Attack on Titan The Musical Cast Talk Coming To The US

The live-action cast of the Attack on Titan Musical talk their performance and their first American shows.

By Evan Valentine

For years, ComicBook.com has been reporting on live-action anime adaptations that were performed on the stage in Japan. For many of these productions, they never make their way from the East to the West, but recently, some big stage plays are hitting North America. Next month, the live-action Attack on Titan musical will be hitting the Big Apple and the cast are more than ready to take to the skies. In preparation for the October shows, Kurumu Okamiya (Eren Jaeger), Sara Takatsuki (Mikasa Ackerman), and Eito Konishi (Armin Arlert) have shared their thoughts about bringing the performance to New York City.

For those who might not be familiar with the Attack on Titan musical, it first hit Japan in 2023, mixing the high-flying, often brutal story with some musical lyrics that weren't a part of the original anime adaptation. While this is the first time that the Scout Regiment has been given a musical, it isn't the first time that they've been on the stage. In fact, a past performance went awry thanks to an accident involving the special effects as creator Hajime Isayama previously released the following statement, "When I heard about this stage production, I was worried because there had been a very sad accident in the past. However, I believe that the people involved in the stage production are very aware of this and will take extra care in the production. Having said that, I would like to congratulate and look forward to this stage adaptation."

The Live-Action Eren Soars

Kurumu Okamiya began the interview by hoping to bring emotions and wild flying action to the States, "I've never performed in the States before. But I got to visit New York in July and December last year. It was my first time in New York. I got to see Some Like It Hot, and the audience was heated up with excitement. Seeing how the audience enjoys theater abroad, everything was new to me and it was very exciting. We'll do our best to get our audience excited like that."

Okamiya continued, "We hope to show you Titans you've never experienced in real life, and gruesome fight scenes against them as real as possible. Emotions like hatred, anger, sorrow, and pain, we hope to portray them as realistic as possible. As you enjoy the world of ATTACK on TITAN, please experience the wonder of something created in 2D transformed into 3D with living, breathing characters there. And see how those characters gather every ounce of their courage to face the threat."

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(Photo: New York City Center)

Mikasa Is Ready For Live-Action War

Sara Takatsuki confirmed the upcoming performance would be her first time in New York City, "This will be my first time in New York, and it'll be my personal big endeavor to perform in the city I admire. It's a new environment for me, and the audience will perceive our performance from different perspectives. I'm sure there will be a lot of fans of the original work as well. I have a lot of challenges, but I'll take them on with passion and confidence to deliver good performances."

Takatsuki also explained how deep the actors are getting into their characters, "I know very well how other cast members are really delving into their characters, so whichever character you choose to focus on, you will enjoy the story. Especially we, the members of the Training Corps, have fought our way to create the scenes as if we were living right there on stage, so I hope you feel the real struggle of us being one with the characters."

Armin is Putting on His Thinking Cap

Finally, Eito Konishi, the live-action Armin, talked about the upcoming North American performances, "It's my first time performing in the U.S. I never even dreamed that I'd get to perform in the States, so I'm extremely happy. I'm excited to see how theaters and audiences are different from Japan. I hope you pay attention to the various ways the Titans are expressed and materialized, fierce dance numbers, the Vertical Maneuvering Gears [also known as Omni-Directional Maneuvering or ODM gear] and the action scenes, as well as the strong bond between Eren, Mikasa, and Armin."

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If you want to catch next month's performances, they will take place at the New York City Center from October 11th to the 13th. Fingers crossed that these performances will mean that more anime stage plays make their way to the West. 

Via Crunchyroll

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