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'Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale-' Accepting Applications for Travel Reviewers to Join Tour of Japan in Commemoration of the Movie's Release

At the World Cosplay Championship 2016 held on Sunday, August 7, 2016, the World Cosplay Summit Executive Office (Executive Committee Chair: TokumaruOguri, hereafter referred to as WCS) announced a collaboration with “Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale-”. In conjunction with the movie's release on Feb. 18, 2017, the WCS is accepting applications for travel reviewers to take part in the “Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale- Official Japan Tour”, an exclusive tour package that includes the chance to watch the movie at a theater with special guests, and more (tour plan and sales: H.I.S. Co., Ltd., hereafter H.I.S.). Travel reviewers can fully enjoy the world of SAO through various opportunities, like the movie viewing with theater guests, on this exclusive tour of Japan, and then share the joy of the franchise and the appeal of Japan with SAO fans around the world through SNS and other media.

SAO is popular not only in Japan, but also abroad. The official English Facebook account has accumulated more than 2.72 million “likes” as its popularity spreads through North America, Central and South America, Europe, and Asia. Starting with the release in Japan, next year's “Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale-” is scheduled to show in approximately 1,000 movie theaters world-wide. Meanwhile, the WCS, which began with just three countries in 2003, gathered representative cosplayers from 30 different countries and regions in 2016. The large-scale event captures the attention of world-wide fans of Japanese anime, manga, games, and so on, and the total number of people participating in affiliated events across the globe surpasses 2 million. Furthermore, the official Facebook account for the WCS has more than 440 thousand “likes”, with more than 98% of those coming from outside of Japan. Utilizing the WCS network provides a more direct route to world-wide fans, so that they can know and experience the “Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale- Official Japan Tour”.

Reviewer Application Details

Sponsor World Cosplay Summit Executive Office
Affiliates Aniplex Inc., H.I.S. Co., Ltd.
Tour name "Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale- Official Japan Tour"
Tour dates Feb. 18, 2017 (Sat) to Feb. 22, 2017 (Wed)
Price Free
Airline tickets The sponsor(World Cosplay Summit Executive Office) provides the round trip tickets(economy class) from the departure place to Tokyo.
Lodging Tokyo / Japanize Guest House or equivalent hostel 4 nights
Meals 1 lunch and 1 dinner
Tour website http://www.his-j.com/japan-tourist/S.A.O/index.html?lang=en
Available positions 2 people (each from a different country/region)
Application period Nov. 22, 2016 (Tue) to Dec. 9, 2016 (Fri) at 12:00 noon (JST)
Application method Apply by filling out the necessary items at the following application site.
Application website h6p://www.worldcosplaysummit.jp/en/saotour2017.html
Application terms
  1. Your feelings on the SAO franchise (100 characters or less) *Japanese or English only
  2. The appeal and influential power of your SNS account or other places where you can post information as a reviewer
    *The ability to post in your native tongue and in English


Example) The name of your Facebook or other SNS account, follower count, and/or number of page views to the URL of your blog, etc.
Selection announcement
  • Chosen participants will be selected through strict examination by the three sponsor/affiliate companies after the application deadline.
  • Chosen participants will be contacted via e-mail within one week of the application deadline.
  • After being contacted, if the chosen participant does not respond by the decided date, their chosen status will be invalidated.
Requirements for travel review participants
  • Person residing in a country/region outside of Japan and who is not a Japanese citizen
  • Person who has a passport that does not expire until after the full duration of the review tour in Japan and who satisfies your visa conditions.
  • Person age 21 or older If the chosen person is unable to participate in the trip, the selection cannot be waived or transferred.
Regarding review reports
  • Make at least one post to SNS or other media platform in the language of your country for each event during the review trip (50 characters or more).
  • Enter one report for each day of the review trip (200 characters or more).
  • Transfer the copyrights of videos released together with the reports to the sponsor (World Cosplay Summit Executive Office) (including the rights in Article 27 and Article 28 of the Japanese Copyright Act), and acknowledge that the material can be published to the sponsor's website and other media platforms for non-profit purposes.
  • Take note that if you do not perform the established reviewers' mission without justifiable reason and fail to cooperate in your report entries, then you may be billed an amount equivalent to the travel fees after participation in this trip.

Series Information
The animated TV series “Sword Art Online” is based on author Reki Kawahara's light novel (winner of the 15th Dengeki Novel Award Grand Prize) in which the protagonist Kirito fights to survive in the mysterious next-gen VRMMORPG called “Sword Art Online.” Since the first volume of the novel was published in April 2009, the series has been extremely popular with cumulative sales exceeding 12.5 million units in Japan and 19 million worldwide.Because of its popularity, the series has been adapted into two animated series, in addition to several games, comics and merchandise. In Spring 2017, “Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale -“, a brand new original story written by RekiKawahara, is set for a theatrical release. SAO fans around the world are anxiously anticipating its release.

Sword Art Online The Movie – Ordinal Scale- OfficialWebsite(English) http://S.A.O-movie.net/us/

©2016 REKI KAWAHARA/PUBLISHED BY KADOKAWA CORPORATION ASCII MEDIA WORKS/SAO MOVIE Project

H.I.S Special Plan Offer, Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale- Official Japan Tour

Tour duration 3 days (Feb. 19, 2017 to Feb. 21, 2017)
Price 80,000 JPY (with accommodation)
70,000 JPY (without accommodation)
Tour website http://www.his-j.com/japan-tourist/S.A.O/index.html
Special perks
  • See the movie in Japan before any other countryand in a theater with special guests
  • Experience cosplay & purikura in the Mecca of anime
  • Includes 4 H.I.S. exclusive perks
01 A limited number of participants can visit A-1 Pictures Studio, where SAO was created

02 A limited number of participants are invited to a secret talk event featuring special guests

03 Select participants will receive a hand-drawn illustration board of their own portrait drawn in the style of SAO

04 All participants will receive an H.I.S. limited tour pass
Airline tickets None
Lodging (with accommodation) Tokyo / Japanize Guest House or equivalent hostel 3 nights (Feb. 18, 2017 to Feb. 20, 2017)
Meals 1 lunch and 1 dinner
Remarks No tour operator (English guide)

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