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Moto Hagio's They Were Eleven Sequel Gets Stage Play
posted on by Egan Loo
Manga creator Moto Hagio appeared at a Monday event to announce that her science-fiction suspense manga They Were Eleven! (11-nin Iru!) and its sequel Zoku 11-nin Iru! Higashi no Chihei Nishi no Towa are both being adapted into stage plays. They Were Eleven! has inspired previous stage plays, but this is the first such adaptation of the sequel. The original manga follows a group of 10 would-be space cadets on their final entrance exam aboard a derelict starship. However, 11 students arrive at the ship instead of 10, and the simulation test starts to go awry.
Yoshiki Tanaka — an acclaimed science-fiction creator in his own right whose Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels also inspired plays — appeared at the Monday event with the They Were Eleven! plays' writer/director Jun Kurata. Tanaka noted that he has long been a fan of Hagio's work. He admitted that he once had a "silly bias" against shōjo manga, but reading a college dormmate's copy of Hagio's Poh no Ichizoku manga changed his perspective on shōjo manga ever since.
The male acting troupe Gekidan Studio Live will put on the They Were Eleven! play from January 10 to January 20 next year at the Kinokuniya Hall in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward. The Zoku 11-nin Iru! Higashi no Chihei Nishi no Towa play will then follow from February 28 to March 17 at the same location. The play will travel to Nagoya's Meitetsu Hall (March 20), back to Tokyo's Kameari Lirio Hall (March 30), and then to Osaka's Sankei Hall Breeze (April 6-7).
Hagio just launched a new manga series titled Ōhi Marugo (Queen Margot) in August. Earlier this year, the Japanese government awarded Hagio the Medal With Purple Ribbon, which honors academic and artistic achievement.
Viz Media published the original They Were Eleven! manga in North America, and Central Park Media released the anime film version. Fantagraphics published A Drunken Dream and Other Stories and will released Hagio's Heart of Thomas (Thomas no Shinzō) next month.
Source: Comic Natalie
