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Quake-Themed Mitsuami no Kamisama Play's Ad Teases Animation, Sand Art

The official website for the stage production of Machiko Kyō's Mitsuami no Kami-sama (Braided Pig-Tail Deity) manga began streaming a 15-second commercial for the stage play last week. The commercial reveals the play's cast and staff, and previews some of the animation that will be used for the production.

Kyō's original Mitsuami no Kami-sama manga centers around a pigtailed girl who lives alone in a solitary house by the sea after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Kyō published the manga in Shueisha's now-defunct Jump X (Jump Kai) magazine in 2013, and Shueisha published the manga's first and only compiled book volume in the same year. The manga won an award in the 18th Annual Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize in March 2014.

The cast includes:

• Junichi Suwabe
• Kana Hanazawa
• Yūsuke Kobayashi

Katsuyuki Motohiro (Space Travelers, Psycho-Pass) is serving as overall producer of the project. Bun-oh Fujisawa is serving as stage director, and also wrote the script. Yoshimi Itazu (Paranoia Agent, The Wind Rises, Miss Hokusai) is directing the animation at Production I.G. Ichiko Aoba (Ghost in the Shell Arise, Terror in Resonance) composed the music. Karin Itō is providing her sand art for the production.

The stage production will combine line readings, animation, music, and sand art to present the story. The production is part of Fujisawa's Sound Theatre Project, which combines multiple disciplines and elements of rakugo (traditional Japanese comic storytelling) and gidayū (puppet theater reciting) alongside traditional stage play elements. Fujisawa first used the method in his 2005 production Hypnagogia, which also used scents.

The stage play will debut on October 24 and 25 in Yūrakuchō Yomiuri Hall.