Kazuto Kirigara, popularly known by his avatar name, Kirito, is the main protagonist of the Sword Art Online anime series. He is picked as one of the beta testers for the virtual reality role-playing game Sword Art Online and logged in the day it was officially released. The series illustrates Kirito’s journey as one of the trapped players in the game, trying to survive.
Despite preferring to fly and fight solo in the Sword Art Online series, Kirito subsequently forges relationships with some characters. Amidst the adventures and trying to survive in the virtual world, naturally, some of the friendship bonds were stronger than others. Even after he escaped SAO, Kirito would go on forge strong bonds of friendship.
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6 Tsuboi Ryoutarou
Kirito’s First Friend
Klein, as his avatar is known in the Sword Art Online game, is one of the supporting characters in the Sword Art Online series. He is friendly, selfless, and has an extremely loyal character. Unfortunately, when he is trapped in the game as a player, he reaches out to Kirito, who teaches him the basics of the game for survival upon realizing that it has become a death game. Klein exhibits a strong sense of kinship towards his comrades and constantly looks out for them in the game.
Despite the other characters’ distrust towards beta testers like Kirito, Klein is friendly with him and considers him a comrade. On the quest for survival and freedom, Klein reappears as the anime develops and embarks on several quests with Kirito, the former being friendly towards him despite the latter’s apathy. Their subsequent interactions show both characters to be quite cordial, making Klein one of the characters considered Kirito’s friend.
5 Shino Asada
Kirito’s Gun Gale Comrade
When an accident that claims her father’s life leaves her mother traumatized, Shino is left to navigate the world by herself. As a child, she was very protective of her mother, so when they were attacked by a man who threatened to shoot her mother, Shino’s protective instincts kicked in, making her kill the man. To deal with her trauma and fear of guns, Shino becomes a virtual reality game player under the name Sinon.
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Shino is one of the main supporting characters in the Sword Art Online series and is considered one of Kirito’s best friends. Their relationship kicked off on the wrong foot when she mistook Kirito for a female character in the Gun Gale Online game. Both characters fight against each other at a tournament until Kirito defeats her. The pair later join forces against a common enemy, and with more interaction, they become close allies and then friends. Kirito and Sinon complemented each other greatly as a team as they embarked on deadly quests.
4 Alice
Kirito’s ‘Childhood’ Friend
Alice, as she is mainly referred to in the Sword Art Online series, is one of the main supporting characters. When she breaks one of the laws in the game while trying to save a dying man, Alice’s fate is sealed with a promise of execution. She was separated from her life and childhood friends, Kirito and Eugeo. Hope was renewed for Alice when her execution was waved after years of training in Sacred Arts. However, she was unaware that she was being deceived and would be brainwashed into becoming an Integrity Knight, forgetting her previous life.
Her relationship with Kirito is reformed when fate rejoins the old friends. After years of separation from her life, Alice reunites with Kirito and Eugeo under violent and gruesome circumstances, as she does not recognize them. Kirito is able to remind Alice of her past and reveals that she had been deceived and exploited. Accompanied by Eugeo, both characters defeat their opponents and enemies just as Alice breaks free from the suppression. When the characters are not fighting enemies, they can be seen feeding their dragons together and having friendly chats over meals.
3 Suguha Kirigara
Kirito’s Sister
Suguha is one of the main supporting characters in the Sword Art Online series. She is also Kirito’s cousin and adoptive sister, and the pair shared a very close bond when they were younger. When their grandfather begins to take them Kendo classes, Kirito stops taking classes to pursue his interest in coding, which his mother encouraged, unbeknownst to Suguha. Because of her grandfather’s maltreatment towards her, she becomes vengeful, putting up a defensive front that protects her feelings by pushing people away and also creating animosity towards her brother.
As Suguha and Kirito pursue their different interests, she becomes skilled at Kendo and bullies him at every chance. The estranged siblings are seen bonding as they embark on dangerous quests together while Suguha is disguised as Leafa. As they interact more, she is hit with realizations that encourage her to repair their relationship. On quests, it is clear that Suguha cares for Kirito, as she saves and supports him multiple times on the latter’s quest to rescue his lover.
2 Eugeo
Kirito’s Best Friend
When his childhood friend, Alice, is taken away from the village for breaking the law, he has to live with the guilt of not saving her. Shortly afterward, his other friend, Kirito, leaves Eugeo to survive alone. Even when Eugeo and Kirito reunite years later, he cannot recognize his friend because the game’s administrator erased Kirito from his memories.
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Eugeo is liked by many characters because of his kind and charming personality, and he is one of the main protagonists in the Sword Art Online series. He is also very law-abiding and would never break a law except in the face of injustice. Kirito and Eugeo are able to pick up their friendship when the former reminds him of his past. Despite the gap in Eugeo’s memory, he and Kirito make great partners and friends as they support, protect, and rely on each other on their quests. He is considered one of Kirito’s closest and best friends in the series.
1 Asuna Yuuki
Kirito’s Lover
Kirito’s lover, the main female protagonist in the Sword Art Online series, becomes one of the trapped players in the game. Asuna did not know she would be confined in the Sword Art Online game when she logged in with her brother’s NerveGear. Being in the game without concrete knowledge of how to play made her somewhat apathetic towards surviving the game, quickly accepting what seemed to be a sealed fate. It was not until she met Kirito that her general attitude toward the game changed.
Kirito’s presence in her life helped the character survive and navigate the game amidst adversity. Both characters completed several quests together, allowing Asuna to develop her skills in playing and remaining alive in the game. They quickly grow on each other and even make plans to meet in the real world. Naturally, there isn’t a perfect relationship, and both characters have moments where they disagree. However, within and outside the virtual world, Kirito and Asuna fall in love and marry.
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