Sword Art OnlineandEternalsjoin together for a special collab, withSAOauthor Reki Kawahara revealing he’s a huge fan of theMCU.
Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night, the new movie adapting the Asuna and Kirito prequel with a twist, teamed up with Marvel’sEternals. Resulting in a special collaboration trailer released in Japan.
Sword Art Online Progressiveand Marvel’sEternalsCollab explained
There are several reasons why this collab happened. One of the biggest reasons is that they’re both prequels, origin stories.Sword Art Online Progressiveis a remake focusing on Asuna in the first floors of Aincrad, where the death game of SAO is taking place.
Unlike the originalSword Art Onlineanime and novel, where the SAO game itself is timeskipped and cleared in the first volume,Progressivegoes floor by floor, following Asuna’s early days as a VRMMO player.Eternalsmeanwhile is a prequel to all of theMCU, taking place thousands of years before the other movies.
Next,Eternalsfeature 10 heroes who join up against the Earth’s destruction. Meanwhile,SAO Progressiveis the story of Asuna as she joins with her friends to survive the death game of Aincrad.
The romance in both stories is also similar.Eternalsprotagonist Sersi is in love with Ikaris, the strongest warrior of theEternals. Meanwhile,SAO Progressive’s Asuna also develops a romantic relationship with strongest solo player Kirito later inSAO.
Asuna and Sersi are both voiced by Haruka Tomatsu
Another similar theme between the two stories is the setting.Eternalshas the Celestials puling the strings.Sword Art Onlinehas mastermind Akihiko Kayaba, who created the world of Aincrad and trapped its heroes in the death game.
Last but not least, Haruka Tomatsu, the seiyuu (Japanese voice actors) voicing Asuna, is also dubbing Sersi in the Japanese dub of Eternals. She’s also narrating the special collab trailer.SAOauthor Reki Kawaraha also mentioned he is a big fan of the Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, so this is a dream collab project.
Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Nightis launching in Japanese theater on October 30, and in the United States on August 03, 2025. You can always hit me up on Twitter to discussSAO@A_iyane07.
