The firstSword Art Online Progressivemovie,Aria of a Starless Night, is about to be released in America, and you might be wondring where the movie slots in in the currentSAOcontinuity, and if it’s canon.
Sword Art Online Progressive Aria of a Starless Nightis a brand new story focusing on Asuna in the early days of the Aincrad death game. Rather than following the original protagonist,Kirito,Aria of a Starless Nightexplains how Asuna ended up putting on the Nervegear and getting trapped intoSAOtogether with thousands of other players.
Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Nighttimeline & continuity explained
Sword Art Online Progressive Aria of a Starless Nightis a new beginning focusing on Asuna. In mainstreamMCUterms, you can call it an “origin story”. So it’s fine to watch it first without knowing anything aboutSAO.
Sword Art Online Progressiveis originally a new novel, a remake, that retraces the first part ofSword Art Online, taking place in Aincrad. As you already know, in the first volume of theSAOnovel, a two years time skip happens, and the story focuses on Kirito, who’s now an extremely strong solo player, as he ultimately clears the game at Floor 75.
However, inSword Art Online Progressive, this time skip never happens, and the story has been rewritten by a much more experienced Reki Kawahara. With Kirito and Asuna forming a pair right from the beginning and exploring together the first floors of Aincrad.
Furthermore, theSword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Nightmovie differs from theProgressivenovels as well by adding a brand new female character named Mito, voiced by Inori Minase. Long story short, it’s perfectly fine to startSAOwith theProgressivemovies, which are their own continuity.
Official artwork of Mito in Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night
Is theSAO Progressivemovie canon?
The question isn’t whether it’s canon or not, but rather, you need to understand it’s a brand new continuity in itself, with events different than the originalSword Art Online.
This isn’t even the first time Reki Kawahara does that with his online MMO franchise. As you already know,Sword Art Onlinewas originally a web novel that Reki Kawahara published in his youth in the early 2000s. from 2002 to 2008 or so. When Kawahara signed a contract with novel publisher Dengeki Bunko and launched the Light Novel version in 2009, several plot points were rewritten already.
In short, you should consider that the originalSAOweb novel, the SAO light novel, theProgressivelight novel, and its movies are all different continuities. It’s all canon in their own universes. Even theSAOgames are a different continuity, with exclusive story elements and characters like Strea.
This is actually very common in Japanese media, as most authors don’t care much about what is canon or what isn’t, and don’t think up some sort of progressive timeline where everything happened in the same universe.
Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Nightwas released in Japanese theaters on October 30, and will be out in USA theaterson August 23, 2025. The second movie,SAO Progressive Scherzo of Deep Night, was also announced for a 2022 release in Japan.
