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Kuroko's Basketball Manga Gets Stage Play in April

The combined third and fourth issue 2016 of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine (issue cover pictured at right) is revealing on Monday that Tadatoshi Fujimaki's Kuroko's Basketball sports manga is getting a stage play adaptation. The stage play will run for 21 performances from April 8-24 at the Sunshine Gekijō theater in Tokyo.

The announcement is also revealing the cast for Kuroko and Kagami. Voice actor Kenshō Ono, who played Kuroko in the anime adaptations, is reprising the role for the stage play. Ono is performing in the "LINE (Kokkyō) no Mukō" stage play with the "Gekidan Chocolate Kake with Banda la Konchan" troupe from December 17-27.

Stage actor Yūya Asato (Diabolik Lovers stage play's Shu) will play Kagami. Additionally, Norihito Nakayashiki (Haikyu!! stage play) is writing and directing the play.

Pre-sale tickets go on sale from December 21-January 11 and cost 7,800 yen (about US$63).

The combined fifth and sixth issue of Weekly Shonen Jump will reveal more cast members for the stage play when it ships on January 4.

Fujimaki launched the Kuroko's Basketball manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2008, and Shueisha published the 30th and final volume (pictured at left) in Japan in December 2014. Viz Media will start releasing the manga in English in summer 2016, and it describes the series as follows:

Kuroko Tetsuya doesn't stand out much. In fact, he's so plain that people hardly ever notice when he's around. Though he's just as unremarkable on the basketball court, that's where his plainness gives him an unexpected edge – one that lets him execute awesome moves without others noticing! And now that he's a high school student, he's on a mission to defeat each member of his legendary middle school team, known as the Miracle Generation.

The manga inspired three television anime adaptations and an upcoming anime film. Fujimaki launched the Kuroko no Basuke Extra Game manga sequel in Shueisha's Jump Next magazine in December 2014. A series of prequel novels is also receiving a manga adaptation. The original manga has also inspired several video games.

Embedded stage play announcement image via Hachima Kikō