This week, more details about the newly announced "Sword Art Online" movie were revealed. Though it was already confirmed that the movie would have an original story, it has now also been confirmed that the story will take place after the "Mother's Rosario" arc in the "Sword Art Online" timeline, and focus on Kirito and Asuna.
Original creator Reki Kawahara confirmed some of the details about the upcoming film in an interview with Dengeki Bunko Magazine.
"As for the content, the pivotal aspect of that this is a story with Kirito and Asuna at its centre - will be the same as always. Of course, highlights for the other characters will be prepared as well, thus I believe that the fans of the respective characters will have something to look forward to," said Kawahara (via dreadfuldecoding).
Kawara added a few plot details, including that the story would take place after the "Mother's Rosario" arc.
"This story is going to take place before the latest novel in chronological order . . . There was also an idea to once again reboot the Aincrad arc from the first floor, but we were concerned whether that was what the audience wanted to see. As a result, it was decided to continue the story after the 'Mother's Rosario' arc," explained Kawahara.
"Sword Art Online" is originally a light novel series by Reki Kawahara. For those who are not familiar with the series, My Anime List describes "Sword Art Online" as follows:
"In the near future, a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) called Sword Art Online has been released where players can control their avatars through brain waves using technology called 'NerveGear'."
It goes on:
"When players enter the game, they discover they cannot log out, as the game creator is holding them captive. To escape, players must beat the game by defeating each boss on all 100 floors; however, if they die in the game, they die in real life too. Their struggle for survival starts now."
