Kirito

, born as, and known as in «Sword Art Online» (SAO), «ALfheim Online» (ALO), «Gun Gale Online» (GGO), and «Project Alicization», is the protagonist of the main Sword Art Online series.

Background
Kirito was chosen to be one of the one thousand beta testers for the closed beta of Sword Art Online, the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) for the NerveGear, and later joined the official version of the game. He thus became one of the 10,000 players who were trapped in Sword Art Online, where he remained a solo player for the majority of the game, willingly taking on the role of a Beater to reduce discrimination against other former beta testers, as well as actively taking part in Boss battles as one of the Clearers. Kirito temporarily became a member of the Moonlit Black Cats after helping them safely escape a dangerous dungeon, but returned to being a solo player when a fatal error resulted in the death of the other guild members. At some point in the game, Kirito became known as the «Black Swordsman» (黒の剣士, Kuro no Kenshi?) due to his tendency to wear black clothing. Near the end of the game, Kirito joined the Knights of the Blood due to losing a wager with its leader, Heathcliff. Kirito eventually put an end to the game by defeating the final boss, thus clearing the game.

As Asuna and a small group of Sword Art Online survivors were not logged out from Sword Art Online in the aftermath of the incident, Kazuto began playing ALfheim Online as a Spriggan due to seeing an in-game screenshot of what resembled Asuna, and thus wanting to investigate the matter. After freeing the three hundred remaining captives, Kazuto continued playing ALfheim Online, under new management, with his old friends from Sword Art Online, as well as new friends from ALfheim Online.

Due to the request of Kikuoka Seijirou, Kazuto temporarily converted his ALfheim Online avatar to Gun Gale Online via The Seed to investigate a series of strange deaths, rumoured to be associated with a mysterious player, referring to himself as Death Gun. Thus, Kirito took part in the largest tournament in the game, the Bullet of Bullets, to attract the attention of the mysterious player.

In the aftermath of the incident, Kazuto returned with his avatar to ALfheim Online and continued playing it with his friends. Several months later, Kazuto was offered a part-time job to test a new FullDive machine known as the Soul Translator, but unbeknownst to him, he was actually helping with a military project known as Project Alicization.

Sword Art Online
Kirito's SAO avatar had slightly long but neat black hair and black eyes. His clothes later in the game consisted of black pants with a black belt that had a large silver buckle, a black V-necked shirt that was worn underneath a black trench-coat with gray lining going down the sleeves, and black boots with silver plates to protect his shins. He had a silver plate worn on the left side of his coat, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. He wore a strap that went over his right shoulder and under it to wrap around his left side. In the last months of the game, he used «Elucidator» and «Dark Repulser» as his main weapons.

Gun Gale Online
Kazuto's avatar in Gun Gale Online belongs to the rare «M9000» series. It is an avatar that many male players dream of having, due to its feminine appearance. Kazuto's avatar in Gun Gale Online is both shorter and more slender than his spriggan avatar in ALfheim Online. Although the two avatars share the same black hair and eyes, his hair now flows down to his shoulder blades, while his eyes are larger and shinier.

Skills

 * One-Handed Sword Skills (SAO):
 * Horizontal Arc
 * Horizontal
 * Horizontal Square
 * Slant
 * Rage Spike
 * Spinning Shield
 * Sharp Nail
 * Sonic Leap
 * Vertical
 * Vertical Arc
 * Vertical Square
 * Vorpal Strike
 * Dual Blades Sword Skills (SAO):
 * Double Circular
 * Cross Block
 * The Eclipse
 * Starburst Stream
 * One-Handed Sword Skills (ALO):
 * Deadly Sins
 * Howling Octave
 * Lightning Fall
 * Vertical Square
 * Vorpal Strike
 * Savage Fulcrum
 * Sword Skills (Project Alicization):
 * Snake Bite (Aincrad Style)
 * Nova Ascension (Aincrad Style)
 * Whirling Current (Serlut Style)
 * Sword Skills from Sword Art Online.
 * Martial Arts Skills (SAO):
 * Senda
 * Meteor Fall
 * Meteor Break
 * Gengetsu
 * Escape
 * Embracer
 * Other Skills (SAO / ALO):
 * Dual Blades (SAO Only)
 * One-Handed Sword
 * Martial Arts
 * Blade Throwing
 * Parry
 * Battle Healing
 * Searching
 * Hiding
 * Fishing
 * Sprint
 * First Aid
 * Extended Weight Limit
 * Mislead (SAO Only)
 * Spell Blast (ALO Only)
 * Hypersense
 * Skill Connect (ALO Only)
 * Arms Blast (SAO Only)
 * Skills (GGO):
 * Distinguish
 * Sword Skill Imitation
 * Hypersense
 * Bullet Deflect

Equipment

 * Elucidator - Kirito's Primary Sword used in Sword Art Online.
 * Dark Repulser - Kirito's Secondary Sword made by Lisbeth. Used in Sword Art Online.
 * Throwing Pick - A Throwing Blade. Used in Sword Art Online.
 * Blackwyrm Coat - Kirito's Black Leather Jacket made by Ashley. Used in Sword Art Online.
 * Black Welt - One-Handed Sword crafted by Lisbeth. Used in ALfheim Online after the events of the Alicization Arc.
 * Holy Sword Excalibur - Legendary One-Handed Sword. For emergency use only in ALfheim Online.
 * Kagemitsu G4 - Photon Sword. Used in Gun Gale Online.
 * FN Five-Seven - Pistol. Used in Gun Gale Online.
 * Blue Rose Sword - Eugeo's Sword. Used in Project Alicization.
 * Night Sky Sword - Kirito's Sword Crafted from the Gigas Cedar. Used in Project Alicization.

Trivia

 * Kirito appears as a playable character in Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax
 * Kirito appears as both a main and support character in Dengeki Bunko: Crossing Void. The Game also features an alterate version of him that uses Dual Blades.
 * Kirito makes a cameo appearance in Accel World.
 * Kirito is voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka in the anime adaptation of Sword Art Online.
 * He shares a voice actor with: Masamune Izumi (Eromanga-sensei), Narumi Fujishima (Heaven's Memo Pad), Masaki Ichijou (The Irregular at Magic High School), Kaede Makabe (Oreimo), Maru Sueharu (OSAMAKE), Kazunari Uehara (Ro-Kyu-Bu!), Francois Auric (Shakugan no Shana III) and Kira Lebedev Voltisloa (Strike the Blood).