Ichigo Momomiya is excited to start high school and fall in love. She is in luck when she meets the popular and good-looking Masaya Aoyama, and she immediately develops a crush on him. When Ichigo learns that Aoyama is passionate about the environment, she seizes the chance to ask him out thanks to some tickets to an exhibition about endangered animals. During their date, Ichigo is struck by a mysterious light and faints. Waking up to the sight of Aoyama, she remains unharmed—but they both must escape from a giant rat-like creature after it injures Aoyama. To save her crush, Ichigo awakens her powers and transforms into a heroine with the skills of a cat. After she defeats the monster, researchers Ryou Shirogane and Keiichiro Akasaka explain that Ichigo was chosen to become a part of the Mew Project: a group of five magical girls whose DNA has been infused with those of certain endangered species. Now, Ichigo must find the rest of her teammates to defeat the Chimera Anima—beings infected by aliens who want to take over the world—before it is too late.

The original episode will serve as a bridge between the second and third season.

"There's no way to beat this game. The only difference is when and where you die..." One month has passed since Akihiko Kayaba's deadly game began, and the body count continues to rise. Two thousand players are already dead. Kirito and Asuna are two very different people, but they both desire to fight alone. Nonetheless, they find themselves drawn together to face challenges from both within and without. Given that the entire virtual world they now live in has been created as a deathtrap, the surviving players of Sword Art Online are starting to get desperate, and desperation makes them dangerous to loners like Kirito and Asuna. As it becomes clear that solitude equals suicide, will the two be able to overcome their differences to find the strength to believe in each other, and in so doing survive? Sword Art Online: Progressive is a new version of the Sword Art Online tale that starts at the beginning of Kirito and Asuna's epic adventure—on the very first level of the deadly world of Aincrad!

In Thrace, Arion is taken from his mother Demeter by the god Hades. In the Underworld, Arion is trained to be a warrior. His training is driven by revenge: Arion was told that his mother's blindness was caused by Zeus and Zeus' death will remove the curse. Finally, Arion and Geedo (a huge ape-like creature who had become Arion's friend and companion) left the Underworld to find Zeus. Seneca, a small thief, makes off with Arion's sword and this leads Arion to his first encounter with the forces of Zeus, commanded by his daughter Athena. Arion is captured but is later set free by Lesfeena, Athena's mute serving girl. As Arion rejoins Geedo and Seneca (and worries about Lesfeena), the forces of Zeus and Poseidon face each other in battle. In the background sits the scheming Hades, and the calm Apollon who seems to have plans of his own.