BEASTARS Live-Action Stage Play is Cancelled due to COVID-19 Concerns

To those who booked their travels to Japan and looking forward to the live-action stage play adaptation of the popular BEASTARS anime, we are sad to bring you this announcement that the play has been cancelled. This has been confirmed recently by the stage play’s official Twitter account.

The play, that was originally slated to premiere on April, decided to cancel the run due to COVID-19 concerns. Many of the 2.5 or live-action stage plays in Japan are also either postponed or cancelled.

The organizers of the BEASTARS stage play production are still in discussions if a postponement is possible rather than a cancellation.

The announcement of the BEASTARS stage play production was confirmed during the first 2020 issue release of Weekly Shonen Champion magazine. It was originally set to run from April to May with production runs in Tokyo and Osaka.

According to the World Health Organization, there are 3,654 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Japan alone as of April 7, with 73 deaths. The Japanese government has recently declared a state of emergency.

The BEASTARS manga was created by Paru Itagaki, and it sold over 1.3 million printed copies as of April last year. Its immense popularity had also got the series to win multiple awards, including the being the Akita Shoten title to win the Manga Taisho award.

The story of BEASTARS takes place in a modern world inhabited by anthropomorphic creatures divided between the herbivores and carnivores. Our main hero, Legoshi, is a timid gray wolf and is a student of Cherryton Academy, where he stays in a dorm with other carnivores. The tension between herbivores and carnivores began when Tem the alpaca was brutally murdered and been eaten. While this has been going on, Legoshi crossed paths with a dwarf rabbit named Haru, in which he grew feelings with as the story progresses.

Here is a detailed synopsis about the BEASTARS manga as shared by VIZ Media:

At a high school where the students are literally divided into predators and prey, it’s personal relationships that maintain the fragile peace. Who among them is a Beastar—an academic and social role model destined to become a leader in a society naturally rife with mistrust?

Last night at Cherryton Academy, an herbivore student was killed and eaten. Among the members of the drama club, the herbivores’ suspicions naturally turn to their carnivore classmates… The prime suspect? Legosi, a large wolf. But he wouldn’t hurt a fly—or would he? And will dwarf rabbit Haru bring out the beast in him? Or are his feelings for her…something else?

The announcement of the English release of BEASTARS happened during VIZ Media’s panel in Anime NYC that happened in November 2019. Aside from this series, the other titles that they’ve announced were Komi Can’t Communicate by Tomohito Oda, Boku no Hero Academia Smash!! spinoff manga by Hirofumi Neda, and the novel Automatic Eve by Rokuro Inui.

The official Twitter account of Netflix  that the BEASTARS anime will be available for streaming outside of Japan beginning March 13. The anime first season has ended with a total of 12 episodes. Recently, a second season of the anime is confirmed.

Netflix already announced previously that the anime will be available soon for viewers outside of Japan. Netflix has become a video streaming powerhouse, not only providing a massive library of exclusively produced TV series and movies but also adding a massive library of other TV shows and movies from around the world.

BEASTSTARS is definitely a big hit considering that its massive popularity grew ever since the anime adaptation was released and its fanbase is growing.

Last February, Netflix announced that the official English dub cast of the anime. The following cast members are:

Jonah Scott as Legoshi

Griffin Puatu as Louis

Lara Jill Miller as Haru

Kaiji Tang as Bill

Ben Diskin as Jack

Daman Mills as Kai

Erika Harlacher as Els

Keith Silverstein as Gouhin

During the release of the eight issue of Weekly Shonen Champion magazine, the creator of the popular BEASTARS manga Paru Itagaki commented in her author’s note saying that the “end is in sight” for the series. She also said that she is will be working hard to make sure the series will be well until the end and she invites fans to follow along with the journey.

 Source: ANN