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This is just a random blog where I reblog BNHA and write fandom meta and statistics! You can find the links underneath:
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My Hero Academia stage play information + subtitles project
Welcome to the Ultra Stage (colloquially called the MHA musicals) info post! In this post I will give a brief description of the musicals, tell you where to find them or buy them, and talk about the actors and promotional material. You will also find links to pics, videos and, of course, the subtitles. And easy weebly version of this post can be found at this link.
SUBTITLES
We are making English subtitles for all four musicals! At the moment, subs for musical 2 are out.
MUSICAL 1: ENGLISH SUBTITLES DOWNLOAD - coming soon, 80% done
MUSICAL 2: ENGLISH SUBTITLES DOWNLOAD
MUSICAL 3: ENGLISH SUBTITLES DOWNLOAD
MUSICAL 3´4: ENGLISH SUBTITLES DOWNLOAD - coming soon, 40% done
Wanna help with making subtitles? Or donate on kofi to help us commission missing dialogue to translate
VIDEOS AND GIFS (in this blog)
I also have been posting some gifs and pics from the four BNHA musical (official musicals) which are out at the moment. You can find them at the tag bnha musical. I also post comparisons of scenes between the musical and the manga, and I post snipped of subtitled videos at this tag ultra stage video.
INFO: THE MUSICALS
There are, at the moment, four musicals, in chronological order, covering the bnha manga plot from chapter 1 till the end of Deku vs Kacchan 2. I will add their Japanese tiltes if you wanna look for them on Amazon Japan.
The first musical is called "My Hero Academia: The "Ultra" Stage" and came out in 2019. It adapts the beginning of the manga, up to the sport festival (chapter 1 to 44). This is the Japanese title: 「僕のヒーローアカデミア」The “Ultra” Stage (ジ・ウルトラ・ステージ). And the musical is about 2 hours. This is also the only musical that can be found on bilibili.
The second musical had some troubles due to covid, so, as far as I know there were two versions. The first one was interrupted by covid, but the second one run in 2021 and had some extra scenes too. The title is "My Hero Academia: The "Ultra" Stage A True Hero, Plus Ultra version" and it covers the Stain arc, the internship, the final exams and it ends with the mall scene where Deku meets Shigaraki (chapter 45 to 70). The "Plus Ultra version" is specifically added because it is the second version of the second musical. The Japanese title is 「僕のヒーローアカデミア」The “Ultra"Stage 本物の英雄ヒーローPLUS ULTRA ver.. And the musical is about 2 hours and 20 minutes.
The third musical came out in 2022 and it is called "My Hero Academia" The "Ultra" Stage Symbol of Peace" and it covers the forest training arc and Kamino (chapter 70 to 95). Title: 「僕のヒーローアカデミア」The “Ultra" Stage 平和の象徴(法人特典なし).
The fourth musical has been announced at Jump Festa 2022, the 17/12/22 and is called "My Hero Academia" The "Ultra" Stage The Greatest Hero mode (the link of the website and the cast is here). The musical run until 21st of May 2023 (from the 29th of April 2023). The dvd is out for preorder and you can find it on amazon with this title: 「僕のヒーローアカデミア」The “Ultra” Stage 最高のヒーロー. It will come out the 20th of September.
The musical covers from the teachers meeting the students' parents to the aftermath of Deku vs Kacchan 2 (up till chapter 121).
DVDS
The musicals all run live in different theaters, but luckily they were all filmed. The title I used are also the title used in the dvds. Each dvd copy comes with two discs, one with zoom in on faces and camera work, and the second one with a still camera, so you can see the whole stage. The dvds comes without subtitles, but the dialogues are very similar to the anime.
At the moment all the musicals (1, 2 and 3) can be purchased on Amazon Japan, or rented on Amazon Prime Japan (only 1 and 2).
Musical 4 can be pre-ordered.
Other options for purchases are: YesAsia and CdJapan.
For the exact titles to search (with covers, to make sure you get the right one), please check this page.
PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL
The Kacchako cooking video went quite popular, it was a promotional material for the second musical being filmed for dvd. You can find the transcript here and the subtitled video here (it is two parts, so you can find part 2 in that post). These videos were created for a special series of mini videos called Smash! Unfortunately no other Smash! was recorded or shared.
The actors also shared a lot of pictures from behind the scenes, so I will link their twitter accounts to their names. I will also try to share as much twitter pics as I can here on my blog, with the tag "musical twitter promo".
THE ACTORS
This information comes from the dvds and the wikia. I tried to link all twitter accounts I could find, as the actors usually share pictures.
Class 1A
Shin Tamura as Izuku Midoriya (instagram)
Ryota Kobayashi as Katsuki Bakugo (instagram)
Yume Takeuchi as Ochaco Uraraka and Mt Lady (instagram)
Naoki Takeshi as Tenya Iida, from musical 2 onwards. In the first musical Hiroki Ino played Iida.
Ryo Kitamura as Shoto Todoroki
Mao Noguchi as Tsuyu Asui
Naoki Tanaka as Eijiro Kirishima
Yugo Sato as Denki Kaminari (instagram)
Shinichi Hashimoto as Yuga Aoyama
Saaya Yamasaki as Momo Yaoyorozu
Nagato Okui as Minoru Mineta
Rin Matsubara as Fumikage Tokoyami (instagram)
Akari Kawakami as Kyoka Jiro (instagram)
Shin Ikeda as Hanta Sero
Yume Nagatoshi as Mina Ashido (instagram)
Keisuke Ohkubo as Mezo Shoji
Yuta Chatani as Ojiro
Sakaue Shoma as Sato
Other students
Marino Baba as Mei Hatsume (instagram) in musical 1, while in musical 4 Mirano Takei plays Hatsume Mei.
Daisuke Matsukawa as Hitoshi Shinso
Judai Shirakashi as Inasa (and Masaru Bakugou)
Mirano Takei as Camie and Hatsume Mei (only in musical 4)
Shunto Imai as Shishikura Seiji
Haruna Morodomi as Tatami Nakagame (and Inko Midoriya)
Akiyoshi Tsujimura as Shindo Yo
Villains
Raita as Tomura Shigaraki (instagram)
Kosuke Yonhara as Gran Torino and Giran (instagram)
Bishin Kawasumi as Stain
Yuta Osumi as Dabi
Anju Inami as Himiko Toga and Thirteen
Yusaku Kawasaki as Twice
Shin Koyanagi as Muscular
Daisuke Hosomi as All For One
Tasuku Yoshioka as Mr. Compress
Tanabe Ken as Magne
Kawashima Tatsuki as Spinner
Heroes
Yusuke Seto as Eraser Head (instagram)
Hiroaki Iwanaga as All Might Muscle form (instagram)
Yuki Okamoto as Present Mic and Tiger (instagram)
Yusuke Ueda as Endeavor (instagram)
Tasuku Yoshioka as Small Might from musical 2 onwards. He also plays Mr Compress and Yokumiru Mera. In musical 1, Tsuyoshi Hayashi played Small Might.
Kosuke Yonhara as Gran Torino and Giran (instagram)
Anju Inami as Himiko Toga and Thirteen
Ami Kiuchi as Midnight, Uwabami and Pixie-Bob
Changae as Best Jeanist and Moonfish (instagram)
Fukui Shota as Tensei Iida and Naomasa Tsukauchi
Ohara Mayuko as Nana Shimura, Mandalay and Ms Joke
Hi, I've been wondering when will you post more ultra stage content again? Thanks!
Hi!! Thank you for your message!
I am currently super busy because I started a new job this year and I am still looking for an apartment :'D hopefully I will find a home soon and I will be able to move permanently in my own place! Then I will have more time to post more clips and finally finish the last subs (musical 4).
My deadline for moving is August, fingers crossed I find a place!!
I am writing it here because I do not want to update the big "ochako's journey" post I did before.
Okay, in the previous post I already talked about how Ochako's putting aside her feelings is when the major problems I have with her characters start. To summarize, this should lead to two outcomes (more or less): it works very well, it doesn't work. In one outcome we would see Ochako have success as a hero (and the author can add her longing/sadness for the cost of it), in the other we would see her not have success (a "lesson" in "maybe you do not need to put aside your feelings"). Instead: we have none. Because Horikoshi puts aside her, and she loses a lot of screen time.
But I talked about it before, this time I want to talk about the ending.
I truly feel like Ochako was the only character who had an incomplete arc by chapter 430.
Deku ended AFO, "saved" Shigaraki (well, his spirit or something), then lost OFA and became a mentor like AM. Then he went back to being a hero with his suit - it came full circle.
Ochako instead has smaller arcs, but one of her major ones is the one connected to Toga: in the licensing arc, Ochako put aside her feelings for Deku to be more like Deku and focus on being a hero.
This is connected with Ochako's fight with Toga, because what Ochako admires of Toga is how she can smile so openly and is able to openly live as herself and declare what she wants and love.
During chapter 429 we have Deku noticing that Uraraka hides her feelings (pain, in this case) because she prioritizes others:
So these are two parts of the "hide your feelings" arc.
In this chapter she finally expresses her feelings (pain) to Deku and the rest of the class. This could have been an okay conclusion. She was still trying to hide, but when Deku offered help it is Uraraka who openly talks about what she feels.
And even Tsuyu notices that Ochako did not open up:
As I said, this could have been the conclusion of the arc, and it would have been okay. Ochako finally expresses her feelings openly (her pain, in this case), then in the next chapter we get Deku's conclusion and we find out what Uraraka is doing with all of her feelings for Toga/her confrontation with Toga (the quirk counseling).
Now, new chapter: 431. There are two options for Ochako's arc:
Ochako's scenes about her crush for Deku and putting aside her crush was a proxy for how she puts aside her own feelings in general, so it is the same as her putting aside her pain in chapter 429. In this case, her arc is concluded with her sharing her feelings in general (pain in particular). "Hide crush = hide feelings"; "Admiration for Toga = Admiration for someone who express feelings openly"; "Express pain = express feelings, learn not to hide"
Ochako's scenes about her crush for Deku are a very important part of her general "put aside her feelings" arc. In this case we would have "Hide crush = hide feelings in general but also puts aside love"; "Admiration for Toga = Admiration for someone who expresses feelings openly and can also openly declare who she is in love with"; "Express pain = express feelings, but she needs time to be able to express her love for Deku" -> the end of the arc is still needed.
Chapter 431 starts with a kind of sad/desolate setting, with a lonely Ochako (overworked maybe?) thinking about Toga once again, to let us know that we are in the (2) option: Toga's lesson and what Ochako learnt from her is not fully completed.
This is also confirmed by Tamaki remarking that her work must be exhausting so she must get some time for herself. She seems confused, because clearly she does not. (And Ochako also confirms her personal life is put aside for work, and she does not have a lot of time for her).
Ochako says that a month ago (when Deku basically came back to work as a hero) she started to dream Toga again.
Now, this is fine, I liked it. If we are in option (2) it is clear that the story is telling us that Ochako kept aside her love for eight years until she had to see Deku daily once again. While I am not a fan of the idea of a female character holding a love/crush in silence for eight years - I am not here to talk about that, so I will skip it for now.
At this point is where I really hated the chapter (in the context of Ochako's arc).
We move to Deku.
Now:
Deku's arc was over.
Deku never had an arc about his romantic feelings or about not noticing romance.
The romance arc was Ochako's
She had an arc specifically about how she put aside her love for Deku, and then overworked-focused on work - she is still in the middle of the arc
she is also the one who had a revelation from her confrontation with Toga
And yet, Deku steals her ending.
Ochako wants to talk more with Deku, but again, she decides not to. She is walking again. She is not moving towards her goal/end of her arc.
She did not learn Toga's lesson.
It is only because Deku moves towards her that she "agrees" to talking more with him/a romance.
Toga's wish is for Ochako to live as she wants. Ochako admired that Toga could declare her love with an open smile and live as she wants. Ochako hid and is still hiding her feelings for Deku, she is not acting on her wishes and not living as she wants - and yet, she still doesn't.
Instead of having an active Ochako take a step forward and moving towards the goal and growing, we have Deku doing that.
When Ochako put aside her feelings she was acting on her new resolution, we had a monologue of her thoughts too. Now she is passively thrown at Deku by Toga, and listens while blushing - while Deku is the one who declares himself and takes a step forward. Without Deku doing that we know that Ochako would have not expressed her feelings openly.
So what was her arc conclusion? To just wait for a man to make the first step?
This is how I would have changed things a bit:
Kept everything the same until the end of the dinner. Maybe added Ochako's pov earlier, so we can see her at dinner. The problem is that Ochako's mind does not change through the chapter like we see for Deku, she does not realize that Toga's words were true, that they were right, we never see her seeing her friends living their romances/personal lives and thinking "wait..."
The scene of Toga pushing Ochako should have been just after the dinner. Ochako walks away and then she finds her resolution, she realizes she cannot keep living like this (add how many flashbacks as you need, even one of her licesing exam).
And maybe both Ochako and Deku walking towards each other's and declaring their feelings at the same time.
I just really really wanted Ochako to have some agency IN HER OWN CHARACTER ARC.
The postscript for Volume 42 calls 429 the final chapter "in essence" with 430 as the curtain call
Essentially 429 was the final chapter, and 430 was the curtain call, which I drew with the sense that it was a bonus stage in a video game. With this, the story of My Hero Academia ends. It's been a long time since we labelled something the final chapter, hasn't it!!
The last two sentences there refer to the creation of 431, which comes immediately after.
At the end of his postscript, which includes a lot of beautiful, sincere, and humble thanks, he adds this:
P.S.
As of this chapter, 431, we put the cameras down and set the characters free from the drama. We thank them for continuing to do their best for us."
The word he uses for drama is literally what people use to refer to television programs. The cameras are off, this is outside of the story we have followed.
There is still a "next volume" hype page, but it's this:
NEXT VOLUME! Everyone who has grown up will spend their weekends totally talking up a storm at a saizeriya*!! It's the opening of "My Friday Saizeriya"!!
What Izuku rejects is the opportunity to be Katsuki's SIDEKICK. He doesn't reject being a hero or competing with Katsuki. He rejects working FOR/UNDER Katsuki. Which is hilarious because Katsuki accepts (apparently multiple times) showing up as a guest lecturer to help out Izuku's class. Katsuki tells Izuku that "If everyone is special, no one is special," which has the potential for SO MUCH DOUBLE MEANING. But what there is no ambiguity about to me is he's basically telling Izuku "Hey, notice this. I'm treating you special. You're special to me. NOTICE."
It's also implied that Izuku sees Katsuki more regularly than he sees most others from their class, which is emphasized by the previous chapter when Aizawa complains to him about Katsuki's behavior in public affecting his ranking. Katsuki basically tells Izuku he needs to start thinking about himself more, and he also ends their final interaction with a "See ya [later]." Katsuki is NOT talking about Ochako, but Izuku takes some of his advice as the impetus for going to talk to Ochako (specifically they just wanna talk more after the dinner since the dinner is now over and they didn't get to talk). So what was Katsuki thinking of? I personally read his "See ya later" as "You'll figure it out, just go handle what you gotta right now and you can catch up to me later."
Hilariously, Izuku calls Katsuki out for being the one to say "If you don't start thinking a little more highly of yourself, you won't notice the things you should." Izuku's response is basically, "Look who's talking." Again, the potential for double meaning here is painfully obvious. He could be referring to SO MANY THINGS and we're meant to infer what that is. WE GET TO GUESS. Izuku could be saying "You did stuff just as bad as what you're saying," or "You're STILL not noticing something, Kacchan."
And Izuku taking inspiration from Katsuki's words to go talk to Ochako is meaningful in another way--IT MEANS IZUKU LISTENED TO HIM. Katsuki is having an influence on Izuku in a way to improve who he is just like Izuku did for him in high school. Izuku takes Katsuki's advice seriously. NO ONE HAS EVER GOTTEN HIM TO UNDERSTAND THIS LESSON BEFORE NOW. It ends with Izuku and Ochako deciding to talk more, but what it shows us is the beginning of Izuku considering himself more. If Izuku follows Katsuki's advice long enough, he'll end up back in the competition with Katsuki just like Katsuki expects him to. That is just as easy of a conclusion to make from the theme of "inevitability" that Shouto gives us (and that Izuku also takes to heart).
This ending implies that inevitably Izuku's gonna catch up again, basically. Things will continue to change. So yeah, we get a beginning where he and Ochako meet up to talk, but it's just a beginning. It's one night of chatting. They're seeing if something's there now (which kind of implies that there wasn't much there before), but it's left open-ended. And I think it's left open-ended what happens with Ochako on purpose because anyone can read how that ends up however they like. You just have to decide as a reader what's "inevitable" for Izuku Midoriya from this point on. Me? I've decided Izuku is taking Katsuki's advice to treat people who mean more to him better. Ochako is just the beginning. Izuku has other people in his life he needs to show love to as well (because that's what this is, Izuku is learning to show people that they're important to him, that he loves them, because saving people doesn't do that--he saves EVERYONE). And then maybe he'll start to see how the people who love him treat him special too, like guest SPECIAL (same kanji) LECTURER KATSUKI BAKUGOU.
tl;dr there is a lot left open to interpretation and it's probably on purpose, read the chapter however you like, just like we did with the last chapter.
...and my interpretation which is the correct one is that Katsuki tells Izuku, "Here let me show you how to love people, damnit!" to give him the character development everyone has been begging for him to have for years, to realize that saving people doesn't mean they're special to him if he's known for saving everyone ever, so like, maybe go show them you care in OTHER ways, Izuku, and also I'll be waiting right here for you to come show you love me you jackass (and he does, he does come show him that)
