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Touken Ranbu's 8th Stage Play Casts Former Takarazuka Actress as 1st Female Cast Member
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The official website for Marvelous' stage play adaptations of Nitroplus and DMM Games' Touken Ranbu franchise revealed on Thursday that staff have cast Hiroki Nanami (seen in costume below), a former actress and member of the famed all-female Takarazuka Revue theatrical troupe. Within the Takarazuka Revue, Nanami was an otokoyaku (an actress who only plays male roles), but in the new Touken Ranbu stage play, she will play the character Hosokawa Gracia as her first female stage role after leaving the Takarazuka Revue. The character is also the first female character in the Touken Ranbu stage plays.
Other new cast members include:
Yuzuki Hoshimoto as Jizō Yukihira
Ken'ichi Suemitsu is again scripting and directing the play. The play will run from June 12-14 in Tokyo, from June 23-July 5 in Kobe, from July 10-12 in Fukuoka, and again in Tokyo from July 17 through August 2, and from August 5-9. The schedule has already changed from its original run due to the COVID-19 situation (the play's first performance was scheduled for earlier in June), and the website previously noted that the schedule may change again based on the spread of COVID-19.
The other cast members include:
The seventh and most recent stage play in the franchise, Touken Ranbu: Iden Oboro no Shishitachi, ran in Tokyo from November 22 to December 1 last year, in Kobe from December 6 to 15, in Tokyo again from December 20 to January 12, and in Fukuoka on January 17 and 18.
The Touken Ranbu Online "sword personification training game" takes famous swords from Japanese history and interprets them as bishōnen. Nitroplus designed the characters and scenario. The game launched in Japan in 2015. The franchise has inspired the Katsugeki: Touken Ranbu television anime series and an upcoming anime film, the two Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru spinoff anime series, and a compilation anime film. A live-action film opened in Japan in January 2019, and a sequel film will open in 2021.
The franchise is also inspiring a separate series of stage musicals. The franchise's seventh and latest stage musical Musical Touken Ranbu ~Shizuka no Umi no Paraiso~ (Paraiso of the Sea of Tranquilty) was scheduled for March 21-29 in Tokyo, but it cancelled part of its Tokyo run due to concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus situation. The musical still held performances up through March 26. The musical also cancelled all performances that were to run from April 4-18 at AiiA 2.5 Theater Kobe in Hyogo, from April 24-26 at City Kaikan Sears Home Yume Hall in Kumamoto, and from May 3-6 at Sendai Sunplaza Hall in Miyagi.
The franchise will get an updated version of the franchise's second musical, Touken Ranbu - Bakumatsu Tenrōden, that will run from September to November.
Source: Touken Ranbu stage plays' website, The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
