The third season of the hugely popular Sword Art Online series will finally be released in the fall of 2018! This time, it will be broadcast over four seasons, so fans are excited about the series. The curtains will rise on a grand fantasy that unfolds in a new virtual world called the Underworld. In this article, we will explain the technical terms in detail so that you can enjoy Alicization three times more from the moment you start watching!
What is the Alicization arc?
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project
First, let me briefly introduce what the Alicization arc is about! Kirito, who was caught up in an incident, loses consciousness, and when he wakes up next, he is in the virtual world [Underworld]. There he has a fateful encounter with Eugeo...
Memories that shouldn't exist.
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project
When Kirito was 11 years old, he went on an adventure to a cave with his childhood friends Eugeo and Alice to find ice to cool their lunch. At that time, they entered the Dark Territory and violated the Taboo Index, and Alice was later taken away by the Integrity Knights as a criminal... It is a memory that Kirito should not have. What on earth is this memory? Leaving the mystery unsolved, Kirito leaves the village with Eugeo to rescue Alice.
Term 1: Fluctlight
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki/ASCII Media Works/SAO Project
The light energy in the brain cells is the person's "heart." Seijiro Kikuoka's group, RATH, is researching whether it might be possible to create a copy of a person's past memories and thoughts by copying a fluctlight. In the Underworld, artificial fluctlights are also being cultivated.
Term ② Soul Translator
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project
The name of the next-generation full-dive experimental machine developed by Lars, abbreviated as STL. Previous full-dive machines acted on the brain, but this one has the characteristic of directly intervening in the flactlight. Kirito was working part-time on this experiment. It is also an advanced version of [Medicuboid], so Kirito uses STL to try to recover.
Term 3: Light Cube
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project
A device for mechanically holding Fluctlight. Simply put, it is an artificially created vessel for Fluctlight. However, if the copied Fluctlight recognizes itself as a copy, its ego will collapse.
Term 4 Ocean Turtle
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki/ASCII Media Works/SAO Project
The headquarters and research facility of Lars. It is a huge, self-propelled, artificial floating island 400 meters long that floats in the sea. Officially, it is a large ocean research ship. It is pyramidal and uses a pressurized water reactor for power.
Term ⑤ Human world
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project
In the human world, this region is located to the west of the Underworld, and is home to about 100,000 people. A barrier called the "Eastern Gate" has been erected on the eastern side to prevent incursions from the Dark World. When Kirito meets Eugeo, the world already has 450 years of history, and a well-developed civilization with religion and an aristocratic system has developed.
Term ⑥ Dark World
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project
A vast area that surrounds the human world, also known as the Dark Territory. Dark World people and four types of demi-humans live here. They are in conflict with the human world and have much greater power than the humans of the human world. However, thanks to the existence of the Integrity Knights and the huge mountain range between the two worlds, they have never invaded the human world.
Term 7: Taboo Index
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki/ASCII Media Works/SAO Project
The law was established by the powerful religion of the human world, the Axiom Church, and is considered to be a law that must never be violated in the Underworld. If you violate this law, you will be taken away as a criminal. In the Underworld, it is even mandatory for parents to teach the Taboo Index to their children.
What is the Axiom Church that created the Taboo Index?
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki/ASCII Media Works/SAO Project
The official name is the World Central Axiom Church. It is the religion of the Underworld, but it actually rules the Underworld. It is an organization created by the high priest Administrator to rule the Underworld, and the Taboo Index is a law enacted to prevent anyone from rebelling against Administrator.
Term 8: Integrity Knights
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project
The strongest knights in the Underworld, belonging to the Axiom Church. Their job is to capture violators of the Taboo Index and protect the human world from the Dark World. There are currently 31 Integrity Knights, but all of them have had their memories rewritten by Administrator's forbidden techniques.
Alicization Terminology Summary
Source: Sword Art Online © Kawahara Reki / ASCII Media Works / SAO Project
This time, we have summarized the technical terms of Alicization. What did you think? Alicization is a futuristic story about how people's souls are "light" and how they copy that "light," but it's also full of difficult terminology. So, when you're watching the anime and you wonder what a word means, I hope you'll refer back to this article! I hope that reading this article will help you enjoy Sword Art Online: Alicization even more.
