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Kingdom Manga Gets 2nd Stage Play from August
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
TOHO revealed on Monday that Yasuhisa Hara's Kingdom manga is getting a second stage play adaptation titled Kingdom II -Keishō- (Kingdom II -Inheritance-). The new stage play will run in August-September in Tokyo, in Osaka in September, and in Fukuoka in October.
The play's staff also revealed teaser visuals featuring returning cast members Hiroki Miura and Akira Takano as Shin and Yuichiro Yamaguchi as Ou Ki (Wang Qi).
The new stage play will depict the story of Ou Ki, a great general of the Qin army and his tragic death in battle.
Kazuya Yamada returns to direct the second stage play, and Shizuka Kasaura is writing the script with supervision by the first play's writer Bun-Ō Fujisawa. Kohta Yamamoto, who composed the music of Kingdom anime's seasons 3-6 and the first stage play, also returns to compose the new play's music.
The first Kingdom stage play ran in 2023 at Tokyo's Imperial Theatre.
Yasuhisa Hara's historical manga centers around the slave boy Xin and his dream of becoming a great general for the state of Qin. Xin helps Ying Zheng, the young Qin king who shares his desire to unify China, rise to power within the state. Xin does all he can to become a superior commander of an army capable of defeating the Seven Warring States.
The record-setting manga launched in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine in 2006. Viz Media is releasing the manga in English.
The manga's first television anime adaptation premiered in 2012, and a second series premiered in 2013. Funimation streamed both series in North America and released both anime series on DVD in 2016. The third anime series premiered in April 2020. The show went on hiatus after four episodes due to COVID-19, but then resumed airing in April 2021. The anime restarted its airing from the first episode. Funimation streamed the anime as it aired in Japan. The fourth series premiered on NHK General in April 2022. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired. The fifth season premiered in January 2024, and aired for 13 episodes. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired. The sixth season premiered in October and ended with the announcement of a sequel.
The manga has also inspired four live-action films. A fifth film will open in Japan on July 17.
Sources: Kingdom stage play's website, Comic Natalie
