History Trivia / MusicalToukenRanbu

* WrittenInAbsence: When an actor or character is absent from a concert, the other characters usually mention that they are on an expedition and fill in for them during song numbers.

* BreakthroughHit: Director Isamu Kayano and many of the actors from the Trial Performance/''Atsukashiyama Ibun'' talked about how none of them were prepared for the musical's success based on the Trial Perfomance, especially since it was being adapted from a work without a plot. However, from that performance, the play exhibited immediate success, launching a series of widely popular musicals that have enjoyed continued fame for nearly ten years as of the time of writing with no signs of slowing down. This production has also helped to launch the careers of many of the aspiring actors that have joined it.

* ColbertBump: Like the ''Theatre/ThePrinceOfTennis'' musicals before it, the series' popularity helped boost interest in 2.5D musicals, especially with overseas fans of ''Touken Ranbu''.
* CrossCastRole: On the very rare occasion that female characters do appear in the play, they're often played by male actors. For example, Megohime, Date Masamune's wife, was played by male actor Chidai Yu in the musical ''～Shunpu Touri no Sakazuki～''.

* NoExportForYou: If you're outside of Japan, you'll have to go through a lot of hoops to watch the musicals on DMM, which are region-locked.

** Ojarumaru Sakanoue from the titular series ''Anime/Ojarumaru'' served as the inspiration for Kuroba Mario's initial portrayal of Mikazuki Munechika, explaining Mikazuki's youthful characterization in the Trial Perfomance.

* MethodActing: In a 2019 interview, actor Kuroba Mario, who plays Mikazuki Munechika, revealed that director Kayano Isamu cited his lack of classical arts knowledge for hindering his portrayal of the character, advising him to study Kabuki theater and Noh performances to enhance his acting abilities. After a brief training session with the director, Kuroba conducted independent research to learn the exact vocalizations and movements of actors to use in his performances. His self-training paid off, as he was praised by Makoto Matsuda, chairman of NELKE PLANNING Co., Ltd. and sponsor of the musicals, and audiences for his performance in ''Tsuwamono Domo'' and his improvement.

* VoiceOnlyCameo: In the past, actors have had to cancel live performances due to illness or injury, and there was not enough time to replace them. In these cases, the stage production used recordings from the actor, while a silhouetted stand-in person performed and interacted with the other actors.

* WrittenInAbsence: Rather than replacing an absent actor with a new temporary actor at events like ''Suehirogari,'' ''Uta Awase,'' and ''Shinken Ranbusai,'' the other characters make passing comments about how the corresponding character is away on an expedition and have the current cast members fill in for them during song numbers.

** Horikawa Kunihiro's actor, Yuuki Ogoe, was replaced with Shogo Sakamoto ''Musubi no Hibiki'' onwards.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In 2020, a long-awaited cast crossover event between ''Musical Touken Ranbu'' and ''Touken Ranbu Stage'' was planned as ''Touken Ranbu: Daienren,'' which would have taken place at Tokyo Dome. Unfortunately, the spread of Covid-19 resulted in the cancellation of this event and a cast talk being held instead. As of the time of writing, there has been no talks of another version of the event being held.

** The director initially wanted ''Kotobuki Ranbu Ongyousai'' to be a grander event due it commemorating the fifth anniversary of ''Musical Touken Ranbu'', but had to change his mind and make it smaller scale due to poor planning.

* InjuryOnSet: Kohei Osada was absent from a few performances of ''Kousui Sanka no Yuki'' due to an unspecified on set injury.

* InjuredOnSet: Kohei Osada was absent from a few performances of ''Kousui Sanka no Yuki'' due to an unspecified on set injury.

* VoiceOnlyCameo: In the past, actors have had to cancel live performances due to illness or injury, and there was not enough time to replace them. In these cases, the stage production used recordings from the actor, while a silhouetted stand-in person performed and interacted with the other actors.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In 2020, a long-awaited cast crossover event between ''Musical Touken Ranbu'' and ''Touken Ranbu Stage'' was planned as ''Touken Ranbu: Daienren,'' which would have taken place at Tokyo Dome. Unfortunately, the spread of Covid-19 resulted in the cancellation of this event and a cast talk being held instead. As of the time of writing, there has been no talks of another version of the event being held.

* WrittenInAbsence: Rather than replacing an absent actor with a new temporary actor at events like ''Suehirogari,'' ''Uta Awase,'' and ''Shinken Ranbusai,'' the other characters make passing comments about how the corresponding character is away on an expedition and have the current cast members fill in for them during song numbers.
* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: In a few early interviews, director Isamu Kayano admitted to doing this due to the difficulty he had adapting a work with no defined storyline and little characterization to work with, which he had never done before. He would check in with Creator/NitroPlus for guidelines on the overall worldview ''Touken Ranbu'', however.

* WordOfGod: Isamu Kayano, the musicals' director, stated in a 2016 interview that he decided to split the musicals into two sections—the main story and the live, or idol segments—because he wanted to create a format that had never been seen in a play before in which the audience could excitedly wave their penlights around in the second half of the performance and dance to catchy songs. His previous work directing the idol-centric musical adaptation of ''Manga/AKB49RenaiKinshiJourei'' served as a source of inspiration for the direction this adaptation took, and he was fully aware of how disjointed the two acts might come across to the audiences.

** ''Shizuka no Umi no Paraiso'' was hit pretty hard by this; originally slated to run from March to May 2020, the majority of the performances were canceled and rescheduled to be reperformed from September 27 to November 25, 2021, more than a year later.

** Okamiya Kurumu, Tsurumaru's actor, was a known big fan of Kuroba Mario, Mikazuki's actor, prior to joining the project, and was given the opportunity to meet him in person through his work on ''Touken Ranbu''. The two were notably on a last name basis at the time, but a year later, they had grown closer, to the point of referring to each other by their first names with less formal honorifics.

* BreakthroughHit: Director Isamu Kayano and many of the actors from the Trial Performance/''Atsukashiyama Ibun'' talked about how none of them were prepared for the musical's eventual success based on the Trial Perfomance, especially since it was being adapted from a work without a plot. However, from that performance, the play exhibited immediate success, launching a series of widely popular musicals that have enjoyed continued fame for nearly ten years as of the time of writing with no signs of slowing down. This production has also helped to launch the careers of many of the aspiring actors that have joined it.

* PromotedFanboy: Much like ''Tenimyu'', as the musicals gained popularity and wider recognition, it became a work that many aspiring actors were drawn to and wanted to be a part of; some of them even got their shot:

* StarMakingRole:

** Shin Tamura’s role as Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki solidified his career as an actor, as it was initially his only major acting role in a project, and he has since gone on to star in other works.

** Kohei Nagata had ''no'' acting credits to his name prior to being cast as Koryuu Kagemitsu in ''Hana Kage Yureru Tomizu'' and cites the role as the start of his acting career.

* PromotedFanboy:

* MethodActing: In a 2019 interview, actor Kuroba Mario, who plays Mikazuki Munechika, revealed that director Kayano Isamu cited his lack of classical arts knowledge for hindering his portrayal of the character, advising him to study Kabuki theater and Noh performances to enhance his acting abilities. After a brief training session with the director, Kuroba conducted independent research to learn the exact vocalizations and movements of actors to use in his performances. His self-training paid off, as he was praised by Makoto Matsuda, chairman of NELKE PLANNING Co., Ltd., and audiences for his performance in ''Tsuwamono Domo'' and his improvement.

* ActingInTheDark: All of the ''Atsukashiyama Ibun'' actors, initially. ''Musical Touken Ranbu'' was ''Touken Ranbu'''s very first adaptation, based on the browser game which had little story, no frame of reference for how the characters moved due to the static sprites, and little characterization for the actors to work with. In an early interview, Kuroba Mario, Mikazuki Munechika's actor, mentions that all they had to go on initially were their names on their doors and the characters' voices, but they were still expected to make the characters their own, meaning a little imagination had to go into playing their roles.

** Okamiya Kurumu, who plays Tsurumaru Kuninaga, was one of the youngest and least experienced actors when he was cast in the role; Tsurumaru was only his third role at the time (though his actor counts it as only his second), and it came the year after he officially entered the stage scene. He admitted in an interview that he was insecure about this and sought advice from more experienced actors. Having said that, it's difficult to believe he was the least experienced at the time, given how easily he adapted to the role. Matsui Gou's actor, Sasamori Hiroki, who joined the project a year after Okamiya, points out in a joint interview with Okamiya that he is modest despite his talent.

* EnforcedMethodActing: In order to give the audience the impression that they are truly witnessing the Touken Danshi brought to life, rather than just people dressing up and pretending to be them, the director Isamu Kayano strictly enforces this with the actors. This entails maintaining their physical fitness, making the Touken Danshi actors exhibit less physical weakness than the human characters, and even reprimanding them for not controlling their breathing during and after fight scenes to avoid looking winded on stage, since the Touken Danshi aren't human and therefore don't tire as easily as humans do. Several of the actors have gone on record to "jokingly" talk about how physically and mentally demanding the roles are, since they have to learn singing, acting, dancing, ''and'' sword fighting on top of an already hectic production schedule.

* FilmedStageProduction: Every musical is streamed live during performance, and the video is then uploaded to DMM following its initial runs. If there are significant differences in the performances, like who performed on a particular day, there are also occasionally multiple uploads marked with different dates.
* FriendshipOnTheSet: Many of the Tou Myu actors have become close friends since joining the project, even hanging out when there aren’t performances going on.

* MethodActing: In a 2019 interview, actor Kuroba Mario, who plays Mikazuki Munechika, revealed that director Kayano Isamu cited his lack of knowledge of classical arts as a barrier to making his portrayal of Mikazuki his own, and advised him to study Kabuki theater and Noh performances to improve his performance to match the production's vision. After a brief training session with the director, Kuroba followed his advice and conducted independent research, learning the exact vocalizations and movements of the performers to use in his performance. His self-training paid off, as he was praised not only by the director and chairman of NELKE PLANNING Co., Ltd., Makoto Matsuda, but also by audiences for his performance in ''Tsuwamono Domo'' and his improvement as the character.

** Matsui Gou actor Sasamori Hiroki stated in a 2020 Engekisengen that he had always wanted to be a part of ''Touken Ranbu'' and that he was both anxious and excited when he was chosen to be in the musical. In fact, he was so nervous that he choked on his words during the rehearsals for the ''Uta Awase'' performance, which would mark the debut of his character.

* VoiceOnlyCameo: Over the years, there have been several instances where actors had to cancel live performances due to illness or injury, and there was not enough time to replace them with another actor for the role. In these cases, the stage production would use recordings from the actor playing the character's role, while a silhouetted person performed in their place and interacted with the other actors.

* WrittenInAbsence: Rather than replacing an absent actor with a new temporary actor at events like ''Suehirogari,'' ''Uta Awase,'' and ''Shinken Ranbusai,'' the other characters make passing comments about how the corresponding character is away on an expedition and have the current cast members fill in for them during song numbers.

* StarMakingRole: Shin Tamura’s role as Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki solidified his career as an actor, as it was initially his only major acting role in a project, and he has since gone on to star in other works.

* WordOfGod: Isamu Kayano, the musicals' director, stated in a 2016 interview that he decided to split the musicals into two sections—the main story and the live, or idol segments—because he wanted to create a format that had never been seen in a play before in which the audience could excitedly wave their penlights around in the second half of the performance and dance to catchy songs. His previous work on the idol-centric play [=AKB49=] served as a source of inspiration for the direction this adaptation took, and he was aware of how disjointed the two acts might come across to the audiences.

* WordOfGod: Isamu Kayano, the musicals' director, stated in a 2016 interview that he decided to split the musicals into two sections—the main story and the live, or idol segments—because he wanted to create a format that had never been seen in a play before in which the audience could excitedly wave their penlights around in the second half of the performance and dance to catchy songs. His previous work on the idol-centric play [=AKB49=] served as a source of inspiration for the direction this adaptation took, and he was of how disjointed the two structures might come across to the audiences.

* TemporarySubstitute: While Kogitsunemaru's actor, Ryo Kitazono, was out for medical reasons, Kogi was played by actor [[https://twitter.com/dsuke68 Daisuke Iwasaki]] in the Paris showing of ''Atsukashiyama Ibun''.

* WordOfGod: Isamu Kayano, the musicals' director, stated in a 2016 interview that he decided to split the musicals into two sections—the main story and the live, or idol segments—because he wanted to create a format that had never been seen in a play before in which the audience could excitedly wave their penlights around in the second half of the performance and dance to catchy songs. His previous work on the idol-centric play AKB49 served as another source of inspiration for the direction this adaptation took.