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Sword Art Online to Air on Toonami Starting in August

posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Aniplex USA outlines Sword Art Online, Blue Exorcist DVD/BD plans

Aniplex of America announced at its panel at Anime Boston on Friday that the Sword Art Online television anime series will air on Adult Swim's Toonami block starting this August. Aniplex of America also outlined its home video release of Sword Art Online on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, and its re-release of Blue Exorcist on DVD and for the first time, on Blu-ray Disc.

Aniplex of America will release Sword Art Online in four limited-edition Blu-ray Disc sets and four standard edition DVD sets. The sets will ship on August 13, September 17, October 15, and November 19. Pre-orders will be available on Right Stuf and Aniplex's own site starting on May 28.

The Blu-ray Disc box sets will come with a soundtrack CD on volumes 1 and 3, English cast interviews on volumes 2 and 4, a 16-page booklet, illustration pin-ups, and Bushiroad collectible cards. The Blu-ray Disc sets will also include audio commentary by creators and Japanese cast, and the "Sword Art OFFline special animation. The Blu-ray Discs will also come in a rigid box with illustrations by original character designer abec, and will include clear Blu-ray Disccases with double-sided wraps of Japanese cover designs. Both the Blu-ray Discs and the DVDs will include Japanese and English audio, and English and Spanish subtitles. The DVD sets will also feature a mini pin-up poster, and O-sleeve case, and a clear DVD case with double-sided wraps of Japanese cover designs.

Each Blu-ray Box will retail for US$112.98 but will have a store price of US$89.98. Each DVD set will retail for US$49.98 but will have a store price of US$39.98.

The show's dub cast stars Bryce Papenbrook as Kirito and Cherami Leigh as Asuna. Other cast members include Cassandra Lee as Leafa, Christine Marie Cabanos as Silica, Sarah Williams as Lisbeth, and Patrick Seitz as Agil.

Sword Art Online adapts Kawahara's (Accel World) light novel series of the same name. The story revolves around a boy named Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya who enters a virtual-reality, massively multi-player online (MMO) world called "Sword Art Online." There is no escape from this world unless the player clears the game, but "game over" means the death of the player. Crunchyroll streamed the 25-episode series outside of Japan as it aired.

Aniplex will release Blue Exorcist on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in two sets on July 9 and September 10. Pre-orders will also be available starting on May 28. The Blu-ray Disc sets will include an original soundtrack CD, a DVD featuring interviews with the English cast, a box illustrated by manga creator Kazue Katō, clear Blu-ray Disc cases with double-sided wraps of Japanese cover design, and a 36-page booklet. Both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD sets will include the unaired special episode "Kuro Runs Away From Home," the "Ura-Eku" short clips, "web version preview" videos, and trailer collections.

The Blu-ray Disc sets will retail for US$174.98 but will have a store price of US$139.98. The DVD sets will retail for US$79.98 but will have a store price of US$69.98.

Aniplex previously released Blue Exorcist in four subtitled DVD sets in 2011-2012. The 25-episode series, which adapts Kazue Katō's manga, follows Rin Okumura, a boy raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto. After an argument between the two, Rin discovers he is the son of Satan.

Update: Prices and videoadded, and description of previous Blue Exorcist DVDs corrected. Thanks, SpacemanHardy


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