A stage play adaptation of the Chainsaw Man manga has been announced to take place from September to October 2023. The play will be performed in Tokyo and Kyoto and will be directed by Fumiya Matsuzaki.
The performance date of the Chainsaw Man stage play was announced on the newly formed official website and the official Twitter account. No additional information about the cast has been revealed as of yet. The production is titled Chainsaw Man: The Stage.
Chainsaw Man announces new stage production after the end of the anime’s first season
The Chainsaw Man panel at Jump Festa 2023 announced that there was a stage play in production that would be performed sometime in 2023. The news of the production seems to be coordinated with the end of the anime’s first cour. Scriptwriter and director Fumiya Matsuzaki is a fine addition to the staff. Director Matsuzaki was a writer for Sakura Kakumei-Hana Saku Otome-Tachi and is known for BANANA FISH The Stage.
The production will likely be split into two two-week productions in Tokyo and Kyoto. If the stage adaptations become popular, they are often reperformed across the country. In some cases when the actors age out, they are often recast as well, as was done with the Haikyuu!! stage play. Since both Denji and Power are in the 15-16 years age bracket, they will likely be recast if the play is performed throughout the year.
While the cast has not been announced yet, the producers of the stage performance are likely to be cautious while casting the main characters after the uproar caused by the anime cast. The first cour of the anime ended on Thursday, December 28. As of the time of writing, there has been no news of when a second cour will be released. However, a petition has been launched for a complete remake of the anime and has already garnered over 2,000 signatures.
Part 2 of the manga is currently being published in Shueisha’s online platform, Shonen Jump+, and has recently returned to a weekly serialization. Chapter 115 was published on Wednesday, December 27. The manga currently has both Asa Mitaka and Denji as the protagonists and has moved on from the Public Safety Commission-centric storyline.
Conclusion
Although a second cour is supposed to be released within three months from the first, since the first cour of the Chainsaw Man anime was in production for more than two years, it can be assumed that the second cour will take at least a year to come out. In the meantime, apart from the ongoing manga, the stage play will hopefully give fans something mobile and animated to focus on.