List of Sword Art Online II episodes

Sword Art Online II
Promotional poster of the Sword Art Online II anime series.
Country of origin	Japan
No. of episodes	24
Release
Original network	Tokyo MX
Original release	July 5 – December 20, 2014
Season chronology

The second season of the Sword Art Online anime series, titled Sword Art Online II, was produced by A-1 Pictures and directed by Tomohiko Itō.^[1][2] As with the rest of the series, it follows the adventures of Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya from Reki Kawahara's Sword Art Online light novel series. It is divided into the "Phantom Bullet", "Calibur" and "Mother's Rosario" arcs. The episodes are each 24 minutes in length and adapts Kawahara's light novels from the fifth through the seventh volumes as well as parts of the eight volume.^[3] Having put an end to the SAO incident in 2024 and rescued Asuna Yuuki in Alfheim Online (ALO), Kirito's investigates about a series of murders happening in a virtual reality game called "Gun Gale Online" (GGO), while meeting several new allies as well his greatest enemy—a player known only as "Death Gun" with the ability to kill a person in the real world by killing their virtual avatar.^[4]

The 24-episode series initially ran in Japan from July 5 to December 20, 2014 on Tokyo MX with later airings on Chiba TV, tvk, Teleball, GYT, GTV, MBS, TVA, TVh, TVQ and BS11.^[5] The series was made available as a worldwide simulcast by Aniplex.^[6][7] It was also picked up by Crunchyroll for online simulcast streaming in North America and other select parts of the world.^[8] Daisuki will also stream the series in select European countries.^[9]

Five pieces of theme music are used for this series. The first opening theme is "Ignite" performed by Eir Aoi.^[10][11] The first ending theme is "Startear" performed by Luna Haruna.^[10][12] Since the "Calibur" arc, the second opening theme is "Courage", which is performed by Asuna Yuuki's voice actress, Haruka Tomatsu, while the second ending theme is "No More Time Machine", which is performed by LiSA, and the third ending theme is "Shirushi", also sung by LiSA.

Episode list

Sword Art Online II (Season 2: 2014)

Story arc 3: Phantom Bullet

No.[nb 1]	Official English title Original Japanese title	Director	Writer	Original air date[14][nb 2]	English air date	Refs.
1	"World of Guns" "Jū no Sekai" (銃の世界)	Tomohiko Itō	Tomohiko Itō	July 5, 2014[nb 3]	March 28, 2015[17]	[18][19]
It has been nearly one year since the Sword Art Online incident, and a new VRMMORPG known as Gun Gale Online has taken Japan by storm. One day, as a top-ranked player named Zexceed appears on a streamed broadcast via his avatar, a cloaked man calling himself and his weapon "Death Gun" fires a bullet at Zexceed's avatar through a video screen, causing Zexceed to suddenly convulse and disconnect. A month later, Kazuto Kirigaya is called to meet up with Kikuoka Seijiro of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Virtual Division, who reveals that Zexceed's user was found dead of acute heart failure a few days after his avatar was shot, also showing evidence of a similar case involving the death of a second Gun Gale Online user. As Kirito states his doubts that a game could cause someone's heart to fail, Kikuoka, believing Death Gun is specifically targeting professional GGO players, asks Kazuto to once again take up the role of Kirito and investigate what is causing the victims to die. Remembering all the people who died in SAO, Kazuto thinks over his decision whilst spending time with Asuna at the park. Meanwhile, in the world of GGO, a sniper known as Sinon is in top form.
2	"Cold-Hearted Sniper" "Kōri no Sogeki Shu" (氷の狙撃手)	Shigeki Kawai	Yukie Sugawara	July 12, 2014	April 4, 2015	[20]
In a flashback, on September 14, 2025, Sinon, who had accidentally fallen down a trap chute while navigating a dungeon below SBC Gurokken in GGO, discovers a boss-class monster and decides to die while trying to defeat it. To her surprise, the position she chose for her attack was out of the monster's attack range, and thus, by conserving her ammo and accurately hitting the boss's weak spot, she is eventually able to defeat it and acquire a new sniper rifle, the PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II. In the present day, during an ambush on an enemy squadron, Sinon attempts to snipe a target, but he turns out to be a bodyguard named "Behemoth", who overwhelms her squadron with a minigun. When Sinon and Behemoth are the only ones remaining on the battlefield, Sinon manages to shoot Behemoth with her Hecate while falling from the air, earning her victory in the gunfight, despite suffering severe damage to her avatar. Meanwhile, in Alfheim Online, Kirito plans to tell Asuna about something.
3	"Memories of Fresh Blood" "Senketsu no Kioku" (鮮血の記憶)	Hironori Aoyagi	Munemasa Nakamoto	July 19, 2014	April 11, 2015	[21]
While walking home, Shino Asada, Sinon's real-life counterpart, is bullied by three schoolmates, led by Endou, but they are warded away by her friend Kyōji Shinkawa, who introduced her to GGO in the first place, as a form of immersion therapy for her fear of guns. After talking about their personal lives, Shino leaves for home. There, she tries holding a gun replica, but this induces a flashback to when she was eleven years old; while she was at a postal office with her mother, a man carrying a gun tried to rob the office, shooting an employee and threatening to kill other people. When the robber aimed his gun at her mother, Shino attacked him, wrestled the gun out of his hand, and shot him repeatedly, killing him. The flashback triggers a panic attack from Shino. Meanwhile, Kirito informs Asuna that he will be converting his ALO avatar to GGO, which surprises her, but she approves. As Kazuto, he goes to the hospital to log in to GGO, while his real-life body will be watched by Aki Natsuki, a nurse who oversaw his condition while he was trapped in SAO. Shino logs into GGO as well. Meanwhile, Death Gun overhears an online voice-chat discussing Death Gun before looking at a photo of Sinon, grinning.
4	"GGO (Gun Gale Online)" "GGO"	Hidetoshi Takahashi	Yukie Sugawara	July 26, 2014	April 18, 2015	[22]
Kirito logs into GGO, but becomes baffled as to why his avatar has long hair and feminine qualities. These attributes lead to all of the male players mistaking him for a girl. Without many leads on how to reveal himself to Death Gun, Kirito wanders around the city until he spots Sinon. He explains to her that he wants to find directions to the General Governor's Office to sign up for BoB "(Bullet of Bullets バレット・オブ・バレッツ, Baretto Obu Barettsu)", an intense PvP game mode. Mistaking him for a girl as well, Sinon directs Kirito towards a market to buy weaponry and armor. However, being out of cash, Kirito participates in an arcade game, "Untouchable", an extremely difficult QuickDraw game where the player must dodge the bullets fired from an NPC and then tag him to receive all of the credits placed in for bets. Sinon warns him the game is rigged, but after witnessing a player fail to win the game, Kirito decides to participate. Using the agility and training he acquired from his previous experiences in ALO (Alfheim Online), he is able to dodge all of the bullets and win all of the earnings, which surprises Sinon and other onlookers. Back at the weapon shop, Kirito mulls over the better weapons with the aid of Sinon, and decides to purchase an energy sword called a Photon Sword, then an FN Five-seven at Sinon's request. Back outside, Sinon realizes they only have ten minutes to get to the General Governor's Office and sign up for BoB, but Kirito spots a buggy station and commandeers one of the buggies, taking himself and Sinon to the Office down a highway. Impressed and exhilarated with his driving abilities, Sinon tells Kirito to go faster.
5	"Guns and Swords" "Jū to Ken" (銃と剣)	Daisuke Takashima	Munemasa Nakamoto	August 2, 2014	April 25, 2015	[23]
Kirito and Sinon arrive at the General Governor's Office and go to the terminals to register. Kirito is surprised that the registration asks for his real-life information, and he leaves the fields blank. He is then registered into the same block as Sinon, and both are able to make it to the finals due to the ladder arrangement. Before they can enter BoB, however, there is a qualifying preliminary. Kirito promises to fight Sinon fairly if they are ever opponents. While waiting for the preliminary round to begin, Kirito reveals his gender after an embarrassing incident with Sinon in the changing room, and this creates a rift between them. Sinon demands that he make it to the finals so she can defeat him there, then proclaims her intention of "killing all the strong ones", which causes Kirito to briefly suspect her of being Death Gun. They then meet up with Kyōji in his GGO avatar, Spiegel. When Kirito is transferred to his first battle, he is initially put off-balance in the gunfight, but is able to defeat his first opponent using his Photon Sword. Upon returning to the preliminary waiting area, he is confronted by Death Gun, who Kirito feels he recognizes. Death Gun asks Kirito if he is the "real deal". He then catches a glimpse of a tattoo on Death Gun's wrist and recognizes it as the mark of the SAO Red Player guild "Laughing Coffin".
6	"Showdown in the Wilderness[24]" "Kōya no kettō" (曠野の決闘)	Shunsuke Machitani	Yukito Kizawa	August 9, 2014	May 2, 2015	[25]
Kirito pretends to not understand Death Gun's answer, and Death Gun states that he will kill him, whether or not he is the real Kirito, before leaving. Kirito then has a flashback to his time in SAO, when he and several others battled Laughing Coffin, and notes that he killed two members during that battle. He then realizes that the player who confronted him was actually Death Gun. Sinon later meets up with him and senses that something is wrong, but before Kirito can confide in her, he is teleported to his next duel, which he wins. Eventually, both Kirito and Sinon have made it into the finals. While waiting for Kirito, Sinon begins to feel he is just like her. She becomes frustrated when Kirito calmly walks straight toward her position, seemingly unwilling to dodge her bullet. Sinon fires at him repeatedly, but misses, and she personally confronts him about it. Remembering the promise he made to Sinon, Kirito apologizes and sets the rules for a rematch: he would move away by ten meters, and they would start fighting once he throws a bullet to the ground. Despite Sinon's Hecate's one-hundred percent hit rate at such a range, Kirito shows his confidence in his abilities. When the rematch begins, Kirito is able to slice Sinon's bullet in half and hold her at the tip of his Photon Sword. Realizing that Kirito predicted the bullet path by watching her eyes, Sinon realizes that his strength goes beyond a virtual game and asks him what he is afraid of. He implies to her his experiences in SAO are not strength, but skill. He then asks her to surrender, since he doesn't want to defeat a girl. In anger, she does so, stating that next time would be different.
7	"Crimson Memories" "Kurenai no kioku" (紅の記憶)	Shuu Watanabe	Yukito Kizawa	August 16, 2014	May 9, 2015	[26]
At the Kirigaya residence in the real world, Suguha shows Kazuto a news article about the participants of the BoB tournament, among which was Kirito's name. Although Kazuto tries to hide the fact that he converted his avatar to GGO, Suguha tells him that she already found out from Asuna. After a flashback of Kazuto's talk with Asuna the previous day, Suguha tells him that she is worried due to Kazuto having a frightening expression when he returned home last night. Kazuto then calms Suguha down by promising that he would return. Meanwhile, Sinon vents her anger about Kirito to Kyōji, who then tells her that she isn't acting like her normal self and, after a short conversation, tries to hug her, but is rejected by her. At the hospital, after seeing that Kazuto was troubled by something, Aki offers a free counseling session. When Kazuto tells her about how he killed the Laughing Coffin members in SAO, she tells him that she cannot help him with that burden, but reminds him that he killed them in order to protect others. After calming down, Kazuto logs into GGO. Meanwhile, in Alfheim Online, after completing a boss fight, Asuna, Leafa (Suguha), Klein, Lisbeth, and Silica get ready to watch the broadcast of the BoB tournament. In GGO, Sinon meets Kirito at the General Governor's Office, and they tell each other that they will not lose.
8	"Bullet of Bullets" "Baretto Obu barettsu" (バレット・オブ・バレッツ)	Hirokazu Yamada	Yukie Sugawara	August 23, 2014	May 16, 2015	[27]
While waiting for BoB to begin, Kirito assumes that Death Gun will sign into the tournament under a different name, given the perfect stage for him, and vows to find him and face him again. After much persistence, Kirito is able to convince Sinon to explain to him the details of the BoB royale. After she explains the rules and regulations, Kirito stops Sinon from leaving and asks her whether there were BoB participants that she did not know about. He then finds out that, aside from him, there are three other players who had not participated in the previous tournaments. Kirito then explains to her his motivation behind that question, and Sinon theorizes from his explanation that he is an SAO survivor, but is unable to get confirmation due to the BoB royale beginning. Later on, during the tournament, Sinon decides to target Dyne and Pale Rider. Having found a sniping position on the west side of the bridge that Dyne had crossed, she prepares to take action, but is stopped by Kirito, who instructs her to not shoot and just watch Dyne and Pale Rider's battle. After Pale Rider defeats Dyne, he is suddenly shot with a silenced stun bullet and, after several moments, the shooter, Death Gun, reveals himself from the bridge. As Death Gun prepares to finish off Pale Rider, Kirito yells at the confused Sinon to shoot him before he does.
9	"Death Gun" "Desu· Gan" (デス·ガン)	Yoshihiko Iwata	Yukie Sugawara	August 30, 2014	May 30, 2015	[28]
Sinon shoots at Death Gun, but he dodges the bullet and then kills Pale Rider with his pistol. Death Gun then introduces himself and his gun to the spectators, finishing his monologue with a catchphrase used by PoH, the founder of Laughing Coffin. Kirito's friends, who are watching BoB in ALO, realize that Death Gun was part of Laughing Coffin, and Asuna logs out to find Kikuoka for answers. Meanwhile, Sinon attempts to find out Death Gun's name, but he was not shown on the satellite scan, thus Sinon assumes that he traveled through the battlefield underwater. She and Kirito then decide to follow Death Gun, eventually going to the Lost City. However, since they could not find him along the way, they look for him during the next scan. Seeing that two players, Sterben and Gunner X (銃士Ｘ), were present in the city, they decide to go after Gunner X, as his name sounded like Death Gun (死銃 Shijū) backwards. During the scan, they find Gunner X at a stadium, while Sterben abruptly vanishes from the city. The two rush to the stadium and, after confirming that there was a sniper, decide to split up. However, before Sinon could take a sniping position, she is suddenly shot with a stun bullet. Death Gun, who is actually Sterben, appears and proclaims that he is going to kill her. Sinon tries to defend herself, but then sees that Death Gun is carrying the Type 54 Black Star, the same weapon she used to kill the robber at the post office.
10	"Pursuer of Death" "Shi no tsuigeki sha" (死の追撃者)	Makoto Hoshino	Munemasa Nakamoto	September 6, 2014	June 6, 2015	[29]
Before Death Gun can shoot Sinon, he is interrupted by Kirito, who injures him with a sniper rifle and then throws a smoke grenade, which forces him to retreat. Kirito then grabs the stunned Sinon and flees to a nearby buggy and horse rental point. While commandeering a buggy, he orders Sinon to shoot the only functional mechanical horse to make it unusable. However, Sinon is unable to exert force on the trigger, and Death Gun catches up and takes control of the mechanical horse. During the subsequent chase, Death Gun fires at Kirito and Sinon with his pistol, terrifying the latter. When Sinon tries to shoot at Death Gun, Kirito is forced to help her pull the trigger. Though the shot misses Death Gun, it hits the fuel tank of a truck, which explodes and forces Death Gun to abandon his horse, allowing Kirito and Sinon to escape. The two then drive into the desert, where they find a cave that they hide in to avoid the next satellite scan. Inside, both Sinon and Kirito confide to each other that they have killed someone in the past.
11	"The Meaning of Strength" "Tsuyosa no Imi" (強さの意味)	Daisuke Takashima	Munemasa Nakamoto	September 13, 2014	June 13, 2015	[30]
After hearing that Kirito had killed people in SAO, Sinon asks him how he was able to overcome the memories of the people he killed, but Kirito reveals that he didn't overcome them, instead accepting the weight of them, since it was all he could do to atone for his actions. Then, while thinking about how Death Gun was able to stop the heart of players by shooting them in the game, Kirito realizes that Death Gun did not shoot him with the pistol, but with the sniper instead. Based on this, Kirito deduces that Death Gun had to make preparations in real life to be able to kill the players with his pistol, and that he could've seen players putting their real-life details in the General Governor's Office since it was an open space and the terminals did not offer much privacy. Kirito then brings up the idea that Death Gun could have used his mantle to spy on other players without being noticed. After some thinking, Kirito realizes that Death Gun was actually two people: one shoots the player in-game, the other kills the player in real life by injecting them with a lethal drug. Meanwhile, Seijuro Kikuoka logs onto ALO as Chrysheight under Asuna's request and, after Yui reveals all the information on the incident that she had gathered, Chrysheight explains the situation to Asuna and the others. Asuna then requests Kazuto's whereabouts and decides to go to him in real life. Back in GGO, Kirito and Sinon decide on a course of action and are surprised to find out that they were being filmed by one of the cameras.
12	"Bullet of a Phantom" "Maboroshi no jūdan" (幻の銃弾)	Hiroshi Kimura	Yukito Kizawa	September 20, 2014	June 20, 2015	[31]
After checking the map, Kirito finds that twenty-four players had already been killed, while only Dark Wind and himself are shown on the map. Seeing as, even accounting for Sinon, Death Gun, and Pale Rider, the numbers of those killed and those who are still alive did not match the total, he speculates that Death Gun had more than one accomplice in charge of the killings in the real world. Fearing that Dark Wind might also be a target, Kirito and Sinon decide to set up the former as bait, while Sinon snipes Dark Wind and Death Gun from a distance when they arrive. Sometime later, while Dark Wind is closing in on Kirito, Death Gun attempts to kill Kirito himself. Sensing his intent to kill, Kirito manages to sense where he would be shot from and barely manages to dodge the bullet. Noticing a sniper shot, Dark Wind immediately hides behind an obstacle for cover, but he is then shot by Sinon and killed. Sinon then turns her attention to Death Gun, but, as she had already fired her first shot, which wouldn't be detected, Death Gun is able to see her targeting him. The two of them fire at each other at the same time and, while Death Gun manages to destroy Sinon's scope, she manages to destroy Death Gun's weapon. However, as Kirito is about to strike Death Gun, the latter pulls out an estoc and counters the attack. After having a conversation with Kirito, Death Gun begins assaulting him with overwhelming speed.
13	"Phantom Bullet" "Fantomu Baretto" (ファントム・バレット)	Shigeki Kawai	Yukito Kizawa	September 27, 2014	June 27, 2015	[32]
Death Gun continues his assault on Kirito, greatly weakening him. While they are fighting, Kirito has a flashback to the meeting before the Laughing Coffin raid in Sword Art Online, recalling a strikingly similar player with the same red eyes as Death Gun. Kirito deduces that Death Gun is really Red-Eyed XaXa, the second-in-command of Laughing Coffin. As XaXa moves in for the final blow, Sinon creates the illusion of a bullet path using her experience in the game alone, causing XaXa to use his invisibility cloak to avoid it. However, Kirito pulls out his sidearm and fires it at XaXa, stopping the cloaking process and rendering him vulnerable. Using the willpower and strength he possessed in SAO, Kirito defeats XaXa, cutting him cleanly in half. Before he dies, XaXa reassures Kirito that their battle is not over. Kirito and Sinon then come to an agreement to end the BoB tournament by committing double in-game suicide using a grenade, crowning them both the winner, but not before they reveal to each other their real names. In the real world, while logging out, Kirito finds that another BoB participant besides Pale Rider was suddenly disconnected, confirming his suspicions that Death Gun has more than one accomplice. After logging out, Kyōji visits Shino, who, after making romantic advances on her, pulls out a syringe and reveals himself to be Death Gun's second accomplice in the real-world killings. Kyōji then tries to kill Shino, but Kazuto bursts through Shino's door and attacks Kyōji, holding him off while telling Shino, who recognizes Kazuto as Kirito, to run.
14	"A Small Step" "Chisana Ippo" (小さな一歩)	Tomohiko Itō	Yukie Sugawara	October 4, 2014	July 11, 2015	[33]
While Kazuto tries to defend himself against Kyōji, he leaves an opening for the latter to attempt to inject him with the poison used to kill Death Gun's victims. Shino then knocks Kyōji out with a stereo before checking on Kazuto's condition, and finds that there was an electrode stuck to the part of his chest where Kyōji had tried to inject him, which protected him against the syringe. Several days later, Endou calls out to Shino, from whom she tries to demand money. When Shino refuses, Endou takes out a model gun and threatens her. However, when she unsuccessfully tries to fire it, Shino takes the gun from Endou and shows her that the safety needed to be disabled to fire, then shoots a can with it before returning it back to Endou. Shino is then picked up by Kazuto, who takes her to meet with Kikuoka to report on the Death Gun incident. During the report, it is revealed that the third conspirator in the Death Gun murders, another SAO survivor named Johnny Black, escaped while Kyōji and XaXa (who was Kyōji's brother) were both institutionalized. After that, Kazuto takes Shino to the Dicey Cafe, where he introduces her to Asuna and Rika (Lisbeth). Kazuto then reveals that he had told the two girls about Shino's past and explains that he had them help him find a certain person that she should meet. The person is revealed to have been a woman, named Sachie Oosawa, who was working at the post office during the robbery. Sachie thanks Shino for saving her life and tells her that she was pregnant at the time, so Shino had also saved the life of her daughter, Mizue. Kazuto then explains that he wants Shino to think about the people that she had saved by killing the robber and thus be able to forgive herself for it. As a result, Shino bursts into tears of happiness.
14.5	"Debriefing" "Debriefing"			October 11, 2014	N/A[34]	[35]
Recap of Episodes 1–14, narrated by Shino.

Story arc 4: Calibur

No.	Official English title[36] Original Japanese title	Director	Writer	Original air date[14]	English air date	Refs.
15	"The Queen of the Lake" "Mizūmi no joō" (湖の女王)	Shuu Watanabe	Atsushi Takayama Munemasa Nakamoto	October 18, 2014	July 18, 2015	[37]
One day at the end of the year, Suguha shows Kazuto a news article about the legendary item, the Holy Sword Excalibur, being discovered in ALO. They then call Asuna, Klein, Lisbeth, Silica, and Sinon to challenge the dungeon in the sky of Jötunheimr, where Excalibur was located. After preparing their items at Lisbeth's arms shop and purchasing potions for the adventure, the group enters Jötunheimr via a secret passageway in Alne. At the end of the tunnel, they reach the top of Jötunheimr and Leafa calls Tonkii, a flying evil-god-class monster that they had befriended several months ago. The group climbs on Tonkii's back and asks it to take them to the dungeon. However, along the way, Tonkii suddenly dives downward and stops at an altitude where they could see the ground. There, they see that players were cooperating with the humanoid evil-god-class monsters to massacre Tonkii's kin, the beast evil-god-class monsters. As they watch the scene, a giant NPC, the Queen of the Lake Urðr, appears behind them. She explains that the massacre was ordered by the king of the giants, Þrym, who once threw the Holy Sword Excalibur into Urðr's Spring and caused the world of Jötunheimr to turn into an icy wasteland. She then states that if all of Tonkii's kin are slaughtered, she would lose her power and this would allow Þrym to invade Alfheim. To prevent this, Urðr requests the fairies to retrieve the Holy Sword Excalibur from the bottom of the ice dungeon, called Þrymheimr.
16	"King of the Giants" "Kyojin no Ō" (巨人の王)	Hidetoshi Takahashi	Munemasa Nakamoto Ryôsuke Suzuki	October 25, 2014	July 25, 2015	[38]
At the entrance to Thrymheim, Yui explains that the quest the group was given was created by the Cardinal System's Automatic Quest Generation Function and that if they do not succeed in their quest, a final war event, Ragnarok, will be triggered and the world of ALO will be subsequently destroyed, something the Cardinal System is capable of doing. Because they had worked so hard to develop their avatars, the group becomes more determined to finish the quest. At the end of the second floor of Thrymheimr, the group encounters two minotaurs, and they are forced to rely on Sword Skills that could deal elemental damage to them in addition to physical damage, but also leave the player rigid for a few seconds after the skill is used up. With Kirito revealing his new technique of using consecutive Sword Skills with each of his swords to avoid the period of rigidity, they are able to defeat the two minotaurs. Later, after defeating the boss guarding the entrance to the lowest floor of the castle, they encounter a female NPC trapped in an ice cage along the way. Although the others insist that it is a trap and plan to avoid her, Klein, captivated by the woman's beauty, ignores their advice and frees the woman, who introduces herself as Freyja. Instead of running away, Freyja asks to join the group and Kirito reluctantly agrees to the request. After preparing for the final battle by recharging their buffs, also receiving a maximum health bonus from Freyja, the group enters the throne room, where they are met by the massive king of the frost giants, Thrym.
17	"Excalibur" "Ekusukyaribā" (エクスキャリバー)	Hirokazu Yamada	Yukie Sugawara	November 1, 2014	August 1, 2015	[39]
Thrym engages the group in battle, and they are supported by Freyja, who overwhelms Thrym with her own attacks. Thrym retaliates by freezing most of the group with an ice breath, then sending them flying backward with a powerful stomp of his foot. Just as he is about to finish them off, the uninjured Sinon distracts Thrym while the others search for a large golden hammer purported by Freyja to belong to her family, which is essential in defeating him. Kirito finds the hammer and throws it to Freyja, who catches it and then suddenly transforms into Thor, the Norse god of thunder, to everyone's shock. Thor, enraged at Thrym for stealing his hammer, then joins the group in the fight against Thrym. Eventually, they manage to overwhelm him before Thor finishes him off. As a reward for aiding him in Thrym's defeat, Thor grants Klein with Mjölnir, much to his dissatisfaction. A secret staircase then opens up, which leads the group to the bottom of Þrymheimr, and Excalibur. Kirito manages to pull it out of the frozen puddle, but it causes Þrymheimr to fall apart. As the floor they are on plunges down a chasm, they are saved by Tonkii, and Kirito, knowing that Excalibur is too heavy for him to jump onto Tonkii with, throws it down the chasm, but Sinon retrieves it with a magic-assisted arrow. She gives Excalibur back to Kirito under the condition that he remember her every time he uses the sword earning jealous and angry looks from every one. The group then observes as the chasm is flooded with water and Yggdrasil's roots extend to its surface, causing new trees to grow. Urðr and her sisters Verdandi and Skuld appear and thank them for saving Jötunheimr, and Urðr gifts Kirito with Excalibur. Sometime later, in the real world, Kazuto, Suguha, and Shino test out a device that converts real-time footage into pseudo-3D for Yui to interact in before having lunch with the rest of the group, celebrating the conclusion of the quest.

Story arc 5: Mother's Rosario

No.	Official English title[36] Original Japanese title	Director	Writer	Original air date[14]	English air date	Refs.
18	"The Forest House" "Mori no Ie" (森の家)	Kosaya	Munemasa Nakamoto	November 8, 2014	August 8, 2015	[40]
During a date at Andrew's (Agil) cafe, Kazuto and Asuna start talking about their old home in Aincrad. Andrew tells them about the revealed contents of the upcoming ALO update, including the introduction of the 21st-30th floors of New Aincrad. On Christmas Eve, when the update takes place, the group challenges the 21st Floor Boss, and after a fierce battle, the group manages to reach the 22nd Floor, and Kirito and Asuna purchase their old home again. Later on, as the group does homework at the house, Lisbeth asks Asuna if she heard of stories about Absolute Sword, an unbeatable player who had likely converted his or her avatar from another game and was challenging other players at an island on the 24th Floor. As Asuna was away during the New Year and did not have access to the Internet, she is unaware of the story. The group decides to challenge Absolute Sword, but Leafa and Lisbeth are all beaten easily. Silica notes that players would likely continue to challenge the mysterious player as they are betting a powerful 11-hit Original Sword Skill. Kirito also fights Absolute Sword and loses. Asuna decides to challenge the player herself, but she discovers that it is already past her dinnertime. Before she logs out, she asks Lisbeth if Absolute Sword could be an SAO survivor. Lisbeth replies that she asked Kirito what he thought about Absolute Sword after battling him or her; he replied that the player could not have been an SAO survivor, as his Dual Blades skill would have been given to them instead of him.
19	"Absolute Sword" "Zekken" (絶剣)	Shigeki Kawai	Munemasa Nakamoto	November 15, 2014	August 15, 2015	[41]
After agreeing to meet everyone the next day, Asuna logs out of ALO to have dinner with her mother Kyouko in the real world. Dissatisfied with her daughter being a gamer, Kyouko has hired a personal tutor for Asuna so she could speed up her education, and that she was given an application for an oriented high school that would be able to efficiently teach her for her to go to college at a faster rate. Asuna also realizes that Kyouko investigated Kazuto, whom she objects to their relationship. Asuna abruptly leaves, but not before insulting her mother. In her room, Asuna laments about how she wanted to stay by Kazuto's side and the fact that, while she may have been powerful in SAO, she was powerless in the real world. The next day, Asuna meets with Kirito on the 24th Floor of New Aincrad, and Kirito shares his impressions of Absolute Sword. Leafa, Lisbeth, and Silica then arrive and remind them that Asuna had a duel to get to. At the island, Asuna discovers that Absolute Sword was actually a girl named Yuuki. Asuna challenges Yuuki and finds out how skillful she is. During the duel, Asuna tries activating a rapier Sword Skill, Quadruple Pain, but Yuuki manages to block her attacks and then activates her own Sword Skill. Suffering heavy blows, Asuna activates her Original Sword Skill, Starry Tear. However, while she had used up her last attack, Yuuki's Sword Skill is continuous. However, before she could defeat Asuna, Yuuki stops her assault, then states that she was satisfied with the duel. Yuuki then takes Asuna to Aincrad, where she asks for her help.
20	"Sleeping Knights" "Surīpingu Naitsu" (スリーピング・ナイツ)	Un Kokusai	Munemasa Nakamoto Ryôsuke Suzuki	November 22, 2014	August 22, 2015	[42]
Yuuki takes Asuna to an inn in Ronbaru and introduces her to the other members of the Sleeping Knights: Jun, Nori, Siune, Talken and Tecchi. Yuuki then reveals that the guild wanted Asuna's help in defeating the next Floor Boss with just one party. Siune explains that the group wanted to defeat the boss in order to etch their names on the Monument of Swordsmen, as they would not be able to adventure together after winter. After some thinking, Asuna agrees to help. Sometime later, while she is walking to the Teleport Gate plaza, Kyouko deactivates Asuna from the game and they have a disagreement. Asuna decides to go to a park in another residential area and considers calling Kazuto, but decides that she did not want to expose her weakness to him. The next day, she meets up with the Sleeping Knights in ALO and they easily manage to reach the boss room, but Asuna detects several other players hiding near there. Though the players claim they are waiting for their friends, Asuna realizes they were actually spying on their battle to study the boss without sacrificing their own men. After the Sleeping Knights and Asuna are defeated and re-spawn in Ronbaru, Asuna tells the others what she discovered and they decide to rush to the boss room again before the guild had enough time to gather a raid group. At the boss room, they find a large amount of players gathered at the door. As the guild rejects the request of the Sleeping Knights to let them try again, Yuuki declares that they would fight it out and attacks the raid group's leader. At that point, the rest of the raid party arrives, but Kirito appears, having followed them, and blocks their path.
21	"Swordsman's Memorial" "Kenshi no Hi" (剣士の碑)	Yasuyuki Fuse	Atsushi Takayama Munemasa Nakamoto	November 29, 2014	August 29, 2015	[43]
While Kirito battles the raid party's reinforcements, the Sleeping Knights engage the forces blocking the path to the boss room. However, seeing that their assault was useless due to the guild's healers, Asuna asks Siune to manage the healing herself and uses Flashing Penetrator to break through to the healers while killing the group's leader. After the healers are disposed of, followed by the rest of the players, Asuna and the others enter the boss room. During the boss battle, Asuna deduces the boss's weak point and orders Yuuki to use a Sword Skill. Following Asuna's suggestion to use Tecchi as a stepping stone, Yuuki defeats the boss with her signature Original Sword Skill. With the mission concluded, the group agrees to celebrate at Asuna's in-game home. While conversing about various things, Asuna asks whether she could join the Sleeping Knights and notices the unpleasant reactions of the others. The group then goes to the Monument of Swordsmen, where they take a picture. Afterwards, Yuuki accidentally addresses Asuna as her elder sister. Since Yuuki also did so back in the boss room, Asuna points this out to her and Yuuki unexpectedly starts crying and abruptly logs out.
22	"Journey's End" "Tabiji no Hate" (旅路の果て)	Yasuto Nishikata	Yukie Sugawara	December 6, 2014	September 12, 2015	[44]
Three days later after the incident at the Monument of Swordsmen, Asuna tries asking Siune about Yuuki's behavior. She responds that Yuuki was trying to avoid Asuna for her own sake, then asks Asuna to forget about the Sleeping Knights before logging out. At school, Asuna meets up with Kazuto, who gives her the address to a hospital where a medical FullDive machine, the Medicuboid, was being tested. At the hospital, Asuna meets Doctor Kurahashi, Yuuki's supervisor, who explains the Medicuboid's usage for patients in terminal care. Kurahashi then reveals that Yuuki was suffering from AIDS due to an infection via blood transfusion during complicated labor. After Asuna asks why Yuuki started using the Medicuboid, Kurahashi explains that he had her put in a clean room at his own request so she would not risk further infection, and reveals that Yuuki had been living inside the machine for three years straight, not returning to the real world at all. Asuna then learns about Yuuki's elder twin sister, who died the year before, causing her to break down in tears. Seeing this, Yuuki communicates with Asuna via the Medicuboid, asking her to meet at the place where they first met in ALO. Asuna uses the AmuSphere in the next room to log in to the game and rushes to Yuuki's location. There, the two talk, during which Yuuki expresses her wish of going to school again.
23	"Beginning of a Dream" "Yume no Hajimari" (夢の始まり)	Shigeki Kawai	Yukie Sugawara	December 13, 2014	September 19, 2015	[45]
On the day after Asuna's reunion with Yuuki, Asuna takes a Bidirectional Communication Probe to guide Yuuki around the school. Yuuki takes part in the lectures and becomes popular with her classmates. Afterwards, Asuna takes Yuuki to the old Konno residence, which Yuuki reveals is about to be torn down soon, so she wished to see it for one last time. She then admits that by seeing her house she realized how her mother had been surrounding her with her feelings. Asuna tells Yuuki about her relationship with her own mother and asks Yuuki how to be as strong as her. However, Yuuki says that she was not strong, but instead, she did not feel like she had time to waste, so she would always be honest with her feelings. She then recommends Asuna to talk with her mother and share what she felt. Using Yuuki's advice, Asuna asks Kyouko to log in to ALO with her so she could show it to her. Kyouko reluctantly accepts and uses Asuna's sub account to log in. At the Forest House, Kyouko is reminded of her parents' home. Asuna then tells her mother about how happy her parents were of her and how they wished to protect their home so Kyouko would have a place to return to. Asuna then reveals that she realized how life was not about just doing things for oneself and how the happiness of others could make one happy as well, thus she desires to remain in her current school where she could support her loved ones. The next morning, Kyouko tells Asuna that if she planned to support someone, she had to be strong herself, thus she would have to work hard on her grades to get into a university and whether Asuna would have to transfer would depend on her progress. Asuna accepts her mother's proposal before leaving.
24	"Mother's Rosario" "Mazāzu rozario" (マザーズ・ロザリオ)	Tomohiko Itō	Tomohiko Itō	December 20, 2014	September 26, 2015	[46]
Months after Asuna's discussion with her mother, she receives a message from Kurahashi that Yuuki is dying and learns that nothing more could be done. While holding Yuuki's hand, Asuna realizes that Yuuki wanted to return to the virtual world, and Kurahashi allows her to FullDive. At the island where Asuna and Yuuki first met, Yuuki creates a scroll for her Original Sword Skill and passes it to Asuna in hopes that it would protect her. The members of the Sleeping Knights, along with Kirito, Klein, Leafa, Lisbeth, Silica, Sinon, Yui, and numerous other fairies arrive to cheer Yuuki on in her final moments, all having been notified by Asuna so that Yuuki would not have a lonely farewell. Yuuki then tells Asuna how she had always asked herself what her reason was for living if she was destined to die anyway, then says that she had found the reason, as her last moments were truly fulfilling. Before Yuuki's death, Asuna vows to meet her in another world. A week later, at Yuuki's memorial service, Asuna meets with An Shiun, Siune's real-life counterpart, whose condition is improving. They learn from Kazuto and Kurahashi that they were talking about applying the Bidirectional Communication Probe for medical FullDive technology, Yuuki having provided more than enough data for the device. When Asuna is surprised that the Medicuboid designs came from an external helper, Kurahashi states that the helper was a professor named Rinko Koujiro, who previously took care of Akihiko Kayaba during the SAO Incident, thus the Medicuboid designs actually came from Akihiko.

Sword Art Offline II

Title	Packaged in Japan with
"Sword Art Offline Two 1" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono Ichi" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その1)	Volume 1[47]
"Sword Art Offline Two 2" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono Ni" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その2)	Volume 2[48]
"Sword Art Offline Two 3" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono San" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その3)	Volume 3[49]
"Sword Art Offline Two 4" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono Shi" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その4)	Volume 4[50]
"Sword Art Offline Two 5" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono Go" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その5)	Volume 5[51]
"Sword Art Offline Two 6" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono Roku" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その6)	Volume 6[52]
"Sword Art Offline Two 7" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono Nana" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その7)	Volume 7[53]
"Sword Art Offline Two 8" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono Hachi" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その8)	Volume 8[54]
"Sword Art Offline Two 9" "Sōdo Āto Ofurain Tsū Sono Kyuu" (そーどあーと・おふらいん　つー その9)	Volume 9[55]

Notes

1. On some streaming platform like Daisuki, Episode 14.5 were labelled as 15 with all episodes after labelled with episode number one higher than others (e.g. episode 15 labelled as #16) due to system restriction.^[13]
2. Sword Art Online II premiered in Tokyo MX's Saturday 23:30 (11:30pm JST) time slot.^[15]
3. The first episode was screened at special events held in the United States, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan before the television premiere between June 29 and July 4, 2014.^[15][16]

References

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3. "Sword Art Online II's July Premiere, New Visual Unveiled". Anime News Network. March 16, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
4. "INTRODUCTION Phantom Bullet ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
5. "ON AIR Phantom Bullet ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
6. "Sword Art Online II Set for Worldwide Simulcast". Anime News Network. May 2, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
7. Green, Scott (April 20, 2014). ""Sword Art Online II" Worldwide Simulcast Confirmed". Crunchyroll. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
8. Macias, Patrick (May 22, 2014). "Crunchyroll to Stream "Sword Art Online II"". Crunchyroll. Retrieved May 23, 2014.
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10. "THEME SONG PhantomBullet ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
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12. "Luna Haruna to Sing Sword Art Online II's Ending Theme". Anime News Network. May 2, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
13. "Daisuki.net - 【DAISUKI.net Episode Update SIMULCAST】Sword... - Facebook". facebook.com. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
14. "ソードアート･オンラインⅡ". Media Arts Database. Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
15. "Anime Expo to Host Sword Art Online II Premiere Event with Reki Kawahara, abec". Anime News Network. May 17, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
16. "WORLD PREMIERE ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
17. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-02-14/sword-art-online-ii-english-dub-to-run-on-toonami/.84458
18. "電撃 - "ソードアート・オンラインII ワールドプレミア"の模様をレポート！ 『SAOII』アフレコでのエピソードなども明らかに" (in Japanese). Dengeki Online. June 29, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
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37. "STORY Calibur ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
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41. "STORY Mother's Rosario ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
42. "STORY Mother's Rosario ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
43. "STORY Mother's Rosario ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
44. "STORY Mother's Rosario ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
45. "STORY Mother's Rosario ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
46. "STORY Mother's Rosario ソードアート・オンライン" (in Japanese). Aniplex. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
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55. "Blu-ray&DVD/CD - ソードアート・オンライン". ソードアート・オンライン. Retrieved 9 May 2016.

External links

• Official anime website (Japanese)
• Official website (English)
• Official Adult Swim website