Two Sword Art Online Volumes Release July 8 in English
One of my biggest regrets in life right now is this: I wasn’t an SAO fan since it came out in anime form back in the early 2010s. I only recently (this year) got into SAO when I watched the anime for the first time in order to prep for the UNION ARENA: Sword Art Online TCG expansion that came out early May, 2025.
Since then, however, I’ve become a devoted fan – watching every episode of the anime, movie, and – most recently – reading the light novels. Indeed, as an avid reader/writer myself, I was very excited to learn that Sword Art Online originated as a written story. Today, the “light novels” as they are called progress well beyond the Alicization arc where the anime ended. Which leads us to what’s coming next!
On July 8, 2025 we are getting two different but noteworthy Sword Art Online books in English. The first (and the one I’m most excited about) is Volum 28 in the main series which continues the story of the Unital Ring Arc. The other very exciting book we are getting on the same day is the very first manga adaptation of Unital Ring.
So even though I missed the lion’s share of Sword Art Online hype up until now, I’m super excited to at least catch some of the feels and excitement for these upcoming books. Below, let’s talk a bit more about Unital Ring, the books, and what’s been going on with Kirito and company since where the anime left off.
Unital Ring reboots Sword Art Online
Without giving away too many spoilers, what I really like about the Unital Ring arc so far is that it heavily reboots the Sword Art Online story from where it left off in the anime. While we change directions dramatically from where we were in the Underworld, the context change is oddly refreshing.
Essentially, Kirito and fam are forced to grapple with an all new world, starting from scratch. While presenting new challenges for our main character to overcome, this character “refresh” also serves as a handy plot device. Indeed, Kirito is just so powerful at his strongest that the idea any villain could threaten him within a given game world is almost laughable.
At the same time, this also subverts the typical shonen trope that leads to main characters eventually becoming massively overpowered to the extent that the series loses its flavor. Instead of seeing Kirito here at his most powerful the way he was at the end of Alicization and indeed in the Moon Cradle arc, we get to see Kirito literally naked and afraid in a brand new world focused on survival.
While I love the events of the Underworld and enjoyed the extra taste we got of it in Volumes 19 and 20, this context shift is a welcome change, and delivers a feel similar to what we got during the second season of the Sword Art Online anime where characters flitted in-between the virtual and real worlds, adding depth to their characters and experiences.
The full-dive, near-reality of the Underworld was exciting for its own reasons, but the return to normalcy lets the story relax a little, dialing down the intensity enough to let the characters grow in different ways once again. Meanwhile, the “Don’t Starve” nature of Unital Ring (for anyone familiar with that epic survival game or any survival video game for that matter) lends its own sense of immediacy without our character’s real world lives being at stake.
Unital Ring Volume I has a fantastic story
Despite not having read the manga adaptation of the light novel previously, I’m pretty excited to get my hands on the Unital Ring Vol 1 graphic novel. The storytelling for this particular volume is condensed. We don’t jump around between a bunch of characters, and instead most of the action takes place around Kirito and Asuna – something I’m especially happy about since I’m totally on team KiriSuna.
Without giving too much away, we get to see Kirito start from barebones in a new world, and follow his thought process around how to gradually build up enough strength to take on a wild bear, and even battle fully armed opponents using nothing but a rock.
It’s an extremely entertaining read and fans of the anime and books should enjoy it.
On the KiriSuna side of things, Kirito spends a bit of time trying to figure out what birthday present Asuna would want – a fun little side quest for the Black Swordsman who is so adept at conquering virtual worlds but essentially hopeless at deciphering what present a girl might want.
Asuna and Kirito’s relationship has never felt stronger than during this book, with the two feeling like age-old partners rather than a brand new love interest. Seeing that romantic depth grow for these characters is also exciting. How will all of this translate to the manga? I’m not sure but it should be fun to see!
Despite Moon Cradle (volumes 19 and 20) technically being the main Sword Art Online arc post Alicization, that story functions more of a side story within the Sword Art Online universe, making Unital Ring the next big arc to take place after the anime. As such, SAO fans should certainly check the series out, whether they are new to SAO light novels, or long time fans. Preorder yours on Amazon using the links above and share your own excitement for July 8th via the comments below!
