Oshi ga Budokan Idol Manga Gets a Stage Play With SKE48

The team behind the stage play adaptation of Auri Hirao’s manga If My Favorite Pop Idol Made it to the Budokan, I Would Die revealed its cast on Sunday, sharing a new video along with a visual and cast photos.

Aika Kobayashi leads the production as the superfan Eripiyo, joined by a large ensemble drawn heavily from the idol group SKE48, including Kaho Satō, Rika Aoki, and many others in the roles of the in story idols and fans.

The story is an affectionate look at idol fandom. Eripiyo is a devoted follower of Cham Jam, a small underground idol group based in Okayama, and her love for her favorite member, Maina, runs so deep that one performance even leaves her with a dramatic nosebleed. She vows to support Maina with everything she has until the group can finally perform at the famous Budokan in Tokyo.

Hirao began the manga in Tokuma Shoten’s Monthly Comic Ryū in 2015, and it has since passed a million copies in circulation, earned praise in the Kono Manga ga Sugoi guidebook, and been published in English by Tokyopop.

The franchise has been adapted before too, with a television anime in 2020 and a live action film in 2023, making a stage play a natural next step.

My take: Casting real idols to play idols is a clever, fitting touch for a story this fond of fan culture. Eripiyo’s over the top devotion is so endearing that I can easily see it shining on stage.