History Characters / SwordArtOnlineAincrad

* {{Leitmotif}}: ''"She is My Friend,"'' a melancholic piano-and-string countermelody to Asuna's "One Day, One Morning" Leitmotif in the ''Progressive'' motion pictures that emphasises her lonely and tragic nobility and the girls' mutual dependency on each other. Notably, Asuna's iconic ''"Luminous Sword"'' Leitmotif, which ''"She is My Friend"'' is *not* a countermelody to, only appears in ''"Aria of A Starless Night"'' properly at the *moment* [[spoiler: Mito abandons Asuna to the literal jaws of death in a MomentOfWeakness]]; thus symbolizing the "death" of the vulnerable original Asuna who depended on Mito for strength and her rebirth as the warrior who would one day Co-Lead the Knights of Blood.

* {{Leitmotif}}: ''"She is My Friend,"'' a melancholic piano-and-string countermelody to Asuna's "One Day, One Morning" Leitmotif in the ''Progressive'' motion pictures that emphasises her lonely and tragic nobility and the girls' mutual dependency on each other. Notably, Asuna's iconic ''"Luminous Sword"'' Leitmotif, which ''"She is My Friend"'' is *not* a coutnermelody to, only appears in ''"Aria of A Starless Night"'' at the *moment* [[spoiler: Mito abandons Asuna to the literal jaws of death in a MomentOfWeakness]]; thus symbolizing the "death" of the vulnerable mainden Asuna who depended on Mito for strength and her rebirth as the warrior who would one day Co-Lead the Knights of Blood.

* {{Leitmotif}}: ''"She is My Friend,"'' a melancholic piano-and-string countermelody to Asuna's "One Day, One Morning" Leitmotif in the ''Progressive'' motion pictures that emphasises her lonely and tragic nobility and the girls' mutual dependency on each other. Notably, Asuna's iconic ''"Luminous Sword"'' Leitmotif, which ''"She is My Friend"'' is *not* a coutnermelody to, dosen't appear in ''"Aria of A Starless Night"'' until [[spoiler: Mito abandons Asuna to the literal jaws of death in a MomentOfWeakness]]; thus symbolizing the "death" of the vulnerable Asuna who depended on Mito for strength and her rebirth as her own warrior.

* {{Leitmotif}}: ''"She is My Friend,"'' a melancholic piano-and-string countermelody to Asuna's theme in the ''Progressive'' motion pictures that emphasises her lonely and tragic nobility.

* {{Tomboy}}: Her regal, ice-cold, and dignified beauty notwithstanding, Mito is clearly a girl ill at ease with her birth gender, as her behavior, body language, dress, sense of humor and even voice is closer to that of a teenage boy (not unlike the mischievous yet assertive and kind Kirito) when she is not obligated by a "prestigious school for proper young ladies" setting to play the part of a prim and proper {{Ojou}}. As shown during a flashback to her unhappy elementary school days, it was her boyish love of video games (not to mention clothing and mannerisms) that alienated her from other girls her age, and it is all but stated that she had ''no'' friends of her own gender until Asuna found out her true persona wandering by an arcade. In fact, when the VR world of ''Sword Art Online'' gave her the chance to abandon her female identity completely, she leapt at the opportunity by taking a masculine avatar, and is visibly uncomfortable when Asuna gave her an "adorable teenage girl" matching hairstyle as a gesture of friendship once she was forced by the system to maintain a female persona. It's worth noting, however, that since the system identifies gender (but not appearance) based on brain waves, the fact that she was forced into a female avatar means that deep down she does still identify as a girl, just a very masculine one. However, as shown by her [[spoiler: jealousy towards Kirito;s closeness to Asuna in ''Scherzo of a Dark Dusk'']], she is more than likely a lesbian.

* DistaffCounterpart: To Kirito. Much of her character is meant to reflect him such as his passion for gaming as a form of escapism from real life, being a beta tester for SAO, as well as dealing with the hardships and ostracization that beta players like Kirito faced. Both have online names that are derived from the letters of their real-life names ('''Mi'''sumi '''To'''sawa = Mito, '''Kiri'''gaya Kazu'''to''' = Kirito). And much like Kirito, she notably has an initial avatar that's wildly different to her real appearance.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: It's hard not to see similarities between her, Yuuki and Kizmel. All three are girls with purple {{Color Motif}}s, further emphasized by their unique hair colours, who are close with Asuna to some extent, with the key difference being that Mito uses a SinisterScythe instead of a sword like the other two. She also shares traits with the two, having Kizmel's generally calm demeanour and protectiveness towards Asuna, and Yuuki's {{Tomboy}} personality, and GamerChick status.[[spoiler: Her similarities to Yuuki is likely why she survived the (thus far) two "Progressive" Motion Pictures.]] She is also one to Lizbeth due to being a close friend to Asuna [[spoiler: who decides to settle down to running a General Store when not in battle during the "Scherzo of a Dark Dusk" motion picture]].

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: It's hard not to see similarities between her, Yuuki and Kizmel. All three are girls with purple {{Color Motif}}s, further emphasized by their unique hair colours, who are close with Asuna to some extent, with the key difference being that Mito uses a SinisterScythe instead of a sword like the other two. She also shares traits with the two, having Kizmel's generally calm demeanour and protectiveness towards Asuna, and Yuuki's {{Tomboy}} personality, and GamerChick chick status.[[spoiler: Her similarities to Yuuki is likely why she survived the (thus far) two "Progressive" Motion Pictures.]] She is also one to Lizbeth due to being a close friend to Asuna [[spoiler: who decides to settle down to running a General Store when not in battle during the "Scherzo of a Dark Dusk" motion picture]].

* OddFriendship: With Asuna. In Misumi's own words, the two never exactly got along, with Asuna being their prep school's top honor student while Misumi, at least by their school's standards, was effectively a delinquent due to her GamerGirl tendencies. Despite this, Asuna is actually rather interested in Misumi's gaming skills after catching her taking part in an arcade tournament and asks her to teach her some things, leading to their friendship.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: It's hard not to see similarities between her, Yuuki and Kizmel. All three are girls with purple {{Color Motif}}s, further emphasized by their unique hair colours, who are close with Asuna to some extent, with the key difference being that Mito uses a SinisterScythe instead of a sword like the other two. She also shares traits with the two, having Kizmel's generally calm demeanour and protectiveness towards Asuna, and Yuuki's {{Tomboy}} personality, GamerGirl status and implied romantic feelings for Asuna. [[spoiler: Her similarities to Yuuki is likely why she survived the (thus far) two "Progressive" Motion Pictures.]] She is also one to Lizbeth due to being a close friend to Asuna [[spoiler: who decides to settle down to running a General Store when not in battle during the "Scherzo of a Dark Dusk" motion picture]].

* DistaffCounterpart: To Kirito. Much of her character is meant to reflect him such as his passion for gaming as a form of escapism from real life, being a beta tester for SAO, as well as dealing with the hardships and ostracization that beta players like Kirito faced. Both have online names that are derived from the letters of their real-life names ('''Mi'''sumi '''To'''sawa = Mito, '''Kiri'''gaya Kazu'''to''' = Kirito). And much like Kirito, she notably has an initial avatar that's wildly different to her real appearance. Finally, both are (or will fall) in love with Asuna.

** Also, her wearing a generically cute dress while wielding a hard-hitting and blunt scythe [[spoiler: which is later upgraded to being able to transform into a swift and elegant sickle on a chain in ''Scherzo of a Dark Dusk,'' wearing a masculine Robin-Hood like costume to rescue Asuna, while keeping the braid the latter gave her as a final vestige of traditional femininity]] is reflective of the fluid and flexible nature of her gender identiy, much like the hulking masculine warrior bearing the personality of a mischievous girl that Asuna (and we the audience) first see her initial online persona as onscreen was.

* ButchLesbian: Tellingly, when Kirito told her that Asuna held onto the Sword that she gave her [[spoiler: in the battle with Illfang The Kobold Lord because she treasures her as a friend in the second ''Progressive'' film]], Mito becomes (chronologically) the first girl in the franchise to openly and coldly tell Kirito that she hates him, more than likely stemming from jealousy of the (ultimately correct) assumption that he will take her place in the life of her OnlyFriend as her most treasured and beloved person.

* ComingOutStory: Just as much as the ''Progressive Pictures'' so far are a PerspectiveFlip of the saga told from Asuna's perspective, the (thus far) duology is also about Mito coming to terms with her gender identity; In ''Aria of a Starless Night'' she tried to embody what she percieved to be her "true" masculine identity in the form of a hulking male avatar in game before being forced into her IRL girl form, while coming to terms with her growing love for her OnlyFriend Asuna, who is her psychological projection of ideal femininity she believes she can never become. In the sequel ''Scherzo of a Dark Dusk'', she symbolically reconciles with her spiritual identity by settling for the middle ground of [[spoiler: a cunning and mighty warrior of masculine dress and behavior who just ''happens'' to be a girl, that ''embraces'' rather than rejects her lesbianism. This is symbolized by her ''keeping'' the princess hairstyle Asuna braided, that she once flustered was "too adorable" for someone like her, as the final last vestige of traditional femininity.]]

* {{GIRL}}: Inverted, as she is the "Girl In Real Life" variety who embodies her inner "idealized self" of a tall muscular male warrior during the beta testing and initial 4 official hours of Sword Art Online. Curiously, she chose the raspy and effeminate voice of [[Creator/RyuseiNakao Lord]] [[Anime/DragonballZ Freeza]] of all people for her avatar in spite of him being a giant, muscular and masculine warrior.
* GuiltComplex:
** Not unlike Kirito and Argo to an extent, she feels guilty about the deaths that have occurred so far in SAO due to her status as a Beta-Tester, since most of them ended up hogging the good farming spots. [[spoiler: The manner in which [[BreakingTheFellowship she and Asuna]] [[DirtyCoward split up]] probably doesn't help matters.]]

* IncompatibleOrientation: She's a ButchLesbian who is in love with Asuna, who minus her PseudoRomanticFriendship with Yuuki (even getting flustered and momentarily forgetting about her boyfriend Kirito when Yuuki playfully suggests getting married) is straight, a fact that Mito is very much aware of and resents.

* {{Tomboy}}: Her regal, ice-cold, and dignified beauty notwithstanding, Mito is clearly a girl ill at ease with her birth gender, as her behavior, body language, dress, sense of humor and even voice is closer to that of a teenage boy (not unlike the mischievous yet assertive and kind Kirito) when she is not obligated by a "prestigious school for proper young ladies" setting to play the part of a prim and proper {{Ojou}}. As shown during a flashback to her unhappy elementary school days, it was her boyish love of video games (not to mention clothing and mannerisms) that alienated her from other girls her age, and it is all but stated that she had ''no'' friends of her own gender until Asuna found out her true persona wandering by an arcade. In fact, when the VR world of ''Sword Art Online'' gave her the chance to abandon her female identity completely, she leapt at the opportunity by taking a masculine avatar, and is visibly uncomfortable when Asuna gave her an "adorable teenage girl" matching hairstyle as a gesture of friendship once she was forced by the system to maintain a female persona. It's worth noting, however, that since the system identifies gender (but not appearance) based on brain waves, the fact that she was forced into a female avatar means that deep down she does still identify as a girl, just a very masculine one. However, as shown by her [[spoiler: jealousy towards Kirito;s closeness to Asuna in ''Scherzo of a Dark Dusk'']], she is more than likely a lesbian.
* UnknownRival: Amusingly, Kirito dosen't get why Mito coldly declares she hates him after he told her Asuna keeps the sword she gave her because she treasures her as a friend, completely oblivious that Mito also loves Asuna (her OnlyFriend since the days of RealLife) and sees him as a threat that will take her away from her.

* BoobsOfSteel: Well-endowed and a powerful fighter, acting as a CrutchCharacter for Kirito and Asuna in the Elf Quest and, to neutral players or ones siding with the Forest Elves, her cursor is pitch black, which informs players that she’s so many levels above them that taking a hit from her could potentially be a ''OneHitKill!''

* MaleGaze: In the Manga, she swerved round Lind and a group of DKB members to avoid killing them as she attacked the Forest Elves they were allied with as she made a beeline for the Forest Elf Falconer, and they were so enamored by the up close look at her BoobsOfSteel that they ''changed sides''.
* MsFanservice: In Asuna's own words, she's a "Male Generated Fantasy". She has flawless, AmbiguouslyBrown skin, a nice figure with BoobsOfSteel, and, due to her culture, she's a ShamelessFanserviceGirl who has no issue with being naked around Male Players. She also gets a lot of [[BathingBeauty bath scenes]], two in ''Hollow Realization'' and several in the ''Progressive'' series, all of which are rather extensive and show off her body. She's also willing to bathe with Kirito though [[ChasteHero both Kirito and Asuna]] spend their time washing her back instead of anything else.

* CovertPervert: In the ''Progressive'' Manga. [[spoiler: What gets him, [[AllMenArePerverts and the rest of his guildmates]], to reconsider fighting for the Forest Elves is getting a close-up of Kizmel's BoobsOfSteel when she avoids harming them in favor of attacking other Forest Elves.]]

* PeekABangs: Her hair covers her right eye. Obviously, there's a side of her that she's keeping hidden from others.

** Also, her wearing a generically cute dress while wielding a hard-hitting and blunt scythe [[spoiler: that can transform into a swift and elegant sickle on a chain in ''Scherzo of a Dark Dusk,'' while wearing an almost completely masculine Robin-Hood like costume to rescue Asuna]] is reflective of the fluid and flexible nature of her gender identiy, much like the hulking masculine warrior bearing the personality of a mischievous girl that Asuna (and we the audience) first see her initial online persona as onscreen was.

* BladeOnAStick: Wields a Halberd.

* EverythingsBetterWithSamurai: Following [[TheLeader Klein's]] lead, the group has a prominent Samurai theme going on. Unlike him though, none of them use a Katana, the closest they got to using Samurai-edque weapons being their [[BladeOnAStick spear wielders]] using Japanese style spears, with Kunimitzz using a ''kama yari'' and Issin using a ''sasumata'', and Dale briefly wielding a weapon resembling a ''kanabo'' around the time of Floor 40.

* BladeOnAStick: [[CaptainObvious Guess what Cu Chulainn uses.]]

* BladeOnAStick: His weapon is a spear.

* BladeOnAStick: Sachi uses a two-handed spear in combat. The reason for this is she's terrified at the mere sight of monsters if she gets to close, so her friends figured a spear would allow her to fight from a distance.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/KaedeHondo (Japanese)

* WhipItGood: Her weapon of choice is a whip.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/ShioriIzawa (Japanese), Creator/CassandraLeeMorris(English, 2013), Creator/KimberleyAnneCampbell (English, 2022-Present), Jocelyn Robles (Latin American Spanish, Season 1), Creator/AnnieRojas (Latin American Spanish, ''Aria of a Starless Night'')

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakeoOtsuka (Japanese)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/ShioriIzawa (Japanese), Creator/KimberleyAnneCampbell (English), Jocelyn Robles (Latin American Spanish, Season 1), Creator/AnnieRojas (Latin American Spanish, ''Aria of a Starless Night'')

* HiddenBuxom: She's far from the largest of the cast, but her petite frame and short height combined with often wearing thick clothing conceal a rather modest bust as far as the gameverse from ''Hollow Realization'' onwards is concerned. Compare this to her Aincrad and ''Lost Song'' appearances and it's like night and day.

[[WMG:[[center: [- ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' '''[[Characters/SwordArtOnline Main Character Index]]'''\\

'''''[[LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline Alternative Gun Gale Online]]''''' '''[[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline Characters]]''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnlineTeamLPFM Team LPFM]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnlineTeamSHINC Team SHINC]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnlineTeamMMTM Team MMTM]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnlineOthers Others]]\\

This page details the various characters that debuted in the first story arc of ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline''.

* FiveManBand: Before Kirito joined, they were a five-man guild. Keita is the TheLeader because he is the levelheaded guildhead who sets the strategies. Sasamaru is TheLancer because he is the NumberTwo and he literally has a spear for a weapon. Tetsuo is TheBigGuy because he is physically fit enough to wield a giant bludgeoning weapon. He's also the team's only shield user. Disarming traps is Ducker's role in the guild which makes him TheSmartGuy. Sachi is the lone female that most of the guild, and especially Kirito, are invested in protecting because she contributes with kind words and love, making her TheChick.

* TheChick: She can contribute with kind words and love and is also the lone female that most of the guild, and especially Kirito, are invested in protecting. This also makes her TheHeart.

* RoyalRapier: LikeMotherLikeDaughter.

* VampireLolitaArchetype: [[spoiler: It's revealed after she's poisoned that she's in fact a Lord of the Night, which is essentially a vampire.]]

* HartmanHips: In her ''Hollow Realization'' design, she ditches her prior cloaks for a more stylish outfit with a case of BareYourMidriff, where it becomes incredibly apparent that she's got a bit of an hourglass figure going on.

* OreOnna: Aside from her tendency to dress in a masculine manner, Argo in the Japanese version uses the Osaka-region-specific masculine-pronoun of ''Oira'' (roughly the equlivalent of a Hillbilly's "Ahm" or "Mah" as opposed to the regular "I'm" and "My") when referring to herself, further cementing her status as a strictly-business tomboy.

* AdaptationalDyeJob: Most media, beit a light novel, manga, or games, all depict Argo with blonde hair. The only exception is the anime where her one off appearance in Episode 3 made her a brunette.

* AdaptedOut: As she was introduced in ''Progressive'' which wasn't written/released until after the anime, she never made it into the anime series with the TimeSkip glossing over the floors which she is present on.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Due to ArcWelding making the ''Progressive'' Motion Picture continuity canon, had Misumi not piqued Asuna's interest in video-gaming and join her in adventuring through Aincrad, Kirgaya Kazuto would never have met the love of this life and gained the stregth and courage to beat ''Sword Art Online.'' In this way, Misumi's friendship literally, however indirectly, saved 6000 lives from wasting away in an online purgatory of unreality, not to mention saving Asuna from becoming the wife of the perverted and abusive sleazebag Sugou Nobuyuki in their ArrangedMarriage, due to not having met Kirito.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: He's a lot more approachable in ''Integral Factor'', being less of an outright {{Jerkass}} and more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. While initially still being cold to Kirito for being a beater, he does come to uphold a begrudging respect towards both him. He's also pretty kind to the PlayerCharacter.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: [[spoiler: Kirito and Asuna speculate that their endgame with their scam is to amass enough power while weakening their competition that the moment their scam ''does'' get outed, they'd be strong enough to beat back any attempts on their life out in the field. Kirito is rightfully concerned, as players that powerful with seemingly so little morals is a dangerous combination, as Laughing Coffin would later prove.]]

* ChangedMyMindKid: [[spoiler:In the movie ''Progressive: Scherzo of a Dark Dusk'', Asuna tracks down Mito and asks her to join the Floor 5 boss battle. Mito refuses, even winning a duel so she wouldn't have to join. However, she shows up just in time to help the group during the boss battle.]]

* DistaffCounterpart: To Kirito. Much of her character is meant to reflect him such as his passion for gaming as a form of escapism from real life, being a beta tester for SAO, as well as dealing with the hardships and ostracization that beta players like Kirito faced. Both have online names that are derived from the letters of their real-life names ('''Mi'''sumi '''To'''sawa = Mito, '''Ki'''rigaya Kazu'''to''' = Kirito). And much like Kirito, she is also famous for having an opposite gender avatar wildly different to her real appearance. Finally, both are (or will fall) in love with Asuna.