Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale-

Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale- (劇場版 ソードアート・オンライン -オーディナル・スケール-) is a Sword Art Online movie that was released in about 1,000 theatres worldwide on February 18, 2017. The movie is set after Mother's Rosario, but before the Alicization Arc and has an original story written by the author, Kawahara Reki. The theme song of the movie is Catch the Moment, a new song by LiSA.

The stage of the movie is an Augmented Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (ARMMORPG) titled «Ordinal Scale» (OS) for an Augmented Reality device called the «Augma». A feature of Ordinal Scale is a «Ranking System», according to which, each player is assigned a rank, indicated by an ordinal number instead of a cardinal number. The game is set in the real world, and players can increase their rank by gathering items that appear in various places of the real world, or by defeating monsters. Higher-ranked players are granted overwhelming power and this is commonly a major factor in deciding the outcome of Player versus Player (PvP) battles.

Prologue
In 2022, the world of virtual reality was upended by the arrival of a new invention from a genius programmer, Kayaba Akihiko.

Called NerveGear, it was the first full-dive system and with it, came endless possibilities to VRMMORPGs.

In 2026, a new machine called the Augma is developed to compete against the NerveGear and its successor, the Amusphere.

A next-gen wearable device, the Augma does not have a full-dive function like its predecessors. Instead, it uses Augmented Reality to get players into the game. It is safe, user-friendly and lets users play while they are conscious, making it an instant hit on the market.

The most popular game on the system is «Ordinal Scale», an ARMMORPG developed exclusively for the Augma.

Asuna and the gang have already been playing OS for a while, by the time Kirito decides to join them.

They’re about to find out that Ordinal Scale isn’t all fun and games…

Plot
In a flashback of the 22nd floor of Aincrad, Kirito and Asuna made a promise to see meteor showers in real life. Kirito additionally promised to gift Asuna something that day.

In 2026 the Augmented Reality (AR) device, Augma, and its games were quickly becoming popular among the masses, especially a certain game called Ordinal Scale. Given its MMORPG nature and its idol character Yuna, the AI singer who was announced to hold an AR concert at the New National Stadium in Tokyo. Students of the specially established SAO Survivor School were granted a free Augma and a ticket for said concert.

Upon learning about the appearance of floor bosses from Aincrad in Ordinal Scale, Asuna persuaded Kirito to drive her to one of the spawn locations, where they met Klein and his guild, Fuurinkazan. In addition to the boss, Kagachisa the Samurai Lord from Aincrad's tenth floor, Yuna too was present, buffing the players using her music. While fighting the boss, a player's stray shot flying towards Yuna was deflected by Eiji, the second-ranked player of OS, hitting the boss instead. Asuna saw the opening and moved in to land the final hit on the boss. Being passed by Asuna, Eiji called out a faint «Switch».

After the fight, a Fuurinkazan member was attacked by Eiji in an underground parking lot where he was hunting for collectible items.

Asuna was thinking about the things Eiji told during the fight and thought she had seen Eiji somewhere before. Kirito complained about his physical abilities being limited in AR compared to VR. In the middle of another boss fight on the following day, Klein and the other Fuurinkazan members were lured away by the sudden spawn of a second boss. Eiji attacked and knocked them out, broke Klein's arm and held him in a chokehold until the boss defeated Klein.

Yui noticed that the spawn locations of the SAO bosses were similar to the layout of the dungeons from old Aincrad. Asuna realised that Eiji could have been Nautilus, a lower-ranking member of the Knights of the Blood in SAO. Kirito trained for upcoming OS battles at the place of the previous fight, when an intangible, hooded girl pointed to a specific direction murmuring, which was later interpreted by Yui as "search".

Lisbeth, Silica and Asuna met Eiji again throughout another boss fight. Trying to avoid an attack, Silica bumped into Eiji who pushed her back. In an attempt protect Silica, Asuna got hit by the boss, mysteriously fainting in the process. Kirito, watching from the sidelines, enragedly sought revenge but was halted by Eiji himself, noting the difference in their ranks.

The next day, Asuna noted that she was losing her memories of her time in SAO, and told Kirito about it who decided to go to a hospital. Receiving the diagnosis, they learned that her brain had been scanned for SAO memories, that the scan could affect further brain functions and that similar incidents had also happened to others, with all victims being SAO Survivors. In order to find out what is happening in OS, Kirito then urged the community not to play the game so he could investigate.

Sinon joined Kirito in investigating the OS mystery. When another SAO Survivor was defeated, Yui attempted to hack into an Augma drone to trace his memories, but was blocked by the system. Kirito later noticed that the hooded girl was pointing to a specific location. The location was the Touto Technical University in Ookayama, the workplace of Professor Shigemura Tetsuhiro, Eiji's mentor and the developer of Augma. Kirito went to Touto Technical University to question Shigemura about the incidents, but the professor denied any connection or knowledge about Eiji and the memory losses, however Kirito spotted that Shigemura was building robots and had a photo of a girl resembling Yuna.

Upon analysing his findings with Kikuoka, he discovered that Shigemura Yuna, the professor's daughter, had also played SAO, but died in the game. As Asuna's home was near Touto Tech in Setagaya, Kirito visited and promised to get her memories back after realizing the full extent of the ordeal she was going through due to her memory loss.

Kirito met the hooded girl again, who then revealed herself as Yuna and informed him that he can not defeat Eiji with a rank as low as his. Following this revelation, Kirito decided to continuously solo bosses to rank up, supported by Suguha and Shino.

On the day of Yuna's concert, Kirito headed to the stadium's basement to confront Eiji. Kirito eventually defeated Eiji, leading him to reveal that the reason behind his actions, namely him being close to Yuna while in SAO, as well as the concert being a trap. According to him, Shigemura planned to capture the SAO memories of the survivors gathered there to rebuild Yuna as an AI using the SAO boss monsters and drones placed throughout the stadium, employing wireless energy transfer from the drones to the Augmas of those present to trigger a NerveGear-like pulse, killing everybody inside.

Kirito managed to get into the arena and fought the monsters with his companions. Asuna's condition worsened, as the bosses triggered the survivors' fear needed to activate the microwave pulse when a certain amount would be reached. Hooded Yuna appeared and defended them from a monster, informing Kirito that the Augma has a FullDive function and that they needed to use it to defeat Aincrad's 100th boss. Kirito gave Asuna a ring as promise before entering FullDive.

Kirito, Agil, Silica, Lisbeth and Sinon entered the Ruby Palace on level 100 in Aincrad, where they began to fight «An Incarnate of Radius», the true final boss of SAO. As they were about to be overpowered by the boss, Asuna dove in and joined the battle, together with Leafa, Klein, the spirit of Yuuki, as well as other players from ALO and GGO coming in later. Yui restored the saved game data of the SAO survivors, allowing them to turn the tables on «An Incarnate of Radius». Kayaba's voice congratulated the players, and Kirito was rewarded a powerful sword.

Kirito returned to the stadium as his Aincrad character, combined his newly achieved position as the number one player of Ordina Scale with wielding the sword to one-hit kill the boss monsters. The hooded Yuna sang to motivate the survivors and the monsters were eventually eliminated. Meanwhile, Kikuoka and his squad moved in to apprehend Shigemura, who was found in Argus' server room.

Hooded Yuna returned the memories of the survivors and, as she was made of data from Aincrad, she disappeared as well with Aincrad's final boss defeated.

Some time later, Kirito and Asuna fulfilled their promise to see the meteor shower. Asuna returned the ring to Kirito, asking him to put it properly on her ring finger this time.

It was later revealed that Kikuoka did not arrest Shigemura, who was shown to be the mentor to Kayaba and Sugou as well; rather, Kikouka saw potential in Shigemura's AI system and recruited him to help working on Rath.

New Characters

 * Yuna
 * Doctor Shigemura Tetsuhiro
 * Eiji (Nochizawa Eiji)

Preview
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Trivia

 * A text showing "SAO will return" was shown at the end.

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