Demon Slayer Live-Action Play Shares First Poster

Koyoharu Gotoge’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has been having one heck of a year. The anime has wrapped up a successful first season, a new feature film is on the way, sales of the manga are booming and even coming for the One Piece crown, and the franchise will be launching its first live-action effort with a new stage play in Japan. Stage plays are a great way to test a series’ popularity, and a better test of seeing just how a series’ visuals can be translated to the real world. The first poster for the play is certainly promising in that regard.

Running in Tokyo at the Tennozu Ginga Gekijo from January 18th to the 26th, and in the Hyogo prefecture at the AiiA 2.5 Theater Kobe from January 31st from February 2nd, in Japan, the first poster for the Demon Slayer play features a gorgeous look at Ryota Kobayashi’s Tanjiro Kamado in action.

Although this probably won’t be what Tanjiro’s breathing techniques will look like in the play, it’s certainly going to be interesting to see how those effects are translated to the play. The new stage play will be directed and written by Kenichi Suemitsu with music composed by Shunsuke Wada.

Joining Kobayashi in the cast are Asari Takaishi as Nezuko Kamado, Keisuke Ueda as Zenitsu Agatsuma, Yugo Sato as Inosuke Hashibira, Reo Honda as Giyu Tomioka, Tomoyuki Takagi as Sakonji Urokodaki, Shori as Sabito, Arisa Sonohara as Makomo, Yuria Kakizawa as Hakuhatsu, Kokoro Kuge as Kurokami, Mimi Maihane as Tamayo, Hisanori Sato as Yushiro, and Yoshihide Sasaki as Muzan Kibutsuji.

If you wanted to check out the original Japanese run of the anime for yourself, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba‘s first season is now complete and streaming on Crunchyroll, FunimationNOW, and Hulu. It’s the perfect time to start up the series from the very beginning too as it’s currently airing new episodes of the English dub on Adult Swim’s Toonami programming block. Originally created by Koyoharu Gotoge, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba first debuted in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in February 2016.

VIZ Media fully licensed the series for an English language release, and they officially describe Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba as such, “Since ancient times, rumors have abounded of man-eating demons lurking in the woods. Because of this, the local townsfolk never venture outside at night. Legend has it that a demon slayer also roams the night, hunting down these bloodthirsty demons. For young Tanjiro, these rumors will soon to become his harsh reality. Ever since the death of his father, Tanjiro has taken it upon himself to support his family. Although their lives may be hardened by tragedy, they’ve found happiness. But that ephemeral warmth is shattered one day when Tanjiro finds his family slaughtered and the lone survivor, his sister Nezuko, turned into a demon. To his surprise, however, Nezuko still shows signs of human emotion and thought… Thus begins Tanjiro’s request to fight demons and turn his sister human again.”