Welcome to our comprehensive guide to Sword art online Kirito. When it comes to game based anime, nothing else comes to mind like sword art OL.
While there are now so many prominent game anime titles in circulation, a decade or so ago it wasn’t such a prominent genre. SAO played an important role in popularising this genre and the overall concept. Let’s just in to the topic, because there is a lot to cover.
How Many Seasons of Sword Art Online are There?
There are so many titles out there that drew inspiration from sword art OL and expanded from it. There are Light Novels, Manga, Anime, Music, Video Games and Live Action series based off on the franchise. Awesome!
The Original work of Sword Art OL was the Light Novel written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by abec. Yet the most prominent version is the anime produced by Aniplex and Genco. It was animated by A-1 Pictures, directed by Tomohiko Ito and the music was created by Yuki Kajiura. There are multiple anime seasons.
- Sword Art Online (2012) featuring two story arcs
- Sword Art Online II (2014) featuring three story arcs
- Sword Art Online: Alicization (2018) featuring seven story arcs.
What is Sword Art Online
Sword Art OL is an anime series set in the fictional year 2024, where virtual reality technology had advanced beyond leaps and bounds. “Sword Art Online (SAO)” is a massive online Role Playing Game (RPG) which uses this technology. Players use “NerveGear” head gear technology to control their avatars within the game via their thoughts alone.
Protagonist Kazuto Kirigaya, whose In-Game-Name (IGN) is Kirito, is one the few lucky gamers to get his hands on the first shipment of SAO. Having been a closed Beta tester of the game as well, he is a very skilled gamer with extensive game knowledge.
He logs into the game on the big first day along with ten thousand others, into the scenic and detailed fictional world of Aincrad in which SAO is set. It is a world full of medieval weaponry, particularly swords, mythical creatures and fearsome monsters.
But a big plot twist awaits them from the onset, the players cannot log out and find themselves stuck in the game. This is all part of the game creator’s mysterious plan, an experiment of sorts where none of them can leave until they clear all one hundred levels of SAO without dying even once. Worst part is, death within the game meant death in real life as well. The thousand players are now locked in a bloody survival game to clear this death game in order to return to the real world.
In order to return home, lone wolf Kirito SAO must now interact and work together with many other players. He runs into friends and foes alike, the most prominent of which is Asuna Yuuki, a girl leading a subgroup of a major Guild to clear levels in a “Kill or be killed” world. Amidst all these alien elements, Sword Art Online Kirito resolves to adapt to Aincrad, fight for his survival and one day be freed from this virtual prison.
Who is Kirito from SAO?
Kirigaya Kazuto was born as Narusaka Kazuto, most commonly known as Kirito is the overall protagonist of the Sword Art Online franchise. He was a closed Beta tester for Sword Art Online, the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) utilizing the NerveGear and later joined the official version of the game upon release.
Once the players were made aware of their situation, Kirito SAO was one of the few who calmly analyzed the situation and wasted no time in grinding to get ahead in the game. Thus he remained a solo player for most of the period who had enough information to thrive alone thanks to the closed Beta experience.
In order to avoid dragging down other Beta testers with him as a “selfish player”, he set himself apart as a “Beater”. Regardless he actively joined Boss Battles to clear levels and advance in the game with other players, one of the most prominent solo Clearers.
Over the years, he became a temporary member of the Moonlit Black Cats guild after he helped them escape a dungeon. But during this one attempt to make friends, he makes a small error that costs the lives of all the other guild members. After this he resolved to stay a Solo player for good, distancing himself from all others.
How Did Kirito Become the Black Swordsman
He eventually came to be known as the Black Swordsman, mainly due to his black attire. Kirito SAO later starts developing a relationship with Asuna Yuuki and the two fall in love, even marrying ingame. However, this leads to him being forced to join Asuna’s Guild, the Knights of the Blood after losing a duel with its leader Heathcliff. At the end of SAO, he and Asuna manage to defeat the final boss and clear the game, being released back to the real world with all the remaining players.
Kirito Finds Love
In the real world, Kirito starts seeking out the love of his life Asuna, who had somehow not been logged out of SAO even after they cleared the game. He later finds a screenshot of a girl resembling Asuna in another virtual reality game titled ALfheim Online, thus he starts playing it as a fairy Spriggan to find her.
Here he develops a connection with his cousin younger sister Kirigaya Suguha whom he traverses ALfheim with. Together with friends old and new he manages to reunite with Asuna and free her along with three hundred other captives. After the dangers are past, he continues to play ALfheim with his friends from SAO and new comrades from ALfheim Online under new management.
Kirito Works With The Ministry of Internal Affairs
As per request from Kikuoka Seijirou from the Ministry of Internal Affairs Telecommunications Bureau, Advanced Network Division, Kirito converts his ALfheim Online avatar to Gun Gale Online (GGO), an online Gun game to investigate a series of mysterious deaths.
This assassin, a player calling himself Death Gun, is killing off certain high ranking players of GGO. Gun Gale Online Kirito takes part in the game’s largest tournament “Bullet of Bullets” to find and stop this serial killer, a game that works mainly with guns as opposed to Kirito’s sword mastery. Here he befriends and saves a girl named Asada Shino (IGN Sinon) who is connected with the bizarre events somehow. He resolves this issue with her help, which is associated with a real life serial killer.
Sword Art Online Kirito In the Real World
Afterwards, Kirito returns to his normal real world life and ingame life for a brief period. Several months later, Kirito gets offered a part-time job to test a new FullDive machine known as the Soul Translator. He takes the offer, but behind the scenes he was actually recruited to help with a military project called Project Alicization. Thus unfolds the many story arcs of Kirito Alicization within this project.
Kirito’s Stats
Kirito is one of the most powerful and competent fights in the SAO franchise. He started off at Level 1 with 250 HP (Hit Points) within the SAO original game on November 6th, 2024 as per Story time. By the time he got out of the game, past February 2024 he was already Level 96 with 18500 HP.
When he first started ALfheim Online in January 2025, he had 400 HP and 80 MP (Mana Points). In Project Alicization his permanent Unit ID was NND7-6355 with a Durability value of 3289. He had an Object Control Authority value of 38 prior to the battle against the Goblins, which went up to 129 by the 7th Day of the 12th Month. Kirito had a System Control Authority value of 1 initially but it went up to 107 by the end of that period.
Weapons and Gear used by Kirito
Kirito has mastered multiple weapons across multitudes of games, he possesses an uncanny knack for Swords in particular, his go-to weapon of choice. These coupled with some pretty neat gear allowed him to bring out a lot of combat ability. For SAO Kirito’s Swords, he started off with a simple One-Handed Sword called a “Small Sword”.
This was replaced by another One-Handed Sword titled Anneal Blade as a reward for the Secret Medicine of the Forest quest. He obtained a Leather Coat called the Coat of Midnight as a 1st Floor Boss drop, this became the start of his signature look. He wore two rings, Ring of Brawn and Sigil of Lyusula both of which are rewards for completing separate quests.
His next One-Handed Sword was the Elven Stout Sword, this got replaced by the Sword of Eventide, which are a Boss drop and Quest reward respectively. He then acquired the Fortified Breastplate, Skintight Shirt, Trousers of Shadowthread and “Spiked Shortboots” from in-game stores.
He then used another One-Handed Sword called “Queen’s Knightsword” for a short time before he wielded his most iconic weapon yet. SAO Kirito’s Sword, the Elucidator was his Primary Weapon in the game, a pitch Black One-Handed Sword which he received as a 50th Floor Boss drop.
This sword along with the Blackwyrm Coat, Throwing Pick (Throwing Blade) and the The Heart of the Relic (Breastplate) made up his iconic Black attire from the anime. He additionally obtains another One-Handed Sword called the Dark Repulser, which Player Lisbeth made for him, turning him into a dual sword Wielder for another period of time. The Dual Wield combo of these two are the main SAO Kirito’s Swords in the franchise.
In ALfheim Online he wielded a number of One-Handed Swords as well; an Unnamed great sword, Unnamed blue long sword, Unnamed long sword, the Holy Sword Excalibur (most notable) and Black Welt. He dons a leather coat called the Cloak of Harald.
Kirito’s Sword, the Excalibur was a reward for The Holy Sword of the Ice Palace quest. It is the strongest sword known in the ALO Universe but Kirito only uses it as a Secondary sword and only for emergencies.
Kirito’s kit in Gun Gale Online was pretty limited. Kirito’s Sword was the Kagemitsu G4 Photon Sword, which acted as his Primary Weapon and a FN Five-Seven Pistol, both of which are in-game Store bought.
In the Ordinal Scale movie, Kirito’s Sword was the Executor, a D-Weapon Type:S. As for Alicization, Kirito’s Swords were a total of three One-Handed Swords; an unnamed goblin sword, the Blue Rose Sword and the Night Sky Sword crafted by Sadore from a branch of the Gigas Cedar. Gun Gale Online Kirito also used an unnamed spirit iron chain in the fight against Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one.
Abilities and Skills of Sword art Online Kirito
Kirito SAO also had an impressive Skill Set for each game he played. In SAO he had completed skills (1000/1000) as per Skill Slots for One Handed Sword, Dual Blades, Parry, Searching and Hiding. In addition, another set of skills close to completion (around 900/1000) like Martial Arts, Blade Throwing, Battle Healing, Sprint and Extended Weight Limit. He also had a halfway completed Fishing skill.
Kirito’s main proficiency is with the sword, so its natural that he had a bunch of One-Handed Sword Skills.
| Horizontal |
| Horizontal Arc |
| Horizontal Square |
| Rage Spike |
| Sharp Nail |
| Slant |
| Spinning Shield |
| Sonic Leap |
| Vertical |
| Vertical Arc |
| Vertical Square |
| Vorpal Strike |
Although, not his forte, SAO Kirito also improved his martial arts skills:
| Senda |
| Gengetsu |
| Embracer |
| Meteor Fall |
| Meteor Break |
| Escape |
After Kirito obtained the Dark Repulser sword, he started improving his dual blade skills. His primary non-combat skills were primarily Arms Blast, Hypersense and Mislead.
| Double Circular |
| Starburst Stream |
| The Eclipse |
| Cross Block |
In ALfheim Online he boasted largely similar skills as per Skill Slots, nearly identical in fact. The only key difference was the absence of the Dual Blades skill slot. One-Handed Sword skills he used were Deadly Sins, Howling Octave, Lightning Fall, Savage Fulcrum, Vertical Square and Vorpal Strike. Spell Blast, Skill Connect and Hypersense are the key Outside Battle skills he adopted.
In Gun Gale Online, Kirito was suddenly dealing with completely different weapons altogether, thus using skills like Bullet Deflect, Distinguish, Hypersense and Sword Skill Imitation. Finally during the Project, Kirito Alicization used Sword Skills including the Snake Bite, Nova Ascension and a majority of other Sword Skills from SAO. Additionally he used the Serlut Style “Whirling Current” (Cyclone).
Kirito’s Relationship With Other Sword Art Online Characters
As the centre of the whole SAO franchise, Kirito has intricate and vast relationships with so many of the other characters, all of which vary in size, shape and form.
Kirito X Asuna Yuuki
His most important relationship is without a doubt with Asuna Yuuki. Asuna is the love of Kirito’s life and his unyielding partner. She is the one who is closest and dearest to him, as such he will also place her as a priority in his life, one which he won’t hesitate to risk his life for.
They first met on the 1st Floor of SAO. Throughout their line in SAO their relationship developed so much and the two married in- game. After escaping SAO, Kirito put everything aside to find her in real life. Following his conquest of the World Tree, the two were finally reunited and started a relationship in the real world.
When Kirito decided to go to school in America to pursue his career, he asked her to accompany him there, stating he could not live without her. Asuna replied that her answer to that question was decided a long time ago. Their love for each other is so strong that it had braved all that was thrown at them, unwavering and unyielding.
Kirito’s First Friend: Tsuboi Ryoutarou
Kirito’s first friend in SAO was Tsuboi Ryoutarou (Klein). He asked Kirito to teach him about SAO and he is now one of Kirito’s most trusted friends even in real life. Klein worried about Kirito a lot, especially his lone-wolf nature and sincerely asked Asuna to take care of him.
Friendship With Agil
Andrew Gilbert Mills (Agil) is another friend of Kirito from SAO. He was always open to offer any help to Kirito. In fact, Agil is the first person that he goes to when he wants to get advice or items examined.
Ayano Seiko
Kirito met Ayano Keiko (Silica) in SAO and was very protective of her due to her reminding him of his little sister. The two continue to be good friends in real life despite her feelings for him.
Kirito’s Blacksmith: Shinozaki Rika
Shinozaki Rika (Lisbeth) is Kirito’s favoured BlackSmith from SAO. She fell in love with him and openly states it, but does not pursue it in support of Asuna. Her feelings are still there after returning to the real world and the two continue to be close friends.
Yui
Yui is Kirito and Asuna’s in-game daughter who is actually an Artificial Intelligence (AI), whom he loves as his own daughter. He prepared a device for Yui to view the real world even whilst she is in virtual reality and gave her the ability to communicate with them.
Kirito’s Sister Kiriagaya Suguha
Kirito was never that close to his sister Kirigaya Suguha (IGN Leafa) in real life. But after the SAO event, she was more concerned about her brother. They met in ALfheim Online, not knowing who the other was in real life at first. She later learned that Kirito was her brother and gave it her all to help save Asuna and supported them in real life as well.
A Good Friend Asada Shino
Kirito met Asada Shino (Sinon) in GGO. She had a troubled life and Kirito was able to support and comfort her, which eventually led to her developing feelings for him. After she is saved by him in real life, she continues to be his close friend.
Kirito X Eugeo X Alice
Finally, Kirito met Eugeo and Alice in Alicization. Eugeo was Kirito’s best friend in Underworld, whom he shared the Sacred Task of cutting the Gigas Cedar with and Alice was one of Kirito’s friends during his first dive.
Most Relevant Sword Art OL Story Arcs
If you are looking to skip to the most important bits sword art ol, you probably want to know the most relevant story arcs. Sword art online Kirito is always the main character, but not all arcs are made equal, right.
The best arc of Sword art online, in my opinion is Alicization. Its hard to go into detail without spoiling a lot of the content, but its certainly one of the pivotal arcs of the series and Kirito makes great progress in it. Other story arcs to keep an eye on are Aincrad, Alfheim Online and the Gun Gale Online arc.
Kirito in Anime Games
Being the main character of the franchise, Kirito is of course an important character in the games of the SAO franchise. He made his game debut in Infinity Moment. There are seven currently known major officially licensed game adaptations for PC and Console, all of which feature Sword art online Kirito.
| Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment |
| Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment |
| Sword Art Online: Lost Song |
| Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization |
| Accel World VS Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight |
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet |
| Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris |
These games follow different genres but Sword Art Online Kirito is the main playable character featured in each title. For example, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a Third-Person-Shooter and Role-Playing Game (TPSRPG) for the PlayStation 4, XBox One and PCs via Steam worldwide. It is based on the Unreal Engine 4 and is set in Gun Gale Online. As the name suggests, Fatal Bullet is set in GGO, centred around Gun Gale Online Kirito.
In addition, there are seven Mobile games under the SAO franchise;
| Sword Art Online: End World |
| Sword Art Online: Code Register |
| Sword Art Online: Progress Link |
| Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag |
| Sword Art Online: Integral Factor |
| Sword Art Online: Alicization Blading |
| The Black Swordsman |
All these titles feature Kirito along with the major cast of the series as playable characters.
Thanks for Reading!
That sums up just about everything you need to know about Sword art Online Kirito a.k.a. Kirigaya Kazut. But, this is still more of a summary! The franchise is flourishing and will continue to grow, whether Kirito is at centre stage or not. So for all fans of the series, hang tight as even more great content is assured in the future!