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New Stage Play Themed After Shigeru Mizuki's Stories Debuts in October

posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda

The Tokyo Metropolitan Theater revealed on Sunday that it is producing a stage play titled Gegege no Sensei e (To the Master of Gegege), themed after late manga author Shigeru Mizuki's stories. The play will begin its run at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater Playhouse in October, and will also run in Matsumoto, Osaka, Toyohashi, Miyazaki, Kitakyushu, and Niigata.

The cast includes Kuranosuke Sasaki (left in image above), Yasuko Matsuyuki (center), and Kayoko Shiraishi (right). Tomohiro Maekawa (Livingstone) is directing the stage play and is also penning the script.

The story will not be based on any one of Mizuki's stories, and will not be a biography of the author. Instead, Maekawa stated that the play will be based on Mizuki's "perspective on life, and his connection to the world and its mysteries." The play will borrow elements and characters from Mizuki's works, but will also draw from interviews, essays, and episodes of his life.

The play's title is drawn from Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitarō manga.

Mizuki was born in Osaka in 1922, and he grew up in Tottori Prefecture. He was drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, where he injured — and later lost — his left arm. He penned multiple manga based on his experiences in World War II, such as Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths and Watashi no Hibi.

Mizuki was famous for his manga about yōkai — Japanese supernatural creatures. His manga and research into yōkai is largely responsible for the popularity that yōkai stories have today.

Mizuki was the first Japanese creator to win a major award at France's Angoulême International Comics Festival when he won the Fauve d'Or: Prix du Meilleur Album in 2007 for NonNonBâ. He was also honored as a Person of Cultural Merit by the Japanese government in 2010.

North American publisher Drawn & Quarterly has released many of Mizuki's works in English, such as NonNonBâ, Kitaro, Hitler, Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, and Showa: A History of Showa Japan (Comic Showa-Shi), the latter two of which were nominated for a Harvey Award in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Mizuki's Showa 1939-1944: A History of Japan and Showa 1944-1953: A History of Japan manga won the 2015 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia.

Source: Comic Natalie


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