Halcyon Realms - Animation.Film.Photography and Art Book Reviews » Japan

Koinobori, Takadanobaba, Tokyo.

yonghow — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:43:11 +0000

A colorful display of Koinobori ( wind socks fashioned in the shape of carps to celebrate Children’s Day in Japan on the 5th of May ), a stone’s throw away from the JR Takadanobaba station. I used to hang around these parts often back in 2005/6 as my film school Toho Gakuen was located just around the corner, close to Waseda University ( it has since moved ).

(above) A wall of Doraemon coloring sheets from a nearby primary school on display near the canal.

Take a closer look at the drawing of the little boy riding on the Koinobori ( carp ) and you’ll notice he is wielding a Katana sword and a donning Japanese warrior head-dress; its perhaps an intrinsic nature of Japanese culture to imbue their children with an indomitable sense of fighting spirit even at such a young age.

Visiting The Otomo Katsuhiro Genga Exhibition

yonghow — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:23:39 +0000

Running from the 7th of April to the 30th of May 2012 the Otomo Katsuhiro Genga Exhibition is a celebration of the famed manga artist/anime director’s superlative body of creative work, with about 3000 original art pieces spanning over 3 decades on display. The exhibition venue is at 3331 Arts Chiyoda Centre, located about 5 minutes walk from the Akihabara Electric town.

I arrived on a rainy Wednesday afternoon right smack in the middle of the Golden Week and was expecting a huge crowd, but thankfully it wasn’t too bad and I had a comfortable time looking at the exhibits.

(above) The information booth in the main lobby of the building, just before the entrance to the exhibition on the right. Photography within the exhibition hall (art pieces section) was prohibited, but here are some press pictures I found, courtesy of Gizmodo Japan and Radiokaikan :

Needless to say it was an absolute thrill to see so many of Otomo’s most iconic pieces of artwork in their original, unvarnished splendor, right down to the individual brushstrokes. The art pieces were broken up into 2 main sections – his colored illustration works and the full collection of all his original Akira manga panels. Yep, every single one of them that make up the 6 complete tankobon volumes. (images below)

During the exhibition I was poring through many of the above B4 sized Akira panels looking for little imperfections/misaligned screen tones ( stickers with varying shades of gray that pre-digital comic artists used for applying textures and shades ). I was not able to find a single one- a true testament to the amazing technical quality of these manga panels.

(above and below) An empty white wall serves as a giant sketching board for visitors to leave their impressions. Earlier sketches have already been taken down, some drawn by notable manga artists like Inoue Takehiko ( Vagabond ), Katsuya Terada ( Monkey King ), and more. I hope the exhibition organizers archived them.

(above) A life size reproduction of the wall crater in Domu for visitors to pose and take pictures with. (below) A Kaneda wannabe dons the red jacket. It’s 500 yen a pop to sit on the bike and have your photo taken.

(above) A quick doodle that Otomo-san drew on the wall the day I visited. (below) The exhibition merchandize shop. The physical size of the store was really small and couldn’t really accommodate the steady flow of customers so only a limited number was allowed at one time – the rest of us were waiting patiently in a long line for our turn to go in.

(above) A huge stockpile of posters. There were 3 different designs, 2 of which were created specially for the exhibition. I ended up buying all three.

For those who are unable to attend the exhibition in person, I highly recommend the exhibition catalogue ( image above – read the review here ), which collects most of the art pieces that were on display. I dare say by the sheer size and wide gamut of its content that its possibly the best Otomo art book ever published.

The exhibition runs till the 30th of this month, so if you are in Tokyo or plan to visit sometime in the next 2 weeks, you know where to be. :]

Girl On The Phone With AKB48, Shinjuku Station, Tokyo.

yonghow — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:02:56 +0000

A young girl chatting on the phone while standing next to a life-size print ad of AKB48 ( for NTT Docomo ) seemed too good a photo opportunity to miss.

So I just returned from a 10 day trip to Japan and dare I say how universally stupid was I to choose the Golden Week to visit ? Traffic on the expressways were unbelievable, the weather, which should have been of a pleasant, Spring like nature, was instead belching out a dampening mix of torrential rain on some days, scorching desert sun on others, topping off with a climatic tornado. I was down with a bad cold and then fever for the last 3 days of the trip.

Despite all these mishaps I did manage to take a size-able collection of pictures ( quality yet to be determined, ahem ), had my fill of Tokyo food and of course, the Otomo Genga Exhibition was divine. I must of course once again thank my good friends Takeshi & Kojima for being the best hosts, as always.

Regular posting will resume momentarily.

Tatsuyuki Tanaka’s Animated Opening For Japacon TV

yonghow — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:37:35 +0000

Tatsuyuki Tanaka animates a beautiful opening sequence for BSFUJI’s program Japancon TV, here are some screen caps from the video :

If you are new or unfamiliar with Tanaka-san’s work he’s a veteran animator/concept artist/illustrator/genius who animated Tetsuo’s mutation sequence in Otomo’s masterpiece Akira, and also the artist behind the beautiful art book Cannabis Works, (read the book review here) amongst other cool stuff.

I was unable to find the video on Youtube to embed on this post, so head down to Catsuka’s page to view it in HD.

A big thanks to Catsuka for the heads up !

Otomo Katsuhiro Genga Exhibition Wallpapers

yonghow — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:30:40 +0000

Otomo Katsuhiro’s much anticipated Genga ( original drawings ) exhibition begins its run in 2 days on the 9th of April, and there’s been a flurry of media coverage and activity as the Japanese press and numerous distinguished guests ( manga artists like Inoue Takehiko, Katsuya Terada, Koji Morimoto, Sadamoto Yoshikyuki, just to name a few ) descend for a preview. The official website has been updated with some very tasty background images that are perfect for wallpapers :

The whole collection of the original hi-res images seen above can also be found in this zip file I created. I hope it doesn’t overload my allocated bandwidth !

I’ll be heading down to the exhibition in early May and hope to bring you more on site coverage after.