Are the Sword Art Online Movies Canon?

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Ever since its first episode aired in 2012, Sword Art Online has become a global phenomenon. What started out as a web novel series has now turned into a giant franchise that encompasses numerous forms of media.

The Sword Art Online franchise has produced more than 50 volumes of light novels, tons of manga adaptations, three seasons worth of anime, three full-length movies, and numerous games on different platforms, with many more to come. While such massive success is always a great thing, this kind of variety raises a question regarding which one is canon and which one is not. After all, most of these mediums have their own unique storyline that may or may not be connected to the main light novel series. Let's begin with the movies. Are Sword Art Online movies canon?

Sword Art Online Progressive Makes The Series' Best Arc Even Better

Before we talk about whether the movies are canon or not, let's talk about what «canon» means in the first place. In a nutshell, for fictional works, the term «canon» is used for every storyline that is part of one continuity. Whether it's a sequel, a prequel, or even a spin-off, as long as it exists within the same continuity as the main series, then it can be called «canon».

In the past, the term «canon» usually referred to any work based on a certain fictional entity that was done by the original creators. Nowadays though, for a storyline to be a canon, it doesn't have to be written by the same people. The general rule of thumb that is often used to decide whether a work of fiction is canon is as follows; either it was created by the original writer, or the work is acknowledged as part of the official canon by the original writer. In cases where the original writers are no longer alive or