Live-Action Naruto Poster Brings Akatsuki to Life

The original incarnation of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto may be long gone as the series lives on through its sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, but it’s still getting a ton of love in Japan. Live-action adaptations of popular anime and manga series are increasingly becoming more prevalent, so it’s no surprise that a series like Naruto has gotten one of its own. With this new look at an upcoming stage play for the series, it seems like the look of the series has been translated very well.

The Naruto live-action stage play, Naruto: Song of the Akatsuki, will soon be returning for another run in Japan and the official site for the play showed off a new poster for the Akatsuki members making an appearance. Check it out below!

Joining the previously confirmed Shinji Rachi as Itachi Uchiha are Teruma as Pain, Takeshi Hayashino as Kisame Hoshigaki, Ryo Tsuji as Deidara, and Hironori Katayama as Tobi.Written and directed by Akiko Kodama with music composed by Shunsuke Wada, Naruto: Song of the Akatsuki is gearing up to have 17 cast members in total and covers up to the 27th volume of Masashi Kishimoto’s original Naruto manga.

The other cast members include the previously confirmed Kodai Matsuoka as Naruto Uzumaki, Ryuji Sato as Sasuke Uchiha, Yui Ito as Sakura Haruna, Yuki Kimisawa as Kakashi Hatake, Rei Fujita as Yamato, Fuma Sadamoto as Sai Yamanaka, Seshiru Daigo as Tsunade, Tomoya Yamaguchi as Jugo, Kanon Nanaki as Karin, Keishi Hagio as Hozuki Suigetsu, and Hiro Yumi as Orochimaru.

The musical originally premiered in Japan in 2017, and even had a performance in Singapore, but will be having a return run in Japan starting this Fall with an initial run in Osaka from October 25th through November 4th, and follow up runs in Tokyo from November 8-10 and November 15-December 1.

Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.