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Love Live! Franchise Gets 1st Stage Musical With Original Story, Characters in December
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The official website for the Love Live! franchise announced School Idol Musical, the franchise's first stage musical, on Monday. The production will run at the New National Theatre in Tokyo on December 10 to 15, and at the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka on January 23 to 29, 2023. Kōki Kishimoto is directing the production, penning the script, and planning the choreography, while Ryōta Kojima is composing the music.
The musical will feature an all-new story, setting, and characters, and will center on students from two legendary schools in Hyogo and Osaka. Takizakura Girls Academy (right in image below) in Osaka has a school idol club, with select members from its performing arts track, that it has successfully marketed into a brand. Tsubakisakuhana Girls High Schoo (left)l in Hyogo boasts a stellar reputation in college acceptance rates. The daughters of both schools' respective chairpersons are rivals, and lead their respective schools' school idol club.
The cast includes:
- Marina Horiuchi as Rurika Tsubaki
- Yūna Sekine as Anzu Takizawa
- Nanami Asai as Yuzuha Sumeragi
- Mizuki Saiba as Misuzu Wakatsuki
- Julia Ann as Yukino Hōjō
- Sana Hoshimori as Toa Kurusu
- Rina Koyama as Hikaru Amakusa
- Ibuki Mita as Rena Suzuka
- Minami Satō as Maaya Mikasa
- Ruri Aoyama as Sayaka Harukaze
Former top Takarazuka actress Yuki Aono plays Madoka Tsubaki, Tsubakisakuhana's chair and Rurika's mother. Sayaka Okamura plays Kyōka Takizawa, Takizakura's chair and Anzu's mother.
In 2010, the anime studio Sunrise, Lantis, and ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G Magazine launched Love Live! as a self-described "ultimate user-participation project" that lets its fans vote on the future of the fictional idols in the μ's school idol group, including parts of song lyrics, character details, sub-group members, and center positions. This practice would go on for future Love Live! groups. A series of music CDs and animated music videos then followed. The first Love Live! School idol project anime series (pictured right) premiered in January 2013, and the second series premiered in April 2014. The Love Live! The School Idol Movie film opened in Japan in June 2015.
The Love Live! Sunshine!! project was then announced in February 2015. The project's three key phrases are "Reader Participation," "Inspired by μ's," and "Seaside Town Setting." The franchise focused on a new generation of idols following μ's' footsteps. Fans chose the group's name Aqours by popular vote. The first Love Live! Sunshine!! television anime premiered in July 2016. The second season ran from October to December 2017. The Love Live! Sunshine!! The School Idol Movie Over the Rainbow film opened in Japan in January 2019.
Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, the third new project in the franchise, debuted its first season in October 2020. The story focused on a new group named the "Nijigasaki High School Idol Club" in a well-off school, but with its members explicitly not participating in the titular Love Live! competition, and instead focusing on having strong individual personalities. The anime will have a second season that will premiere on April 2.
Love Live! Superstar!! is the fourth and latest project, focusing on the group Liella! The smallest group yet with only five members, the new story focuses on a newly established school with no history, with its members focused on finding their own identity in a new environment. The first season premiered in July 2021, and it has a currently airing second season that premiered on July 17.
The first Love Live! School Idol Festival game launched on smartphones in Japan in 2013, and then launched overseas in 2014. It has since spawned the Love Live! School Idol Festival ~Afterschool Activity~ arcade game in 2016, and the arcade game in turn was ported to the PlayStation 4 console in 2021. The franchise has an upcoming new game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live! for iOS and Android devices.
Sources: Love Live! franchise's website, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
