MUSIC + COMIC: Masamune Shirow Exhibit

 

So a  #music + #comic  on the overnight trip this week to the exhibition of the artist's THE GHOST IN THE SHELL, APPLESEED and other works.  

I got the over 65 price of 900yen for the exhibit ticket. 

Seeing the manga pages B4 size,  as they were drawn is extra impressive.   

He used a copier a lot in his process, so has scribbled layouts as well as the inked and toned or colored pages were here too. 

Some of the type set text had fallen off the final camera ready pages. I expect a few of those pages were not first generation, even if that is what was printed.

Unusually for such an exhibit, you could photograph everything, as long as you didn't use a flash.  But as Japan doesn't have "fair use" of copyrighted material, you can't just post that all over social media.  I took quite a few hires photos, but not of everything. All artwork is behind glass though means there are reflections on your pictures.

The exhibition is about a 1/4 the size of the YASUHIKO YOSHIKAZU Exhibit I visited in Hyogo last year, but this is vary much more B4 manga art pages.  

It seemed kind of an out of the way quiet museum with lots of trees around everywhere. Maybe Masamune Shirow lives close by?  Seemed a "good area". Quiet. I actually walked past the Museum at first as it is set back from the street and I walked down the right side of the road, and the museum is on the left.

I expected a big building with a big sign on it. Maybe it is, but that is all hidden by the trees that are all along the street from the station.

There was a large merchandise shop that I didn't even notice till I was about to leave as it was separate from the Museum Shop where I bought the exhibit book. The merch shop is to the left before you go up the stairs to the exhibition, whereas the Museum Shop is in front of the stairs, to the left of the main museum entrance.

They date the ticket, and they also give you a small THE CREATIVE WORLD OF MASAMUNE SHIROW card.  The Tickets are dated as you can only enter the Merch Shop on the day of the ticket.

I did have a look at the Merch, but a t-shirt in my size with a design I would actually wear that wasn't way over priced was not to be found. Others were buying handfuls of them though, probably to sell on eBay/Mericari later.  

Overnight stay in Shinjuku, and apart from getting dinner, was just exhausted and just rested to get back home the next day.  Has been 25 years since I last stayed in Shinjuku. 

Used to stay overnight there once or twice a year from around 1994 till 2000, and visit a few places like, a big resin garage kit store, the huge CD store that was there and go to Ikebukuro to visit Tokyo Hands and a foreign books store.  All these things have gone. Seemed more clothing fashion. Also gone is my energy to visit a few places during a stay. Can only manage one now.  But with online shopping, travelling all over the place also isn't required any more.

And today, May 30 2025, they announced the exhibit will be at Shinsaibashi PARCO Osaka Sep 5th - Oct 5th.

This is only about an hour away by train from me. I could visit again.

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