Accel World

A Japanese light novel series written by Reki Kawahara and illustrated by HiMA. The series began publication in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint from February 2009. Two manga series began serialization in Dengeki Bunko Magazine from May 2010, with another series beginning serialization in Dengeki Daioh in January 2013. An anime adaptation by J.C. Staff aired in Japan between April and September 2012. An English-language version began streaming on Viz Media's Neon Alley service from April 2013. Two PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 games have also been released.

Plot
Haruyuki "Haru" Arita is a short, fat boy who is constantly bullied at the Umesato Junior High School which results in him having exceptionally low self-esteem. To escape the torment of real life, he logs onto the school's Local Network where he plays squash by himself and always gets the highest scores. One day, he checks the squash rankings to find his high score beaten by Kuroyukihime, the popular Student Council Vice-President, who invites him to lunch the next day. Here Kuroyukihime introduces Haruyuki to Brain Burst, a secret program that is able to accelerate the human cognitive process to the point at which time appears to stop. Haruyuki soon learns that Brain Burst is more than just a program, but a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online (VRMMO) Fighting Game where people fight each other in fierce duels in order to obtain Burst Points which can be expended for acceleration abilities in the real world. Kuroyukihime then enlists Haruyuki's help in reaching Level 10 within Brain Burst by defeating the "Six Kings of Colour" to ultimately meet the creator of Brain Burst and learn its true purpose.

Production
An anime TV series adaptation aired in Japan between April 6, 2012 and September 21, 2012. The opening theme until episode 13 is "Chase the world" by May'n and the ending theme is "→unfinished→" by Kotoko. From episode 14 onwards the opening theme is "Burst the Gravity" by Altima and the ending theme is "unite." by Sachika Misawa. Warner Home Video, ASCII Media Works, Namco Bandai Games, Sunrise and Genco were involved in the production of this adaptation. Viz Media announced the streaming of the anime on Hulu as of April 6, 2012. The anime adaptation covers the first four light novels and parts of volume 10. An English-dubbed version premiered on Viz Media's online streaming service, Neon Alley, on April 19, 2013.