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How To Watch Sword Art Online

Here's how to follow along the right way.

When it comes to modern anime hits, Sword Art Online is definitely a name that comes to mind. In the genre of Isekai, the series is undoubtedly the most popular to date.

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After a successful manga run between 2002 and 2008, A-1 Pictures released the first season of the Sword Art Online anime in 2012, which quickly boomed in popularity and set the stage for years of SWO to come.

To date, there have been multiple seasons of the main story, side stories, and a film, so for those who haven’t yet delved into the world of Sword Art Online, there has never been a better time to do so.

Whether you’ve been keeping up with the action since the series’ launch and have been watching in release order or are completely new to the world of Sword Art Online, here is the ideal watch order.

Sword Art Online watch guide

While you could watch the series in its release order and still find a lot of enjoyment, this watch order will give you the best way to follow the story in chronological order, although that isn’t completely possible given that some of the events aren’t connected.

  • Sword Art Online
  • Sword Art Online: Extra Edition (Film)
  • Sword Art Online II
  • Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
  • Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale (Movie)
  • Sword Art Online: Alicization
  • Sword Art Online: Alicization: War of Underworld 
  • Sword Art Online: Alicization: War of Underworld 2nd Season

Sword Art Online is currently available to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Funimation.