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New Rurouni Kenshin Stage Play's Promo Video, 9 Character Comment Videos Streamed
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Shochiku began streaming a promotional video on Thursday for the new stage play of Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin manga.
The company also streamed nine character comment videos on Thursday from the main cast members.
The play will run in Tokyo from October 11 to November 7, and then in Osaka from November 15 to 24.
The cast includes (with historical names written with family names first):
Moka Kamishiraishi as Kamiya Kaoru
Mitsuru Matsuoka as Kanō Sōzaburō
Yūsuke Hirose as Saitō Hajime
Ryosuke Miura as Shinomori Aoshi
Ryūji Kamiyama as Takeda Kanryū
Takuya Uehara as Ssagara Sanosuke
Mika Aihara as Takani Megumi
Kōdai Matsuoka as Kenshin's Shadow
Meimi Tamura as Sanjō Tsubame
Hitomi Tsukikage as Yamagata Tomoko
Yūsuke Tōyama as Sebastian
Hiroshi Miyagawa as Yamagata Aritomo
Kenshirō Katō, Sōsuke Ōgawara, and Shirabe Kawaguchi as Myōjin Yahiko (triple cast)
The character of Kanō Sōzaburō was not present in the original manga, but was introduced in the 2016 stage musical by the famous all-female musical theater troupe Takarazuka Revue as a romantic rival to Kenshin. The character is based on the historical Shinsengumi character of the same name, in the same way that Saitō Hajime is based on the historical Shinsengumi captain. Shūichirō Koike wrote and directed the Takarazuka play before doing the same for the new play.
Miura previously played the character Sawagejō Chō in Rurouni Kenshin Part II: Kyoto Inferno, the second live-action film adaptation of the manga.
Watsuki first launched his 28-volume Rurouni Kenshin manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1994. The manga has more than 60 million copies in print. The manga centers around Kenshin Himura, once a deadly assassin during the Meiji Restoration, who is trying to find a new life beyond violence. The manga has since been adapted into a 95-episode TV anime series, an anime film, three original video anime projects, three live-action films, and a stage musical by the all-female musical theater troupe Takarazuka Revue. The Daily Sports newspaper reported last year that a new live-action film in the works.
Watsuki was recently charged last November for possession of child pornography. He was later fined 200,000 yen (about US$1,900) in February. Watsuki and his novelist wife/story collaborator Kaoru Kurosaki launched the Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc (Rurouni Kenshin, Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Hokkaidō-hen) manga in Shueisha's Jump SQ. magazine last September. The manga went on hiatus last December following Watsuki being charged, but resumed on June 4. Viz Media was simultaneously publishing the new manga in English before it went on hiatus. Viz Media did not resume publishing the series in English when it returned in Japan.
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