is a Japanese ''

yaoi ''Yaoi'' (; ja, やおい ), also known by the '' wasei-eigo'' construction and its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that features homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created ...

'' manga series written by

Eiki Eiki is a Japanese manga artist who has been creating manga since 1998. Most of her manga are written under the yaoi and yuri genre. Biography She is the grandchild of former Prime minister of Japan Noboru Takeshita and the older sister of rock si ...

and illustrated by

Taishi Zaō __NOTOC__ is a Japanese manga writer and illustrator from Fukui Prefecture who has been writing manga since 1998. This name is one of her two pen names that she writes under when drawing manga, the other being .Afterword section in the Digital M ...

. It began serialization in the July 2010 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's ''Asuka Ciel'' magazine. The manga is licensed in North America by SuBLime. A spin-off

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series titled ''Back Stage!!'' began publication in May 2011. A 10-episode

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series adaptation produced by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

aired between July and September 2014.

Characters

; : :Portrayed by: Mahiro Sugiyama (film) :Izumi is the main protagonist of the story. A college student at the age of eighteen, he aspires to be a manga author despite lacking the talent for it. His father is a director, his mother is a film actress, and his older brother Shōgo is the lead vocalist of a popular band. Ten years ago, he botched a bouquet catching scene in a commercial while dressed as a girl, and since then he refuses to be involved in the entertainment industry due to his "accident" caused by stage fright. Over the course of the series, he begins to develop strong feelings for Ryoma and falls in love with him. He is a huge fan of the fictional anime show ''Magical Girl Lala-Lulu''. Izumi is often mistaken as a girl due to his tiny frame. ; : :Portrayed by: Hiroki Nakada (film) :Ryoma is a popular young actor two years older than Izumi, who fell in love with him as a child, thinking him to be a girl, when they co-starred in a commercial together ten years prior. Even after he finds out Izumi is a guy when they reunite, he still maintains strong feelings for him. He fell in love with Izumi when he was ten and Izumi was eight during the commercial. ; : :Portrayed by: Shinichi Wago (film) :Rei is the Sena family's manager. He was taken in by Izumi's father, Seiya Sena, when he was 18 years old and has lived with the family since then. ; : :Shōgo is Izumi's doting older brother. Whenever Rei has problems regarding Izumi, Rei contacts his brother. He always dotes on his younger brother and gives Izumi ''Magical Girl Lala-Lulu'' merchandise whenever the situation calls for it. Shōgo has been in love with Rei since he was 16 and is the main reason why he joined the band Crusherz.

Media

Manga

''Love Stage!!'' is written by

and illustrated by

. It began serialization in the July 2010 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's ''Asuka Ciel'' magazine. Seven ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes was published from May 27, 2011 to November 1, 2016. The manga is licensed in North America by SuBLime. The manga is also published in Germany by

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed ...

Light novels

The first volume of a spin-off

series titled ''Back Stage!!'', written by

and Kazuki Amano, with illustrations by

, was published by Kadokawa Shoten under their Kadokawa Ruby Bunko imprint on May 31, 2011. As of June 1, 2013, three volumes have been released.

Anime

A 10-episode

adaptation was first announced by Kadokawa in November 2013 at

Animate Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

Girls Festival. Directed by

Ken'ichi Kasai is a Japanese storyboard artist and director. He is amongst J.C.Staff's most noted directors, having directed the highly rated ''Honey and Clover'' series. Beginning his career as a production manager, using his name in kanji, , he moved on to ...

and produced by

, it aired between July 9 and September 10, 2014 on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

. The screenplay is written by

Michiko Yokote is a Japanese screenwriter. Screenwriting • head writer denoted in bold Anime television series *'' Patlabor: The TV Series'' (1990) *''Ranma ½'' (1990–1992) *''Rurouni Kenshin'' (1996) *'' Magical Project S '' (1996–1997) *'' You’re ...

and the character design is by Yōko Itō. Crunchyroll licensed the series to be streamed in countries of North America, Europe, Latin America and Africa. It was released in five DVD and Blu-ray volumes by Kadokawa Shoten from September 26, 2014 to January 24, 2015. The opening theme is "LΦvest" by Screen Mode under the record label Lantis and the ending theme is "Click Your Heart!!" by

Kazutomi Yamamoto is a Japanese voice actor and singer affiliated with Production Ace. In 2013, he won the 7th Seiyu Awards as the Best Rookie actors along with Nobunaga Shimazaki. Voice acting roles Anime television series ;2009 *''Seitokai no Ichizon'' as Yo ...

Episode list

Film

The September 2019 issue of ''Ciel'' announced that a live-action film adaptation for ''Love Stage!!'' had been green-lit, with

, the manga's original author, in charge of the screenplay. To promote the announcement, a short story was printed in the issue along with a re-print of the manga's first chapter. On October 2, 2019, the film's cast and 2020 release date was announced.

References

External links

''Love Stage!!''
at Kadokawa Shoten
Anime official website
* * {{J.C.Staff OVAs 2010 manga Anime series based on manga Eiki Eiki J.C.Staff Josei manga Manga creation in anime and manga Television series about filmmaking Kadokawa Shoten manga Kadokawa Dwango franchises Japanese LGBT-related animated television series Mikiyo Tsuda Romantic comedy anime and manga Sentai Filmworks SuBLime manga Tokyopop titles Yaoi anime and manga 2010s LGBT-related comedy television series 2010s LGBT literature Japanese romantic comedy films 2020 films 2020 LGBT-related films Japanese LGBT-related films LGBT-related romantic comedy films