Sword Art Online II Coming to Toonami on March 28th

Sword Art Online II to Debut on TOONAMI This March
Kirito Returns in the Hit Sequel on the Adult Swim Saturday Night Lineup!
SANTA MONICA, CA (February 14, 2015) –Fans at Katsucon (National Harbor, MD) were ready to “Link Start!” when Aniplex of America surprised them with their announcement today that Sword Art Online II will be debuting on TOONAMI™, the animation programming block that airs on Adult Swim™ each Saturday night, on March 28th from 1:00AM (PST/EST). This will be the second announcement this year by Aniplex of America of their licensed title to air on national television since KILL la KILL premiered on TOONAMI™ on Febraury 7th. The highly anticipated second season of Sword Art Online makes its return to the Saturday late night lineup since the first season ended in 2014.

The all-star English dub cast returns in Sword Art Online II, including Bryce Papenbrook (Blue Exorcist, DURARARA!!) playing Kirito, Cherami Leigh (Blue Exoricst, Baccano!) as Asuna, Cassandra Lee Morris (Madoka Magica, Blue Exorcist) as Leafa, Sarah Anne Williams (Madoka Magica, KILL la KILL) as Lisbeth, Christine Marie Cabanos (Madoka Magica, KILL la KILL) as Silica, Kirk Thornton (Blue Exorcist) as Klein and Stephanie Sheh (Blue Exorcist, KILL la KILL) as Yui. Aniplex of America confirmed that Michelle Ruff (GURREN LAGANN, DURARARA!!) will be joining the star-studded cast as Sinon in the sequel.

About Sword Art Online II
1 year after the SAO incident, Kirito is approached by Seijiro Kikuoka from Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Department “VR Division” with a rather peculiar request.

That was an investigation on the “Death Gun” incident that occurred in the gun and steel filled VRMMO called Gun Gale Online (GGO). “Players who are shot by a mysterious avatar with a jet black gun lose their lives even in the real world…” Failing to turn down Kikuoka's bizarre request, Kirito logs in to GGO even though he is not completely convinced that the virtual world could physically affect the real world.

Kirito wanders in an unfamiliar world in order to gain any clues about the “Death Gun.” Then, a female sniper named Sinon who owns a gigantic “Hecate II” rifle extends Kirito a helping hand. With Sinon's help, Kirito decides to enter the “Bullet of Bullets,” a large tournament to choose the most powerful gunner within the realm of GGO, in hopes to become the target of the “Death Gun” and make direct contact with the mysterious avatar.

For details on Sword Art Online II, please visit:
www.SwordArt-OnlineUSA.com
www.Facebook.com/SwordArtOnlineUSA

STAFF
Original Story: Reki Kawahara (Dengeki Bunko / ASCII MEDIA WORKS)
Original Illustration & Character Design Concept: abec
Director: Tomohiko Ito
Character Design: Shingo Adachi
Sub Character Design: Yu Yamashita
Chief Animation Director: Shingo Adachi, Yu Yamashita
Action Animation Director: Ryuta Yanagi, Tetsuya Takeuchi
Gun Animation Director: Satoshi Mori, Yu Aoki
Main Animator: Kengo Matsumoto
Monster Design: Ryuta Yanagi
Prop Design: Shinobu Tsuneki, Takahiro Ishimoto, Harumi Takagi
Art Director: Yusuke Takeda, Takayuki Nagashima
Art Setting: Yoshinori Shiozawa
Conceptual Art: Sotaro Hori (CyDesignation)Color Design: Kazuko Nakajima
CGI Director: Ryuta Undo
Director of Photography: Atsushi Usuda, Gaku Hirooka
Editing: Shigeru Nishiyama
Sound Director: Yoshikazu Iwanami
Effects: Yasuyuki Konno
Sound Production: Dax Production
Music: Yuki Kajiura
Project Supervising: GENCO
Animation Production: A-1 Picutres
Produced by: SAO II Project

CAST (Japanese/English)
Kirito: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka / Bryce Papenbrook
Sinon: Miyuki Sawashiro / Michelle Ruff
Asuna: Haruka Tomatsu / Cherami Leigh
Yui: Kanae Ito / Stephanie Sheh
Silica: Rina Hidaka / Christine M Cabanos
Lisbeth: Ayahi Takagaki / Sarah Anne Williams
Agil: Hiroki Yasumoto / Patrick Seitz
Klein: Hiroaki Hirata / Kirk Thornton

ADR Director: Alex von David

About Aniplex of America Inc.
Aniplex of America Inc. (Santa Monica, California) is a subsidiary of Aniplex Inc. (headquartered in Tokyo, Japan), a group of Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. and a leading provider of animecontent and music production and distribution in Japan. Aniplex of America has launched fan-favorite Blu-ray and DVD releases such as Sword Art Online, KILL la KILL, Bakemonogatari, Durarara!!, Fate/zero, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, the Garden of sinners, Blue Exorcist, Anohana: The Movie, Silver Spoon, OREIMO 2, Blast of Tempest, Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Oreshura, and Vividred Operation. The company's ever-growing line-up of shows includes our most recent titles Sword Art Online II, ALDNOAH.ZERO, Persona4 the Golden ANIMANTION, MEKAKUCITY ACTORS, The irregular at magic high school, Mushi-Shi Next Passage, Nanana's Buried Treasure, NISEKOI, World Conquest Zvezda Plot, Magi: The Kingdom of Magic, and Samurai Flamenco.

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