Idolized popular performance: musical The Prince of Tennis and Japanese 2.5‐dimensional theatre

In recent years, 2.5‐dimensional (2.5D) theatre has become an influential popular theatre in Japan. It is broadly defined as live theatre adapted from manga, anime, and video games. In this article, I argue that Musical The Prince of Tennis (2013–) is a cornerstone of 2.5D theatre’s history. This musical series, as well as later 2.5D works inspired by it, bears features that distinguish it from other manga‐ or animation‐adapted theatre; one of these features is the heavy influence of idol culture. Targeted at female audiences, 2.5D plays cast idolised, handsome, but lessexperienced actors who ‘graduate’ from the production after a few years. Fans of the original work, fans of the performers, and fans of the play comprise the majority of audience members. Performers maintain a paradoxically close and distant relationship with fans in order to attract them through a pseudo‐intimacy that still leaves enough space for fans to create narratives about their favourite performers. Zihui Lu is a PhD candidate at the Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore. Her Doctoral research focuses on the manga/anime/video game adapted Japanese 2.5‐dimensional theatre.