PRESS RELEASE November 22, 2016

PRESS WCS Inc. × ×

“Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale-” Accepting Applications for Travel Reviewers to Join Tour of Japan in Commemoration of the Movie’s Release!

At the World Cosplay Championship 2016 held on Sunday, August 7, 2016,

the World Cosplay Summit Executive Office (Executive Committee Chair:

Tokumaru Oguri, hereafter referred to as WCS) announced a collaboration

with “Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale-”. In conjunction with the

movie’s release on Feb. 18, 2017, the WCS is accepting applications for

travel reviewers to take part in the “Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal

Scale- Official Japan Tour”, an exclusive tour package that includes the

chance to watch the movie at a theater with special guests, and more (tour

plan and sales: H.I.S. Co., Ltd., hereafter H.I.S.). Travel reviewers can fully

enjoy the world of SAO through various opportunities, like the movie

viewing with theater guests, on this exclusive tour of Japan, and then share ©2016 REKI KAWAHARA/PUBLISHED BY KADOKAWA CORPORATION ASCII MEDIA WORKS/SAO MOVIE Project the joy of the franchise and the appeal of Japan with SAO fans around the

world through SNS and other media.

SAO is popular not only in Japan, but also abroad. The official English Facebook account has accumulated more

than 2.72 million “likes” as its popularity spreads through North America, Central and South America, Europe, and

Asia. Starting with the release in Japan, next year’s “Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale-” is scheduled to

show in approximately 1,000 movie theaters world-wide. Meanwhile, the WCS, which began with just three countries

in 2003, gathered representative cosplayers from 30 different countries and regions in 2016. The large-scale event

captures the attention of world-wide fans of Japanese anime, manga, games, and so on, and the total number of

people participating in affiliated events across the globe surpasses 2 million. Furthermore, the official Facebook

account for the WCS has more than 440 thousand “likes”, with more than 98% of those coming from outside of

Japan. Utilizing the WCS network provides a more direct route to world-wide fans, so that they can know and

experience the “Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale- Official Japan Tour”. PRESS RELEASE November 22, 2016

＜Reviewer application details＞

Sponsor World Cosplay Summit Executive Office

Affiliates Aniplex Inc., H.I.S. Co., Ltd.

Tour name “Swors Art Online The Movie –Ordinal Scale- Official Japan Tour”

Tour dates Feb. 18, 2017 (Sat) to Feb. 22, 2017 (Wed)

Price Free

Airline tickets The sponsor(World Cosplay Summit Executive Office) provides the round trip tickets(economy class) from the departure place to Tokyo.

Lodging Tokyo / Japanize Guest House or equivalent hostel 4 nights

Meals 1 lunch and 1 dinner

Tour website http://www.his-j.com/japan-tourist/sao/index.html?lang=en

Available positions 2 people (each from a different country/region)

Application period Nov. 22, 2016 (Tue) to Dec. 9, 2016 (Fri) at 12:00 noon (JST)

Application method Apply by filling out the necessary items at the following application site.

Application website hp://www.worldcosplaysummit.jp/en/saotour2017.html

Application terms 1) Your feelings on the SAO franchise (100 characters or less) *Japanese or English only

2) The appeal and influential power of your SNS account or other places where you can post information as a reviewer *The ability to post in your native tongue and in English

Example) The name of your Facebook or other SNS account, follower count, and/or number of page views to the URL of your blog, etc.

・ Chosen participants will be selected through strict examination by the three sponsor/affiliate companies after Selection the application deadline. announcement ・ Chosen participants will be contacted via e-mail within one week of the application deadline.

・ After being contacted, if the chosen participant does not respond by the decided date, their chosen status will be invalidated.

・ Person residing in a country/region outside of Japan and who is not a Japanese citizen Requirements for travel review ・ Person who has a passport that does not expire until after the full duration of the review tour in Japan and participants who satisfies your visa conditions.

・ Person age 21 or older

・ If the chosen person is unable to participate in the trip, the selection cannot be waived or transferred.

Regarding review ・ Make at least one post to SNS or other media platform in the language of your country for each event during reports the review trip (50 characters or more).

・ Enter one report for each day of the review trip (200 characters or more).

・ Transfer the copyrights of videos released together with the reports to the sponsor (World Cosplay Summit Executive Office) (including the rights in Article 27 and Article 28 of the Japanese Copyright Act), and acknowledge that the material can be published to the sponsor’s website and other media platforms for non- profit purposes.

・ Take note that if you do not perform the established reviewers’ mission without justifiable reason and fail to cooperate in your report entries, then you may be billed an amount equivalent to the travel fees after participation in this trip.

World Cosplay Summit 2016 2 PRESS RELEASE November 22, 2016

Series Introduction The animated TV series “Sword Art Online” is based on author Reki Kawahara’s light novel (winner of the 15th Dengeki Novel Award Grand Prize) in which the protagonist Kirito fights to survive in the mysterious next-gen VRMMORPG called “Sword Art Online.” Since the first volume of the novel was published in April 2009, the series has been extremely popular with cumulative sales exceeding 12.5 million units in Japan and 19 million worldwide. Because of its popularity, the series has been adapted into two animated series, in addition to several games, comics and merchandise. In Spring 2017, “Sword Art Online The Movie -Ordinal Scale -“, a brand new original story written by Reki Kawahara, is set for a theatrical release. SAO fans around the world are anxiously anticipating its release. Sword Art Online The Movie – Ordinal Scale- Official Website(English) http://sao-movie.net/us/ ©2016 REKI KAWAHARA/PUBLISHED BY KADOKAWA CORPORATION ASCII MEDIA WORKS/SAO MOVIE Project

＜H.I.S. Special Plan Offer, Sword Art Online The Movie –Ordinal Scale- Official Japan Tour＞ Tour duration 3 days (Feb. 19, 2017 to Feb. 21, 2017)

Price 80,000 JPY (with accommodation) 70,000 JPY (without accommodation)

Tour website http://www.his-j.com/japan-tourist/sao/index.html

Special perks ■ See the movie in Japan before any other country and in a theater with special guests

■ Experience cosplay & purikura in the Mecca of anime

■ Includes 4 H.I.S. exclusive perks

01 A limited number of participants can visit A-1 Pictures Studio, where SAO was created

02 A limited number of participants are invited to a secret talk event featuring special guests

03 Select participants will receive a hand-drawn illustration board of their own portrait drawn in the style of SAO

04 All participants will receive an H.I.S. limited tour pass

Airline tickets None

Lodging (with accommodation) Tokyo / Japanize Guest House or equivalent hostel 3 nights (Feb. 18, 2017 to Feb. 20, 2017)

Meals 1 lunch and 1 dinner

Remarks No tour operator (English guide)

World Cosplay Summit Executive Committee, Affiliated Members and Enterprises

■ Contact World Cosplay Summit Executive Office (WCS Inc.) TEL / +81-(0)52-962-2003 （Weekdays 10:00~19:00） E-mail / [email protected]

■ Official web site www.worldcosplaysummit.jp facebook www.facebook.com/WorldCosplaySummit twitter @cosplay_summit instagram www.instagram.com/worldcosplaysummit/