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Mamoru Miyano, Yōko Hikasa, Takahiro Sakurai Voice Kawamori's Nobunaga The Fool

Anime creator Shōji Kawamori (Macross, Escaflowne, Aquarion) and the rest of the production team behind The Fool "multi-dimensional" project announced the voice cast and more details about the project's first work, the stage play Nobunaga The Fool. The project will host three stage productions between this December and next summer.

The play will combine original animation produced by the anime studio Satelight with live stage performances produced by Avex Live Creative. The project will have both onstage actors and a voice cast to embody characters.

Mamoru Miyano will voice Oda Nobunaga, a character loosely inspired by the real-life Japanese warlord of the same name. Oda is the legitimate heir of the country of Owari on the Eastern Planet.

Yōko Hikasa will voice Jeanne Kaguya d'Arc, a girl raised in the country of Donremi on the Western Planet.

Takahiro Sakurai will play Akechi Mitsuhide, a captain who handles strategy for the Oda clan.

The performers for other characters such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Ichihime, and Leonardo da Vinci will be announced later. Popular artist Yone Kazuki (Hakuōki, Hiiro no Kakera - The Tamayori Princess Saga) is designing the characters, and Thomas Romain (AKB0048, Basquash!, Senki Zesshō Symphogear) is contributing image art. Ryō Yoshimata is scoring the music after working on the live-action television period dramas Gō: Himetachi no Sengoku and Atsuhime.

In addition, the play is holding auditions for three kunoichi (female ninja) in Mitsuhide's ninja forces: Chacha (center in above image), Hatsu (right), and Gō (left). The performer for each kunoichi must be able to both sing and act onstage. Unmarried female candidates between the ages of 16 and 24 with Japanese conversational skills can apply between July 1 and July 19.

The staff describes the story:

The Western Planet and the Eastern Planet.

Once upon a time, the two sides were bound by the "Dragon Pulse" spanning the heavens.

The civilization that once had prospered has now turned to a tale of dreams, as the inextinguishable flames of war tear the realm asunder. The two planets remain engulfed in endless battles.

The return of the super technology known as "sacred treasures" could revolutionize the world order, but no one knows of them but one person — a "heretical girl."

A girl from the Western Planet, Jeanne Kaguya d'Arc, saw heavenly visions of the birth of a "Star Messiah" who will save the world. She embarks on a journey to the Eastern Planet With Leonardo da Vinci, "the one who observes the world." They come across the heretic of the Eastern Planet and "the greatest fool of the day," Oda Nobunaga.

Images © Shōji Kawamori, Satelight/ALC/GP