Anime Expo will definitely be a fun place to be this year if you’re a Sword Art Online fan as not only is Aniplex going to premiere the new series there this year, but they’re also going to be bringing in the original creators with Reki Kawahara appearing alongside with the illustrator and original character design concept artist with abec.
Aniplex of America will also be hosting the US Premiere Screening Event of Sword Art Online II at Anime Expo. The Sword Art Online II US Premiere Screening Event is scheduled for Friday July 4th and will include a variety of programming.
In addition to that news confirmation, the official Japanese site has revealed that the series will premiere on July 5th on both Daisuki and Crunchyroll for at least North American release while it will stream on Peppermint-Anime in much of Europe while Wakanim will be handling various locales as well.
Sword Art Online II was announced at the end of the Extra Edition episode as part of the New Year’S Special. The focus of the series, at least to start, will be on the fifth and sixth novels of the series that revolves around the game Gun Gale and specifically the Phantom Bullet Arc. In continuity, the game takes place in 2025 as the game itself becomes the most popular game since SAO went online. The game is a science fiction type that focuses largely on firearms but also delves into other types of weapons as well. One of the characters from the game, Shinon, makes an appearance in the Extra Edition episode.
Yoshitsugu Matsuoka will be reprising his role as Kirito for the series while Miyuki Sawashiro, who playing Shinon in the PSP game Infinity Moment, will be taking on the same role for the anime series. In addition to that, Tomohiko Ito will direct the series for A-1 Pictures while Shingo Adachi has signed on to return as the original character designer.
