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The story
On September 3, a post by singer Ayaka Hirahara on her X (formerly Twitter) account has become a hot topic. According to the post, she pitched a Toho producer on the idea of “doing a Chiikawa musical,” only to be met with the warmly amused response, “Aya really does love Chiikawa, doesn’t she.” She also wrote that she’d like to audition for the role of the rabbit. On 5channel’s “Geinou/Sports News+” thread, opinions split over the awkwardness of pitching something unilaterally when she isn’t a rights holder, whether a live-action or mascot-costume version could even work, and comparisons to Shigesato Itoi’s past collaborations.
2026.09.06 18:00
The post singer Ayaka Hirahara put up on her own X account on September 3 is still making waves three days later.
“When I seriously pitched my own selfish little dream — ‘Why not do a Chiikawa musical?’ — to a Toho producer, I got a warmly amused look and a ‘Aya really does love Chiikawa, doesn’t she.’ Pfft. #IWantToAuditionForTheRabbitRole #DoubleCastingWithKenjiUraiIsFineByMe”
Source: smart-flash.jp / Original article here
What people said
That was kind of funny
Wonder if she still tears ticket stubs at that little movie theater
> Itoi, a heavyweight of the subculture world
Huh?
He's totally mainstream and loves the smell of money lol
He's not subculture though
He's always been a mainstream culture guy
Heard Nagano (the creator) is furious
They probably won't do a Kura Sushi collab again
Kabuki can get away with a lot more absurdity
Are they gonna do the 'Haa?!' and 'Hyoo~' calls?
that you can dig this much out of one line
Seriously, that's brutal.
but is there even demand for it?
Making a feature-length kids' film is a lot of work too
Nice try, Kurimanjuu (a Chiikawa character — used sarcastically here)
The ones bashing Itoi are the real newbies here lol
Apparently Itoi himself had so little interest in Chiikawa that he'd forgotten they'd even collaborated
but now, thanks to the movie, he's gotten completely hooked, and almost half his tweets are about Chiikawa these days
It's a cash-cow IP so there's probably a lot of people who'd want in on it…
Who the hell is Nagano lol
Feeding them has nothing to do with it
their whole job is picking absurd fights from any angle they can
Like with the Kinashi thing too — they set the fire without even checking the original footage and then just ran off
at most, maybe a costumed-mascot musical
like the ones they often do for kids' events
Those are actually pretty good
They'll need to line up an actress willing to poop on stage during the musical
The mascot costume already exists
they did a collab with Bakushou Red Carpet (a TV comedy show)
https://www.marv.jp/special/keroro-musical/
This one's live-action, though
they did it 16 years ago in a pre-dubbed mascot-costume format
A living example of how staying exposed to weird stuff makes you weird too
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Ayaka Hirahara’s pitch to “do a Chiikawa musical” is, at the end of the day, just one individual’s personal wish — it hasn’t gone through any agreement with original creator Nagano or rights holders like Toho. Shigesato Itoi, who came up as a point of comparison in the thread, is someone who has run official Chiikawa collaborations through his own website “Hobonichi” for years now. Even though both cases involve publicly declaring love for Chiikawa, the difference in how each has been received comes down to whether it happened with the rights holders’ agreement. What split the thread wasn’t really the merits of a live-action or musical adaptation itself, but rather discomfort at seeing a celebrity’s off-the-cuff idea turned straight into a news article, versus those who brushed it off as just a fan expressing a harmless wish. As of this thread, there has been no official response from the creator’s side.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread ““Why Not Do a Chiikawa Musical?” — Ayaka Hirahara’s “wishful” post draws backlash: “No one wants a live-action version”… Shigesato Itoi’s “copy” also under scrutiny [Ailuropoda melanoleuca★]“.
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