The Wildest Sword Art Online Arc You Haven’t Seen Needs an Anime Adaptation
Eager for a little more Sword Art Online in your life?
Truth be told, there’s a ton of excellent material the anime could and should draw on. And while we’re getting a fully new, original film, Integral Domain, in 2028, there are plenty of great stories to enjoy until then, including one fantastic book (well really two) that would make an insanely good movie.
Below, let’s get into the spoiler-rich reason (that’s your spoiler warning in case you weren’t paying attention) why this particular two-part light novel should absolutely be adapted into an anime.
Sword Art Online Progressive remains largely unadapted to anime
Generally speaking, all of Sword Art Online Progressive (known as SAOP) should be adapted into an anime. While we have had two Progressive films come out, they differ a bit from the source material in some meaningful and not so meaningful ways.
That’s not to say the films aren’t great: they really are. Aria of the Starless Night, for example, dramatically improves on the events of the first few episodes. It offers a more fleshed out look into the world of Aincrad – an approach that the rest of the SAOP series would take as it moves through the first several floors.
However, the next SAOP film skips a ton of content. The whole point of Progressive as a series is to take our time, walk hand-in-hand with Kirito and Asuna as they make their way through each and ever level of Aincrad, and have a lot of fun while forgetting our heroes are trapped in a death game.
Instead, the Progressive anime films essentially rehash the same controversial take that irked fans of the original anime series – they time skip.
Regardless, Progressive II: Scherzo of Deep Night ends up being a massively satisfying film – one that in many ways feels more like an actual Progressive story than the first film does.
While Aria of a Starless Night does include key plot points from the first Progressive light novel, large parts of it are instead rehashing the original SAO story but from Asuna’s perspective. While this absolutely works for the film, the ending result feels more like an Asuna-themed reboot to the original Aincrad arc rather than what the Progressive films are trying to do.
The second SAOP film, however, has much more of the feel of Progressive light novel. As we already know where our heroes eventually end up, Progressive is all about the adventure of getting there, with each floor acting as its own episode rather than full arc.
That being said, greater themes and arcs are carried throughout the various SAOP light novels, with the Elf War campaign being a big one. Some floors of Aincrad get so involved that they even span multiple, connected light novels.
Which gets us to SAOP books 7-8 which contain arguably the best story line of them all from Progressive series.
Sword Art Online Progressive Volumes 7-8 would make for an epic anime
Assuming we follow the same adaptation strategy that Sword Art Online has taken to date as a franchise, the next SAOP books that should be adapted into a major motion picture are undoubtedly volumes seven and eight.
SAOP 7-8 are essentially one connected story – and the best Progressive story so far. And that’s saying a lot given all of Progressive is solid – especially for SAO fans.
I could tell just from the start of reading Volume 7 that we were headed somewhere interesting. Right away, all the key points that make SAO fans love the Progressive series were present – even more so than in previous volumes. Yet again Asuna and Kirito are off on a grand adventure, only this time they are on a floor dominated by a casino. It’s a plot that immediately brings to mind the intrigue of stories like James Bond Casino Royale, blending the high stakes thrill any story centered on gambling provides.
All SAOP light novel scans provided by the SAO Wiki
Gambling isn’t the only thing this story has going for it, however. Indeed, much of the enjoyment of Progressive is found in the spirit of adventure. Although the anime hinted at it, Progressive really dives into the fact that Aincrad itself is sort of like a hodgepodge of different European locations spread out across 100 floors.
Floor four, for example, is like its own version of Venice – with all the romance and potential issues a Venice in Aincrad presents. Meanwhile, Flore Seven is decidedly Grecian – and Asuna and Kirito immediately get a nice room overlooking the gorgeous beach that they plan to visit together with friends as soon as they find out how to do it.
Another part of the fun of SAOP is that you get to see Asuna and Kirito before they were a “thing.” During the events of SAOP, they have some serious chemistry. But their relationship is firmly rooted in that “will-they-won’t-they” stage that’s made less frustrating by the fact we all know “they will.”
Still, Asuna and Kirito move pretty quickly in the SAO anime, making it enjoyable to see the earliest parts of their relationship before they ran off to the log cabin together.
And as you can see in the picture above, their travels together through the bottom floors of Aincrad fail to stay fully platonic, even if the two fail to have as of yet confessed any feelings for one another.
Getting back to the story at hand – SAOP Vol 7 is a delightful setup for the events to come. We follow Asuna and Kirito as they get exposed to the thrills and dangers of gambling (something Kirito learned painfully during the beta test) and meet new friends – including a young girl named Nirrnir and her warrior maid helper who play an important role in the events of Volume 8.
Meanwhile, Argo plays an increasingly big role in this story – she’s by our side as Kirito and Asuna uncover a terrible plot to rig the system. Oh, and of course we see our two favorite characters battle plenty of monsters and eventually free their Dark Elf friend, Kizmel, who plays a huge role in the light novels – although strangely left out of the anime adaptation thus far.
The casino plot comes to a head in Volume 8
As great as Volume 7 is, Volume 8 is where things really start to get crazy. Kirito and Asuna go full-on Ocean’s 11 to try and get to the bottom of the cheating that’s causing trouble for the main guilds trying to clear the floor, leading them to get dressed up in some rather flattering outfits unlike anything we’ve seen them wear in the anime.
Asuna and Kirito go Oceans 11
Asuna is also starting to get a lot more forward with Kirito at this point – as you can see from the light novel illustration above where she’s a little handsy with her fellow.
Speaking of characters getting handsy with each other, there’s a funny moment where something like that occurs between Kirito and Argo. It doesn’t mean anything romantic but it is pretty funny given the personalities of these two who clearly aren’t into each other romantically.
Kirito and Argo have an awkward moment
And of course things get a little awkward between Asuna and Kirito when Asuna has to change out of her flattering attire, which leads to her hitting her “temporary” partner – something which is pretty commonplace in the SAOP series.
Asuna punches Kirito (again)
I guess what my dad told me growing up is true: girls really do hit you a lot when they like you.
Things get very…dark…in SAOP Vol. 8
However, Volume 8 isn’t all about fun and hijinks, or Ocean’s 11 con games: there’s still a lot of serious stuff going on – like Kirito and company trying to save their new friend who turns out to be a vampire of all things. And not just any vampire but a Lord of the Night capable of turning others into vampires at will.
Kirito becomes “The Vampire Swordsman”
And yeah, as you can see from the image above, she does end up turning Kirito into a vampire. It’s something Kirito does to help keep her alive, but it comes at a great personal cost. Now Kirito can’t go outside during the day anymore, and silver can kill him.
Given how the rest of SAO goes, I’m assuming he gets over being a vampire at some point, but given how powerful Kirito already is, the idea of a vampire version sounds pretty sick – like he would dual wield and drink blood all at once.
The whole story culminates in Kirito battling an actual dragon to clear Floor 7, and the clearers finally take the well-earned vacation on the beach they had been eying back in the beginning of Vol. 7.
The happenings on Floor 7 of Aincrad would make for an absolutely fantastic anime film. Who knows: maybe after Integral Domain comes out in 2028 we might see something like this occur. SAO fans would absolutely go nuts for Vampire Kirito, and the whole plot would be pretty intriguing for anyone, even someone relatively new to the franchise.
Here’s to hoping for more SAO content, as always!
