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While at first it appears to be just fun and games, they soon find out that the game is not all that it seems… The most popular application for the Augma is the game Ordinal Scale, which immerses players in a fantasy role-playing game with player rankings and rewards.įollowing the new craze, Kirito’s friends dive into the game, and despite his reservations about the system, Kirito eventually joins them. Unlike the Virtual Reality of the NerveGear and the Amusphere, it is perfectly safe and allows players to use it while they are conscious, creating an instant hit on the market. In 2026, four years after the infamous Sword Art Online incident, a revolutionary new form of technology has emerged: the Augma, a device that utilizes an Augmented Reality system.
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The novels and four of the manga adaptations have been licensed for release in North America by Yen Press. The series has spawned eight manga adaptations published by ASCII Media Works and Kadokawa. The light novels began publication on ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki Bunko imprint from April 10, 2009, with a spin-off series launching in October 2012. Kawahara originally wrote the series as a web novel on his website from 2002 to 2008. The series takes place in the near future and focuses on protagonist Kazuto “Kirito” Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki as they play through various virtual reality MMORPG worlds. Sword Art Online (Japanese: ソードアート・オンライン Hepburn: Sōdo Āto Onrain) is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec.
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