One of the first things I did during my recent time in Tokyo was to visit the giant Akira murals found at Shibuya’s Parco shopping mall, now undergoing construction until 2019, the year Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira manga is set. A year ago during summer there was but one paltry piece at this exact spot, but it has since expanded to fill a huge portion of the contruction walls. ( I also missed an interim set probably put up around the winter of 2017 ).
The images are composite/montages of panels taken from Otomo’s Akira manga and aren’t exactly new art, but seeing them reproduced at such a giant, larger than life scale really exudes dramatic effect, and then some.
Definitely check them out if you’re in the city. I’m hoping a new set of murals will be put up this winter again. Here’s the exact location.
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Akira Murals at Shibuya Parco, Tokyo June 2019.
Neo-Tokyo Is About To Explode – Akira Murals In Shibuya
Giant Slam Dunk Billboards in Shibuya, Tokyo. June 2018.
A.D.2019 Akira Poster – Shibuya, Tokyo.
Akira Art Of Wall – Otomo Katsuhiro/Kosuke Kawamura Exhibition
June 29th, 2018 at 2:47 am
I’m glad I bought the 35th anniversary box set (through your site btw). It seems Otomo is so adored in Japan, to the point of being a national hero, or the artist equivalent of that.
Looking at those murals, I’m thinking Japan must be a much more civilized country than where I live (Brazil). If someone put those up here, they’d get vandalized with graffiti scrawls pretty much overnight.
June 29th, 2018 at 11:16 am
Always mindblowing!
June 29th, 2018 at 3:34 pm
Deckard – Thanks for supporting me with the Amazon purchase links, much appreciated !
Yeah Otomo-san is definitely highly respected in Japan because of his artistic accomplishments. The average Japanese is also very civic-minded, so they will treat public property with care, and even more so for art work like this. :]
DISTRAKT – For sure !