The spread of the novel coronavirus has had a major impact on the world at large, and anime and manga fans are beginning to see its effect on the entertainment industry in Japan. Not only have some major anime releases initially scheduled for this Spring being delayed until sometime later this year (with a Summer release being aimed for by franchises like Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- and Sword Art Online), but several stage plays have had their runs postponed or outright canceled as a result of efforts to better combat the spread of the virus with social distancing initiatives.

This includes the stage play debut of The Rising of the Shield Hero. Originally scheduled to open in Japan from March 27 to April 2, the play has been postponed until further notice with no replacement scheduled currently in sight. But the cast of the play powered through and actually recorded a version of the performance without an audience, and now it's heading toward a home video release.

The official website for the stage play announced that a special home video release featuring a version of the play without an audience, and an official pamphlet from the performance will be sold through the site's official store. The cast performed for the recording last March, and the Blu-ray and DVD release of the play is scheduled to ship in Japan sometime this September. Unfortunately for fans outside of Japan, there is currently no word of an English language release for the play as of this writing.

The cast of the play includes Yuuya Uno as Naofumi Iwatani, Karin Isobe as Raphtalia, Yuuna Sekine as Filo, Ikkei Yamamoto as Motoyasu Kitamura, Yuuho Matsui as Ren Amaki, Taiga Fukuzawa as Itsuki Kawasumi, and Sarah Emi Bridcutt (who reprises her role from the anime) as Malty S. Melromarc. But it's not all doom and gloom as The Rising of the Shield Hero fans can currently find the characters in Isekai Quartet Season 2, that series even got picked up for a third recently!

Not only that, The Rising of the Shield Hero will be returning with two new seasons in the future as well! Are you excited to see The Rising of the Shield Hero when it makes its big anime return? What are your favorite moments of the anime so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or talk to me directly about all things anime and other cool things @Valdezology on Twitter!

via Crunchyroll