Thread by @sam_animeherald

Oh wow o_o This... this is freaking big.

The next Sakura Wars musical has officially been announced, and it is huge. The famed OSK Revue (That's short for "Osaka Shochiku Kagekidan" ^-^ ) will be performing a Sakura Wars stage musical in Kyoto! #SakuraWars

https://twitter.com/sakurarevue2019/status/1110784900150390785

The all-female musical theater troupe will be performing a two-part show. from July 13 - 25. The first part is the "Sea God's Villa" story from the fifth anniversary Sakura Wars live show, presented as an opera. The second part is an original story, titled "STORM OF APPLAUSE"

A visual for the project was announced, along with news that tickets will go on sale on May 14, at 10:00AM JST

Moreover, there are video messages from the revue's leads, available via the show's website. kyoto-sakurarevue.com/sp/special.html

The OSK Revue will go under the name "OSK Sakura Revue" for the show. The event will be directed by series creator Ohji Hiroi, an based on an original story by Hanako Izumi.

Music for Sea God's Villa will include pieces from the Sakura Wars franchise. #SakuraWars

This is huge - like... *HUGE* huge. Not only is the OSK Revue a massive and historic group (think Takarazuka Revue - OSK were founded in 1922), this is the first time that we've seen another stage cast take the Sakura Wars franchise, like, ever. All other shows featured the VAs.

...if I didn't both burn through my vacation days and have a book launch coming up fast, I'd be booking my first plane to Japan just for this. o_o; Like... this is historic, in a big way.

In short: 💖💖Sakura Wars is back! 💖💖 #SakuraWars

APPENDIX:

A quick bit of historical details:

Sakura Wars was defined by three parts:

1) Its video games
2) Its multimedia (anime/manga)
3) Its musicals.

This stems from the franchise's origins. (1/6)

Hiroi first dreamed of the idea in 1990, after finding inspiration during a live stage presentation of Shanghai Rhapsody. The idea was shelved for a while, as Hiroi worked on his massively popular "Far East of Eden" franchise. (2/6)

In an interview in the first volume of 1997 novel Sakura Wars Zennya (pictured), Hiroi recounts that he was moved by Kōhei Tanaka’s music when they were working on an anime based on Tengai Maikyo. He wanted to make a musical around Tanaka's compositions. (3/6)

This idea ultimately evolved into a concept for a video game, with a heavy inspiration by musical theater, which was code-named titled "SAKURA" - this became the groundwork for Sakura Wars, as we know it. (4/6)

Since then, the franchise has intimately kept the theater in its heart, with vibrant stage shows that have played across Japan, and even several runs at the famed Budokan. (5/6)

So when someone says "The Sakura Wars musicals are coming back", this is massive. It's the rebirth of one of the three biggest elements of the franchise's essence, and one that many hold dear in their hearts, (6/6)

Ending this with "oh lawd, she comin" #SakuraWars

Adding some insight from @tristencitrine -

https://twitter.com/tristencitrine/status/1110902312153698305