Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale

Plot

In the year 2026, the Augma is released to the public as the successor to the AmuSphere FullDive system due to its function to simulate reality while the player is conscious (augmented reality). The most prominent combat-based game is Ordinal Scale, in which a player's abilities are ranked by ordinal numbers.

Asuna, Lisbeth and Silica encourage Kirito to play OS upon hearing that Aincrad bosses have appeared. Kirito joins Asuna and Klein in a boss fight where the game's mascot, the first AI idol singer Yuna, appears and gives players buff effects as she sings. Kirito fails to achieve anything due to lack of physical strength and quickness. Eiji, the number-two player, aides the group in defeating the boss. Before Asuna makes the killing blow, Eiji whispers the word "Switch," a game mechanic from SAO that she recognizes.

The next night, Asuna joins Klein and his group for another boss fight while waiting for their last group member, unaware that he was injured by Eiji the night before. Asuna proceeds to the fight which is again presided over by Yuna. Klein and his group are ambushed and defeated by the sudden appearance of another boss and Eiji. The following morning, as Kirito practices with OS in a park, a girl in a white hood appears and points off into the distance before disappearing. Kirito meets with Asuna, who theorizes that Eiji was a member of the Knights of the Blood Oath named Nautilus, while Yui deduces that the spawning of the Aincrad bosses line up with the SAO dungeon maps.

Asuna, Lisbeth and Silica enter another fight where Yuna and Eiji appear again. Asuna saves Silica when Eiji pushes her into the boss' path but is hit by the boss and passes out. Asuna realizes her memories of SAO are fading and at a hospital visit with Kirito, learn that the Augma scanned her brain for SAO memories and that it could also happen to other SAO survivors playing OS. Kirito investigates the issue with Sinon during a boss battle, where an SAO player is defeated and a glowing orb floats upward into an OS drone. Yui fails to retrieve it after being locked out by the game. Later, Kirito meets the hooded girl again who repeats her actions from before. Kirito and Yui discover she is pointing towards Touto Technical University.

Kirito goes to the school and meets Professor Tetsuhiro Shigemura who developed Augma, but Shigemura refuses to answer any questions. Before leaving, Kirito notices on Shigemura's desk a picture of a girl who resembles Yuna. Kirito discusses the issue with Kikuoka Seijirou, a government official who informs him that Shigemura's daughter, Yuna, died in SAO. Visiting Asuna's home, Kirito makes a promise to her to get her memories back. Kirito encounters the hooded girl again, revealed to be Yuna. When she tells him his rank is too low, Kirito decides to level up, solo-killing as many bosses as he can with aid from Sinon and Leafa.

Days later, the OS players gather at a stadium for Yuna's concert. In the lower levels, Kirito duels with Eiji who claims he has a way to return Asuna's memories. Kirito wins but Eiji reveals that Shigemura has been harvesting memories of SAO players in an attempt to reconstruct his lost daughter's soul and download her as an AI; having all players in the concert would make removing memories easier. Eiji adds that the drones used for harvesting possess enough power to damage the players' brains, killing them like the NerveGear did in SAO.

As a horde of Aincrad bosses raid the arena, Kirito and Yuna join the battle. Yuna tells Kirito that the Augma has a hidden full-dive feature and he can use it to defeat SAO's 100th floor boss to end the battle. Before diving, Kirito gives Asuna an engagement ring. Entering the Ruby Palace of Floor 100, Kirito, Lisbeth, Silica, Agil and Sinon confront the boss. They are easily defeated until Asuna, Leafa, Klein and several others from ALO and GGO come to their aid. Yui restores their saved abilities from SAO, allowing everyone to defeat the boss. The voice of Akihiko Kayaba congratulates them on their victory and gives Kirito an extremely powerful sword as a reward.

The group returns to the arena still in full-dive where Kirito, now OS's top-ranked player, dispatches the bosses with his new sword as Kikuoka finds Shigemura in the server room of Argus (the defunct company that ran SAO) and arrests him. The hooded Yuna restores the survivors' memories and fades out of existence since she was coded from the Floor 100 boss. Afterwards, Kirito and Asuna fulfill their promise they made to each other in Aincrad, to watch a meteor shower together. Asuna returns Kirito's engagement ring so to properly put it on her hand, which he does.

In a post-credits scene, Kikuoka, who was impressed with Shigemura's attempt at AI and soul reconstruction, recruits Shigemura to Rath.

Production

At the Dengeki Bunko Autumn Festival 2015 on October 4, 2015, it was announced that the light novel series would be adapted into an animated film, with the main staff returning from the anime series. The film takes place after the anime series' second season, Sword Art Online II. It was then revealed at the Dengeki Bunko Haru no Saiten 2016 event on March 13, 2016 that the film is titled Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale. The voice cast from the anime series returned to reprise their roles in the film.

The film's soundtrack is composed by Yuki Kajiura, who also composed the music for the anime series. The soundtrack features 50 tracks, including 5 insert songs performed by Sayaka Kanda. It was released by Aniplex on February 22, 2017. LiSA performed the film's theme song, titled "Catch the Moment". Sayaka Kanda perfroms five songs as Yuna: "Ubiquitous dB", "Longing", "Delete", "Break Beat Bark!" and "Smile For You".

Release

The film premiered in Japan, Southeast Asia and Germany on February 18, 2017. The Asian premieres were distributed by Aniplex and Odex, respectively. There was a premiere event in the United States on March 1, 2017; Eleven Arts distributed and released the film in U.S. theaters on March 9, 2017. Madman Entertainment also released the film at theaters in Australia and New Zealand on March 9, 2017. The English dub will premiere at Anime Boston 2017, with a national release on April 22. Aniplex of America will release the film at theaters in Canada between March 17 and March 19, 2017. Anime Limited will be bringing the film to cinemas in the United Kingdom and Ireland on April 19, 2017. The film will play in about 1,000 theaters worldwide.

A few days after the world premiere, a leak of the film was found online, tracing the source back to Malaysia and Singapore.

Box office

The film on its opening weekend opened at No. 1 at the Japanese box office, debuting in 151 theaters across Japan and grossed a total of ¥425 million from 308,376 admissions. As of March 20, 2017, the film has grossed a total of over ¥2 billion from 1,439,149 admissions, ranking tenth in its fifth weekend. It grossed over US$1.35 million in its first weekend in North America.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 585 audience reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/5. In a review featured on the anime streaming website Crunchyroll, Isaac Akers states "SAO being SAO, this was never going to be a perfectly crafted movie—but it captures so many of the charms of the franchise whilst also avoiding nearly all of its most aggravating faults."