Ready Player One had grossed over $136.9 million in the United States and Canada as of June 28, 2018 and everyone has been raving how great it is. It is good given that Steven Spielberg directed and produced it but how did the anime community react to it?
For the number of anime series I’ve watched, the first two anime series that came to mind are Accel World and Sword Art Online. After I watched the movie, it’s more like leaning towards Sword Art Online.
The VR Glasses (as what we call it nowadays) is somehow similar to the NerveGear of Sword Art Online. Sure, it is very common to anime and movies related to virtual/augmented reality; however, let us not forget that Sword Art Online was first released as a light novel way back April 10, 2009 and Accel World on February 2009 (both created by Reki Kawahara) and Ready Player One was written as a novel back in 2011 with lots of references but we cannot deny that this movie was inspired by these anime series.
So, was Ready Player One inspired by Sword Art Online and Accel World? Maybe. Reki Kawahara along with other great names in anime world attended a special event of the said movie so there is a very big possibility.
