Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Are Anime-Based Stage Plays So Popular?
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solosorca
 Posts: 12 |
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Actually, they're still going. 3rd season Seigaku vs Rokkkau is currently on stage (or whatever the stage play version of 'airing' is). |
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SailorPluto1313
Posts: 118 |
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The best stage play that I have watched was definitely Haikyu!!. When I first heard about it, I was like, "how are they going to make volleyball on a stage seem dynamic and realistic while people are acting"? Boy was I wrong!
The special effects were only cheesy in like one scene, but the whole play was emotional, dynamic, and the acting was stellar! The fact that they took the time to make even the minor characters look exactly like their animated counterparts was fantastic. Also, during the curtain call, probably 90% of the actors said that they were so excited to act out their favorite character in a manga/anime that they love. You can tell that they love the series and their characters by the way they act out scenes, and that made all the difference. If you haven't watched it, you definitely should. There's supposed to be two or three more coming out this year and next year if I'm correct. The bad thing is. Most of the fan subbed plays got removed on Youtube, but I think there is still a low-quality one on veoh. |
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KutovoiAnton
 Posts: 963 Location: Vladimir, Russia |
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No mention of Sakura Taisen musicals? Not only they managed to bring all seiyuus from the games, but they were so popular that they actually outlived games by a long margine (last Sakura taisen game was released in 2005. Musicals are still alive).
Here's, for example video from 15th anniversary concert in 2011: https://youtu.be/3yQ7w8L8hJQ And here's examples of musicals themselves: https://youtu.be/96KOgF9y9IU https://youtu.be/Dk8zWp-hgtI https://youtu.be/6Flo04najyo https://youtu.be/DGAORvc5pUA https://youtu.be/sBr3OdFNRtY https://youtu.be/O1SBxINzJOg https://youtu.be/i5Lxl8NRwxc https://youtu.be/AMjsT36wSNw |
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Lemonchest
Posts: 1771 |
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Looks like Rocky Horror, except nobodies drunk.
Off-Broadway type musicals about TV shows & films are pretty common in the UK. They're often an excuse to get pissed & dress up, whilst giving z-list celebs some work while waiting for panto season. Do any of these things ever make the transition back to the screen? For "reasons" I was looking into it & noticed that Japan doesn't seem to have made that many film musicals - as opposed to teen idol films where the actors sing some of their hits (lots of those). Lots of anime musicals recently but even they are almost always about musicians. |
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NervClaX
 Posts: 42 Location: New Jersey |
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I would definitely attend one of these stage plays if it were an adaptation of an anime or manga I really liked. While something like this wouldn't be commercially viable in the US, I would like to see a dedicated club or group try their hand at it. Or, better yet, let a popular convention like Anime Expo fundraise to bring a Japanese stage play stateside for the weekend.
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Brand
 Posts: 1029 |
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I sent in a question like this, last year maybe? But yeah, the shear amount of stage plays seems baffling to me in the U.S. But I can see that super fans would go see this stuff. I've seen the Utena one (part of an Utena fansub VHS back in the day) and clips from the many Sailor Moon ones. I don't know if it would be my thing but I was never much into stage play.
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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This comes as some news to me. I tend not to see advertisements for shows of this nature around town, though I am hardly one to actively pursue such material. I do recall, however, there being an official Princess Mononoke stage production here some years ago. I understand that its musical score was entirely original though, owing to the production company's inability to reproduce the film's soundtrack in view of the venue's limitations. |
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Kimiko_0
 Posts: 1796 Location: Leiden, NL, EU |
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Don't forget that tokusatsu stage shows have been a staple in children's entertainment since forever. If you can attract enough audience for a whole production company to make a living with stage-only characters, just imagine how popular such shows would become with familiar anime characters.
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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Supposedly, the Sailor Moon one is going to be at a US convention this year. |
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Mr. sickVisionz
 Posts: 2175 |
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I never saw one of these but just looking at cast photos, I always wondered if the quality was like bad community theater or if some company was out there trying to make like Lion King quality plays outta the material.
I always kinda *knew* the answer but this confirms it.
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MiloTheFirst
Posts: 429 |
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the one thing I wanted to know which I think justin was not clear enough is how appealing this plays can be to regular non-otaku people? I understand the producer make them having in mind that their income is vastly going to come from die hard fans, but how do the regular masses see them? do they look down on them? would a regular guy with some free time choose to watch one for a change or would he have some sort of prejudice towards them?
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Paiprince
 Posts: 593 |
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They're still a cut above what you get from an average skit in a con showing that's for sure.
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Khandri
 Posts: 8 Location: Wisconsin |
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There's also some overlap between the two, as a number of toku actors go on to do these anime-based plays/musicals, or vice-versa. The original Sailor Moon musicals of the '90s/early 2000s had a fair number of them, especially among its male cast members, and I think there are a lot of them in the Prince of Tennis musicals too. I'm both a big toku fan and classic Sera Myu fan, and it's always fun (in a good way!) to see fellow toku fans discovering a toku actor was also in Sera Myu, or fellow Myu fans discovering that a Myu actor did toku as well. Aside from that, I think it's a bit unfair to say that anime-based stage productions don't feature any "big-name" actors. A number of the bigger names in the theatre world in Japan either got their start or rose to popularity through these; Yuu Shirota is one name that especially comes to mind here. And those who might have already had a fandom before their involvement in these can sometimes bring in new fans (example: former Takarazuka actresses who are now doing the current Sera Myu). |
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omiya
 Posts: 1862 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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In early 2013 I saw the play Kagerou Pain put on by Daisuke Nishida and "And Endless" http://officeendless.com/, who are also this year putting on Prince of Tennis and Wake Up, Girls shows. Daisuke Nishida also staged "Sin of Sleeping Snow" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzTlNqSLA6k in 2016 that like Kagerou Pain starred Chiaki Ishikawa.
Many of these events are held at the Aiia Theater Tokyo http://aiia-theater.com/ https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/アイアシアタートーキョー Finally, some anime music aingers and voice actresses have been involved with the musical theater produced by Revo known as Sound Horizon e.g. Kaori Oda, Minami Kuribayashi, Yuuka Nanri. |
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navycherub
 Posts: 233 |
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This part hits the nail on the head to me, at least for the appeal part of the answer. Most of the time I can't really get into these things, because there is so little actual flourish to them that it's hard to forget you're watching this low budget version of whatever it is. But when I am really invested - particularly the Dangan Ronpa and Legend of the Galactic Heroes shows - it's basically the opposite, and I guess my mind is so willing to fill in every single gap that those "flaws" basically cease to exist. It just becomes really cool that these characters, plots, worlds I love exist on a stage. |
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