[Event] Sword Art Online EX Chronicle in KYOTO

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Earlier this year.  I was able to attend SAO event in Kyoto.  luckily it coincide with my January-February trip.  So I was able to join this exciting event

SAO EX Chronicle was held for just a couple of Days, January 31 (Fri)-February 3 (Mon) 2020  in Kyoto International Conference Center Event Hall. It’s a museum dedicated only for the anime Sword Art Online, ALO  GGO and up to War of the Underworld.  Meaning that the characters from the console games and further light novel or even Alternative Gun Gale Online were not shown here.

Entrance fee cost at 1500 Yen. But I chose the one with freebies that includes a small booklet and an ID Holder which cost 3000 yen.  You can only enter the event once every start of the hour.  Luckily I arrived quarter before 2pm. So here goes!

Once you enter the event hall, You’ll be greeted by the standee of the Heroines.  They look cool and gorgeous on formal attire. They were placed on every corner of the hall.

 

Upon entering the actual event, there’s this big tarpaulin of all the characters who played significant role in the anime.  And then there was the line to enter the actual exhibit.  This is where they will hand out the freebies depending on the ticket you availed.  So I got the Premium booklet and ID holder as my ticket was the 3000 Yen.  Outside that, they will hand you a random photo card and small collectible card as a freebie regardless of the ticket category. Opening and Ending Animations are being played on the screen as well.   Also, before you enter, you can choose to rent the Sound AR for 1000 Yen.  I availed this service just for the experience.  It was my first time trying Sony AR headset and I was totally amazed.  It feels that the voice speaks directly to your brain. Yep, you can hear the outside noise but you can clearly hear the character talking on your head.  The Sound AR’s main function is to guide you with the anime as you move along the maze

“LINK START”

This area is off limits for picture.  And as a good kid, I didn’t broke this rule so I’ll just tell you what can be seen in here.

Once you enter, a labyrinth looking view will surprise you.

On this section, it was the story from the first Sword Art Online it guides you throughout the Aincrad as well as some sketches of A-1 Pictures, the Studio behind the anime.  The entire walling was designed to feature each content of the anime.  This is where you have to start the Sound AR.  Since aside from checking the wall, the characters from the Sound AR will tell you some stories about the current happening on the chapter you are standing on.  By the way, you can choose which character to guide you on the event.  Either the main gang or the bad guys.

As you browse the wall and scroll around, you’ll see some exhibit of the important things used in the anime.  For the Aincrad SAO area, Kirito’s weapons Elucidator and Dark Repulser as well as Asuna’s Rapier, the Lambent Light. Walk some more and You’ll see an actual model of Nerv Gear.

It would be nice if that is an actual functioning Nerv Gear.  Can’t wait to start experiencing Virtual Reality game.

Oh,  SAO was generous enough to post some photo featured on their site. So I’ll be using it just to show you.

Yes, that is the actual wall on this maze.  It was divided into 5 parts,  SAO’s Aincrad, Alfheim Online, Gun Gale Online Ordinal Scale and Alicization.  On each section of the story, they displayed the weapons and actual key item used on the anime such as aforementioned Nerv Gear, Amusphere and Augma. You can see in the above photo was Kirito’s Excalibur which was obtained during the raid episode on the second part of GGO’s anime.  Several weapons were featured as well, like Sinon’s Hecate, Alice’s Fragrant Olive, Kiriko’s Photon Sword and more!

Once you’ve passed this area, Taking pictures is allowed once again.

And on this part is massive wall of all the characters design index.  All the views from different angles, expressions, and up to the clothing and even the item and monster featured in the entire anime. 

Here’s a panoramic shot from my iPhone

(Thumbnail is too small.  Just click it to enlarge the whole photo)

On the other side of the character wall was the setting and other material for the anime.

 

Next on the exhibit would be the graphic movie wall.

On this area,  its’s a video wall explaining the important turning point of events on the anime. Such as  Kirito’s diving into ALO to save Asuna, Asada Shino’s bank robbery incident and many more

Walk through this and it will lead us to the Control Room of Ocean Turtle.

Its amazing how they managed to replicate the whole control system, the actual game timeline counter and the Cluster Cube, ALICE.  They even did extra effort on displaying the wig and sun glasses of Asuna when she disguised to infiltrate the base.

On the other side was the wall of the villains. It’s the lineup of the main villain they encounter.  heatcliff, Laughing Coffin, Oberon and Death Gun.  Its not interesting enough unlike everything we’ve passed on through.

Alright, this part would be the most EXCITING attraction of the event.

First of all, upon exiting and saying Good bye to Kayaba, another large wall will be greeting you.

This time its our heroine on their In-Game Avatar.  As you may see on the side, there were small numbers written.  Its actually the height of each character in game.

You can actually have your picture taken in here. But I want not able to since the exciting part I mentioned lies ahead.

This portion is every 30 mins only, and when I got here it was about to start,  I wasn’t able to take more pictures of Asuna and the others height.

The next part is the Pseudo Virtual Reality.

Since this part is a film viewing of some sort, of course pictures and video recording is strictly not allowed.  The 2 pictures above came from SAO’s event main website.

On this part, a set of attendees were brought on a dark room which is a giant LED Video wall.  Slowly a sound and animation started playing. The animation is all about the adventure of SAO’s Kirito and Asuna for the last 10 years from SAO Aincrad up to  the current Alicizatioon. Since we are all seating, the whole video seems to be more larger than what it actually is. It felt and give you the vibe of actually being Kirito or Asuna on that moment.   It was very thrilling, Virtual Realty is in front of us already. This entire presentation gave so much chills. Everything is so amazing.  And as the music ends, a trailer for the second cour of War in the Underworld was played mentioning that Kirito will be back this April.  The entire show took around 7 mins.   It was ReoNa’s ‘Till the End playing on the whole show, and her song last that long.  Man! Up until now, I can still remember this part freshly, like it just happened yesterday.

Next part would be a small exhibit of the new products SAO franchise will be selling soon.  First of all was a prototype figure of Genco’s Stacia, Genesis of Creation Asuna from Alicization. Followed by other companies representation for the series.

A small amount of figures were shown.  Probably since wonfest is just a week ahead after this, they weren’t able to ask for Prototypes.  I actually pre-ordered Genco’s Asuna and Leafa.  And will surely order Sinon once its started accepting orders..  Can’t wait to display them all together.

On this part as well, I have to say goodbye to my SOUND AR.  It was fun listening to you guys T_____T

Next part would be the second to the last part of the Museum.  This area is more like a game section.

In here, they are showcasing Alicization Weiss Scwarz as well as some trading card from the wafer.

A game footage of Sword Art Online Alicization Llycoris which will be coming on PS4 and Switch is being shown in here too. Along with the current Alicization mobile game.

Also, there is a computer in here where you can speak to Alice.

You can actually interact with her just like a virtual Youtuber. Wasn;t able to interact with her one on one.  A lot of people are lined up with her.  And it seems a little difficult if I talk in broken Japanese with her.  hahaha

Also a part where you can play with Yui.  by touching her heart, you can also interact with her. I wasn’t able to take a picture of the whole machine when meeting Yui-chan since I took an entire video for it.

 

Lastly, it will not be very special without the commemorative goods for sale just for event/  And so I shop!

I actually bought a lot.  70% goes to my friend who asked me to get him those limited stuff and the remaining 30% is mine.

And that concludes my SAO in KYOTO Adventure.  I will admit that I’m not a big fan of SAO, but amidst every controversies this series had, I love it.  And for this overall experience, I extremely enjoyed it a lot. For 4000 yen, the experience was like diving on the anime itself. If ever they will be doing another exhibit, I hope they will be add the game characters like Strea and Nanairo.  Also GGO’s LLENN and Fuka will be cute to see here.

That’s it! I hope you enjoy this and for my next blog, it should be my experience on Type Moon Museum or Lyrical Live? Stay tuned!