Trivia / Touken Ranbu Stage

• Ability over Appearance: While the casting and make-up team does a mostly good job of matching the characters to their actors, there is still the occasional questionable casting choice that is made up for in terms of acting:
  • For a while and for unknown reasons, Kento replaced Toshiyuki Someya as Tsurumaru Kuninaga's actor. Someya looked much closer to the character appearance wise, but both did an excellent job portraying him, with Kento's portrayal becoming particularly popular among fans.
  • The casting team has also occasionally encountered the issue of failing to account for the character heights when selecting actors. Sometimes they get close enough, as in short-er than the other actors, which is sometimes good enough. However, there are notable exceptions, such as the choice to cast the still growing Ginga Shintara as Gokotai. The actor was nearly as tall as Hasebe’s actor, who stands 5'11", while Gokotai himself is around 4'5". There have also been affectionate running jokes about Hiroki Suzuki being cast to play Mikazuki Munechika because he is shorter than a number of the other actors in the cast, despite being cast to play a character who is about 6'' tall. Fans made even more jokes about it when the first anime adaptation's promotional poster came out depicting the characters in their canonical heights.
• Ascended Fanon: Palette swapped versions of Mikazuki Munechika and Tsurumaru Kuninaga (White and Black respectively), being the dark, corrupted equivalents of Mikazuki and Tsurumaru were popular fanon long before they were introduced in the stage play, an aspect of canon.
• Cashcow Franchise: Similar to Musical Touken Ranbu, the stage plays have grown to be huge hits with not only Touken Ranbu fans, but 2.5D fans in general, providing Nitro+ with yet another steady source of revenue. In fact, the series became so popular that it was announced that the first stage play would be adapted into anime in 2024.
• Corpsing: When Tsurumaru goes to feed Hasebe, one notices a slight smile on his face and muffled laughter as his mouth is being stuffed.
• Cross-Cast Role: All of the Touken Danshi are portrayed by female actors in the stage play Guden: Mujun Genji Monogatari:
  • Kasen Kanesada is played by Hiroki Nanami.
  • Sanchoumou is played by actor Mao Yuuki.
  • Ichimonji Norimune is played by Aya Ouka.
  • Himetsuru Ichimonji is played by Sayato Sumiki.
  • Ōkurikara is played by Shou Ayanagi.
  • Nansen Ichimonji is played by Shuu Shiotsuki.
  • Jizō Yukihira was the first Touken Danshi to be played by a female actor outside of the above-listed all female actor ensemble, with his actor being Yuzuki Hoshimoto.
• Dueling Works: With Musical Touken Ranbu. Both are stage adaptations of Touken Ranbu that have grown in popularity, albeit for different reasons due to their distinct tones and approaches, resulting in competition for revenue and internal fan comparisons. This was most likely not Nitroplus' intention, though, as they were planned as part of a project to provide fans with multiple ways to immerse themselves in the universe of Touken Ranbu, and both usually try to avoid stepping on each other's toes when it comes to scheduling performances. The stage production's website also has a link to the official musical website.
• Filmed Stage Production: While all stage Touken Ranbu series have their own separate stage recording, Tou Stage had its first play, Kyouden: Honnouji Ablaze, recorded again for theatrical release in November 2021.
• Milestone Celebration: As the title suggests, 7th Anniversary Thanksgiving -Yumegatari Katana no Utage- celebrates the 7th anniversary of the stage play.
• No Export for You: It is nearly impossible for a fan from abroad to access these without a good VPN, which enables you to get around region-blocks on the streaming service. Even then, you can only rent these performances, meaning it'll cost an arm and a leg to get caught up on all of them.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Tsurumaru’s actor Toshiyuki Someya was replaced with Kento for a number of stage plays for unknown reasons. However, Someya eventually returned and has kept the role ever since.
  • Honebami has had two actors over the course of his stage presence. In 2021, the stage production began casting both actors in the role; Mitsuya Ryou played Honebami in Muden, and Kitagawa Naoya played Honebami in Tenden. As well, both actors showed up as Honebami for the 7th Anniversary Thanksgiving event.
  • Ichigo Hitofuri's first actor left the stage business to become a voice actor, so the next time he appeared, he was recast.
  • The Awataguchi have a terrible time with this, as Honebami and Ichigo's brother Namazuo has also been recast come his second appearance. Both actors of Namazuo returned for the 7th anniversary festival.
  • In the stage play Guden: Mujun Genji Monogatari, where all the Touken Danshi are played by female actors, Kasen's actor Takuma Wada is replaced by Hiroki Nanami, and Ookurikara's actor Hiroki Ino by Shou Ayanagi.
• Word of God: According to the official production, the In-Universe justification for recasts is that the "new" sword with a new actor is actually a different sword from the original (or "dupes" as Touken Ranbu fans would call them), which means that in the Stage universe, there are actually two Tsurumaru Kuninagas, one played by Toshiyuki Someya and the other by Kento, two Honebamis, one played by Mitsuya Ryou and the other by Kitagawa Naoya, and so on. Almost all of these dupes meet each other in the 7th anniversary festival.

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