Lucy, Lyon among those ready for their close-ups.
Last month, the producers of the upcoming stage play based on fantasy anime Fairy Tail gave fans their first peek at lead actor Shuto Miyazaki in-costume as series protagonist Natsu Dragneel. Thankfully, the adaptation isn’t so lose that the Fairy Tail play is a one-man show, and Miyazaki will be joined by several of Natsu’s cohorts and rivals.
While the producers haven’t entirely pulled back the curtain for the whole cast just yet, we do now know what five more of the Fairy Tail characters will look like on stage, starting with Lucy Heartfilia, who’s played by Ayu Manaka, a veteran of Japan’s all-female Takarazuka Revue.
During her time with the famed theatre group, Manaka performed in one of its frequent plays based on manga and anime classic The Rose of Versailles. In fact, many of the Fairy Tail cast memebrs have experience in live-action versions of anime. Ren Ozawa, who will play ice mage Lyon Vastia, previously took on the lead role of Eijun Sawamura in baseball anime’s Ace of Diamond stage play.
Kento Ono, actor for Hibiki Leytis, lists the Sakura Wars play on his resume, in which he portrayed Francisco Louis Astorga.
Hirofumi Araki, whose acting experience includes playing Prince of Tennis’s Sadaharu Inui on stage, is so intimidating as Jellal Fernandes that he gets a horizontally oriented portrait.
And finally, Atsushi Shiramata, fresh off playing Chosokabe Motochika in last month’s Sengoku Basara stage production, will step into the shoes, will slip on the persona, though apparently not the shirt, of Gray Fullbuster.
In addition, roughly a half-dozen other Fairy Tail characters have been cast, although their in-costume appearances have yet to be revealed. Considering the producers’’ generosity so far, though, it’s a safe bet that we’ll get a chance to see what they look like ahead of the show’s opening in Tokyo on April 30.
Related: Fairy Tail stage play official website
Source: Anime News Network