Live-action adaptation of Japanese-produced animated movie has an extremely ambitious performance schedule.
A recent trend in the anime world is producing live-action stage shows for popular series. Fans get an event to gather at, cosplay enthusiasts get to see professional-grade costuming and makeup on the performers bringing the characters to life, and the series itself gets a boost in its buzz and revenue.
Oftentimes the series being adapted are popular with hard-core otaku and/or representative pillars of the world of Japanese animation, such as the stage shows for Naruto, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and Fushigi Yugi. The latest title to get the stage play treatment, though, is part of a franchise that began outside Japan: Batman.
Specifically, it’s the Batman Ninja (or Ninja Batman, as the title is ordered in Japan) direct-to-video animated movie, seen in the video above, that’s being adapted for the stage. Released in 2018, Batman Ninja time-warped the Cape Crusader, along with a number of his fiercest foes and finest friends, to Japan’s feudal Sengoku period, Originally written and produced by a Japanese creative team, Batman Ninja was a huge hit with critics and fans on both sides of the Pacific, and so a live-action Batman Ninja the Show will open this year at Tokyo’s Shinjuku Theater Moliere. Casting has yet to be announced, but the producers have promised that in addition to Batman and his nemesis the Joker, Harley Quinn and Catwoman will also appear.
Usually, Japan’s anime-adaptation stage shows run for extremely limited times, giving fans a very limited window in which they have to make the trip to wherever they’re being performed. But Batman Ninja the Show is currently scheduled to run from October 10 to December 31, during which time it’ll be performed 172 times. Oh, and that’s not counting the performances to be held as part of its “Premier Week” festivities on October 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9.
Tickets are currently on sale online here for Premier Week performances, priced at 7,900 yen (US$72), which includes your choice of a 15-centimeter (5.9-inch) die-cast Batman kunai ninja throwing knife or a Joker folding fan.
▼ The kunai comes with a wooden case, though sadly not multi-lingual printed explanations for if/when you get asked about it by baggage inspectors at the airport.
Pricing for regular tickets, which go on sale June 5, has yet to be announced.
Source: Batman Ninja the Show official website via IT Media
Featured image: @Press
Top image: Batman Ninja the Show official website
Insert images: Batman Ninja the Show official website (1, 2)
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