Sakura-Con to Host Sword Art Online Mega Pack Guest Line-Up

Being the huge SAO fans we are, we were absolutely ecstatically delighted and rather surprised to discover that Sakura-Con would be hosting several musical guests and voice actors from SAO, as well as the creator of SAO. It may not be April yet, but fans of SAO may want to begin stocking up on merchandise for autographs.



Via Anime News Network

The organizers of Sakura-Con announced on Friday that Sword Art Online creator Reki Kawahara will appear at the March 29-31 convention in Seattle.

Kawahara debuted with his light novel work Accel World in 2008 and followed it up with Sword Art Online. The television anime adaptation of Accel World premiered last April and Viz Media streamed the series as it aired in Japan. Viz Media also added the series to its upcoming Neon Alley lineup.

The anime adaptation of Sword Art Online began streaming on Crunchyroll as it aired in July. The story revolves around a boy named Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya who enters a virtual-reality, massively multi-player online (MMO) world called "Sword Art Online." There is no escape from this world unless the player clears the game, but "game over" means the death of the player. Aniplex USA licensed the series for North American release.

Kawahara has over 10 million copies of his novels in print.

Sakura-Con stated that Kawahara is part of its "Sword Art Online Mega Pack" guest line-up, which will include a Sword Art Online concert. LiSA, Eir Aoi, Haruka Tomatsu, and Luna Haruna all performed themes for the series. Aniplex of America brought over LiSA's Sword Art Online single, "crossing field," last August, and the company revealed during its live-streaming panel on Friday that it will offer a special exclusive at the convention.