‘Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale’ Movie’s Official Trailer Gets English Subtitles: Everything Is Not Fun And Games With SAO Augma

Australian film distributor Madman Entertainment, famous for publishing popular Japanese anime, began streaming an official trailer of the sci-fi action, adventure animated movie Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale. Incidentally, the trailer is the same one that was released last week. However, this one has been subtitled in English for the fans of the immensely popular Japanese anime Sword Art Online.

The highly anticipated Sword Art Online movie, Ordinal Scale, is set for release in English-speaking regions in a couple of months. However, the movie, based on the anime of the same name sans the subtitle, is originally in Japanese. Hence Madman Entertainment began streaming a new English-subtitled video on Saturday, reported Anime News Network. The teaser video is the same one that Aniplex began streaming on December 25, but it contains English subtitles. The video features LiSA’s theme song, “Catch the Moment.”

Aniplex America had recently announced it would bring the latest installment of the popular anime Sword Art Online to North America. The movie is expected to be released in North America on March 8. Eleven Arts will provide English subtitles. Although neither the creators nor the publishers have confirmed or denied anything on the matter, there are no immediate plans of English dubbing of Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale.

Aniplex is expected to host an event prior to the screening of Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale in Hollywood, California. While the movie is slated for release on March 8, the Aniplex event has been scheduled for March 1, 2017. Similar events have been planned down under. Madman Entertainment has confirmed they will be hosting three festivals, one in each Perth, Brisbane, and Melbourne. The cinema screenings of Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale will kick off at the festival on March 4 2017, reported Otaku Study.

Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale is an anime-only story set in the near future, but it happens after the events of Mother Rosario arc. In other words, Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale will feature a brand new story exclusive for the movie. If that’s not all, the movie features new characters that aren’t part of the original anime.

According to Anime News Network, Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale movie will have three new characters. The characters have been identified as the Augmented Reality idol Yuna, the swordsman Eiji, and the Augma developer Professor Shigemura. While the creators of the movie haven’t yet confirmed the backstory or the personalities of the characters, they are expected to play pivotal roles in the movie. In addition to these new characters, the entire cast from the previous Sword Art Online anime is expected to make a comeback. Even the original composer Yuki Kajiura, and singer, Kanda, of the franchise’s theme songs, have been signed on for the new movie. Original light novel author Reki Kawahara has written the new story for the film.

The story is set in 2026 but is influenced by the events of 2022, when the world of virtual reality sped ahead by the arrival of a new invention from a genius programmer, Akihiko Kayaba. Called the NerveGear, it is supposed to be the first full-dive system that offers an ultra-realistic and completely immersive gaming experience for VRMMORPGs (Virtual Reality based Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).

However, a new machine, called the Augma, is developed that not only beats the NerveGear and its successor, the Amusphere, but is claimed to offer a much safer augmented reality-driven gaming experience. The next generation Augma ditches the full-dive in favor of Augmented Reality (AR). The makers of the device claim the system is safe and user-friendly as the player is always conscious while playing the games. As expected, Augma becomes an instant hit, and players keep flocking to the most popular game Ordinal Scale that’s exclusive to the AR-driven Augma.

The movie’s lead characters Asuna and others have been actively playing the game, when Kirito joins them, but they are about to realize that’s everything’s not as perfect as promised in Sword Art Online’s most popular offering.

[Featured Image by ASCII Image Works]