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The Heart of Thomas Stage Play Returns in 2025
posted on by Anita Tai
Moto Hagio's Heart of Thomas (Thomas no Shinzō) manga is getting a new stage play show in March. The show will run from March 14-23 in Tokyo at the Westend Studio. Studio Life is producing the show.
Members of the studio's Licht, Eifer, and Seele teams will perform in alternating roles.
The cast includes (some names are repeated for different roles):
- Takatoshi Aoki, Kiyoyuki Ito, Kentaro Maeki as Julusmole
- Shoon Suzuki as Oskar
- Kenki Chiba as Erich
- Yūki Nagaoka as Adam
- Yūsuke Sato as Igu.
- Tsukasa Hoshino, Kentaro Maeki as Liebe
- Yōsuke Yokota as Herbert
- Kiyoyuki Ito, Tsukasa Hoshino as Ante
- Ryokichi Onuma as Bacchus
- Kentaro Maeki, Takatoshi Aoki as Levi
- Yūya Miyata, Baba Kuｍpei as Siegfried
- Kaiji Soze as Krone
- Shinji Funato as Henning
- Hiroo Kasahara as Charl
- Keiji Fujiwara as Headmaster Müller
- Shinji Funato, Hirō Kasahara, Kaiji Soze as Bush
- Kaiji Soze, Hirō Kasahara, Shinji Funato as Eliza
- Yōsuke Yokota as Sherry
- Shinji Funato, Hirō Kasahara, Kaiji Soze as Schwarz
- Hirō Kasahara, Shinji Funato as Werner
- Kaiji Soze, Yūya Miyata as Adele
Fantagraphics publishes the manga in English and describes the story:
The setting: A boys' boarding school in Germany, sometime in the latter 20th Century. Fourteen year-old Thomas Werner falls from a lonely pedestrian overpass to his death immediately after sending a single, brief letter to a schoolmate:To Juli, one last time This is my love This is the sound of my heart Surely you must understand
Hagio originally developed the story as a personal project, before Shogakukan published a prototype of the series as a oneshot under the title Jyuuichi-gatsu no Gymnasium (The November Gymnasium). The oneshot expanded into a regular series in Shogakukan's Sho-Comi magazine in 1974.
Hagio won the Asahi Prize for fiscal year 2016. The award "honors distinguished individuals and groups in academics, arts and other fields who have contributed to advancements in Japanese culture and society." The foundation chose Hagio "for her innovative approach to drawing manga for young girls." Hagio was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2022 following her third nomination.
Sources: Heart of Thomas stage play's official website, Comic Natalie
