Earlier today in the April issue of Kadokawa's Dengeki G's Comic, it has been revealed that the "second part" of the manga adaptation of Reki Kawahara's Sword Art Online: Progressive novels will launch in the magazine in April with a new title and artist!
The new manga will be titled Sword Art Online: Progressive - Hōei no Barcarole, and artist Shiomi Miyoshi is drawing the manga. The new title shares the same title as the novel series' third volume.
Yen Press publishes the manga in North America, and it describes the story as:
Yuuki Asuna was a top student who spent her days at cram school and preparing for her high school entrance exams - but that was before she borrowed her brother's virtual reality game system and wound up trapped in Sword Art Online with ten thousand other frightened players. As time passes, Asuna fears what will become of her life outside the fantasy realm - the failure she might seem in the eyes of her peers and parents.
Unwilling to wait on the sidelines for more experienced gamers to beat the game, Asuna employs her study habits to learn the mechanics of gaming - and swordplay. Her swiftness impresses Kirito, a pro gamer who invites Asuna to join the best players on the front lines. Is Asuna ready to swap class rankings for player rankings and join Kirito?
The manga adapts Kawahara and abec's Sword Art Online: Progressive novels that feature a revised retelling of Kawahara's original Sword Art Online novels. The story depicts Kirito's journey through the floating Aincrad castle from the beginning, floor-by-floor.
Himura launched the manga in Dengeki G's Magazine in June 2013, and Kadokawa published the manga's sixth compiled book volume last June. Yen Press published the same volume on January 23. Kawahara released the fourth volume of the original novel series in 2015, and the fifth volume will ship on February 10. Yen Press released the fourth novel in English in 2016.
What are your thoughts on the announcement? Are you excited to be receiving even more Sword Art Online content this year? Let us know what your thoughts are in the usual place down below!