Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Ernest Cline's best-selling book Ready Player One is amassing a cast of both seasoned veterans and up-and-coming talent. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that the role of Daito, one half of a team of Japanese teens working to uncover the hidden treasure in the virtual world of Oasis, has gone to one of the country's pop superstars. We're pleased to introduce Win Morisaki as the actor who will be bringing Daito to live on the big screen.
This latest casting news was grabbed by Variety, who also pointed out that Morisaki's claim to fame was as the lead vocalist of the Japanese boy band, PrizmaX, as well as a couple choice roles in film and television in his native land. As Daito, Win Morisaki will be playing one half of the team of "Gunters" known as Shoto and Daito. Taking his nickname from a type of traditional samurai sword, Daito's real name is Toshiro Yoshiaki, with his allegiance falling in the court of Wade Watts, aka "Parzival" and the rest of the group commonly known as the "High Five."
Daito is a crucial supporting role to the story of Ready Player One, as he not only take part in the group's quest to find James Halliday's infamous easter eggs before the villain, Nolan Sorrento, does; he's also motivates the group through the later phases of their quest. Fans of the book definitely understand how important that Daito is to the book, but without giving any huge spoilers, we'll tell you that Win Morisaki's role is definitely more supporting than leading. However, it's still pretty damned important to where everything winds up in the end.
Which is why it's all the more important for Steven Spielberg to obviously choose his Ready Player One cast with the utmost care. And much like he has in the past, Spielberg has been exercising his keen eye for young and new talent in order to make his version of this YA hit into as entertaining an adaptation as possible. As Win Morisaki is a newcomer to a more Western front of entertainment, there's very limited resources for a common fan to evaluate his prowess as a performer. However, one look at a performance with his band, PrizmaX, and you can see part of what Steven Spielberg must have seen in his audition. You can watch a video of PrizmaX perform below, and see for yourself.
Charm and stage presence are the two big factors that Win Morisaki has on his side, and we're all the more anxious to see his portrayal as Daito in Ready Player One after seeing him perform with his group. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for quite a while, as the film isn't scheduled for release until March 30th, 2018. Still, we'll settle for learning who's playing Shoto to Morisaki's Daito, so we've got that to look forward to in the near future. In the meantime, throw down some thoughts in the Comments below about whether you approve of Win Morisaki as Daito, and who you might pair him up with in your fan cast version of Ready Player One.
