Hiroki Miura the actor who played the role of the protagonist Li Xin in the new Kingdom Stage Play revealed during a press conference held to commemorate its opening that the mangaka Yasuhisa Hara cried four times while watching the play.

Miura said that he met Hara immediately after the play opened, and the first thing the mangaka told the actor was “‘I cried four times”. He also went on to praise the arrangements of the play, saying that it was the best part, bringing the manga to life.

Hara also took to Twitter to hail the greatness of the performers, the art, and the live music. Checkout the full comment below:

“I had a chance to see the stage Kingdom. It is an amazing stage! The total time of three hours, with an intermission, flew by. It was very funny and made me cry. The greatness of the performers, the art, and the live music are definitely worth seeing at the theatre!“

Kingdom stage play will be performed in Japan on Feb 5-27, 2023. It will opened at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo. The play adapted the first 5 volumes of the manga.

It was previously revealed, Hiroki Miura and Akira Takano have been cast to play the protagonist Li Xin. Ying Zheng will also be played by two actors, Yuta Koseki and Hikaru Makishima.

Staff involved in the stage play adaptation of Kingdom:

• Director: Kazuya Yamada
• Scriptwriter: Bunou Fujisawa
• Music: KOHTA YAMAMOTO
• Production: TOHO

Kingdom is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara. It has been serialized in Shueisha’s seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Jump since January 2006, with its chapters collected in sixty-five tankōbon volumes as of June 2022.

Kingdom provides a fictionalized account of the Warring States period primarily through the experiences of the war orphan Xin and his comrades as he fights to become the greatest general under the heavens, and in doing so, unifying China for the first time in 500 years.

The series was adapted into a four-season anime television series by studio Pierrot. The first season of 38 episodes aired from June 2012 to February 2013. A second season aired for 39 episodes from June 2013 to March 2014. A third season by Studio Signpost and Pierrot aired for 26 episodes from April 2020 to October 2021.

The fourth season premiered in April 2022.

A live-action film was released in April 2019; a sequel film premiered in 2022. The franchise is reportedly getting a third live-action film.

As of June 2022, the Kingdom manga had over 90 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. In 2013, the manga won the Grand Prize of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

Source: Oricon, Twitter