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The SAO: Progressive films seem to be telling the story out of order. They could either be skipping content or doing something else entirely.
The first movie in the Sword Art Online: Progressive film series, Aria of a Starless Night, will be premiering in English on Dec. 3. The film series is based on an ongoing light novel series by Reki Kawahara. Progressive is a retelling of the Aincrad arc of Sword Art Online that aims to show the characters traversing all 100 Floors of Aincrad. This includes Floors that were skipped over in the original series. It’s a big commitment, and it’s difficult to imagine that it can all be put to film in an ideal manner.
Sure enough, A-1 Pictures seems to be making some creative changes for their telling of Progressive. Most notably, the title of the sequel, Scherzo of a Dark Dusk, is named after a much later point in the series. This name leads fans to believe that A-1 pictures will be skipping past Floors covered in the light novels. If Floors get skipped, this defeats the purpose of Progressive and its light novels. However, there’s more to the story of the production process than fans may realize, so it’s important to go over the facts.
The first thing to understand is the true meaning of Scherzo of a Dark Dusk. The title comes from a story arc covered in Volume 4 of the light novel series. Similarly, Aria of a Starless Night is named after the first major story arc covered in Volume 1. Between these two arcs are three more story arcs that could potentially be turned into movies.
Skipping over all these arcs also means skipping over a lot of important content. Aria of a Starless Night ends with the players clearing the First Floor. Scherzo of a Dark Dusk begins on the Fifth Floor one day after the players clear the Fourth. If the movies named after these arcs are any indication of their content, that means a whole three Floors of Aincrad will be skipped. Should this trend of skipping floors continue with later installments, it would contradict Kawahara’s intention to show fans Aincrad in its entirety.
原作をお読み下さっている方は、「ロンドやコンチェルトやバルカローレは？」とお思いかもしれませんが、エルフ戦争クエストが完結していない等々の事情により今回は『スケルツォ』が映像化されることとなりました。必ずご満足頂ける作品になると確信しておりますので、応援よろしくお願いします！
— 川原礫;SAO26巻10月8日発売 (@kunori) November 1, 2021
(A translation of the above tweet can be found here.)
Despite the apparent conflict of interest, Kawahara himself has stated that the film series is going according to plan. By his admission, the skipped material, especially that of Volume 2, includes content with an incomplete story arc. He refers specifically to the Elf War campaign quest that begins on the Third Floor. This quest involves a story arc that is meant to last until players reach the Ninth Floor — a point where not even the light novels have yet reached. Supposedly, A-1 Pictures will circle back around to this Floor once the story can be featured in its entirety.
The Sword Art Online: Progressive film series will cover as much of the light novels as A-1 Pictures possibly can. While it may seem like they’re skipping content, they’re simply biding their time until they can tell the story in an appropriate manner; Reki Kawahara himself says as much. As for whether all 100 Floors of Aincrad can actually be fully presented, that remains to be seen even in the light novels. Fans should have faith that A-1 Pictures knows what it’s doing with its adaption of Sword Art Online: Progressive.
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