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Hetalia Gets New Musical in December with New Cast Member Yuta Higuchi
posted on by Alex Mateo
The official website for the stage musical adaptations of Hidekaz Himaruya's Hetalia - Axis Powers manga revealed on Monday a new stage musical that will open in December 2021 in Tokyo and Osaka. Yuta Higuchi will join the cast as Romano.
The cast, which features returning members from the previous musicals, includes (pictured above from left to right, starting with top row):
- Ryōki Nagae as Italy
- Keisuke Ueda as Japan
- Ryūko Isogai as America
- Daisuke Hirose as England
- Juri as France
- Yūki Yamaoki as Russia
- Taishi Sugie as China
- Takuya Kikuchi (also known as ROU) as Austria
- Takeshi James Yamada as Spain
- Gaku Takamoto as Prussia
Kōtarō Yoshitani (Sengoku Musou, Amnesia, Bakumatsu Rock stage plays, Alice in the Country of Hearts musical, La Corda d'Oro Blue Sky musical) is returning to direct. Yūsei Naruse is writing the screenplay. 4CU is planning and producing the musical, and Polygon Magic is in charge of production.
The franchise has inspired a series of stage musicals in Japan. The previous musical, Musical Hetalia Final Live ~A World in the Universe~, ran in March 2018.
The new anime of Hidekaz Himaruya's Hetalia World Stars manga debuted on April 1.
Himaruya's Hetalia World Stars manga is the latest manga in the franchise. The manga launched in Shonen Jump+ on the same day the online manga service launched, but it went on hiatus in April 2018. The manga resumed in Shonen Jump+ on April 1. Shueisha has published four compiled book volumes for the manga. Himaruya launched a new manga about Japanese prime ministers in Shueisha's Jump SQ. on December 4.
Himaruya's original Hetalia - Axis Powers manga takes the archetypal characteristics of countries and regions throughout the world, and anthropomorphizes them as (mostly) bishōnen characters. Right Stuf released the manga in North America in collaboration with its former English-language publisher, Tokyopop, and its Japanese publisher Gentosha Comics.
Sources: Hetalia musicals' website and Twitter account, Comic Natalie
