History Trivia / SwordArtOnline

* BannedInChina: The second season (which covers the events of ''Phantom Bullet'' and ''Mother's Rosario'') was immediately banned in China, mainly due to its heavier focus on guns. Ironically, they didn't ban ''Alicization'' despite being BloodierAndGorier and having Creator/AiKayano around (since China is still sour over her "nice weather" comment near the Yasukuni shrine).

* BannedInChina: Aside from ''Alicization'' getting a ''very'' negative reception in China and South Korea due to how players from those two countries are depicted, China is still sour over [[Creator/AiKayano Kayano's comment near the Yasukuni Shrine]] and immediately banned it. The same goes for the second season (which covers the events of ''Phantom Bullet'' and ''Mother's Rosario'') as well, albeit due to its heavy focus on guns.

* {{Defictionalization}}: In what might be the most disturbing case of this ever, on November 6th 2022 (the date of the SAO Incident in-story), the founder of Oculus [[http://palmerluckey.com/if-you-die-in-the-game-you-die-in-real-life/ announced]] that he had, in fact, created a VR headset that microwaves your brain if you die in the game. Whether it really works, though, is still in question, as nobody has come forward to perform an active demonstration.

*** While the original story for SAO began writing in 2001, the anime adaptation began in Summer 2012, after [=MMORPGs=] had become destigmatized and a normal form of entertainment, and it was still airing when the UsefulNotes/OculusRift Kickstarter was going, sparking off huge interest in virtual reality gaming.

* OldShame: Reki Kawahara has stated that his falling back on rape as a driving force for Kirito to stop a villain in each major arc of the series, minor or major, is this in itself, which is why the rather infamous [[spoiler: rape attempt on Kirito and Eugeo's pages in the Alicization arc]] was the last instance of this in the series.

** A popular claim about the final superuser account, the Moon Goddess, for Underworld is that it's Yuuki Konno's. In ''Last Recollection'', the final superuser account, Gladia, ''is'' '''''confirmed''''' as Yuuki's.

** Unlike ''[[Literature/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline AGGO]]'', ''Sword Art Online Alternative: Clover's Regret'' has not been picked up for a license despite being short and complete with only 3 volumes and starring the very popular Yuuki Konno. And only the first volume has a FanTranslation.

* TheWikiRule: Has a wiki [[http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_Art_Online_Wiki here.]]

* DoingItForTheArt: According to his [[http://pastebin.com/5wqHvb5c live commentary for SAO II episode 6]], Reki Kawahara actually traveled to Guam and fired a real anti-materiel rifle to get an idea of how it would feel for [[ColdSniper Sinon]] to fire such a weapon. It was later revealed at Anime Expo 2018's SAO panel that the trip to Guam was [[Literature/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline Keiichi Sigsawa's]] idea, and he, Kawahara, and quite a bit of the production crew as well went along to get first-hand experience with firearms.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Most people starting ''Sword Art Online'' will think the series was inspired by the ''Franchise/DotHack'' series when in reality both series started around the same time in 2002. ''Sword Art Online'' was originally meant as an entry for the Dengeki Novel Prize contest, but Reki Kawahara didn't submit it because it exceeded the page limit so he published it as a webnovel under the pseudonym Fumio Kunori. It was only after the popularity of his second novel series ''Literature/AccelWorld'' that his publishers convinced him to release ''Sword Art Online'' as a light novel in 2009. A more detailed explanation of the franchise's publishing history is found [[https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/hpnxiw/correcting_misconceptions_the_writing_history_of/ here]].

** Creator/AiKayano is playing a deep voiced [[TheComicallySerious comically serious]] Alice. While she has played similar characters in a few [[Anime/AldnoahZero other]] [[Literature/InfiniteStratos shows]], it still stands in contrast to her usual more high-pitched voices which make up the majority of her voice-over career.

** Creator/AiKayano is playing a deep voiced [[TheComicallySerious comically serious]] Alice. While she has played similar characters in a few [[Anime/AldnoahZero other]] [[LightNovel/InfiniteStratos shows]], it still stands in contrast to her usual more high-pitched voices which make up the majority of her voice-over career.

** Ever since her role as Asuna, Creator/HarukaTomatsu has played two other swordswomen with long brown hair: Sayaka Mibu in ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'' (although she is a kendo practitioner), and Imari Nagakura in ''Literature/AbsoluteDuo''.

** ''LightNovel/EromangaSensei'' featured a cameo from Kirito among other characters from other series from Creator/DengekiBunko.

** Kirito was what made Creator/YoshitsuguMatsuoka a household name and had him typecast in as HaremGenre leads, he'd split this with both Godou in ''LightNovel/{{Campione}}'' and Shunsuke in fellow Creator/A1Pictures anime ''VideoGame/ChousokuHenkeiGyrozetter'' (all three series debuting at the same time in 2012).
** The role of Asuna was this for Creator/CheramiLeigh as an L.A-based voice actress (she previously was already established with her roles at the Texas-based Creator/{{FUNimation}}, such as [[Manga/SoulEater Patty Thompson]], [[LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana Shana]], and [[Manga/FairyTail Lucy Heartfilia]]).

* DuelingDubs: When Funimation announced that SAO would finally get a Latin American dub in their streaming service, everyone thought that a brand new one would be made just like it happened with ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist: Brotherhood'', and other shows that end in various streaming services but can't get their original dub due to licensing issues with the owner of the dub rights. Instead, the dub done by Creator/{{Televisa}}, which was broadcasted only once in Mexico, and was a casualty of a whole web of problems between companies involved regarding the rights, was used.
** Particularly notable as well because the second season of the anime was also dubbed by Televisa, but because the series was taken off air after the first season was done, the dub of the second season was considered lost forever by fans and even by the voice actors themselves. However, Funimation surprised everyone by using the lost dub of SAO II as well, making it the first time in history this Latin American dub was heard by audiences.

** Nearly happened with the Latin American Dub as it wasn't even considered an option until after the first movie, Ordinal Scale, was dubbed in 2017. Aniplex tried to exploit the LeFilmArtistique [[LoopholeAbuse loophole]] to bring the film sub-only to Mexico, but a dub for the film was eventually made as a possible starting point for the franchise in Latin America. However, the dub was first made for the network Creator/{{Televisa}} and another independent company to deal with Aniplex's strict rules for dubbing, preventing the finished version from being aired until all parties were in agreement on how the show would be presented on TV until 2019, two full years after the completion of the dub. Of course, there was never a real plan for the series to continue so once the first airing was done, the series was taken off air and the dub version was locked in a vault. Things got worse when, due to the folding of the other company involved and Televisa holding part of the rights, the dub wasn't being licensed to any streaming service or TV station outside Mexico. However, after more years of being in limbo, Funimation managed to do the impossible and got the rights of the original dubs of both Ordinal Scale and the first two seasons of the anime [[note]]the second season having never been aired before, would be heard for the first time in history on the platform[[/note]], putting an end to this whole drama that involved years of speculation and dumb decisions.