News

Moto Hagio's Poe no Ichizoku Manga Gets All-Female Takarazuka Stage Play

The famous all-female musical theater troupe Takarazuka Revue announced on Tuesday that its Flower Troupe will perform a stage play adaptation of Moto Hagio's Poe no Ichizoku (The Poe Clan) manga. The play will run at the Takarazuka Grand Theater on January 1, 2018 to February 5, and then at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater on February 16, 2018 to March 25. Rio Asumi and Ayase Senna are starring the play, and Shūichirō Koike is directing the play and penning the script.

The original manga is a fantasy series that depicts several short stories revolving around a young vampire named Edgar who has lived for over 200 years. The original manga takes place in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. Shogakukan published the manga's five compiled volumes between 1974-1976.

TV Asahi adapted the manga into a live-action drama titled Stranger ~Bakemono ga Jiken wo Abaku~ (Stranger: Disclosing the Monster Incident) in March 2016. While the suspense television series tells an original story, it still shares the same worldview of Hagio's original manga.

Hagio recently wrote two new chapters for the manga titled Poe no Ichizoku: Haru no Yume. The first chapter debuted in Shogakukan's Monthly Flowers magazine in May 2016, and the second chapter will debut in the magazine on Saturday. A compiled book volume for the new chapters is slated for July 10.

Moto Hagio's They Were Eleven, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories, A,A', and The Heart of Thomas manga have English releases. Fantagraphics, who published A Drunken Dream and Other Stories and The Heart of Thomas, also released Hagio's Otherworld Barbara manga.

The Takarazuka Revue performed a musical for Rurouni Kenshin last year, and will perform a musical adaptation of Waki Yamato's Haikara-san ga Tooru manga in October. The group has also previously performed stage versions of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Sengoku Basara, Jin, The Rose of Versailles, Lupin III, and more.

Source: Comic Natalie