During their panel at Otakon, Aniplex of America announced that Sword Art Online Alicization will premiere at the Montalban Theater in Los Angeles on September 15, one month before it begins its regular television broadcast, which is slated for October. The first episode will be one hour long and will premiere simultaneously alongside Japan. While the U.S. and Japan will premiere the episode at the same time, more premieres are planned for Australia, France, German, Russia, and South Korea at other times.
The anime is scheduled to cover the entire Alicization arc from Reki Kawahara’s light novel series. This covers volumes 9 through 18 of the light novels. This will be the fourth anime adaptation of Reki Kawahara’s series as it has already spanned two television anime season as well as an animated feature film. Earlier this year, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online aired, adapting Keiichi Sigsawa’s spinoff series.
MyAnimeList.net describes the story of Sword Art Online Alicization as follows:
Kirito awakens in a vast, fantastical forest filled with towering trees. In his search for clues to the truth of his surroundings, he encounters a young boy who seems to know him. He ought to be a simple NPC, but the depth of his emotions seem no different than a human. As they search for the boy’s parents, Kirito finds a peculiar memory returning to him. A memory from his own childhood, of this boy and a girl, too, with golden hair, and a name he should have never forgotten—Alice.
