"sword art online" is an anime television series based on light novel series written by reki kawahara and illustrated by abec. the anime adaptation of "sword art online" was announced at dengeki bunko autumn festival 2011, along with reki kawahara's other light novel series, "accel world". the anime is produced by aniplex and genco, animated by a-1 pictures and directed by tomohiko ito with music by yuki kajiura. the first season aired on tokyo mx, tvk, tv saitama, tv aichi, rkb, hbc and mbs between july 7 and december 22, 2012, and on at-x, chiba tv and bs11 at later dates. adult swim’s toonami block aired the anime starting from july 27, 2013. the series was also streamed on crunchyroll and hulu.