The Sword Art Online franchise has produced more than 50 volumes of light novels, tons of manga adaptations, three seasons worth of anime, three full-length movies, and numerous games on different platforms, with many more to come. While such massive success is always a great thing, this kind of variety raises a question regarding which one is canon and which one is not. After all, most of these mediums have their own unique storyline that may or may not be connected to the main light novel series. Let’s begin with the movies. Are Sword Art Online movies canon?
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What Makes a Story Canon?
Before we talk about whether the movies are canon or not, let’s talk about what “canon” means in the first place. In a nutshell, for fictional works, the term “canon” is used for every storyline that is part of one continuity. Whether it’s a sequel, a prequel, or even a spin-off, as long as it exists within the same continuity as the main series, then it can be called “canon”.
In the past, the term “canon” usually referred to any work based on a certain fictional entity that was done by the original creators. Nowadays though, for a storyline to be a canon, it doesn’t have to be written by the same people. The general rule of thumb that is often used to decide whether a work of fiction is canon is as follows; either it was created by the original writer, or the work is acknowledged as part of the official canon by the original writer. In cases where the original writers are no longer alive or if they have sold the rights for their works, then it is up to the copyright holder to decide.
The Sword Art Online Movies
Going back to the Sword Art Online movies, there are three official Sword Art Online movies that have graced the big screen so far. 2013’s Sword Art Online: Extra Edition, 2017’s Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale, and 2021’s Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night. There’s also a sequel to the Progressive movie slated to be released later in 2022, called Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of a Dark Dusk.
Similar to its anime series, the Sword Art Online movies are massively popular both in Japan and the rest of the world. Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale snatched the number 1 spot in its debut and managed to earn over 4 billion yen in revenue. Similarly, Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of a Starless Night also tops Japan’s box office on its opening week and earned over 1 billion yen in total revenue.
Are the Sword Art Online Movies Canon?
Are the aforementioned Sword Art Online movies part of the official canon? The answer is yes. All three movies, along with the upcoming sequel, were written by the original writer of the Sword Art Online Series, Reki Kawahara. That means it fulfilled the most important and obvious condition for a story to be a canon. The first movie, Sword Art Online: Extra Edition, was a compilation movie. It retells the key events in the first season of the SAO series. The movie includes characters’ narration about their experience in the game while enjoying some downtime. Since it is a compilation, it is obviously canon, but it also didn’t add anything new to the story. Fans who never saw SAO before would be better off watching the original series instead.
The second movie, Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale, takes place between the second and the third season of the original anime series. This time around, rather than using Virtual Reality (VR), the story focuses on Augmented Reality (AR) technology instead. The main story is deeply connected to the events that happened during the Aincrad Arc in the original series. Not only that, but there’s also a short scene at the end of the movie that introduces the viewers to the main story arcs of the third season of the anime, the Alicization arc. That means Ordinal Scale is without a doubt a canon story.
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The third movie, Sword Art Online Progressive: Aria of the Starless Night, is a prequel story that focuses on the events during the early days of Asuna and Kirito when they were in the Aincrad. In other words, this movie is an expanded story for one of the best SAO’s story arcs to date; the Aincrad Arc. As a matter of fact, it manages to make the best arc even better. Needless to say, this movie is also undeniably canon to the story.
There are lots of different stories related to the Sword Art Online universe written by Reki Kawahara. And the best part is, he always takes care to make sure everything is connected at some level, and thus become a canon to the main story. There are also several spin-off stories that take place within SAO’s universe that were written by other writers under the direct supervision of Kawahara. It’s unclear whether those stories are canon or not, but one thing is for sure, Reki always manages to find ways to enrich his creation and add more content for fans to enjoy.
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