
• Hiroki Watabe as Ducker (C.V. Takuya Eguchi)
• Daisuke Matsukawa as Heathcliff (C.V. Toru Okawa)
• Yuki Shiomi as Godfrey (C.V. Masahi Ebara)
• Shota Tanaka as Kuradeel (C.V. Koji Yusa)

Voice recordings of Suguha (C.V. Ayana Taketatsu), Kibaou (C.V. Tomokazu Seki), and Kayaba Akihiko (C.V. Koichi Yamadera) were also played in some parts of the performance. Morihiko Kamizato directed the play, while Akiko Kodama was in charge of the screenplay.

Also Read:
Sword Art Online Original Movie Project Announced, Teaser Released
Sword Art Online Celebrates Game’s Launch on November 6, 2022 With an Opening Video

The Sword Art Online anime series began on July 8, 2012. It had multiple seasons and marked its 10th anniversary last July 8, 2022. A celebration titled Sword Art Online: Full Dive was held on November 6, 2022, which is also the original release date of the SAO game in the story.

The anime is based on Reki Kawahara’s Sword Art Online light novel series. ASCII Media Works has been publishing it with abec’s illustrations since 2009, and it currently has 27 volumes with more than 30 million copies in circulation. Yen Press is serializing the original Sword Art Online light novel series in English and describes the plot as:

In the year 2022, gamers rejoice as Sword Art Online – a VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) like no other – debuts, allowing players to take full advantage of the ultimate in gaming technology: NerveGear, a system that allows users to completely immerse themselves in a wholly realistic gaming experience. But when the game goes live, the elation of the players quickly turns to horror as they discover that, for all its amazing features, SAO is missing one of the most basic functions of any MMORPG – a log-out button. Now trapped in the virtual world of Aincrad, their bodies held captive by NerveGear in the real world, users are issued a chilling ultimatum: conquer all one hundred floors of Aincrad to regain your freedom. But in the warped world of SAO, “game over” means certain death – both virtual and real…

Source: Official Twitter and Aniplex YouTube Channel
©2020 Reki Kawahara/KADOKAWA/SAO-P Project; ©SAO Stage Project