Takarazuka Revue, a Japanese all-female musical theatre group is getting ready to stage a production of
Ace Attorney, one the most popular series of Nintendo games.
Ace Attorney requires its players to take on the role of a defence attorney who must fight for the lives of his clients. Since it was first released in 2001, the courtroom battle game has sold more than 4.3 million units worldwide.
Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney 3 will be the Takarazuka Revue’s third stage play based on Capcom’s best-selling game series, following very successful seasons of
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 2, which recorded a total audience of 50,000 in 2009. If the productions managed to get gamers off the couch and into theatres, they have also helped raise awareness of games for regular theatre-goers who would normally not play games.
The new production is said to give the series an entirely new type of appeal by featuring a cool and clever prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth, to be played by star Hiro Yumi, who received accolades for her role as the villain in the first two plays. Kei Suzuki will once again reprise her roles of writer and director.
It’s hardly the first time the game crosses over platforms with Capcom capitalising on the series through mobile phone games, comic books, character goods, a concert by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and a live-action movie. The movie version,
Ace Attorney directed by Japanese master Takashi Miike is screening as part of the
Melbourne International Film Festival.
Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney 3 will run at Osaka’s Umeda Arts Theatre from January 9 to January 17. The production then travels to Tokyo’s Nippon Seinen-kan Hall from January 23 to January 29.