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Blade of the Immortal Manga Gets Stage Play in February
posted on by Kyle Hallmark
Japanese theatrical company Gekidan Herohero Q Company announced last Wednesday that a stage play adaptation of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal "neo period drama" manga will premiere in February.
Gekidan Herohero Q Company also revealed the main cast in costume on its official Twitter account on Saturday:
Tomokazu Seki (Blade of the Immortal anime's Manji, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works' Gilgamesh) as the protagonist Manji
Misato Fukuen (To LOVE-Ru Darkness 2nd's Golden Darkness, Strike Witches' Yoshika Miyafuji) as Rin Asano
Daisuke Namikawa (K: Return of Kings' Yashiro Isana, Persona 4 the Golden Animation's Yu Narukami) as Kagehisa Anotsu
Miki Nagasawa (CAPCOM vs. SNK 2 video game's Cammy) as Makie Otono-Tachibana
Kōji Okino as Taito Magatsu
Seki will also produce the play, and Tomohisa Shimada is writing the script. Nagasawa also posted a pamphlet for the play that features an original illustration by Samura.
Nagasawa has also been posting images of rehearsals and edits of other promotional material for the play that imitate some of of the images from the manga:
万次さんな座長と凛さんな福圓ちゃんv(^_^v)♪。この再現具合☆*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆!画集お持ちの方、堪りませんよぉ( ´ ▽ ' )ノ! pic.twitter.com/zbaXMJZIRI
— みきどん (@miki_miki_don) December 11, 2015
むふ。写真、どんな感じだったのか、パソコン上ですが少しずつお載せしますねv(^_^v)♪。
万次さんな座長です( ´ ▽ ' )ノ。 pic.twitter.com/gz0zzQGb7J
— みきどん (@miki_miki_don) December 11, 2015
The play will premiere on February 11 and run through February 17 for 10 total performances at the Space Zero hall in Tokyo. Tickets will be available from January 9 through February 8 for 7,000 yen (roughly US$58), and will also be available at the door for 7,200 yen (roughly US$59).
Takashi Miike's live-action film adaptation of Blade of the Immortal starring Takuya Kimura will premiere in 2017.
Samura launched the Blade of the Immortal manga in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine in December of 1993, and he completed the series in 2012. The manga's 30 volumes have more than 5 million copies in print, and the series has been published in 22 countries and territories. The manga earned an Excellence Prize in the manga category of the 1st Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 1997, and it won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of Foreign Material in 2000. Since ending Blade of the Immortal, Samura has published the historical manga Harukaze no Snegurochka (The Spring Breeze Snow Maiden) and the romance Nami yo Kiite Kure (Waves, Listen to Me).
Dark Horse Comics published the Blade of the Immortal manga in North America, and plans to rerelease it in omnibus form. The manga already inspired a television anime in 2008, and Media Blasters released it in English.
Source: Space Zero