is a Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language ...

series written by

Reki Kawahara is a Japanese light novel author. He is best known as the creator of '' Sword Art Online'' and ''Accel World'', both of which have been adapted into anime. He has also written ''The Isolator''. Career Kawahara wrote the first volume of ''Swo ...

and illustrated by HiMA. The series began publication in

ASCII Media Works ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...

' '' Dengeki Bunko'' imprint from February 2009 and is licensed in North America by

Yen Press Yen Press, LLC is an American manga and graphic novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published '' Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, Yen Press ...

. Two

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

series began serialization in '' Dengeki Bunko Magazine'' from May 2010, with another series beginning serialization in ''

Dengeki Daioh is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) under the ''Dengeki'' brand. Many manga serialized in ''Dengeki Daioh'' were later published in '' tankōbon'' volumes under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki C ...

'' in January 2013. An

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

adaptation by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology ...

aired in Japan between April and September 2012. An English-language version began streaming on

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

Neon Alley Neon Alley was an American digital anime service run by Viz Media. The service began as a 24-hour linear web channel dedicated to showing English dubbed anime series in uncut and uncensored formats. It later evolved into a Hulu-based streaming ...

service from April 2013. Two video games were released for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

in September 2012, and January 2013, each containing an

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA ...

episode. An anime film titled '' Accel World: Infinite Burst'' featuring an original story by Kawahara premiered in Japan in July 2016.

Plot

Haruyuki "Haru" Arita is a short, overweight boy who is frequently ridiculed by delinquents at the Umesato Junior High School. Using his Neuro Linker to escape the torment of real life, he logs onto the school's local network cyberspace where he always plays virtual squash alone, and his innate video game skills bring him to the attention of Kuroyukihime (literally meaning "Black Snow Princess"), the school's popular, highly intellectual and attractive female student council vice-president. After helping him against the delinquents, Kuroyukihime introduces Haruyuki to Brain Burst, a secret program that is able to accelerate the human cognitive process to the point at which time appears to stop. Haruyuki soon learns that Brain Burst is more than just a program, but an

augmented-reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be def ...

massively-multiplayer online (ARMMO)

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining atta ...

where people fight each other in fierce duels in order to obtain burst points, which can be spent for acceleration abilities in the real world. Kuroyukihime then enlists Haruyuki's help in reaching level 10 within Brain Burst by defeating the "Six Kings of Pure Colour" and ultimately meet the creator of Brain Burst to learn its true purpose. With every challenge they face in the accelerated world, Haru and Kuroyukihime, under their aliases "Silver Crow" and "Black Lotus", gather trusted allies and confront treacherous enemies. Their bond grows stronger while working to attain their ultimate objective: to reach the highest in-game level and meet the game's creator, who will reveal why the game was created and the true purpose of it.

Media

Light novels

''Accel World'' began as a light novel series written by

and illustrated by HiMA. Originally, Kawahara entered the first novel in the series into

' 15th Dengeki Novel Prize in 2008 and the novel won the Grand Prize. The first novel was published by ASCII Media Works on February 10, 2009, under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. As of March 2022, 26 volumes have been published. At their

Japan Expo USA Japan Expo USA was a three-day anime convention held in August at the San Mateo Event Center in San Mateo, California, United States. The convention is organized by SEFA Entertainment, based in San Francisco, California. It is the American subs ...

panel,

announced the rights to publish the light novels in English. The English version is translated by Jocelyne Allen. The first volume was released on July 22, 2014.

Manga

adaptation titled ''Accel World'' illustrated by Hiroyuki Aigamo was serialized between April 10, 2010 and June 9, 2017 in ASCII Media Works' '' Dengeki Bunko Magazine''. The series has been collected in eight ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or m ...

'' volumes, released between July 27, 2011, and July 27, 2017. A four-panel comic strip manga titled illustrated by Ryuryū Akari was serialized between April 10, 2010 and June 10, 2016 in ''Dengeki Bunko Magazine''. Five ''tankōbon'' volumes were released between July 27, 2011, and October 26, 2013. In February 2014,

announced they had licensed ''Accel World'' for an English release in North America. The English translation is by Jocelyne Allen. They released the volumes between September 23, 2014 and December 11, 2018. A spin-off manga, ''Accel World / Dural: Magisa Garden'', written by Reki Kawahara and drawn by Ayato Sasakura was serialized in '' Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh'' (published by ASCII Media Works) from March 2012 to August 2017 and collected in eight volumes. It spotlights female burst linkers who attend a private school, Kiyomi Gakuin, in Nakano, Tokyo. Some of the characters from the main story also appear. ;''Accel World'' ;''Axel World'' ;''Accel World / Dural: Magisa Garden''

Anime

television series adaptation aired in Japan between April 7, 2012 and September 22, 2012. The opening theme until episode 13 is "Chase the world" by

May'n , better known by her stage name , is a Japanese singer from Nagoya. Aspiring to become a musician since childhood, she began her music activities in 2003 upon passing an audition held by talent agency Horipro International. She made her major d ...

and the ending theme is "→unfinished→" by Kotoko. From episode 14 onwards the opening theme is "Burst the Gravity" by Altima and the ending theme is "unite." by

Sachika Misawa is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Yamanashi Prefecture who is affiliated with Stardust Promotion. As a singer, she is signed to Universal Music Japan. Some of her main roles include Kuroyukihime in '' Accel World'', Minami Azuma in '' ...

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California an ...

, Sunrise and

Genco is a Japanese anime production enterprise, founded on March 3, 1997. Presided over by Tarō Maki, its headquarters is located in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo. It has produced numerous anime series such as '' Honey and Clover'', '' Nodame Cantabile'', ...

were involved in the production of this adaptation.

announced the streaming of the anime on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...

as of April 6, 2012. An English-dubbed version premiered on Viz Media's online streaming service,

, on April 19, 2013. An anime film titled '' Accel World: Infinite Burst'' featuring an original story by Kawahara was released on July 23, 2016. Hanabee Entertainment has licensed the series alongside

Little Busters! is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key. It was released on July 27, 2007 for Windows PCs and is rated for all ages. ''Little Busters!'' is Key's sixth game, along with other titles such as ''Kanon'', '' Air'', and '' Clannad''. An adult v ...

, and previously From the New World, Campione! and The Familiar of Zero in May 2014.

Muse Communication Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of anime. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and European films ...

has licensed the series in Asia-Pacific and is streaming on Muse Asia

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

channel.

Video games

Two video games based on the series were developed by

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Banpresto was a partly-ow ...

and published by

for

and

. The first of these, , was released in Japan on September 13, 2012. The second one, , was released in Japan on January 31, 2013. The limited edition versions of these games include an

of the anime series (Blu-ray Disc for the PS3 version, DVD for the PSP version). In ''

Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman ''Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman'' is a tactical role-playing roguelite video game developed and published by Nippon Ichi Software. It was first released for PlayStation Portable on March 11, 2010 in Japan, October 26, 2010 in North ...

'' for PSP, Silver Crow is an unlockable costume. In '' Sword Art Online: Lost Song'', Black Lotus is an obtainable character and is also one of the opponents you can defeat. An action role-playing game titled '' Accel World vs. Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight'' was announced in October 2016. The game is a crossover with ''

Sword Art Online is a Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. The series takes place in the then-near future and focuses on protagonists Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya and Asuna Yuuki as they play through various virt ...

'', developed by

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California an ...

for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international terri ...

and released on July 7, 2017. The Windows PC version was released on September 12, 2017.

Reception

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network reviewed the series and gave a story rating of A−, stating a similar basis of ''

'' with improved characters. Richard Eisenbeis of

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

praised the anime for its well-thought out story, relatable main character, and great villain protagonist, but criticizes the anime for its third arc. At the end, he says that the anime starts out strong, but ends on a weak note.

References

External links

*
Video game official website
* {{Hiroyuki Yoshino 2009 Japanese novels 2010 manga 2012 anime television series debuts 2012 manga 2013 anime OVAs Fiction set in 2046 Anime and manga based on light novels Adventure anime and manga ASCII Media Works manga Kadokawa Dwango franchises Bandai Namco franchises Augmented reality in fiction Brain–computer interfacing in fiction Dengeki Bunko Dengeki Comics Dengeki Daioh Fantasy anime and manga Light novels Massively multiplayer online role-playing games in fiction Muse Communication PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Portable games School life in anime and manga Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Shōnen manga Sunrise (company) Time in fiction Virtual reality in fiction Viz Media anime Yen Press titles