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Blade of the Immortal Gets Finale Stage Play in May

posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Crowdfunding for improved props, costumes already meets goal

Japanese theatrical company Gekidan Herohero Q Company announced on Sunday that the stage play adaptation of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal manga will get a "finale" stage play that will run at the Zenrosai Hall Space Zero in Tokyo for 10 days from May 13 to 22.

The play also launched a crowdfunding campaign on Monday for improved stage props, design, and costumes for the play. The campaign has already reached its 3 million yen (about US$27,000) goal, and as of press time has already raised 4,741,000 yen (about US$42,900).

The stage play will once again star Tomokazu Seki, Misato Fukuen, Miki Nagasawa, Takako Nakamura, Ryōtarō Okiayu, Hiroshi Naka, Subaru Kimura, Kōji Okino, Suguru Tanaka, Tomohisa Shimada, Ichita Mihara, Hironori Kondō, Satomi Sugizaki, Masaki Iida, Ryōta Iwasaki, Anna Katō, Rie Kubo, Daisuke Shōno, Shindo Hatsuka, Tatsuya Ooishi, Shinnosuke Kobayashi, Misa Aihara, Ayako Ōmura, Shōji Yuda, Katsuyuki Konishi, Daisuke Namikawa, and Ryūsei Nakao.

New cast members include Tetsu Inada, Kaori Nazuka, Nobunaga Shimazaki, Eitoku, Tatsuya Ōba, Shinya Shimokawa, Sanae Hitomi, Yūichirō Ōtaka, Yasuka Nakayama, Yūdai Kodama, Koto Sakurai, Yukie Inagaki, Maika Inoue, Tatsuki Kōbe, Masakazu Nemoto, and Yuuna Fujimoto.

Seki and Fukuen are directing the play, and Seki is also penning the script alongside Tomohisa Shimada.

The previous stage play ran in February 2016.

Takashi Miike's recent live-action film premiered in Japan last April, and hosted its international premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last May. The film ranked at #6 in Japan in its opening weekend, selling 145,000 tickets and earning 189 million yen (about US$1.68 million). It premiered in North America at Fantastic Fest, which was held in Austin, Texas last September. The film then had a wider theatrical release last November.

Samura's original Blade of the Immortal manga follows Manji's journey of revenge as the yōjinbō (bodyguard) of Rin, a young woman who swears vengeance against a group of sword fighters who murdered her parents.

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 is rereleasing it in omnibus form. The manga already inspired a television anime in 2008, and Media Blasters released it in English.

[Via Nijimen]


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