From video games to live-action movies, anime has been translated across a multitude of platforms. Most of these platforms make sense. A video game offers the chance to expand a story and connect the player more to the characters. A live-action film offers a new experience with adapted characters and mostly realistic effects. Even though film seems like the obvious choice when making live-action adaptations, it is not the only choice.
Anime stage shows, sometimes called 2.5-dimensional shows, are not a new concept by any means. There are some shows that have been going since the late 90s. While some are desperate cash grabs by big businesses (looking at you Pokémon: Live), others are made for the art as well. Some shows don’t sound like they'd translate well to the stage yet have wildly successful runs. Here are 10 stage shows that sound like they wouldn’t exist, but they do!
10 The Prince Of Tennis
Wimbledon is a major pop culture event, as is the sport of tennis itself. What is apparently missing with regular matches are an intricate storyline and several large music numbers. That’s where The Prince of Tennis Musical comes in.
Each musical follows tennis-playing middle school boys, led by team champion Ryoma Echizen, as they battle it out on the court against a different school each time. This reflects similar plotlines laid out in the original manga.
9 Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon is a pop culture icon. It's no real surprise that there's a stage show. The part that is shocking is that there have been over 30 musicals since 1993. In March of 2019, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - The Super Live came to the United States for the first time.
The shows typically follow the Sailor Soldiers facing off against a new big bad for the show, while also addressing their deeper feelings for each other. Most shows even include a song about the relationship between Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, a popular romantic pairing.
8 Bleach
If someone asked what was missing from the Soul Society Arc of Bleach, what is the first thing you would say? For Shoichi Tama, it would be a heavy rock soundtrack and the cast singing, hence Rock Musical Bleach. This is a series of musicals, following the same storyline from the manga. It starts with Ichigo Kurosaki meeting Rukia Kuchiki and ends in the same place that the original storyline ends.
A few sequel series were created called The Live Bankai Show and Shinsei. Both were new storylines not found in the original anime or manga. Each show consisted of 20-27 songs.
7 Hunter x Hunter
A musical where four heroes have to save four missing performers who have starring roles in a musical? As meta as that sounds, that is the plot for Musical Hunter X Hunter. The show opened in 2000 and follows Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio as they go out to find the missing performers. The main antagonist of the show is Hisoka, a blue-haired dancing version who uses dance moves to fight.
There is a second show, Hunter X Hunter: The Nightmare of Zoldyck. This show focuses on the family and their interactions with the main four. Hisoka returns to cause chaos with the group and the family in typical fashion.
6 Attack on Titan
Following the story of Eren Jager, the stage show Live Impact: Attack on Titan was set to be a large show. Boasting a cast of over 150 members and a storyline out of the Battle of Trost arc, the show aimed to be the next big show. Sadly, the show was canceled a few months before opening, due to the death of acrobat Kazutaka Yoshino.
While the show did not go on as planned, several spin-off shows have been performed. Some of these shows got around the lack of plausible Titans by using simple animated backdrop sets.
5 Death Note: The Musical
If the Netflix version of Death Note bothered you, then the musical is the remedy you need. Death Note: The Musical follows the overall story of Light versus L. The idea of the chess game between the two geniuses has been used for all live-action adaptations so far, save for L: change the WorLd. The main supporting cast consists of Ryuk, Rem, Misa, Soichiro, and Sayu, each receiving their own thought-provoking or heart-wrenching songs.
In 2015, there was a concept album created for the US and the songs are shockingly good. Jeremy Jordan, who plays Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr. on Supergirl, voices Light and Jarrod Spector, veteran Broadway star, voices L. Light’s opening song of “Where is the Justice?” is a strong opener that sets the overtones of the story, while songs like Misa and Rem’s “Mortals and Fools” and Light, L, and Soichiro’s “Secrets and Lies” are heavily weighted songs that put the character focus forward.
4 Naruto
The 2015 Live Spectacle Naruto show is a part of the 15th anniversary of the original series. It follows the adventures of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and company from the opening Naruto arc through the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. To remedy the fact that they couldn’t make jutsus real for the show, they use a mix of pyrotechnics and projections to show off the ninja skills.
While the original 2015 version was for the anniversary, the show was received well and expanded for 2016. The expansion added several new characters and retained most of its previous cast.
3 Haikyu!!
Hyper Projection Play “Haikyu!!” is the first thing you will find when you are searching for anime stage shows. Another sports anime that follows a group of school children as they play the game at hand, Haikyu!! focuses on teammates Hinata and Kageyama as they join the Karasuno High School’s Volleyball Club.
The cheerfulness of the overall series channels well into the musical. Those moments are not tainted by the serious segments, rather they seem more impactful. Unlike most of the previous stage shows, Haikyu!!’s shows have been filmed and released to wide audiences. The popularity of these live shows prove that shows that are filmed for mass consumption don’t take away from the art of theatre, as some believe.
2 Mobile Suit Gundam
Giant mechs and emotional protagonists make for a great anime or movie. The question is, do they make for a great stage show? Simply put, it is the technology that makes the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Re:Build a viable stage presence. The story is a retelling of the original Mobile Suit Gundam 00 anime which began airing in 2007. The show began in February 2019 and released on DVD/Blu-Ray that same month.
The way that they portray the mechs on stage is a fascinating blend of technology and projections. Each of the four Gundam pilots are sat in a mobile cockpit unit that is moved by stagehands. The battles are acted out from atop these units, using their own arms and weapons as the mechs.
1 Digimon
Digimon is a series based around monsters that regularly shift forms and grow to massive proportions. Clearly an optimal stage show. The craziest part of the show is that it actually works. The show, written as a part of the 15 year anniversary, takes place in the Digimon Adventure Tri days and follows the Digidestined and their partners as they go camping.
While Digivolution is a core component of the series, there are very few in the stage show, for obvious reasons. The Digivolutions they do use are fantastic, ending the show with a shocking Omegamon appearance. The show also took a turn and created its own villain in the form of VenomVamdemon-Undead, drawing on the history of the original Digimon Adventure series.