It's an exciting time to be a
Sword Art Online fan. A
new arc is in the works, a spinoff is set to
debut during the Spring 2018 anime season and
a live-action adaptation is in development at Netflix. Focusing on the latter, the live-action series might be taking an interesting approach to Kirito and Asuna's relationship.
You see, some SAO fans are convinced that Asuna is the real star and most important character in the series, Kirito just does the heavy lifting. Without Asuna providing motivation, key insight or on the rare occasion where she takes down the bad guys all by her self, Kirito just wouldn't be the overpowered protagonist that fans love to hate.
In comparing
Altered Carbon to her forthcoming
Sword Art Online adaptation, Laeta Kalogridis told Collider:
"The second thing, in terms of what I would like to see for SAO, is that I feel it’s a much more aspirational story about hope and much less about darkness than Altered Carbon is. Asuna is sort of the savior of the world, in my mind and in the mind of the showrunners, [Patrick] Massett and [John] Zinman, who are doing the show. There’s a real ability to explore a fantasy-based The Lord of the Rings / Game of Thrones kind of world through the lens of these people who are trapped in it and don’t necessarily want to be there, but who have to learn how to survive in it. What I’m most interested in is all of the human stories, when everything else falls away and it’s life or death, in a place where you were never expecting to be trapped. That’s what I loved about the original anime and that’s what I love about the live-action adaptation, as we are currently envisioning it."
There's currently no telling just how far along development on the project has progressed, however, Kalogridis has confirmed that Kirito and Asuna will be played by Asian actors. Stay tuned to Anime Mojo for additional updates.