It’s not every day that a new series is added to the Toonami line-up, but Sword Art Online will premiere tonight at 2:00 AM EST. Originally scheduled to debut sometime in August, the series will be shown with Aniplex’s new English dub. Bryce Papenbrook (Masaomi Kida in Durarara!!, Rin Okumura in Blue Exorcist) voices Kirito while Cherami Leigh (Lucy Heartfilia in Fairy Tail, Shana in Shakugan no Shana) will be voicing Asuna.
Sword Art Online follows series protagonist Kirito, a teenage boy who logs into a virtual reality MMORPG and soon learns that he can’t log out. Thousands of other players are locked into the game too, and if their HP reaches zero they will die in real life. When it premiered last year in Japan, Sword Art Online was almost an instant hit with a global audience. Between this year’s Anime Boston and Otakon anime conventions, multiple guests who’ve worked on the series have made or will be making an appearance. Aniplex of America will be releasing the series on DVD and limited edition Blu-ray boxsets starting next month.
I covered SAO last year as the series premiered in Japan, and other members of the oprainfall staff have covered the PSP game Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment. We’re interested to hear your thoughts on the English dub after it premieres on Toonami, so share them below!
