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Sword Art Online

One film sits between two seasons and is not optional, and one pair of films retells the first arc from scratch.

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Where to start with Sword Art Online

Watch the 2012 series, then Sword Art Online II, then the film Ordinal Scale, then Alicization. Release order is correct for this franchise. The only real decisions are where the films go and whether to bother with Progressive, and both are easy once somebody tells you.

  1. 1
    Sword Art Online, 25 episodes Sword Art Online

    Covers two arcs, Aincrad in episodes 1 to 14 and Fairy Dance in 15 to 25. The tone shift between them is abrupt and is not a sign you have skipped something.

  2. 2
    Sword Art Online II, 24 episodes Sword Art Online II

    Three arcs across one run. The recap labelled 14.5 contains no new material, and some streaming services renumber everything after it by one, so expect episode numbers to disagree with your list.

  3. 3
    Ordinal Scale Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale

    The 2017 film is set between season two and Alicization, and Alicization picks up shortly after it. Treating it as a skippable side film is the most common mistake made with this franchise.

Then what? Then Alicization, 24 episodes, followed by War of Underworld in its two parts, 12 episodes in 2019 and 11 in 2020. That is the current end of the main line until the announced film Integral Domain. The Progressive films are a separate matter: they retell the first Aincrad year in far more detail from Asuna's point of view, they are only two films deep and cover floors 1 and 5, and they are best watched after the 2012 series rather than instead of it.

A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below — tick anything off in either place.

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The code holds only this franchise. The link opens the tracker with your progress already filled in — good for showing someone where you're at. The image is a picture you can keep anywhere: scan the code on it with a phone, or drag the file back in below.

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Restoring replaces the progress currently saved on this device for the franchise the code belongs to.