The live-action stage plays of Naruto, My Hero Academia and Sailor Moon will soon be available to international audiences outside of Japan.
Live Viewing Japan, a company the specializes in live-streaming Japanese concerts and special events internationally, has announced that it will stream special performances of the stage plays based on Naruto, My Hero Academia and Sailor Moon to audiences in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore. The Naruto stage play was originally performed in 2015, while the My Hero Academia play, which carries the subtitle The Ultra Stage, was performed in 2019. The Sailor Moon adaptation is a musical, which features music and performances by Japanese pop group Nogizaka46.
While watching a play based on an anime may seem strange to Western audiences, live-action stage adaptations of anime, manga and video games are relatively common in Japan, and are generally seen as the equivalent of a Broadway musical adaptation of a popular movie or Disney cartoon. Anime franchises ranging from Haikyuu!! to Attack on Titan have been adapted into stage plays, and even video games such as Persona and Ace Attorney have received live performances. While anime and the video games based on them have only grown in popularity in Western territories, stage plays have remained the one form of manga adaptation that hasn't successfully crossed over from Japan yet.
Interested fans can preorder their tickets for each play on Live Viewing Japan's website. The Naruto play will be streamed from Aug. 6-12, My Hero Academia on Aug. 13-19 and finally the Sailor Moon musical will be available from Aug. 20-26. Each play will be streamed with English subtitles.
Source: Live Viewing Japan
