Mikazuki Munechika on the official website front page
AD 2205.Historical revisionists, seeking to change the course of history, have begun their offensive in the past.The government at the time has dispatched a saniwa into the past to protect history.The saniwa, being able to sense spiritual energy, was able to bring out the tsukumogami spirits residing within swords.Together with the "Touken Danshi," the saniwa has dedicated themselves to fighting to protect the course of history.
One of three distinct stage continuities, Touken Ranbu Stageplay (or Tousute as it's abbreviated) is a series of Stage Plays adapted from the widely popular Touken Ranbu franchise. Each stage play focuses on a new story, with few recurring characters, namely Mikazuki Munechikanote and Yamanbagiri Kunihiro being a constant staple in them. It all comes together in the fifth stage play, Hiden: Yui no Me no Hototogisu, although the story continues from there.
A four episode docu-series set around the production of the stage play was released and received a Blu-ray release on December 9th, 2018.
The stage plays also received a series of published play books with postscripts from the director.
Some of the actors from the stage plays would reprise their roles in the live action films, although these films are not connected to the plays, being set in a different continuity.
2020 finally saw to a crossover between the stage play and musical continuities as a part of a project to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the browser game Touken Ranbu. Titled Touken Ranbu: Daienren, the two citadels were expected to collide in August 2020 at Tokyo Dome. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was cancelled and replaced with a cast talk event.
The stage play series would also see an animated adaptation, retelling the story of Kyoden in an alternate continuity with Kenichi Suemitsu returning as the scriptwriter. The series was announced to have eight episodes, with the first premiering on April 2nd, 2024.
For other stage works in the Touken Ranbu series, see Musical Touken Ranbu and Kabuki Touken Ranbu.
Performances
- Kyoden: Moeyura Honnouji (Apocrypha: Honnouji Temple Ablaze) (2016)
- (Rerun) Apocrypha: Honnouji Temple Ablaze (2016)
- Giden: Akatsuki no Dokugan Ryuu (Canon: Dawn of the One-eyed Dragon) (2017)
- Kaiden: Kono Yora no Odawara (Addendum: These Nights at Odawara) (2017)
- Jouden: Mitsura Hoshigatana Gatari (Genesis: Tale of the Three Star Swords) (2018)
- Reprieve: The Drinking Spears note
- Hiden: Yui no Me no Hototogisu (2018)
- Jiden: Hibi No Ya Yo Chiruran (2019)
- Iden: Oboro no Shishitachi (2019)
- Touken Ranbu: Daienren (2020) Cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
- Iden: Oboro no Shishitachi (2019)
- Kahakugeki Butai “Touken Ranbu / Tomoshibi” (2020)
- Tenden: Aozora no Tsuwamono -Osaka Fuyu no Jin- (2021)
- Muden: Yuukure no Samurai -Siege of Osaka Summer Campaign-
- Kiden: Ikusayu no Adabana (2022)
- Touken Ranbu - Muden Yukure No Samurai - Osaka Natsu No Jin (2021)
- Guden: Mujun Genji Monogatari (2023): Notably the first Touken Ranbu work to prominently feature female characters, and as well as have female actors play the roles of the Touken Danshi.
- Yamanbagiri Kunihiro Tandokuko -Nihontoshi- (2023)
- 7th Anniversary Thanksgiving -Yumegatari Katana no Utage- (2023)
- Shiten Tsuketari Kitan no Soumadou (2024)
Tropes spanning the entire stageplay series:
- Adaptation Expansion: Some of the stage plays adapt the story events from the browser game, adding in Touken Danshi who weren't originally featured in the event to expand on the story.
- Animated Adaptation: An Anime adaptation of the first stage play was announced in 2022.
- Big Damn Hug: Honebami tearfully gives Mikazuki a hug so strong it makes him stagger after discovering that he's been trapped in a time loop.
- Bittersweet Ending: The first play has the Touken Danshi return to the Citadel a little more mature, experienced, and happy for the most part. However, Fudou's still drinking; as the game shows, it means he's not yet over his guilt over Nobunaga, and won't be until he gets his Kiwame training.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- The 2020 show introduces the first relevant female character in Hosokawa Gracia, which was previously unheard of in the Touken Ranbu series due to the heavy focus on the Touken Danshi and their male historical owners.
- Jizou Yukihira is the first Touken Danshi to ever be played by a female actress.
- Guden is the first play to completely break from the trend of Chromosome Casting, as it casts female actresses in all of the roles, including the roles of the still male Touken Danshi.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Mikazuki does this quite often near the end of the plays. Usually they're small nods that indicate how well they accomplished their mission, but over the course of the series it becomes very clear that something is wrong with him to interact like that.
- Breather Episode: Jiden, following the absolutely heartbreaking Jyouden and Hiden, is mostly just two hours of sillier shenanigans localized to the Citadel and features the rather simple plot of distracting Yamanbagiri and Yamanbagiri Chougi from meeting. Many comment on the installment feeling like a Hanamaru episode.
- The Cameo: In 2022, Hiroki Suzuki returned as Mikazuki Munechika in the NHK broadcast program The Mark of Beauty, an educational series that examines beauty in all its forms. This episode focused on Japanese swords, with Mikazuki answering questions for the host due to being an incarnation of a famous sword. Notably, the 2020 program with the musical productions version of Mikazuki Munechika was reran to coincide with this feature.
- Canon Foreigner: Similarly to the Musical adaptations, the stage plays introduce characters not previously seen in the original game, based on the historical figures.
- Common Crossover: With Musical Touken Ranbu. Given that the two Touken Ranbu stage productions were released around the same time, it's no surprise that fans frequently cross over the two series, with the same characters played by different actors meeting in fan art and fanworks. The two citadels almost met officially in a massive crossover event titled Daienren in 2019, but that was quickly nipped in the bud due to the prominence of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently replaced with an out-of-character Cast Talk event.
- Continuity Nod: Due to all the stageplays being connected and a meta example where every stage play performance is referenced due to Mikazuki being trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop and experiencing the same thing over and over in canon, referencing the constant performances of the stageplays in the real world.
- Characterization Marches On: Due to all the stage plays being connected And the stage plays being meta in the repeated performances of the stage play weigh in on Mikazuki Munechika’s mental state as he tries to break out of his "Groundhog Day" Loop.
- Chromosome Casting: Surprising Played With in this series in different ways.
- The Touken Danshi are a One-Gender Race, so for a while, there we naturally were no female actors cast to in these roles up until Jizō Yukihira’s debut in Kiden, where he’s played by female actor Yuzuki Hoshimoto. Guden would take this further by doing away with all male actors and replacing them with a cast of former Takarazuka Revue performers for the play, with female actors even replacing male actors in the roles of the same Touken Danshi. However, subsequent plays would return to casting male actors even for characters who were debuted being played by female actors (save for Jizou, who has yet to return), with the In-Universe justification for the switch being that the Guden citadel is actually different from the main citadel that the series follows.
- For a while this applied to even the human cast due to the disproportionate amount male historical figures associated with the Touken Danshi, with even all supporting characters being played by male actors. However, unlike the musical continuity which casts males in even minor female roles, the stage play became pretty lax about casting women by Iden.
- Darker and Edgier:
- While Touken Ranbu as a franchise isn't exactly light-hearted as at the center of it all it is about a war; the stage play continuity was originally the only continuity in which swords die.note There is also heavier emphasis on the tragic aspect of the war and what the swords have go to through to protect history compared to the other adaptations.
- Dismantling extra swords is treated as no big deal in the browser game, and at worst is frowned upon by players because it is the least cost effective way to get rid of extra swords compared to Refinery. The Touken Danshi don't even have voicelines for it, despite the Saniwa killing them by stripping them down into materials. However, when Mikazuki is dismantled in the stage play, it is revealed that it is a slow and painful process that slowly kills the Touken Danshi, painting it in a darker light.
- Driving Question: For Kyoden: Who was Oda Nobunaga truly? Every major player affected by the man has their own take. To Fudou and Ranmaru, he was a beloved master and a treasured person; to Hasebe, a scoundrel who abandoned him; to Souza, the one and only Demon King; to Mitsuhide, someone he didn't want abandoning him, and his destiny.
- Every Episode Ending: Each show ends with the Touken Danshi cast singing and performing a parasol dance as they take their bows.
- Fanservice: Similarly to the Musicals, but mostly with character interactions and
Ascended Fanon.- There’s a bit of fanservice for fans of Mikazuki Munechika/Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, Mikazuki Munechika/Tsurumaru Kuninaga, and Tsurumaru Kuninaga/Ichigo Hitofuri in the stage plays.
- Fate Worse than Death: Even after being dismantled, Mikazuki is still trapped in an endless loop, reliving the events of the stage plays leading up to his dismantlement, and hasn't yet been rescued from this fate yet, if it's possible for him to be at all.
- Genre Deconstruction: The stage shows do make a point of having interactions between Touken Danshi of similar circumstances or the same master/smith be not entirely chummy between them. Sure the Awataguchi and Samonji brothers interact fine, but those owned by Nobunaga do not; in fact, some of them barely know each other, their differences in opinion over the man can cause them to argue and draw lines in the sand, and most of them are neutral at best.
- The Ghost:
- The Saniwa in the early stage plays. Although the Touken Danshi constantly refer to them, they're either just off screen (and in the audience's general direction) or resting.
- For all the importance Nobunaga had on the rest of the cast in Kyoden, he never actually shows up until the end, and even then his face is in shadow and he turns his back to the audience without a word. Truly he was of not actual importance to the story; the Nobunaga that drives the plot is the perception he gave to others.
- Good Is Not Soft: A running theme throughout the plays. Protecting history, beyond just ensuring arbitrary events occur on track, also means that the Touken Danshi need to be prepared to kill said figures mercilessly. It takes a strong heart to prepare themselves for their roles in assisting atrocities—a feat new swords don't always agree with.
- Hairstyle Malfunction: As expected, Kogarasumaru's Anime Hair is difficult to upkeep in real life setting, as it tends to be completely deflated by the end of every performance he appears in.
- How We Got Here: Kyoden opens up with Ranmaru rushing around Honnouji in a vain effort to protect his lord, and encountering Mitsuhide along the way, who asks him who Nobunaga really is both to him and to others. It's only later that we get the how to those turns of events.
- Last Stand: Ranmaru in Kyoden gives his all to protect Nobunaga to the last, despite being only one person.
- The Load: While Fudou may say he's a "useless blade", he really exemplifies it here beyond mere talk. His constant drinking and lack of training leave him at disadvantages where numbers are concerned, and he routinely has to be saved by other Touken Danshi. That isn't to say that he doesn't know how to fight; he clearly does, and is able to hold his own, but he's just not a team player.
- Mythology Gag:
- As a part of the event 7th Anniversary Thanksgiving -Yumegatari Katana no Utage-, the characters dressed up in the casual clothing from the browser game. These were also subject to a full-fledged photo shoot and turned into merchandise for the event.
- DMM released a series of merchandise photos featuring the actors dressed in costume and recreating the characters from the browser games' default poses, complete with their original card borders and rarity background colors.
- Non-Entity General: The Saniwa, for a while, up until Hiden where it was revealed that he is a man.
- Original Generation: Hiden's plot features a never-before seen Touken Danshi, dubbed "Nue-to-Yobareru".
- Overcrank: A couple of real time examples in the plays; Souza's nightmare of Honnouji and certain fight scenes are good examples of this.
- Popular History: Like the musical, the series focuses on popular historical figures but with its own take on how things occurred.
- Put on a Bus: At the end of Jiden, Yamanbagiri decides to go on his Kiwame training in order to better himself and become stronger for the citadel. He gets his own play dedicated to his journey titled Yamanbagiri Kunihiro Tandokukou -Japanese Sword History-.
- Quit Your Whining: Fudou, being new and very attached to Nobunaga, is rather distraught over the idea of having to put his real feelings aside for the sake of the mission. Hasebe tells him rather bluntly that it's part of the job, and to get used to it.
- Series Fauxnale: Hiden, at the time, was as close to edging towards a grand finale as one could get. Yamabushi, a Touken Danshi, died onscreen, Yamanbagiri was appointed the new leader after Mikazuki, and while there is a sequel hook in releasing Mikazuki from his constant loops, one would be under the impression that you could loop the five plays released up to then and it would feel like a complete story. However, the director as well as actors gave the fandom hope for the future of the stage plays, as well as the characters. While it was considered the final play for a little while, Jiden followed in 2019.
- Sudden Musical Ending: Inverted. It's not a musical like Touken Ranbu Musical, meaning that singing isn't a thing in any other part of the plays, but the opening of each stage play is sung by the cast.
- Trust-Building Blunder: In Kyoden, the Touken Danshi try to encourage teamwork skills by having a red-versus-white team battle; Oda swords and Tsurumaru going with Yamanbagiri, Awataguchis and Shokudaikiri going with Mikazuki. The Red Team is generally spot on and in sync, but the White Team's major malfunction lies in Fudou.
- Unseen No More: The Saniwa finally makes his first appearance in Hiden.
- Villainous Rescue: The Retrograde Forces come to Ranmaru's aid when the Touken Danshi attempt to assassinate him to preserve the timeline. Like many things that happen with the Retrogrades, this is presented as a bad thing.
- Wham Shot: In the final performance of Iden, one of the Retrograde Forces takes off his helmet and hat to reveal that a version of Yamanbagiri has joined their ranks, in an effort to break Mikazuki out of his loops.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: The Retrograde Forces sure know how to change tactics. When their initial goal is thwarted by the Touken Danshi, they quickly choose another target to alter. Kyoden, for example, has them trying to save Mori Ranmaru, then trying to prevent Nobunaga from committing seppuku, and finally trying to kill Mitsuhide before his intended death in battle less than two weeks after Honnouji.
