Aniplex of America to Host Sword Art Online Festival at Anime Expo® 2016

©2014 REKI KAWAHARA/PUBLISHED BY KADOKAWA CORPORATION ASCII MEDIA WORKS/SAOII Project

Event will Feature All-Star English Cast and Exclusive Entertainment to Celebrate the Upcoming Movie in 2017

SANTA MONICA, CA (May 20, 2016) – Aniplex of America is proud to announce that they will be hosting the Sword Art Online Festival at this year’s Anime Expo to celebrate the worldwide release of Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale- in 2017. This exclusive event will be on July 2nd , 2016, (Day 2 of the convention) in Petree Hall (Live Programming 1) and features 11 members of the English dub cast from the series including: Bryce Papenbrook (Kirito), Cherami Leigh (Asuna), Cassandra Lee Morris (Leafa), Stephanie Sheh (Yui), Michelle Ruff (Sinon), Ben Diskin (Death Gun), Christine Cabanos (Silica), Sarah Williams (Lisbeth), Patrick Seitz (Agil), Kirk Thornton (Klein) and Erica

Mendez (Yuuki) along with Alex von David (ADR Script Writer/Director) as the MC. Aniplex of America has also confirmed that they will be welcoming some secret guests who will only be revealed at the event.

Similar to last year’s KILL la KILL English Cast Panel hosted by Aniplex of America, Sword Art Online Festival will feature a wide variety of live entertainment by the cast members, such as live line readings, games, and bloopers. Fans who attend the event will also receive an exclusive giveaway item while supplies last. Details of the giveaway item will be announced at a later date.

“We are excited to bring the Sword Art Online Festival to the fans at this year’s Anime Expo,” says Hideki Goto, President of Aniplex of America. “Every year, our English cast panels are extremely well received by the attendees so we really wanted to wow them this year with a super-charged version of the panel.”

Aniplex of America also plans to make a special announcement regarding Sword Art Online The Movie-Ordinal Scale- at this event.

For more details on Sword Art Online The Movie –Ordinal Scale-, please visit the official homepage at:sao-movie.net/us

About Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale-:

In 2022, the world of virtual reality was turned upside-down by the emergence of a new invention called NerveGear created by the genius programmer Akihiko Kayaba. For the first time ever, NerveGear realized the full-dive functionality and with it, came endless possibilities for VRMMORPGs. In 2026, a new device called Augma was created to compete against NerveGear and its successor, Amusphere. Augma is a next-gen wearable device that omits the full-dive functionality possessed by its predecessors. Instead, it utilizes augmented reality to get players into the game. It is safe, user-friendly and lets users play while maintaining consciousness, making it an instant hit on the market. The most popular game on the system is “Ordinal Scale” (aka: OS), an ARMMORPG developed exclusively for Augma. Asuna and the gang have already been playing OS for a while by the time Kirito decides to join them. They’re all about to find out that Ordinal Scale isn’t all fun and games…

About Aniplex of America Inc.

Aniplex of America Inc. (Santa Monica, California) is a subsidiary of Aniplex Inc. (headquartered in Tokyo, Japan) – a Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) group. Aniplex Inc. is the leading provider of anime contents, along with music production and distribution in Japan. Aniplex of America has launched fan-favorite Blu-ray and DVD titles including the Sword Art Online series, Your lie in April,

KILL la KILL, Bakemonogatari, Fate/Zero, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Blue Exorcist, NISEKOI, OREIMO 2, Magi: The Kingdom of Magic, Expelled From Paradise, The irregular at magic high school, ALDNOAH.ZERO, Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] and DURARARA!!×2. The company’sever-growing line-up of shows includes our most recent titles such as: ERASED, The Asterisk War, OWARIMONOGATARI, Charlotte, Classroom Crisis, WAGNARIA!!3, GOD EATER and HAIFURI (High School Fleet).

About Anime Expo

Anime Expo (AX) brings together fans and industry from Japan, the US, and all over the world for the largest celebration of Japanese pop culture in North America. Anime Expo features the best in Japanese entertainment, music, fashion, and video games. For more information, visitwww.anime-expo.org.

About SPJA

SPJA is a non-profit organization dedicated to popularize and educate the American public about Japanese entertainment and pop culture, as well as provide a forum to facilitate communication between professionals and fans. For more information, please visit www.spja.org.

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