[tomtkp]

One month before the release, the cover illustration of Volume 9 Alicization Beginning is here.



EDIT: I use another link for the picture. Tell me if you still cannot see the picture.

ソードアート・オンライン9 アリシゼーション・ビギニング
著者／川原 礫 イラスト／abec 定価 683円

再び≪抜け出せないデスゲーム≫の幕が上がる。『アリシゼーション』編、登場！
「ここは……どこだ……？」
　目を覚ますと、キリトは、巨木が連なる森の中──ファンタジーの仮想世界に入り込んでいた。手がかりを求 めて辺りを彷徨うさなか、彼は一人の少年と出会う。
「僕の名前はユージオ。よろしく、キリト君」
　この世界の住人──つまり≪NPC≫である少年は、なんら人間と変わらない感情の豊かさを持ち合わせてい た。ユージオと親交を深めるキリトだが、その脳裏にとある記憶がよみがえる。
　それは、子供時代のキリトがユージオと一緒に野山を駆け回っていた思い出。そこには、ユージオともう一人 、金色の髪を持つ少女の姿があった。名前は、アリス。忘れてはいけないはずの、大切な少女だった。ウェブ上 で最も支持を得た超人気エピソード登場！

I have no intention of translating these into English as I am not very familar with Japanese but I will replace it with my own introduction to Alicization arc.

Spoiler for Introduction to Alicization:

Alicization is the fourth arc in the SAO main storyline after Aincrad, Fairy Dance and Death Gun (Phantom Bullet). Serialised during the year 2005 to 2008 in the author's website, it is the current longest arc of the series with a whopping 308 parts. It is said that Alicization arc is longer that the total combined volume of the previous three arcs.

The story takes place after half a year from the Death Gun incident (two months after the end of Mother's Rosario). Kirito tells Asuna and Shinon in Dicey Cafe (Agil's cafe) that he was doing a part-time job with an organisation called RATH to test a new generation full dive machine called STL for 3 days non-stop until yesterday. STL is different from any other NERDLES technologies (NervGear and Amusphere) and is said to be more advanced than NERDLES. However, Kirito cannot recall what he's been doing during the dive because his memory had been blocked by the staff at RATH for confidential reasons but the only thing Kirito knew from the staff was that the virtual world he had dived is called "Underworld" or UW for short. Despite without (or couldn't recall) the memory of his time in the virtual world, Kirito feels somehow familar when he hears the word "Alice".......

To some who had read the web version Chapter 1 in BT and wonder why my introduction is different from what was written in Chapter 1, there's no need to worry about. And like any other stories, it is best for you to just explore the story and find the answer yourself. Just like when you were watching Steins;Gate.

My comments on the cover illustrations:
This time it's two males just like in Volume 8. While there's Kirito as usual, there's one teenager beside Kirito. Though the teenager looks more awesome than I ever imagined. And look what the teenager is holding, it's:

Spoiler for what the teenager is holding:

Sword of the Blue Rose
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! The fanboy in me roars.

Another point I would like to point out is the price of this volume. It's 683 yen. It means that this voulme would be as thick as Volume 6 and 8. Probably in the range of 400-500 pages. One thing for sure is that it will not be less than 400 pages.