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Kemono Friends, Girl Friend BETA Franchises Get Stage Plays Starring =LOVE Idol Group

TV Tokyo's AniTele streaming service announced on Wednesday that it is collaborating with idol group =LOVE (pronounced "equal love") to produce two stage productions based on the Kemono Friends and Girl Friend BETA franchise. The Kemono Friends production will debut at the AiiA 2.5 Theater Tokyo for a six-show run on February 15-18, while the Girl Friend BETA production will debut this summer.

Both productions will feature singing as well as dance numbers, with the =LOVE group members performing the roles. The cast for the Kemono Friends production includes:

• Emiri Ōtani as Passenger pigeon
• Hana Ōba as Tasmanian devil
• Risa Otoshima as Japanese river otter
• Kiara Saitō as Arizona jaguar
• Nagisa Saitō as Tsuchinoko
• Maika Sasaki as Sivatherium
• Nonno Satake as Cape lion
• Hitomi Takamatsu as Great auk
• Iori Noguchi as Aurochs
• Sana Morohashi as Gastornis
• Anna Yamamoto as Dire wolf

A different stage play adaptation of Kemono Friends featured the cast members of the anime last June. That stage play is currently holding its second run, which began on January 13 and will end on January 21.

Nexon's original Kemono Friends app game launched in early 2016 and ended service in December that year — before the Kemono Friends anime even aired. The 12-episode television anime then premiered on TV Tokyo and TV Osaka in January 2017 and ended last March. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired.

The anime's director TATSUKI reported last September that, per a notification from publishing and production company Kadokawa, he is no longer working on the Kemono Friends project. TATSUKI then said in October, "I don't know what kind of work I'll be doing but I plan to keep on working as an anime creator."

The official Twitter account for the Girl Friend BETA franchise had revealed last month that the franchise will get a new stage play this year.

Cyber Agent's blogging website Ameba started service for the original Girl Friend BETA dating simulation game for smartphones in 2012, and the number of registered users has passed 6.5 million. The game features more than 100 girls for the player to date, each voiced by a different voice actress. The Girl Friend Note rhythm game launched for smartphones in December 2015.

The Girl Friend BETA game previously inspired a television anime adaptation that premiered in October 2014. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired. The game also inspired a PlayStation Vita game titled Girl Friend BETA: Kimi to Sogosu Natsu Yasumi (Girl Friend BETA: The Summer Vacation I'm Spending With You), which shipped in Japan in November 2015. Girl Friend Note also inspired a web anime in October 2016.

[Via Yaraon!]