Outside of, say, Fun Home, Annie, Lil Abner and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, American comics don't have a great history of stage adaptations (let's not even mention Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark). However, it's another matter entirely in Japan, where plays based on popular manga are fairly common.

It should come as no surprise then that Naruto, one of the bestselling series in history, has debuted as a musical. Appropriately titled Live Spectacle Naruto, the production has released a new 30-second promo spot, featuring the song "Hikari Oikakete" ("Chasing the Light") by Flow. It certainly appears faithful to Masashi Kishimoto's manga and the subsequent anime; it actually looks fun.

The musical runs through April 5 at the AiiA Theater Tokyo, then heading off a brief tour of Japan before leaving for Macau, Malaysia and Singapore. The musical will be live-streamed May 10 in theaters throughout Japan; the DVD goes on sale in August.

(via Anime News Network)