AFTERWORD

It’s been an entire year since the last time, but I would like to thank you for reading the sixteenth volume of Sword Art Online, titled Alicization Exploding.

The battle in Central Cathedral wrapped up, the focus of the story expanded from the human realm to the entire Underworld…and then I left you hanging for much longer than usual. I’m sorry for that. In this volume, Asuna finally touches down on the battlefield, and there are hints that the old familiar gang is about to get involved, so I’m hoping that I can get back to the usual pace and rush through the end of the Alicization arc. Kirito is under protection in this volume, just as he was in the last one, but I have a feeling that he’s about to break out and play a huge role again!

The subtitle Exploding was appropriate for the content of the story in a variety of ways. The first few titles, like Beginning and Turning, were nice and punchy, but I feel as if these English terms are getting longer and more difficult to pronounce, so I’ll try to find a shorter one next time. As for the content, as the chapter title “Battle for the Underworld” suggests, the first half of the book is almost like an ensemble war story, with characters jumping in and out of the fray. So I tried switching from my usual third-person-limited narrative style to a third-person-omniscient style instead. Hopefully no one was too surprised by information popping up that the viewpoint characters couldn’t have known!

I was thinking of writing a bit of a personal update, but my life continues to be a very predictable one, with no real new topics to discuss…I haven’t seriously played an MMORPG in a few years, but I don’t have the time to pick one up, so instead, I tried out a bit of one of the modern open-world Western RPGs on PS4. All I can say is that it’s awe-inspiring. The map’s so huge, and there’s so much freedom to do stuff that I waste my time on frivolous things until I forget what I was supposed to be doing in the main quest. Once they get head-mounted VR displays and motion controllers going, I’ll never come back! It makes the dream of a game like SAO more real to me. I told Futami, a game producer with Bandai Namco Entertainment, to make a game where you can adventure “throughout the entire Underworld!” He just gave me a smile and stared into empty space.

And now it’s time for the usual acknowledgments. To my illustrator abec, who made Asuna’s cutting-edge Stacia design so beautiful and cute (and Sheyta, Renly, and the goblin chieftains are great!), and to my editor Miki, who stayed up late listening to me chuckle over drinks, despite being the editor in chief, thank you so much! See you again for the next volume!

Reki Kawahara—June 2015