Just wanted to let you guys know that the Showa prequels of Mirage of Blaze have been adapted into stage plays (if anyone is still around here). They are based on what happened 30 years before the timeline in the main series (that the anime is based on). This is the opening of the first play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2KiDpuYiMk I've only just recently watched all three plays on DVD (there'll be a fourth staging in October this year, yay!) and I think they're a great addition to the Mirage universe and they've rekindled my obsession with this series. I wrote a review here. ^Naoe (Aramaki Yoshihiko) and Kagetora (Tomita Shou) One of the best selling points of the plays is a chance to see what 400-year-old Kagetora is really like, especially if you've only been exposed to the anime. And he's played to perfection by Tomita Shou, who is a fantastic actor on stage. (You might recognize him as Ozaki from Docchi mo Docchi but that movie was so poorly directed that you don't really see his potential there.)