A Legendary Sword Art Online Story is Becoming a Novel
One of the biggest draws to Sword Art Online for me is how expansive the world is. Despite being overly in love with the series since over a year ago when I discovered it as the UNION ARENA set was coming out, I’m still catching up on all the various media formats the franchise has to offer.
However, one unique element for Sword Art Online that can be frustrating is just how many one-off short stories exist out there in the ether.
This is made worse by the fact that while Sword Art Online is massively popular in its original written form in Japan, in the States it’s primarily known for its anime adaptation. That means many of the short stories that are released in Japan never see the light of day in the US.
Exposition aside, one of the most legendary of all these unpublished short stories is one called Sugary Days, and it takes place during Asuna and Kiritos’ honeymoon in Aincrad.
Original Blue-ray publication for “Sugary Days”
Well, luckily for SAO fans in Japan (and hopefully soon those of us in the States) “Sugary Days” is getting a light novel adaptation, and it’s releasing this year!
“Sugary Days” fills in aspects of one of Sword Art Online’s most iconic arcs
While “Sugary Days” may be a brand new story for many, it actually takes part in one of SAO’s most beloved arcs. Occurring immediately after Asuna and Kirito’s marriage in Aincrad, it chronicles their life as a newly wed couple in greater detail than either the anime or the original light novels do.
While the story has been published in various formats before, it’s never been released as an officially published light novel with broad distribution until now. And given its publication by Dengeki Bunko, it’s likely we’ll (eventually) get the official light novel published in English at some point.
Key plot points in the light novel are included in “Sugary Days”
“Sugary Days” also include key plot points that come up in later stories. For example, in the yet-to-be adapted Unital Ring arc, Kirito gives Asuna a present for her birthday that is a direct reference to a wooden chair that they have made for their cabin in “Sugary Days”. If you’ve never read “Sugary Days”, you just wouldn’t really get the full reality of this gift or what it means to Asuna.
The cabin is a central force in Sword Art Online
Although many might think about the existential peril, the big boss fights, and the love arc between Kirito and Asuna as the primary movers of the saga, in many ways the log cabin that the two purchased in the very first novel/arc is one of the greatest central and unifying pillars of the series.
Ever since the original log cabin is purchased, it becomes a symbol for the bond between Kirito and Asuna, as well as their friends. It’s a symbol for stability in the various chaotic worlds our heroes find themselves in, and a place of shelter and refuge from the outside world where they can rest and find peace.
In Unital Ring, the log cabin takes a more literal central point as it becomes one of the primary plot points for the story. Kirito and Asuna battle monsters to protect their log cabin, and it becomes the basis for a sprawling city other players build their own homes around.
With that in mind, it feels fitting that at this point in the franchise’s history – with things heating up in the main story arc of Unital Ring, Progressive progressing further, and an upcoming anime movie installment – that we would return to the source of life for much of the novels – the log cabin that played a defining role in who our two heroes become.
