Live Act ''BlazBlue'' ~Continuum Shift~

Live Act "BlazBlue" ~Continuum Shift~, often shortened to BlazBlue Live Act, was a series of live action stage performances based on BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. It played at the Tennōzu Galaxy Theatre (天王洲 銀河劇場) throughout March 3rd - March 9th, 2014.

Information
As an adaptation of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, BlazBlue Live Act roughly follows the same main story as its source material. However, it uses a reduced cast consisting of Ragna the Bloodedge, Jin Kisaragi, Noel Vermillion/Mu-12, Rachel Alucard, Tsubaki Yayoi, Hazama/Yuuki Terumi, and Makoto Nanaya. The overall run time of the play is approximately 1h 45m.

The stage was white and used a projector to show backgrounds and various stages from the games. There were different levels to the stage and four walls in the back that were moved by hidden stage techs. Various special moves were projected onto these screens. Mu's entire outfit was projected onto her, while the Lux Sanctus: Murakumo was projected onto a semi-transparent screen.

Cast

 * YUUKI Tomotsune as Ragna the Bloodedge
 * ARAMAKI Yoshihiko as Jin Kisaragi
 * MISAKI Momose as Noel Vermillion/Mu-12
 * SHOKO Sawa as Rachel Alucard
 * HARUKA Kohara as Tsubaki Yayoi
 * KOHEI Murakami as Hazama/Yuuki Terumi
 * MAKOTO Koichi as Makoto Nanaya

Additional cast members in unnamed roles are: KI Asada, KATSUNARI Fujishim, KOYUKI Nakajima, YOSHIHITO Tanaka, UMI Kitamura, JOTARO Matsumoto, YUYOSHI Kimura, and ANNA Otsuka. HAJIME Kanzaki was due to appear but due to an undisclosed physical condition was replaced by Matsumoto.

Staff
Supervision
 * MORI Toshimichi (Arc System Works) "BlazBlue Series Producer"

Direction
 * INOUE Tete

Screenplay
 * RASPUTIN Yano

Stage director
 * TERUHIKO Nakanishi
 * RYO Nakazato

Action coordinator
 * JUN Watanabe (Japan Action Enterprise)

Illusion coordination
 * Ai and Yuki (GVjp)

Costume
 * AYA Inoue (A.mLab)

Hair and makeup
 * ASUKA Saito

'''Modeling props
 * AKIRA Ryu (1107 Co., Ltd.)

Photography
 * SHOHEI Sato (Studio Phil Main Store)

Promotion
 * SUSUMU Ogawa (Join Point)

Visual design
 * MAYUMI Urushido
 * AKIRA Lee
 * Koami

Web Design
 * Ishiiya

Production
 * JUKA Tou (1107 Co., Ltd.)

Production Advisor
 * KEN Sekiguchi (Frontier Works)

Producers
 * HIDEMASA Arai (Q-tec)
 * TADAYOSHI Takeuchi (1107 Co., Ltd.)
 * KENICHI Matsumoto (Frontier Works)

Production cooperation
 * Studio Phil Main Store
 * Stickham Japan
 * Live Next
 * Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo Akira Kanbaba Laboratory
 * Miwy (provided by Wig)

Cooperation
 * Atomic Monkey
 * Avange Entertainment
 * Osawa Office
 * Justice Japan Entertainment
 * Japan Action Enterprise
 * Tri Crew Entertainment
 * Dolchester
 * Dragonfly Entertainment
 * Blue Ale
 * UTY

Organizer
 * © LIVE ACT "BLAZBLUE" 2016 Production Committee
 * (Q-tec / 1107 Co., Ltd./Frontier Works)

Production
 * 1107 Co., Ltd.

Reception
Only one review has been found, which was by Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku. The reduction of the main cast seemed to work in its favour as the characters were able to focus on three main subplots: the rivalry between Ragna and Jin; the trial of friendship between Noel, Tsubaki, and Makoto; and Terumi's machinations. Eisenbeis praised the use of the projectors for the stage as well as performances by Momose and Murakami as Noel and Terumi, respectively. Murakami would steal every scene he was in, while Momose's portrayal of Noel's descent in despair was expertly done. Action sequences were well choregraphed and often featured throughout the play.

The only noted negative to the play was the use of complex terminology with little explanation, save one sequence towards the end where Makoto explains key concepts and terminology to her subordinates. This slowed the pace of the play, but was ultimately necessary. Eisenbeis finished his review by calling the play "something special" and noting that it far exceeded the more poorly received anime adaptation BlazBlue: Alter Memory.

Trivia

 * This is the only piece of media that shows Makoto having subordinates during her tenure at the Novus Orbis Librarium.
 * Unfortunately, no video footage of the play, outside of rehearsals, exists.