Accel World (アクセル・ワールド Akuseru Wārudo?) is 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 and is licensed in North America by Yen Press. 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 Sunrise 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 video games were released for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 on September 13, 2012, and January 31, 2013, each containing an original video animation episode.

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 and attractive female Student Council Vice-President, who invites him to lunch the next day after she saved him from some bullies. 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. Haruyuki agrees and promises to help her with this, as he is very thankful for her stopping the bullies.