Attack On Titan Gets A Stage Musical Adaptation

Gō Ueki will direct the stage adaptation of "Attack on Titan", with Masafumi Hata writing the screenplay. A great cinematic teaser for the musical accompanied the announcement, which you can check out above. The sequence introduces the main cast and ends with a rather epic shot of a titan's hand moving towards the series' protagonist, Eren (Kurumu Okamiya). It also ends with an equally epic score, but doesn't give much indication of what the actual songs in the musical adaptation might sound like. The play's musical director will be Ken the 390, a hip hop artist who also dabbled in anime himself as a voice actor on "Devilman Crybaby." Kaori Miura will write the lyrics.

The announcement also includes a long cast list for the stage adaptation, including Okamiya as Eren, Sara Tataksuki as Mikasa, Eito Konishi as Armin, and Ryo Matsuda as Levi. The supporting cast includes Yū Fukuzawa, Mimi Maihane, Mitsuru Karahashi, Riona Tatemichi, Takurō Ōno, Yasue Kazuaki, Tomoya Nakanishi, Sena, Mitsu Murata, Takeshi Hayashino and Masanori Tomita.

It's not the first time an "Attack on Titan" stage production has been mounted, but a previous attempt to adapt the manga ended in tragedy. In 2017, acrobatics director Kazutaka Yoshino died after falling from a wire hanger during practice, according to ComicBook. The play was canceled soon after, before any live performance. Hopefully the new play will not only do justice to the source material, but also be a safe production for everyone involved.

"Attack on Titan: The Musical" is set to debut in Osaka and Tokyo in January 2023.