Theatre / MANKAI STAGE A3!

The Show Must Go On!

MANKAI STAGE A3!, also known in Japan as エーステ (read as eesute, a combination of A3! and STAGE) is the theater adaptation of the mobile game A3!.

Upon receiving a letter from her father's theater company, the Player Character (you, the audience) visits a theater with only one actor and a finds out that the theater company is declining and buried in a large debt. You then succeed you father as the new director of the MANKAI COMPANY, tasked to bring the troupe back to its former glory and paying the debt to the Yakuza. The lives of twenty (later twenty-four) men are entangled in the process.

The stage play adaptation is unique in the sense that it's a stage play about stage actors and staff preparing for a stage play. One of the charms of A3! perfectly captured by the stage play adaptation is the gekichuugeki (Japanese: 劇中劇, lit. play within a play), which refers to the in-universe stage productions that the fictional MANKAI COMPANY present to their audience.

All stage plays prior to the ACT 2 series (except for the lives) each adapt two stories from the game:

ACT 1 stage plays

• SPRING & SUMMER 2018: adapts the Prologue Mankai Company, Act 1 The Show Must Go On!, and Act 2 Summertime Survival of Main Story Part 1, focusing on the Spring and Summer Troupes. This includes the plays Romeo and Julius and Water Me!
• AUTUMN & WINTER 2019: adapts Act 3 Portrait of a Punk and Act 4 Once More, with Feeling of Main Story Part 1, focusing on the Autumn and Winter Troupes. This includes the plays Le Roman Picaresque and Sympathy for the Angel
• SPRING 2019: adapts the Spring Troupe's second and third plays, Alice as a Boy and The Clockwork Heartbeat, and corresponding event stories
• SUMMER 2019: adapts the Summer Troupe's second and third plays, Adventure for the Niboshi and Captain Sky Pirates, and corresponding event stories
• AUTUMN 2020: adapts the Autumn Troupe's second and third plays, STRANGER ON THE WAY TO PARADISE and Like a lead Bullet, and corresponding event stories
• WINTER 2020: adapts the Winter Troupe's second and third plays, Butler and the Silver Spoon and Nocturnality, and corresponding event stories
• WINTER 2021: a rerun of WINTER 2020.

The LIVE stages are more of revue performances, consisting of songs from previous stage plays and in the case of the solo troupe lives, from each troupe's previously released mini albums. These LIVE stages also include a rerun of each troupe's plays within a play.

LIVE stages

• Four Seasons LIVE 2020: includes shuffle stages of Romeo and Julius, Water Me!, Le Roman Picaresque, and Sympathy for the Angel
• Troupe LIVE～SPRING 2021～: includes Romeo and Julius, Alice as a Boy, and The Clockwork Heartbeat
• Troupe LIVE～SUMMER 2021～: includes Water Me!, Adventure for the Niboshi, and Captain Sky Pirates
• Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～: includes Le Roman Picaresque, STRANGER ON THE WAY TO PARADISE, and Like a lead Bullet
• Troupe LIVE～WINTER 2022～: includes Sympathy for the Angel, Butler and the Silver Spoon, and Nocturnality

The first four stage plays of ACT 2 each adapt one act of the game's Main Story Part 2. The remaining four stage plays each adapt two stories from the game.

ACT 2 stage plays

• ACT 2～SPRING 2022～: adapts Act 5 Awakening Moon of Main Story Part 2 and includes the plays Romeo and Julius and The Wonderful Charlatan of Oz
• ACT 2～SUMMER 2022～: adapts Act 6 Summertime Survival...strikes back! of Main Story Part 2 and includes the play Love Out of Left Field
• ACT 2～AUTUMN 2022～: adapts Act 7 Boyhood Collage of Main Story Part 2 and includes the play DEAD/UNDEAD
• ACT 2～WINTER 2023～: adapts Act 8 The Greatest Journey of Main Story Part 2 and includes the play Le Fantôme de l'Opéra
• ACT 2～SPRING 2023～: adapts the Spring Troupe's fourth and fifth plays, Knights of RoundIV THE STAGE and Harugaoka Quartet, and corresponding event stories
• ACT 2～SUMMER 2023～: adapts the Summer Troupe's fourth and fifth plays, SHI★NO★BI Misadventuring and The Floral Prince, and corresponding event stories
• ACT 2～AUTUMN 2023～: adapts the Autumn Troupe's fourth and fifth plays, Fiery Mantou Fist! and Fallen Blood, and corresponding event stories
• ACT 2～WINTER 2024～: adapts the Winter Troupe's fourth and fifth plays, Die by the Sword and Risky Game, and corresponding event stories

The stage play series was also adapted into two film adaptations, with all of the stage actors (sans two) reprising their roles on the big screen. Similar to the first two plays, the movie adapts the game's Main Story Part 1.

MANKAI MOVIE A3!

• MANKAI MOVIE「A3!」～SPRING & SUMMER～ (2021): adapts the Prologue Mankai Company, Act 1 The Show Must Go On!, and Act 2 Summertime Survival of Main Story Part 1, focusing on the Spring and Summer Troupes. This includes the plays Romeo and Julius and Water Me!
• MANKAI MOVIE「A3!」～AUTUMN & WINTER～ (2022): adapts Act 3 Portrait of a Punk and Act 4 Once More, with Feeling of Main Story Part 1, focusing on the Autumn and Winter Troupes. This includes the plays Le Roman Picaresque and Sympathy for the Angel

This page is for the tropes found in the stage play and the movies. For tropes common to all media in the A3 franchise and for the plays staged by the fictional MANKAI Company, see here. The page for the character sheet is here. The tropes found in the games are here.

For clarity, both the in-universe main characters and their real-life actors are both referred to as part of the MANKAI COMPANY. Names are written in the Japanese order (last name first name). Beware of unmarked spoilers, especially for those who haven't seen the stage plays and the movies yet.

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The MANKAI STAGE A3! franchise provides examples of the following:

General tropes

• Adapted Out: Kamekichi, Iwai Tetsuro, the ensemble cast, and the event-recurring characters don't make it into the stage and movie adaptation.
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 omits the Furo Scene for the Autumn Troupe, but gets included in the movie.
  • The Unopening Door Mystery for Azuma and Hisoka isn't included in the AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 (and later on, this was also not included in the anime). Thus, once SPRING 2022 came around, they couldn't reference it happening in the past when the director and Chikage disappear for a while.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In the game, Yuzo is first introduced after the Spring Troupe hasn't been doing well in rehearsals. In the stage play, he's introduced minutes earlier than the Spring Troupe members (except Sakuya, who was in the prologue).
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The plays within a play become subject to this. Despite the plays being described in-game as something that would span 2 hours, the story in-game only shows snippets of it that can be readable in 10 minutes (though later on, with the game's development, the plays end up spanning a few chapters). MANKAI STAGE has the plays in versions that are around 10-30 minutes.
  • The plays within a play in the movies are shorter versions of those in the play, but also include other scenes.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: Omi doesn't appear to help with photos in "SPRING & SUMMER 2018", so the company first meets him in "AUTUMN & WINTER 2019".
• Adaptational Personality Change:
  • In the game, the director wasn't keen on helping MANKAI COMPANY at first, and wasn't into it even when agreeing to be the director. In MANKAI STAGE, the director immediately agrees to be the MANKAI COMPANY's director.
  • Immediately upon his introduction, it's already revealed that Princely Young Man Itaru is actually a hardcore Otaku, something that was a big twist in the game.
• Almighty Janitor: Even more so as we don't actually see the director working as the audience is supposed to be her; but she basically runs the MANKAI COMPANY all by herself, with help from Matsukawa and Sakyo.
• Arc Words: As with the main series, "The Show Must Go On!", but this time it has a theme song and its own choreography. Each troupe also has their own arc words that continue to be relevant in later performances.
  • Spring has "family" and "being themselves" (that is, how to present a Spring Troupe that is like the Spring Troupe).
  • Summer has much emphasis on facing and solving problems alongside "friends/companions".
  • Autumn has "regrets", with their portraits being continuously referenced.
  • Winter has "distance", referring to their relatively distant relationship with each other as compared to other troupes.
• The Baby of the Bunch:
  • Summer Troupe's members are younger than the other troupes', with the group having an average age of 16 and having two middle-schoolers in the roster. In real life, though, they're the second-oldest troupe in terms of average age (28); the youngest troupe would be the Spring Troupe (24).
  • Summer Troupe has Noguchi Jun (Muku), who is 7 years younger than the next one in the age order, Honda Reo (Misumi). With the addition of Usa Takuma (Madoka), Jun is the second youngest member in the whole MANKAI COMPANY. Shin Masatoshi (Kumon), who joined the troupe for SUMMER 2022 is the same age as him.
  • In ACT 2, 14-year old Azami becomes this to the rest of Autumn Troupe; the second-youngest member of the group is Taichi, who is in his last year of high school. The same applies to their actors; Yoshitaka Sion (23) replaces Akazawa Ryotaro (25) as the youngest member of the Autumn Troupe in AUTUMN 2022.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: Sakyo's long, long lectures, are literally said as "blah blah blah" in the stage adaptation.
• Bland-Name Product: As with the game and anime, the stage play has the social platforms LIME and Inste.
• Big Brother Instinct:
  • Juza to Muku and Kumon, so much that he appears in all of the Summer Troupe's stage adaptations.
  • Sakyo reveals that he looked after Azami like a sibling during their latter years. Azami doesn't share the sentiment: because he viewed Sakyo more as a father figure.
• The Big Guy:
  • The tallest members of the company are Omi (188cm), Homare and Juza (186cm), and Tasuku (184).
  • The Autumn Troupe members have the average tallest height (181.67cm) in the whole MANKAI COMPANY, and this is including Taichi at 173cm. Only two members are in the 170s range:
  In a tweet by Akazawa Ryotaro (Taichi) in 2022:
  Akazawa Ryotaro (Taichi): Autumn Troupe's average height 🍁 Eh? LOL (attached is a photo of a calculator showing 181.67)
  Fujita Ray (Sakyo): Scary lol
  Akazawa Ryotaro (Taichi): Umm... Ray-kun is the second shortest.... (179cm)
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Homare (Big Guy) and Hisoka (Little Guy) are almost always seen together. They're respectively the 2nd tallest and the shortest members of MANKAI COMPANY.
• Big Little Brother:
  • Nakamura Taro, the actor for Juza, is one of the youngest members of the Autumn Troupe (same age as the above mentioned Akazawa Ryotaro), yet he is only around 2cm shorter than the tallest member Inagaki Seiya (who plays Omi). The youngest member Yoshitaka Sion, while not the tallest, is taller than half the troupe and most of the MANKAI COMPANY.
  • Tanaka Ryosei, the actor for Homare (who is the oldest member of the Winter Troupe), is the youngest and tallest of the Winter Troupe actors, and second-tallest in the whole MANKAI COMPANY. Inversely, Ueda Keisuke, the actor for Hisoka, is second oldest in the Winter Troupe yet the shortest in the whole MANKAI COMPANY.
• Cast Herd: As with the game, there are 5 members (which increased to 6 starting from ACT 2) for each of the 4 troupes, plus the manager, the coach, the yakuza underling, the two members of the GOD Troupe, and three supporting characters from the individual troupe plays. Four Seasons LIVE 2020 features the whole MANKAI STAGE cast (minus Yuzo) for a total of 27 male actors on stage in their different roles.
• Chromosome Casting: All the cast members are male, even the ensemble cast. Female roles are either played by the male actors or shown as video footage (albeit in silhouette), and like in the game, the director's role is played by the audience.
• Classically-Trained Extra: Averted with Tauchi Tokihiro, who is a great dancer and helps out with dance and stage choreography and coaches the other actors in his personal time. While he's not a main character as Sakoda Ken, he gets his own interpretative dance number in SPRING 2019.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Citron, Misumi, Homare. Four Seasons Live 2020 shows what a wild ride it is once the three of them plus Kazunari are present.
• Composite Character: Many of the director's important lines and actions are given to other characters such as Matsukawa or Yuzo, as she isn't physically there in the stage.
  • Notably, Yuzo fills in the role of Makino, one of Banri's university professors, in "AUTUMN 2023". Because he's always been supervising the rehearsals for Autumn Troupe, he would be one of the best to know Banri's and Juza's differing strengths as actors.
• Costume Porn: The stage play even adds details that weren't present in the original game costume designs, especially for the plays within a play.
• Demoted to Extra: If the production is for a specific troupe, members of other troupes who appear in the same production are there as supporting roles, comic relief, and ensemble cast members. Though, they still have their profile shots and complete costumes.
• Disappeared Dad: As with the original game, the stage play starts with the director taking over MANKAI COMPANY due to the disappearance of her father, the previous director Tachibana Yukio.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: Each play's opening and ending songs are sung by the actors featured in said play, including supporting characters (like Matsukawa). Troupe-exclusive versions were released in each play's original soundtrack and each troupe's mini album. It's worth noting that each theme song differs in lyrics (and for "Brand new world", there's a different arrangement) per play/troupe.
  • SPRING & SUMMER 2018 and AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 have "MANKAI STAGE" (opening song) and "The Show Must Go On" (ending song).
  • The ACT 1 stage play series has "Brand new world" (opening song) and "blooming smile" (closing song).
  • Four Seasons LIVE 2020 features Four Seasons versions of "MANKAI STAGE", "The Show Must Go On", "Brand new world", and "blooming smile", which are essentially mixed versions of each troupe's versions of the original songs.
  • The Troupe LIVE stages also have an introduction song per troupe at the start of the performance.
  • The final performance of SPRING & SUMMER 2018 features MANKAI STAGE's version of "MANKAI☆Kaika Sengen", the game's theme song for Main Story Part 1. Each troupe released their own versions in their mini albums, and performed live after the introduction song during the Troupe LIVE stages.
  • The ACT 2 stage play series has "ANSWERS" (opening song) and "24 flowers" (closing song).
• Dysfunction Junction: And it's even more visible on stage than in the game, as the viewer can actually get to see the efforts made by the members of the company to overcome their issues, trauma, and misdeeds.
• Flower Motifs: The theme of actors blooming carries over from the game to the stage play, so flower motifs are everywhere from naming to costumes to song titles and lyrics. The title of the stage play in itself contains the word "MANKAI" (and is written as this as opposed to in kanji), which means "full bloom". The characters retain their individual flower motifs from the game.
• Funny Background Event: Happens a whole lot, since the characters for a scene can actually be seen on stage while others have their own conversations. An example of this would be ex-gang leader Omi coming after Banri, Juza, and Sakyo to intimidate Reni into fulfilling their part of the deal in paying back the debt, only to be stopped by Taichi.
• Funny Foreigner: Citron, who's mostly in charge of comic relief both when he is a main and a supporting character.
  • In one of the bonus videos for SPRING 2019, the Spring Troupe cast play a game in which they have to guess the correct word/phrase that Furuya Yamato (Citron) jumbled up. The members found it funny that they suggested playing it backstage (off-camera) as well.
  • In later plays, Yuzo would try imitating Citron.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Tasuku is the Grumpy to Homare's Gleeful. They even share a duet song "Muscle Rhapsody"
  Homare: (before the last chorus) Let's change the key from here and sing it once again!
  Tasuku: Hey, haven't you already had enough?!
• Goroawase Number:
  • Kazunari and Misumi are the Double Three Pair, with Kazunari's last name (Miyoshi) and Misumi's first name contain the number 3. This is mentioned in their duet song "3-3 Party Night".
  • Juza's name contains the number 10, and Kumon's name contains the number 9. Muku calls Kumon "Kyu-chan", which is another way of reading the character for 9.
• Homoerotic Subtext: A lot.
  • Tsumugi and Tasuku's Heterosexual Life-Partners relationship continues well on in the stage.
  • Banri and Juza by a lot.
    • The leaders get their own solo songs where they sing about their relationship with their other troupe members. Banri? Sings about how Juza is his muse.
  Nakamura Taro (Juza, talking about the song "Muse"): This is why I don't want this to be performed live! While Banri is singing, it'll be established that Juza needs to come out... Isn't that a little awkward? (laughs) Though it's a really beautiful song.
  • In the later half of AUTUMN 2023, Omi records Juza telling Banri about his newfound conviction to surpass him as an actor. The close up shot that Omi does, coupled with Juza and Banri's faces centimeters away from each other, makes it look more of a kissing scene.
• Men Don't Cry: Averted, as many of the members are shown to cry, not just on stage but with regards to their personal issues.
  • In AUTUMN 2020, Omi cries after finding out Nachi's parents watched STRANGER ON THE WAY TO PARADISE and left him a letter saying they're proud of him.
  • In WINTER 2020/2021's Nocturnality, Kota sobs into Reo's jacket after the latter leaves in the end of the story.
  • In SPRING 2022, Masumi cries as he laments being separated from the MANKAI COMPANY. Hisoka cries upon remembering his past and confronting Chikage. Chikage cries when opening up to Sakuya about his problems.
  • In AUTUMN 2023, Azami cries after learning about Sakyo's circumstances.
• Mr. Fanservice:
  • Tenma, whose Water Me! costume featured a Cleavage Window and went shirtless for Captain Sky Pirates. In fact, the Summer Troupe's cheer is them placing their hands on Tenma's chest to give him strength. Banri wears the same Ali Baba costume for Four Seasons LIVE 2020.
  • Kazunari's costume for Water Me! only had a cropped vest for a top, and nothing underneath. Citron keeps the same costume for Four Seasons LIVE 2020.
  • Omi's abs are exposed despite the tattered coat and belts in DEAD/UNDEAD. He goes topless in Fallen Blood (along with the ensemble members) as it's a story about boxing.
    Inagaki Seiya (Omi): Around the time rehearsals started, [the director] Fumiya-san said "on the ring, there's no way they [boxers] would be wearing clothes, right?" So I'll be like "...that's right...?" [in response to that].
• The Show Must Go On: A recurring theme in the series proper is how the show must go on even through unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances. In the debut plays, for example, there were Itaru's injury, Tenma's stage fright, the Autumn Troupe's costumes, and the bet with GOD Troupe to deal with.
  • Also happens in real life with the MANKAI STAGE itself, being a stage play. Despite Tsuzuru wearing the wrong costume or Misumi bringing out onigiri in an early scene, the production still goes on. Of course, the show doesn't go on when the actors have injuries.
• Show Within a Show: The gekichuugeki (Japanese: 劇中劇, lit. play within a play).
  • In Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～, there's "Radio Sakoda", where DJ KEN runs his own radio show.
  • In Fallen Blood, the news is being shown during the play itself.
• Significant Double Casting:
  • Nakamura Taro plays both Hyodo Juza and Nachi (though unvoiced), to further drive in the similarities that Omi sees in the both of them.
  • In all adaptations of Le Roman Picaresque, Tauchi Tokihiro, who plays Sakoda, also plays the role of Capone's underling.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: The Autumn Troupe. The AUTUMN 2020 version of "oneXone" even has Omi say the line "Get up, you motherfuckin' liar".
• Stalker with a Crush: Masumi's affection is directed towards the audience who play the role of the director. He doesn't even deny it when the other characters call him a stalker, even though he doesn't follow the director around.

Tropes in MANKAI STAGE A3!

• Actor Allusion: Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～ features a Battle Rapping between the members of the Autumn Troupe. One of the lineups include a battle between Banri and Omi, who are respectively Iruma Jyuto (Mizue Kenta) and Masaki Hokusai (Inagaki Seiya).
• Adaptation Deviation: A few scenes are moved around for parts of the stage play to connect better, such as:
  • In SPRING & SUMMER 2018, immediately after deciding roles for Romeo and Julius, Citron has doubts about leaving the troupe, then Masumi and Tsuzuru have their argument, then Itaru decides to leave the troupe, then Sakuya has problems with the swordfight, and then Tsuzuru talks to the director about the script.
  • SPRING & SUMMER 2018 cuts out the appearance of the GOD Troupe, and these scenes are later included in AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 instead. In MANKAI MOVIE, though, the GOD Troupe show up in SPRING & SUMMER during Tsuzuru's recruitment.
  • SPRING 2019 holding the MANMAN Grand Prix to cheer Tsuzuru up during his writer's block, as compared to in the game where it's done after the Spring Troupe put on the play.
  • SPRING 2022 has Chikage try to leave after he slips up a lot of times during practice, as compared to the game where he tries to leave after the opening night of The Wonderful Charlatan of Oz.
  • AUTUMN 2022 has Azami's father finding out about him joining the troupe because of his car accident, as compared to the game where he found out because Sakoda had flyers for DEAD/UNDEAD.
  • AUTUMN 2023 has Juza lash out at Banri while deciding how to go about with the script for his lead role performance. This leads to a pep talk from Omi (with Banri listening in), where the latter decides to make a video. In the game, the talk happens without anything from Banri.
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • SPRING & SUMMER 2018 doesn't include Sakuya's first performance as the only member of the MANKAI COMPANY, which in the game was what stalled Sakyo from tearing the theater down at first. It also omits how the director meets each of the members of the Spring Troupe (except Sakuya). It also doesn't show that Omi helped out with the Summer Troupe's play.
  • AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 doesn't show the Winter Troupe performance of Sympathy of the Angel wherein Tsumugi tried a 'grander' style of acting, and only shows the discussion the troupe had after that performance.
  • AUTUMN 2020 doesn't expound on Sakyo telling the chairman that he would leave the Ginsenkai Yakuza gang if his priorities turn towards theater.
  • SPRING 2022 omits Chikage's love for spices and all related scenes. It also doesn't address how Tsuzuru had problems writing Oz's character since he couldn't grasp Chikage's personality; though there is a Spring Troupe song where they all lament on how they don't understand Chikage.
• Adaptation Expansion: Shinjo Ryo originally doesn't have a game sprite, but of course he has a design in MANKAI STAGE.
• All There in the Manual: The script books for each stage play contains the script, stage, and prop details of each stage play adaptation.
• Animal Motifs: AUTUMN 2022 adapts the scene where the Autumn Troupe helps out at kindergarten for Taichi's sister. Banri is a rabbit, Juza is a bear, Taichi is a racoon, Omi is a wolf, Sakyo is a lion, and Azami is a squirrel. This comes back later when they save Azami from kidnappers, and to hide their identities, they wear the animal mascot heads.
• Ascended Extra: Mizuno Kaya, Ikaruga Madoka, and Shinjo Ryo, all of whom only appeared in one stage production as new supporting characters, are also featured in Four Seasons LIVE 2020.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite their rocky relationship (and Misumi believing that Madoka hates him), Madoka helps the Summer Troupe with the treasure hunt upon learning it was for Misumi, and watches Captain Sky Pirates.
• Battle Rapping: In Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～, wherein all members of the Autumn Troupe (except Sakyo who participates as a judge) diss each other through freestyle rap. And then there's Taichi and Omi whose battle consists of them throwing compliments at each other.
• Big Brother Worship:
  • After resolving their misunderstanding, Ryo returns to supporting Omi, saying that he looks as cool as he used to be when he was in the gang. It reached the point where it looked like a second Sakoda appeared in the company.
  • Kumon to Juza, big time. His initial wish was to join the Autumn Troupe in hopes of being with Juza, and his introduction song even features him wearing Juza's costumes from his previous roles.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Tsuzuru (tsukkomi) and Citron (''boke). It's their daily routine. In stages that don't have Citron, usually another character (such as Misumi) will imitate him to respond to Tsuzuru.
  • SPRING 2019 has the "MANMAN Grand Prix", a competition within the MANKAI COMPANY for the best manzai act. Participants include Tsuzuru and Citron, Sakyo and Banri, and Itaru and Masumi.
  • WINTER 2020 has Citron and Kazunari. It also introduces the Tsuzuru standee, to which Citron converses with using pre-recorded Tsuzuru voice lines that vary from normal phrases such as "I also think that'd be good" to script lines like "Then you'll have no choice but to leave Verona!"
  • Four Seasons Live has Matsukawa, Sakoda, and Ryo.
  • In ACT 2, Matsukawa and Yuzo have this dynamic.
• Call-Back:
  • The opening sequence of AUTUMN 2020 is a performance of the member's individual portraits, but this time, they perform it like a relay, with one member saying a line of their portrait after one another. The Autumn Troupe often references their portraits in relation to the current issues that they're going through (such as Omi moving on from Nachi and Sakyo's hesitance to share his family situation).
  • The final performance of SPRING 2022 has Matsukawa and Yuzo reference the previous audience participation songs used in old performances before introducing a new song for "the new season". The second performances of ACT 2 have the troupes, with their new members, sing old MANKAI STAGE theme songs "The Show Must Go On" (Spring and Summer) and "blooming smile" (Autumn).
  • The final performance of AUTUMN 2023 has Juza repeat the lines from his Autumn Troupe audition, to show how far he's improved since he joined the troupe.
    • According to his actor, Nakamura Taro, it was also a call-back to how the first Autumn performance AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 (when the Autumn Troupe audition happened) was held in the same venue as AUTUMN 2023.
• The Cameo:
  • In the final performance of SPRING 2022, Kitazono Ryo (Tasuku)'s singing voice can be heard singing along with the other Winter Troupe members. He is the only member of the troupe not present for the entirety of the show's run.
  • Fujita Ray (Sakyo) doesn't appear in SUMMER 2022, but his voice did - arguing with Azami upon entering MANKAI COMPANY. Reni continues haunting Taichi in AUTUMN 2023 despite not being physically present, as Kawai Ryunosuke recorded his lines as well.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Homare, best exemplified in Troupe LIVE～WINTER 2022～.
• Character Development:
  • Masumi, who at the start (and especially in Troupe LIVE～SPRING 2021～) only wanted the director's attention on him and did acting to be praised by her, comes to view the MANKAI COMPANY as family by the time of SPRING 2022; so much that he chooses to stay in Japan for the company rather than come with his actual family in moving to America.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Seven Mysteries of the MANKAI dorm, introduced in the first two plays. One being Misumi, another being the Torment Doll which appeared to Tsumugi and Tasuku (and Misumi), and another, The Loupe of Sincerity, being usable to Homare. The Unopening Door Mystery, which was mentioned in the game involving Azuma and Hisoka, doesn't appear in the stage play, but is mentioned in SPRING 2022 as a cover-up reason to explain the director and Chikage's disappearance.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • After doing outsourced work for earlier MANKAI COMPANY plays, Yuki (costume designer) and Kazunari (graphic designer) later join the Summer Troupe.
• Sakyo, who is the Yakuza that the company is indebted to, ends up being the last member of the Autumn Troupe.
  • At the end of WINTER 2020/2021, Hisoka receives a bouquet and letter from someone called April. In SPRING 2022, April is revealed to be Chikage, who started going to MANKAI COMPANY productions after finding out Hisoka was there. He later joins the Spring Troupe.
  • Juza and Muku mention Juza's little brother, Kumon, by name many times. Kumon would later join the Summer Troupe in SUMMER 2022.
  • Azami, who Kumon meets by chance in SUMMER 2022, turns out to be connected to Sakyo and Sakoda. He later joins the Autumn Troupe to spite Sakyo.
• Chuunibyou: Citron comments that Kumon's solo act in SUMMER 2022 felt like a chuunibyou play, but he likes it that way.
• Commonality Connection:
  • AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 has Itaru and Banri quickly bond over their shared love of video games and being Otaku.
  • Something that wasn't given emphasis during SPRING 2022 was that Masumi and Tsumugi were both raised by their grandmothers, so during SPRING 2022 it's significant that it's Tsumugi who goes to Masumi's grandmother to help convince Masumi to stay in Japan.
• Consummate Liar: Chikage, who habitually lies and makes up stories partly for the fun of it and partly to hide his true intentions.
• A Day in the Limelight: Except Four Seasons LIVE 2020, each play/live stage revolves around one (or two in the case of the first two stage plays) troupe. And in extension, this focuses on a character in said troupe that is playing the lead role in the play within a play.
  • The first two stages SPRING & SUMMER 2018 and 'AUTUMN & WINTER 2019'' feature all of the new troupe members and their specific background/personalities, though there's emphasis on leaders, such as Tenma and Banri whose attitudes lead to problems within their troupes.
  • SPRING 2019 for Masumi wanting to become an adult and Tsuzuru having writer's block and remembering a childhood friend.
  • SUMMER 2019 for Yuki having artist's block and learning to accept help from others and Misumi and his relationship with his grandfather and younger brother.
  • AUTUMN 2019 for Omi getting on terms with his past as a member of the Wolves and Sakyo feeling the gap between him and the other members of the Autumn Troupe, as well as taking care of his own family problems.
  • WINTER 2020/2021 for Homare and his inability to understand emotions and Azuma who is afraid of loneliness as he is still shaken up by his family situation.
  • Troupe LIVE～SPRING 2021～ for Masumi not wanting a new member for the Spring Troupe because he feels like the Director will throw him away for someone fresh and new.
  • Troupe LIVE～SUMMER 2021～ for Tenma not experiencing a normal high school life, and how the Summer Troupe wants him have good experiences despite it.
  • Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～ for Taichi receiving a fan letter and letting it get into his head.
  • Troupe LIVE～WINTER 2022～ for Homare, who, in the absence of Tsumugi and Tasuku, tries to improve the Winter Troupe's relationship with Yuzo based on social conventions that he's heard of.
  • SPRING 2022 for Chikage who joins the troupe as a new member, and Hisoka, who is the reason why Chikage joined in the first place. The two of them, along with Masumi, find their family with the MANKAI COMPANY.
  • SUMMER 2022 has Kumon, who faces his fears as the new member of the Summer Troupe. Tenma gets to act in a popular director's movie alongside his father, which is one of his goals. This, in turn, causes Kazunari starts seriously worrying about what he wants to be in the future.
  • AUTUMN 2022 for Azami forming a relationship with the members of the Autumn Troupe and mending his relationship with Sakyo.
  • WINTER 2023 for Guy and in extension, Citron, exploring their relationship and background.
  • SPRING 2023 for Itaru who is faced by his past issues regarding the stigma around Otaku and Citron who, continuing from the previous play, reflects about his and his brother's important positions in Zahra.
  • SUMMER 2023 for Kazunari who is searching for his path in life due to the many available options in front of his eyes and Muku who is struggling with his self-esteem issues and personal beliefs.
  • AUTUMN 2023 for Taichi who has not yet resolved his trauma from being part of the GOD Troupe and Juza who is insecure about his shortcomings as an actor, especially when compared to Banri.
• Determinator: SPRING 2022 reveals that prior to the story, in the mission that killed August, Hisoka fell off a cliff and into the water, swam his way to the shore, and survived but without his memories. Then he wandered and was found sleeping in front of MANKAI dorm. Before he joined the organization, he was always struggling to survive on his own. This includes him fighting against the cold weather and feeling his body going numb from the cold.
• Does Not Like Women: Chikage can be polite but does hate dealing with women, though he's warmed up to the director by the end of SPRING 2022.
• Doesn't Know Their Own Child:
  • Due to his constant neglect of Masumi, Misaki really didn't have any idea about his son's life, thinking that Masumi was still the same obedient son who will listen to him. Thus his actions in SPRING 2022.
  • Azami's father initially thought that he was just doing makeup as a childish game, and destroyed his son's makeup kits which led to Azami running away from home.
• Dramatic Spotlight: Presented in AUTUMN 2023, where Taichi literally steps out of the spotlight due to his low self-esteem.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: The second half of AUTUMN 2020 has Sakyo coach the other members of the Autumn Troupe (which suddenly extended to the whole MANKAI COMPANY) on how to act like a proper Yakuza for their upcoming play Like a lead Bullet.
• Easily Forgiven: In SPRING 2022, a few of the MANKAI COMPANY members knew that Chikage had a hand in the director's disappearance and that it wasn't the Unopening Door Mystery, but chose to accept Chikage since the director covered for him.
• Easy Amnesia: August researched a method to erase memories of the past, and produced the drug that would later erase Hisoka's memory temporarily.
• The Engineer: In WINTER 2020/2021, Tasuku being able to fix the dorm's television is what prompts Hisoka to ask him to repair Homare's pocket watch.
• Evolving Credits: There are different versions of the closing song depending on the performance; for example, in for the last run of AUTUMN & WINTER 2019, "The Show Must Go On!" included a stanza for GOD Troupe.
• Family of Choice: The MANKAI COMPANY becomes this as time goes on, and this is outright acknowledged by several characters, especially the Spring Troupe.
  • SPRING & SUMMER 2018 has Sakuya, being an orphan who moved from family to family, finally finding a place to stay and people who care for him as much as he cares for them. He discusses this with Chikage in SPRING 2022.
  • AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 and WINTER 2020/2021 has Azuma, who finds home in MANKAI after being alone all the years since his family's death.
  • SUMMER 2019 has Misumi, after leaving home, finds the three important things in his life: triangles, acting, and friends, all in the MANKAI COMPANY.
  • SPRING 2022 has Masumi choosing to stay with the MANKAI COMPANY despite his father's insistence that blood relation should be more important than his bonds with the company. His father does come to understand that Masumi wants to stay in the troupe and wholeheartedly supports his decision. Also for Chikage and Hisoka, who acknowledge that they now have a family besides each other.
  • Despite their ties to the Ginsenkai group, as well as their relationship with each other, Sakyo and Azami both end up deciding to stay with the MANKAI COMPANY.
• Feeling Their Age: Sakyo, being one of the eldest members in the cast, needs to overcome the mentality that his age is a barrier to achieving his long-time dream of becoming an actor. His dilemma in the latter half of AUTUMN 2020, which he talks over drinks with Azuma, is that he feels like his age is also a barrier between him and the members of the Autumn Troupe, who are all students.
  • In AUTUMN 2022, Omi and Sakyo have a duet in which they lament how they are unable to understand Azami, despite going through that same rebellious phase when they were younger.
• First Love: In AUTUMN 2020, Azuma suggests that Taichi imagine an acquaintance of his that acts like Zero so that he would be able to visualize the role better. Taichi then remembers his first love, a girl who was his neighbor but moved shortly after. She had a rough way of speech, but was good at needlework. Sounds familiar?
  Azuma: It can't be... right?
  • In AUTUMN 2023, Taichi (or rather, Azami) finally asks his mother about the girl's name. Cue Jaw Drop.
  Azami: That's a rare surname, so it most likely really is...
• Generation Xerox:
  • SUMMER 2019 reveals that Misumi's grandfather was a former member of the MANKAI COMPANY, its original scriptwriter. [[spoiler:Madoka inherits his talent, and is the scriptwriter for the GOD Troupe.
  • WINTER 2020/2021 has Homare, who views himself as a broken cyborg that can't understand others' emotions. His grandfather called his grandmother "you, with a mechanical heart" because she too was incapable of understanding others' emotions well, just like Homare.
• Heel Realization: In the climax of SPRING 2022, Chikage argues with Hisoka, who wants to drink from Chikage's vial to prove that it isn't poison. In the process, the vial breaks, and Chikage realizes that the contents were just an amnesiac drug. He quickly realizes that Hisoka was never at fault, and that his own actions were what destroyed his relationship with Hisoka, the only family he had left.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The director does not appear on stage. Just like in the game, the audience is the director, and the other characters just refer to the audience as "director" (or with last name basis Tachibana, though rare).
• Heroic Self-Deprecation:
  • Juza and especially Muku have this as a habit, which the other guys at MANKAI COMPANY always respond to by noting that no one thinks of them as the bad and weird things they call themselves as. With the addition of Kumon, the self-deprecation family is complete.
    • In SUMMER 2023, Kumon and Muku have their own song dedicated to their self-esteem issues, which the Summer Troupe tries to help fix.
    • Taken a serious turn in AUTUMN 2023, since this significantly affects the scriptwriting of the play as Tsuzuru has to come up with something that Juza will approve of. His own view of himself also leads Juza to constantly compare himself to Banri and believe that he is inferior and will never surpass the troupe leader.
  • There's Tsumugi, who quit acting after getting rejected by the GOD Troupe, and upon restarting in MANKAI COMPANY, lacks confidence in his acting and in himself despite multiple characters with theater experience (including Yuzo) commenting on his skill as an actor.
  • Homare loves bragging about how awesome and magnificent he is, but once in a while he will still refer to his "broken" nature.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Sure, Tenma's a Fiery Redhead who clashes with his members often. However, he also has his mature moments and is a good listener. He is even the one who physically restrains Banri during his fight with Juza in AUTUMN 2020.
  • Shrinking Violet Muku used to be the star of the school's track team, until a Career Breaking Injury led him to quitting before the start of the story.
  • Kazunari is very energetic, friendly, and talks a lot, but only has superficial relationships with people because of his outgoing personality. Despite this, though, he's a genuinely genial person who rarely takes things personally and always seeks to help out his friends.
  • Despite Misumi's Cloudcuckoolander tendencies, he's an amazing actor. His grandfather raised him and taught him how to act after seeing a young Misumi be enamored by theater.
  • Sakyo is a very family-oriented man who loves his mother and wants to let her, his stepfather, and younger stepsister live comfortable lives. It's for this reason that he chooses not to visit home, since he doesn't want them to be associated with the Yakuza.
  • Tsumugi is a calm Nice Guy who looks after the other members regardless of age, with looks and acting skills in his belt, not to mention is smart enough to be a Private Tutor... but he is Hopeless with Tech. For example, in Troupe LIVE～SPRING 2021～, he doesn't know how to record from the front or back cam, and can't zoom the camera in or out. Him writing a short blog post about the Winter Troupe's play took 17 minutes, while other members just did it in 2-3 minutes.
  • Hisoka is cynical and wary of people since he was a kid, which may have something to do with growing up on the cold streets as a beggar. In WINTER 2020/2021, he picked up Homare's broken pocket watch but because he was afraid of being accused of stealing and even breaking it.
  • Despite his noisy and Large Ham nature, Homare often keeps his struggles to himself and tends to go off alone to resolve them, especially if they are dire.
  • The Gadfly Azuma actually Hates Being Alone and is The Stoic, struggling to express intense emotion.
  • Even Sakoda, who is usually there to be Sakyo's boisterous underling. Upon noticing a depressed Taichi, who didn't receive any fan letters from women, he took it upon himself to write a fan letter that looked like it was written by a cute, young girl. Even Sakyo didn't know that it was done by Sakoda. He's also the one who strongly convinced Azami's father to let him continue with makeup and theater.
• Identical Grandson: In SUMMER 2019, Honda Reo plays both Misumi and his grandfather Hakkaku, though it's mostly framed as Misumi acting out flashbacks from his past.
• Image Song:
  • Each troupe gets one in their ACT 1 plays:
    • Spring Troupe has "Ichigo Ichie" (Japanese: 一五一会, carrying the context of treasuring the unrepeatable nature of a moment)
    • Summer Troupe has "Tension Attention".
    • Autumn Troupe has "Spiral Emotion".
    • Winter Troupe has "Angel Snow".
  • The image songs for the games also carry over to the stage play:
    • Spring Troupe has "Spring has come!".
    • Summer Troupe has "Oresama☆Natsu Summer".
    • Autumn Troupe has "oneXone".
    • Winter Troupe has "to bloom…".
• Innocently Insensitive: Played for Drama in AUTUMN & WINTER 2018. Homare is able to read and guess on people's intentions, but he is incapable of empathizing them too well that it almost broke the Winter Troupe up. The same issue continues on as the main focus of the latter half of WINTER 2020/2021.
• Interclass Friendship: Tsuzuru and Mizuno, where the latter's parents forced them to break off the friendship upon finding out Tsuzuru's family wasn't well off.
• Insomnia Episode: SPRING 2022 is this for Hisoka, the resident Sleepy Head. It's because he knows that if he sleeps, he'll remember the painful memories of his past, and he's not ready to face it.
• In Medias Res:
  • WINTER 2020/2021 starts with Tsumugi saying he wants to leave, setting it up like this. However, it's only part of a street act with Tasuku.
  • AUTUMN 2023 starts with an Autumn Troupe meeting, where Taichi is worried about being the lead role. The actors physically wind themselves back to a flashback to show how the lead role was decided.
• It Was a Gift: Homare's pocket watch is a gift from his grandmother, and he treasures it especially after learning why his grandmother gave it to him. He still keeps it even after it stops working.
• Japanese Delinquent: Of all people, Muku dresses up as one in Troupe LIVE～SUMMER 2021～.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Many times. They outright break it when teaching the audience choreography, though.
  • Especially during SPRING 2023, where there were many references to the struggle behind the production of 2.5D adaptations.
• Le Parkour: Misumi, best showcased in his introduction song "Triangles Will Save The World" in SPRING & SUMMER 2018. This continues on to all performances that include Misumi.
  • Zombie Banri in "Zombie-Run Night", where he and Misumi even have a face-off.
• Love Hurts: Homare's former lover called him a "cyborg" after a misunderstanding, and it left him with a low opinion of love. He cared for her and understood he hurt her, but could not change the way he was. Prior to joining the Winter Troupe, Homare believed himself to be incapable of loving and being loved because of his lack of compassionate empathy.
• Luxurious Liquor: The Winter Troupe bond by drinking, though this is never shown on stage. AUTUMN 2020 has Azuma and Sakyo drink together.
• Momma's Boy: Sakyo, who was raised in a single mother household. In AUTUMN 2020, he wants to buy her and their new family a house.
• Mr. Exposition: Matsukawa and Sakyo in SPRING & SUMMER 2018. Sakyo being one is Lampshaded by Sakuya saying he knows a lot about the theater, and this is the fact that he used to hang around the MANKAI COMPANY as a kid.
  • In later performances, many characters take turns depending on the situation, but it is still mostly Matsukawa.
• Mysterious Past:
  • Citron's past, which is something he chooses to reveal in time. Time being WINTER 2023 and SPRING 2023.
  • Hisoka, who was taken in by the director after learning he was an amnesiac. He gets very vague snippets of his past that make no sense to him, except that he has a "special person" and that "there used to be the three of us". SPRING 2022 reveals that his code name is December, and the two people important to him were August, who died in a mission protecting him, and April, who later joined the MANKAI COMPANY as Utsuki Chikage.
• Noodle Incident: Masumi mentioning his grandmother becomes this, as it wasn't mentioned in previous plays, yet Masumi talking about her is alluded to in SPRING 2022.
• Non-Indicative Title: The plays prior to the Troupe LIVE shows are referred to as "ACT 1". In reality, only SPRING & SUMMER 2018 and AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 adapt the game's Part 1 story; the individual troupe productions are based off event stories that were released in between Part 1 and Part 2.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Averted; in SPRING 2022, Chikage asks if Sakuya is a high-schooler, to which the latter responds with "I just graduated from high school!"
• Obviously Not Fine: Homare does this a lot in WINTER 2020/2021. He was clearly pained when Azuma first found his pocket watch amid the cardboard boxes, but smiled through it to explain the story behind it. Then he quietly, sadly looked at the watch until Tsumugi called him, at which he immediately responded with a happy face and cheerfully ushered everyone to carry the boxes away. When his pocket watch went missing and decided to give up on looking for it, he declared stopping the search and then cheerfully acted as if everything was fine. Although others questioned him, he insisted that he was fine before leaving. No one seemed convinced.
• Once More, with Clarity: The scene where Hisoka trips in WINTER 2020/2021 is later repeated to reveal that he faked it to hide Homare's pocket watch, which fell off after Homare's encounter with Kazunari and Citron.
• Parental Abandonment:
  • Sakuya, who is an orphan. Presumably Hisoka and Chikage as well.
  • Azuma's parents (and brother) died in car accident.
  • Sakyo was raised single-handedly by his mother.
• Parental Neglect:
  • Sakuya, who after the death of his parents, was passed from family to family that didn't care about him and Masumi, whose parents are overseas and later divorced.
  • Misumi, who was living in the MANKAI dorm prior to the start of the story. Being The Unfavorite at home, it's unclear whether he ran away out of his own volition or was disowned, but his family doesn't seem to know his current whereabouts since Madoka expresses relief at finding out he's alive in SUMMER 2019.
• Parents as People:
  • In SPRING 2022, Masumi's parents divorced, with his father having custody and not wanting Masumi to be alone, he had asked for Masumi to come to America with him. While well-meaning, his Parental Neglect on Masumi means that he didn't know about Masumi joining MANKAI COMPANY, so his son isn't as lonely as he used to feel and actually has another place to call home.
  • Azami's father does not think Azami is seriously pursuing makeup as a career choice and destroys his makeup kits. Unbeknownst to him, Azami's dream started when his sickly mother would enjoy putting makeup on herself whenever Azami's father was to visit her.
• Past Experience Nightmare: Azuma often has nightmares about his Dark and Troubled Past. Azuma was the only that did not attend a trip which resulted in an accident that killed his parents and brother. He has a recurring nightmare in which his family always leaves him alone at the end.
  • Also happens to Taichi in AUTUMN 2023, wherein he dreams of his experiences in the GOD Troupe.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Azuma's nightmares always have him say this to his family. Unfortunately, his family always leaves him at the end.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • The Winter Troupe's general conflict that spans the whole series is their unwillingness to open up to each other, being "mature adults" who know their personal boundaries. As of SPRING 2022, however, Hisoka says that while he's okay with the distance that they have as fellow members, he wants them to learn all about his past once the right time comes.
  • The latter half of AUTUMN 2020 has the other 4 members of the Autumn Troupe pitted against Sakyo - because Sakyo (and Sakoda) is hiding his personal matters and the 4 are afraid to ask him about it, even though they attempted to many times.
  • Sakyo and Azami's conflict in AUTUMN 2022. They promised to fulfill their secret dreams in the past (being a makeup artist and theater actor, respectively). Azami felt betrayed when Sakyo pursued acting without even telling him and thought Sakyo cared very little about him.
  • In AUTUMN 2023, had Taichi opened up about his guilt and self-esteem issues stemming from his time in the GOD Troupe, the Autumn Troupe would've made sure that he would never feel that way again.
• Pretend We're Dead: Done by Omi and Taichi during Zombie Run Night in AUTUMN 2022 to avoid being caught by zombies. It works for a short while.
• Recurring Riff: "Boyhood Collage" in AUTUMN 2022.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted. Sakuya and Homare have red eyes, but both are nice and very affectionate (save for Homare's insensitive remarks at times).
  • Characters with red/pink eyes in DEAD/UNDEAD are zombies.
• Running Gag:
  • The scenes where Tsuzuru passes out after completing his scripts evolve with each stage production, that by the time of SPRING 2022, it has its own song and dance number.
  • The MANKAI COMPANY members tease Haruto by calling him Yamada Genta after the reveal of his real name. Even Azuma joins in on the teasing.
  Haruto (to Tenma): Haven't you been in the industry for long?! Isn't good memory needed to become an actor?!
  Haruto (to Azuma): You!!! You seem to be the time that wouldn't get it wrong!!!
  • Grandma Martha from the WINTER 2021 etude suddenly gets called back during the Winter Troupe's skit in SPRING 2022.
  • When Taichi "cleans up" (read: shoving the box inside the storage room) the animal costumes used by the Autumn Troupe for a school performance, he mentions he's cleaning by "pretending not to see". This references SUMMER 2022 where he, Yuzo, and Citron also clean up the storage room in the same manner.
• Sad Clown: Homare is loud and positive as the Winter Troupe's moodmaker. But he is also struggling to get over his Lack of Empathy and Innocently Insensitive nature.
• Security Blanket: Homare's pocket watch named Christine. Losing it is a large hit to his mood and the Winter Troupe's rehearsals for Butler and the Silver Spoon.
• Set Behind the Scenes: The opening of SUMMER 2022 shows what happens behind the scenes of a Water Me! performance, as Kumon starts experiencing theatre as backstage hand to the Summer Troupe.
• Small Role, Big Impact:
  • From SPRING 2019, Mizuno Kaya, Tsuzuru's estranged childhood friend, is the one who brings Tsuzuru out of his writer's block in the latter half of SPRING 2019.
  • From AUTUMN 2020, meeting Shinjo Ryo again helps Omi move a step forward in accepting his past, which in turn helps him bring his role in STRANGER ON THE WAY TO PARADISE to life.
  • From SPRING 2022, Masumi's father, Usui Misaki. Trying to take Masumi with him to America furthers the notion that the MANKAI COMPANY is a big, important family, which leads to Chikage trying to destroy the company after knowing how much this meant to Hisoka.
  • AUTUMN 2022 has Azami's father, who was the reason Azami ran away from home. Azami later notes that if he hadn't ran away, he wouldn't have met and joined the MANKAI Company, and later resolve his conflicts with his father and Sakyo.
• Stern Teacher: Tenma and Sakyo to their troupe members. The others are caught off-guard whenever they say something nice for a change.
  Sakyo: What? You think I can't throw in good words from time to time?
• Street Urchin: SPRING 2022 reveals that Hisoka lived in the streets as a kid before August invited him to the Organization.
• Throw It In!: In-Universe, the Summer Troupe tends to do this in their plays a lot, since their main genre is comedy. For MANKAI STAGE, though, this happens a lot, especially for comedy relief.
  • Autumn Troupe's Fiery Mantou Fist!, which is a comedy, and has more adlibs than any of the troupe's other performances combined.
• Time Skip: As with the original game, there's an established yet unspecified time skip between the troupes' second and third plays, as well as the fifth and sixth plays.
• Tragic Keepsake: Tasuku finds a hair comb when he and Azuma went to visit to Azuma's old home, before it was about to get demolished. This was intended to be a birthday gift to Azuma by his brother. His brother and his parents died in an accident one week before his birthday.
• The Trickster: Chikage, who is a Consummate Liar. As the Spring Troupe puts it, they never know if he's being serious or not.
• Vitriolic Best Buds:
  • Tasuku and Homare. Although they bicker a lot, Tasuku still fixes Homare's beloved pocket watch, even if Tasuku initially claimed he couldn't do it.
  • Also Hisoka and Homare. Hisoka is often frustrated at how loud Homare is, and here are times when he wakes up just to insult Homare which leads Homare to be exasperated. But it was Hisoka who asked Tasuku to fix the aforementioned pocket watch, because even though Homare claimed it wasn't important to him, Hisoka felt that it was something he treasured.
• Vocal Range Exceeded: Averted; to avoid this from happening and to protect Akazawa Ryotaro's (Taichi) and Inagaki Seiya's (Omi) throats, the AUTUMN 2020 version of "Just For Myself" is an octave lower than the original song. The album version and the Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～ version have them sing it in the original key.
• Walking Spoiler: Taichi in AUTUMN & WINTER 2018, Chikage in SPRING 2022.
• Weapon Specialization: The opening of AUTUMN 2023 showcases each troupe member's signature weapon used by their lead roles: Banri with a gun, Omi and Sakyo with their own [[swords Master Swordsman]], and Azami with his knife and tuning fork. Juza and Taichi, who haven't had their lead roles yet, are left using their fists and legs, which serves as foreshadowing as their body eventually becomes their weapons (boxing and kung fu, respectively).

Tropes in MANKAI MOVIE A3!

• Adaptation Deviation:
  • The MANKAI Company's dorm for MANKAI MOVIE has everyone's rooms inside of the house, as opposed to the game where the rooms are arranged in corridors around the backyard garden.
  • In Omi's portrait in MANKAI MOVIE「A3!」～AUTUMN & WINTER～, Omi mentions it was Nachi who told the former about his dream, as opposed to the game and stage play where Nachi kept it a secret and his parents were the ones who told Omi.
• Adaptation Distillation: The two MANKAI MOVIEs condense the prologue and the first four acts of the original game, so most troupe members' development got cut. In particular, Winter Troupe's story goes straight to GOD Troupe declaring the one-man act.
• Adaptation Expansion: While MANKAI MOVIE is generally an Adaptation Distillation, it also includes new scenes for the Summer Troupe training camp at the beach, complete with troupe shirts designed by Kazunari.
• Embarrassing Hobby: In MANKAI MOVIE ～Another Stories～, it's revealed that Sakyo's way of destressing is to pop bubble wrap.
• Furo Scene: For the Autumn Troupe in MANKAI MOVIE「A3!」～AUTUMN & WINTER～ (2022), as a team bonding activity after Banri temporarily left the troupe.
• In Medias Res: The Summer Troupe arc of MANKAI MOVIE「A3!」～SPRING & SUMMER～ starts out on the way to the Summer Troupe's training camp, and shows how they got there afterward.

Tropes in the plays staged by the MANKAI Company

• Adaptation Title Change: MANKAI STAGE came out first in 2018 before the game's official release in English in 2019, and there are some differences between the English titles of the plays within a play even after the game's release.
  • Le Roman Picaresque (MANKAI STAGE) vs. The Roman Episode (English game)
  • Alice as a Boy (MANKAI STAGE) vs. Alex in Wonderland (English game)
  • The Clockwork Heartbeat (MANKAI STAGE) vs A Clockwork Heart (English game)
  • Adventure for the Niboshi (MANKAI STAGE) vs The Great Sardine Search (English game)
  • STRANGER ON THE WAY TO PARADISE (MANKAI STAGE) vs The Stranger (English game)
  • Like a lead Bullet (MANKAI STAGE) vs Ginji the Wanderer (English game)
  • Butler and the Silver Spoon (MANKAI STAGE) vs My Master's Mesmerized by Mystery (English game)
• Adaptational Badass: Almost everywhere, as this is the live version of a game with a story in visual novel format.
  • Exaggerated in Autumn Troupe plays within a play. Since their genre is action, fight scenes take up a large chunk of the runtime. But even more so in Like a lead Bullet, where Ginji fights alone and sheds blood. Apparently, that was an idea from the actor himself.
  • Besides the titular characters' swordfight in Romeo and Julius, the play also features fight scenes between Mercutio and Tybalt.
  • Many of the actors are skilled in aerial movements. The fighting scene in The Clockwork Heartbeat features S doing flying kicks. Captain Sky Pirates features Henry dodging Paul's attacks by jumping.
  • In the game version of Butler and the Silver Spoon, Sagishima merely helps Shiki solve a murder mystery. In the stage play, Sagishima wrestles a knife out of Keiichi's hand and incapacitates him.
  • In the game version of Nocturnality, Ryohei simply flees after dodging Franz's knife. In the stage play, Ryohei wields a rapier and fights Franz, who dual wields daggers. Ryohei puts up a serious fight before fleeing.
  • While Yokota hitting Mogi in the head with a glass ashtray was present in the AUTUMN 2020 version of Like a lead Bullet, when the same scene is depicted in Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～, the screen shows a large blot of blood.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • In the Four Seasons LIVE 2020 version of Le Roman Picaresque, Capone kicks Dewey in the face, compared to the original AUTUMN & WINTER 2019 version where Capone just hits Dewey with his cane. And then in Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～, Capone uses Dewey's head as a golf ball.
  • In the Troupe LIVE～AUTUMN 2021～ version of STRANGER ON THE WAY TO PARADISE, when John is defeated by Wolf, he is sent flying towards Dom. The mad scientist doesn't even spare him a glance as he is physically swatted away. Which goes to show how Dom only cares about furthering his goals, seeing as he treated John gently when he was looking for Zero.
• Combat Parkour: Any play within a play that has Misumi in it. Banri also showcases his skills in DEAD/UNDEAD and Fallen Blood. Juza in the latter play as well, being Banri's opponent.
• Gender Flip: As with the plays in the game, the plays within a play of Spring Troupe also swap the gender of the main characters of a few of their in-universe adaptations:
  • Romeo and Julius has Juliet become Julius, telling a story of the title characters' journey to becoming Heterosexual Life-Partners instead of the tragedy of the original work.
  • Alice as a Boy has Alice become Alex, which is essentially Alice in Wonderland except that Alice is a brooding boy.
  • The Wonderful Charlatan of Oz features the four witches from The Wizard of Oz becoming wizards.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: There's the titular characters in Romeo and Julius, Luciano and Lansky in Le Roman Picaresque, and Abel and Ivan in DEAD/UNDEAD.
• The Jeeves: Sagishima in Butler and the Silver Spoon.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: The main theme of Fallen Blood. The contrast is also shown visually as the upper part of the stage where Huey is is always bright, while the lower part of the stage where Blood is is usually dark and only illuminated by neon and glow-in-the-dark lights.
• The Mafia: Le Roman Picaresque features the Capone family, wherein members Luciano and Lansky find it hard to get along while they're individually strong.
• Machine Monotone: Citron for his role as S in The Clockwork Heartbeat.
• Mean Character, Nice Actor:
  • Omi is cast as the villain in Le Roman Picaresque, Like a lead Bullet, and DEAD/UNDEAD, and as an Anti-Hero in STRANGER ON THE WAY TO PARADISE. Because of this, the fifth and sixth plays have him play a character from the good side.
  Taichi: Omi-kun's face is reaaally evil!!
  Omi: Sorry, bear with it for the play, okay?
  • Homare as Dewey, the villain in Le Roman Picaresque, is far more malicious than Omi's, being more physical when threatening Lansky. He also enjoys waving his gun around and points it at his own head at one point, all while smiling gleefully.
  • Tsumugi's roles in WINTER 2020/2021. Keiichi from Butler and the Silver Spoon is a self-serving playboy, who even the actors themselves want to hit, and Ryohei from Nocturnality is the villain and even threatens to kill Kota if he insists on defending Reo.
• Meaningful Name: The boxers' names in AUTUMN 2023 are based on the actors' real names, such as MOUNTAIN GOD (played by Yamamoto Kodai, where yama means mountain), AAA-SKY (pronounced aaa-su-ka-i, played by ASUKA), and TAKE.S.BRAVE (played by TakeSato Yuki, wherein yuuki is a homophone for the Japanese word for brave).
• The Power of Friendship: Most of the Spring Troupe plays center around male friendships. Discussed in The Clockwork Heartbeat, as Tsuzuru worries if audiences will tire of his plays reusing the same theme.
• Rated M for Manly: The Autumn Troupe plays center around hardened mercenary men in larger-than-life peril:
  • Le Roman Picaresque features a Mafia family.
  • STRANGER ON THE WAY TO PARADISE features a mercenary in an apocalyptic setting.
  • Like a lead Bullet is about the Yakuza.
  • DEAD/UNDEAD is about fighting off zombies.
  • Fallen Blood features boxing.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending:
  • The Clockwork Heartbeat ends with S having to be deactivated, but Luke is hopeful that someday he can reactivate S again.
  • Nocturnality implies that although Reo left, Kota hadn't given up on Reo yet.
• Recurring Riff: Used in the more musical-oriented plays, such as Water Me!, Sympathy for the Angel, Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, and others.
• Shout-Out:
  • Three Spring Troupe plays are adaptations of popular stories: Heterosexual Life-Partners Romeo and Juliet, Gender Flip Alice in Wonderland, and a Prequel to The Wizard of Oz.
  • Water Me! is an in-universe Affectionate Parody of the Arabian Nights.
• Sports Stories: Love Out of Left Field features a high school baseball team composed of a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits aiming for Koshien.
• Toilet Humour: Present in Love Out of Left Field, where lead Akiyama tends to have an upset stomach every time he's in an important position.