Everyone’s favorite “kind of isekai but not really” franchise is back, a new Sword Art Online anime is in the works. The announcement comes just in time for hype surrounding the series to generate based on the date; for those not in the know we’re currently living in the time of the original anime whose story began in November 2022.

Originally a series of novels by Reki Kawahara starting in 2022;  Sword Art Online is a series that follows the adventures of Kirito, a beta tester for the titular game. On launch day, it is revealed that all the game’s players are trapped inside the full dive VR experience, and if they die in the game, they die for real.

Using his extra knowledge as a beta tester and his own gaming prowess, Kirito quickly becomes one of the pre-eminent players of the game, as he works towards freeing all the people trapped within. The original series received a light novel in 2009 and an anime in 2012; followed by further series until September 2020 with Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld.