At the first seiyuu concert (Dope Show 2021) on March 20th, 2021, a 2.5d stageplay adaptation of Paradox Live was announced, going by the name Paradox Live on Stage (Parasute for short).
Paradox Live On Stage Vol. 1
The first in the series, Paradox Live On Stage (retroactively "volume 1") mostly covers the PRIDE and FAMILY dramas; DESIRE and JUSTICE are glossed over. On the whole, it's my opinion that Parasute is a good vehicle for fanservice, but it kind of assumes that you are already familiar with the content being covered; it more or less follows the scripts of the drama tracks directly, but it does omit things!
It ran in Tokyo at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel Stellar Ball between September 9 and September 12th, 2021, and in Osaka at the Umeda Arts Theater between September 16 and September 19th, 2021. The final performance was livestreamed to international audiences on the platform Zaiko.
This show has been re-streamed repeatedly, for both paid streams (generally fairly cheap, under 1k yen) and for free on YouTube! Keep an eye out and you might be able to catch it for free, they love to re-stream it for events and promotional reasons.
One original song was written for the stageplay, a full-cast number by the name of "Fight For the Pride". No publically-available copy of this song currently exists, but I'm sure you could find it if you went looking.
The casting was as follows:
BAE:
Sana Hiroki as Sugasano Allen
Kominami Koji as Yeon Hajun
Tatemichi Riona as Anne Faulkner
The Cat's Whiskers:
Kimisawa Yuki as Saimon Naoakira
Asato Yuya as Kanbayashi Yohei
Hori Kaito as Natsume Ryu
Kiyama Ryu as Ando Shiki
cozmez:
Kizu Tsubasa as Yatonokami Kanata
Osaka Natsuki as Yatonokami Nayuta
Akan Yatsura:
Takeshi Naoki as Suiseki Iori
Kawakami Shota as Gaho Zen
Inagaki Seiya as Masaki Hokusai
Kobayashi Tatsuyuki as Ito Satsuki
Kamikoshi Sho as Maruyama Reo
Via Avex Pictures official youtube channel
Paradox Live on Stage THE LIVE: BAE vs The Cat's Whiskers and cozmez vs Akan Yatsura
Two "live shows" were performed in 2022, each consisting of a matinee and an evening show. All four shows were streamed to international audiences via Zaiko. The BAE vs TCW show was held on April 30, 2022, and the cozmez vs Akan Yatsura show was held on July 30, 2023. A delayed restream with Mandarin Chinese subtitles were offered on delay.
These are probably the hardest to explain to people not familiar with 2.5d "live shows". They are, broadly-speaking, posited as being as pseudo-canonical in-universe performances, with lightly improvisational in-character skits in between song performances. They have loose overarching plots, but are mostly just an excuse to do performances and for the characters to banter and bounce off of each other.
Of note is the fact that Zen's actor, Kawakami Shota, was unable to perform in the cozmez vs Akan Yatsura live show, as he tested positive for Covid-19 before rehearsals begun. As the shows are very lightly rehearsed, this was approximately a week before the performance. As such, Zen's absence was written around and the other members of Akan Yatsura filled in for his parts on songs.
Both live shows retained the entire cast as listed in Vol. 1, though the members of cozmez and Akan Yatsura did not appear in the BAE vs TCW live show, and the casts of BAE and half of The Cat's Whiskers did not appear in the cozmez vs Akan Yatsura show. (Shiki and Ryu made cameo appearances in the latter.)
Stage Fes 2023
The cast of Paradox Live on Stage participated in Stage Fes 2023, an annual 2.5d event held on New Year's Eve, bringing together the casts of various popular 2.5d properties. 2023's lineup consisted of Paradox Live on Stage, the bands Dokonjofinger and SHINGAN CRIMSONZ from Live Musical SHOW BY ROCK!!, and the cast of RICE on Stage. The casts performed twice, for both matinee and evening shows, on New Year's Eve 2022.
The event was livestreamed on Nico Live, but was region-locked and only available to customers in Japan (note that Nico Nico Douga blocks most popular VPNs, though it's not impossible to get around-- but you didn't hear it from me).
The cast performed several numbers from their respective shows and acted brief skits both within their own franchises and with the other casts crossover-style, with cozmez and Akan Yatsura handling the Paradox Live segment's MC portion during the afternoon, and BAE and The Cat's Whiskers doing the same during the evening.
(I cannot show you a clip of this, but the afternoon MC portion involved Zen princess carrying Kanata on stage when cozmez refused to come out for the MC portion, and it is one of my favorite things that has ever happened in the stageplays.)
StageFes 2023 retained the entire cast as listed in Vol. 1; of note is that the evening show were Kizu Tsubasa and Kimisawa Yuki's final appearances as Kanata and Saimon.
Paradox Live on Stage Vol. 2
The second in the proper stageplay series adapting the drama tracks, Vol. 2 was announced during the Paradox Live 3rd anniversary livestream on November 6, 2023.
Two cast members were recast:
The role of Naoakira Saimon is now being played by Takeuchi Ryota (Saimon's original voice actor!)
The role of Yatonokami Kanata is now being played by Tsuchiya Naotake.
Otherwise, the cast listing remains the same as in volume 1.
The plot covers parts of the Exhibition Show and LIVE dramas, but primarily focuses on the events of LOVE and VIBES.
A stageplay-original number featuring the entire cast was written, entitled "Here We Go", with a recording MV made available to the public:
Via the official Paradox Live youtube channel
The show ran for ten days between March 9th and March 19th 2023, with the very first performance and both final day performances available for simultaneous livestreaming both domestically and for international fans via the platform Mahocast.
Stage Fes 2024
The cast of Paradox Live on Stage participated once again in Stage Fes for New Years 2023-2024. This year, the cast of Paradox Live On Stage participated along with the casts of the Osomatsu-san and Starmyu stageplays.
The event was streamed via Mixch, a Japanese event streaming platform.
The cast performed several numbers from their respective shows and acted brief skits both within their own franchises and with the other casts crossover-style; much as with the previous year, cozmez and Akan Yatsura handled the Paradox Live segment's MC portion during the afternoon, and BAE and The Cat's Whiskers did the same during the evening.
StageFes 2024 retained the entire cast as listed in the Volume 2 stageplays.
Of note is that a new live show (Paradox Live on Stage The Live), this one featuring the full cast, was announced for July 2024.
Paradox Live on Stage The Live -All Artists-
Streamed to both domestic and international audiences via SPWN and held for two days on July 27th and 28th, 2024, this was another "live show" in the vein of the BAE x TCW and cozmez x Akan Yatsura live shows from 2022. Of note was that this event spanned two days, instead of the one day of the previous live events, and was a "standing live", meaning that different songs were performed at different performances. Details to follow.
The Live -All Artists- retained the entire cast as listed in the Volume 2 stageplays.
