Crunchyroll, along with partner Aniplex of America, is bringing Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Scherzo of Deep Night to theaters across Crunchyroll’s English-speaking territories in February 2023. The film will be available in both Japanese with English subtitles as well as dubbed in English.
The popular sci-fi action adventure arrives in theaters in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Wednesday, February 1; in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, February 2; and in the United States and Canada on Friday, February 3.
Additional theatrical release dates for Europe and Latin America to be announced soon.
Scherzo of Deep Night is the sequel to Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night (2021), now available to stream on Crunchyroll.com. The film follows protagonist Asuna as she continues her journey through the virtual reality death game, where “Game Over” means death in the real world.
The anime franchise is based on the light novel series Sword Art Online by Dengeki Bunko Novel Grand Prize winner Reki Kawahara (published by Dengeki Bunko), chronicling the adventures of Kirito and heroics as a player in Sword Art Online, a next generation VRMMORPG (virtual reality massive multiplayer online role-playing game). Since Volume One launched in April 2009, the books have topped cumulative worldwide sales of 30 millions copies. Sword Art Online Progressive is a reboot series penned by Kawahara, offering a deeper look at where it all began: on Aincrad’s first floor.
Synopsis:
This may be a game, but it’s not something you play.
The world’s first VRMMORPG (Sword Art Online) became a game of death. Over a month has passed since 10,000 users were trapped inside the game world. Asuna, who cleared the first floor of the floating iron castle of Aincrad, joined up with Kirito and continued her journey to reach the top floor. With the support of female Information Broker Argo, clearing the floors seemed to be progressing smoothly, but…
Conflict erupts between two major guilds who should be working together — the top player groups ALS (the Aincrad Liberation Squad) and DKB (the Dragon Knights Brigade). Meanwhile, behind the scenes exists a mysterious figure pulling the strings…
In a dangerous battle of death, there is an assault that differs from the threat, and it will involve Asuna and Kirito…!
Japanese / English Voice Cast:
- Asuna: Haruka Tomatsu / Cherami Leigh
- Kirito: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka / Bryce Papenbrook
- Mito: Inori Minase / Anairis Quiñones
- Argo: Shiori Izawa / Kimberly Anne Campbell
- Agil: Hiroyuki Yasumoto / Patric Seitz
- Kibaou: Tomokazu Seki / Derek Stephen Prince
- Liten: Kaede Hondo / AmaLee
- Shivata: Yuusuke Nagano / Griffin Puatu
- Lind: Takeo Otsuka / Howard Wang
- Yamata: Shinya Takahashi
- Wolfgang: Yohei Azakami / Young Yea
- Lobacca: Yuki Tamai / Bill Butts
- Naijan: Koji Seki / Xander Mobus
- Joe: Ryota Osaka / Alejandro Saab
- Morte: Yusuke Kobayashi / A.J. Beckles
The Sword Art Online anime adaptation debuted in 2012, running for four seasons to date and spawning a theatrical film, Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale, in 2017. An all-new animated film based on the Sword Art Online Progressive light novels arrived in 2021. The first film in the series, Aria of a Starless Night, a rebooted Aincrad arc seen from Asuna’s point of view, debuted at No. 1 at the weekend box office in Japan and was a long-running hit, staying in theaters nationwide for 10 weeks.
