Naruto Launching New Stage Play All About Pain's Invasion
One of the biggest moments in Naruto history took place during the sequel series of Naruto: [...]
One of the biggest moments in Naruto history took place during the sequel series of Naruto: Shippuden, wherein the Akatsuki member known as Pain attempted to take down the Hidden Leaf Village and the wielder of the Nine Tailed Fox stood up to the plate to bring his reign of terror to an end. Now, it seems that a new live-action stage play in Japan will be revisiting the pivotal moment that didn't just see Naruto defeating Pain but gaining the acceptance of the people of Konoha, taking a big step forward in becoming the future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.
The upcoming live-action stage play, running with the title of Naruto: The Story of Naruto Uzumaki, won't just include Pain's invasion of Konoha which saw the ninjas of the Hidden Leaf assembling to stop this insane threat, but will also feature the "Summit of the Five Kages," which saw the leaders of the ninja world uniting in a bid to figure out the best way to combat the serious threat in the Akatsuki. Set to land in December of this year at Tokyo's Nippon Seinen-kan Hall, this is far from the first time that the creation of Masashi Kishimoto and it will most likely be far from the last.
A new Naruto will be taking the reigns of the main protagonist in this play, with Masaski Nakao replacing Kodai Matsuoka as the titular Uzumaki, with Ryuji Sato returning as the last member of the Uchiha Clan in Sasuke. Other characters from the anime including the likes of Sakura, Kakashi, Minato, and Nagato will be portrayed by Yui Ito, Yuki Kimisawa, Ryo Kitazono, and Yuki Tamaki respectively. Needless to say, it's a stacked cast for one of the biggest storylines of Naruto to date.
Naruto is only one of many anime franchises that have received live-action stage plays in the past, with the likes of Beastars, My Hero Academia, Yu Yu Hakusho, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and countless others also being brought to the stage. While this trend of anime adaptations hasn't been brought over to the West, we could imagine that there would be plenty of North American anime fans that would love to see these takes on some of the biggest franchises.
Would you check out this Naruto play if it landed in North America? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Hidden Leaf.