Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix manga is inspiring a new stage play that will run at Tokyo Metropolitan Theater's Theater West from July 18 to 21.
Tezuka Goods Twitter account
Kōtarō Ishikawa is directing and writing the play. Salme Company is producing the play to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Tezuka's original manga.
The play will be based on the manga's “Karma” arc (“Hō-ō-hen” or literally “Firebird Arc”), which Osamu Tezuka's official website describes as follows:
The story is set in the 8th century, Nara period in Japan. While traveling through the countries with the high priest Shonin Robem, the one-eyed and one-armed thief Gao, whose life was saved by the priest, meets people suffering from illness and death, and begins to show off his talents. his hidden potential as a sculptor.
Meanwhile, Akanemaru, a Buddha sculptor who was injured by Gao when he was young, recovered from his injuries, became famous, and moved on to become the driving force behind the construction of the Great Buddha statue. at Todaiji Temple in Nara.
A powerful person at the time, Tachibana-no-Moroe, Akanemaru's patron, decided to have Akanemaru and Gao compete in the production of roof tiles for the Buddha Building. Thus, the two met again as opponents of fate.
As Akanemaru is about to be defeated, he reveals Gao's past evil deeds and cuts off Gao's remaining right arm.
Image via AmazonTezuka began the original Phoenix”Dawn” arc in Manga Shonen from 1954-55, but it remained unfinished due to the magazine suspending publication. Three more chapters (Egypt, Greece and Rome) appeared in Shojo Club magazine in 1956, but also left the story unfinished. Tezuka later rebooted “Dawn” with some changes in the first issue of COM magazine in 1967. This manga served as the prologue to the multi-part series.
Tezuka continued posting new installments to the manga until the 12th installment of “The Sun,” which ended in 1988, a year before his death. The stories presented in the Phoenix manga span many eras, past and future.
Viz Media published the manga in North America.
The four-episode Phoenix: Eden17 anime based on the manga debuted globally on Disney+ last September. The anime's Japanese title is Hi no Tori: Eden no Sora (literally Phoenix: Eden's Space). The anime also had a movie version on November 3 titled Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower (Hi no Tori: Eden no Hana, literally “Flower of Eden”). The film has a different ending from the anime Phoenix: Eden17. The anime is based on the “Nostalgia” arc of the original manga.
The manga also inspired a series of anime films and OVA adaptations from 1978 to 1987, each adapting a different story from the manga. The manga inspired a 2004 television anime.
Source: Phoenix play website, Natalie Comics