{"id":1278,"date":"2025-07-01T06:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=1278"},"modified":"2025-07-01T06:00:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T13:00:44","slug":"exhibition-honoring-studio-ghiblis-late-isao-takahata-is-now-open-in-tokyos-azabudai-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=1278","title":{"rendered":"Exhibition honoring Studio Ghibli\u2019s late Isao Takahata is now open in Tokyo\u2019s Azabudai Hills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-706239 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/1_abb1e4.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"347\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span>The event features never-before-seen artwork and more to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the pioneering animation director\u2019s birth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Isao Takahata<\/strong> is perhaps best known to Western audiences as a founding member of the beloved Japanese animation company <strong>Studio Ghibli<\/strong> and as director of some of its most famous works, including <strong>Grave of the Fireflies<\/strong> (1988), <strong>Pom Poko<\/strong> (1994), and <strong>The Tale of the Princess Kaguya<\/strong> (2013). Born on October 29, 1935, Takahata took a leading role in shaping Japanese animation over the course of over 50 years, alongside frequent collaborator and friend <strong>Hayao Miyazaki, <\/strong>until <a href=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/2018\/05\/18\/hayao-miyazaki-eulogizes-isao-takahata-remembers-purposely-subjecting-him-to-second-hand-smoke\/\">his passing in 2018 at the age of 82<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In honor of the 90th anniversary of Takahata\u2019s birth, a new exhibition titled<strong> Isao Takahata Exhibition: The Man who Planted Japanese Animation<\/strong> that\u2019s being held at <strong>Tokyo\u2019s Azabudai Hills Gallery<\/strong> is welcoming visitors between June 27 and September 15.<\/p>\n<p>\u25bc Promotional poster for the exhibition featuring Setsuko, one of the main characters of <em>Grave of the Fireflies<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-706240\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/2_64f14c.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"707\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The gallery features animation cells and background art from several of Takahata\u2019s iconic TV series and films such as <strong>Heidi, Girl of the Alps<\/strong> (1974), <em>Grave of the Fireflies<\/em>, and <em>Pom Poko<\/em>\u00a0on display for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>Since this year also marks 80 years since the end of the Pacific War, special tribute is paid to the lasting legacy of<em> Grave of the Fireflies. <\/em>The film, which is often considered to be Takahata\u2019s masterpiece, follows two war orphan siblings in the aftermath of the 1945 fire bombings of Kobe. For this part of the exhibition, <strong>Hideki Anno<\/strong>, who served as a key animator for the film before going on to become a successful director for <em>Neon Genesis Evangelion <\/em>and more, has hand-selected impactful scenes to play at the gallery.<\/p>\n<p>\u25bc Hideki\u2019s layout drawings for the Imperial Japanese Navy Heavy Cruiser Maya (as it appears in the film) are also revealed for the first time.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-706241\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/3_b1e0c1.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"431\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Visitors can also purchase an audio guide featuring Japanese-language narration for an additional fee on top of the ticket price. This guide also comes bundled with a musical playlist curated by filmmaker <strong>Shunji Iwai<\/strong>, a distant relative of Takahata, designed to accompany the works of art throughout the gallery.<\/p>\n<p>\u25bc Shunji Iwai<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-706242\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/4_c84bff.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"547\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Unlike most other art galleries, there are some hands-on, interactive elements to this exhibition. Visitors will delight in the giant Papanda prop from one of Takahata\u2019s earlier works, <strong>Panda! Go, Panda!<\/strong> (1972), and the ability to recreate the scene of Pan-chan flying to grab onto his dad\u2019s fluffy tummy for themselves. It certainly makes for a fun commemorative photo.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-706243\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/5_fc277d.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"453\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In addition, it wouldn\u2019t be a Japanese exhibition without a tie-in collaboration cafe. The menu features a variety of foods and drinks that pay tribute to some of Takahata\u2019s most beloved works, including <em>Panda! Go, Panda!<\/em> curry.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-706244\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/6_d8ffe3.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Finally, weekday visitors to the gallery will receive a free multi-use paper case with a drawing of Takahata inside. There are five versions in total, one for each day of the week featuring a different one of Takahata\u2019s productions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-706245\" src=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/7_1707e8.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"571\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Online tickets for the Isao Takahata Exhibition: The Man who Planted Japanese Animation begin at <strong>2,000 yen (US$13.87)<\/strong> for general admission with discounts for high school\/university students, young children, and more. They can be purchased <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hills-ticket.com\/AHG\/order\/takahataisao_exhibition\">on the gallery\u2019s official website<\/a> or via the <a href=\"https:\/\/l-tike.com\/event\/mevent\/?mid=750815\">Lawson Ticket site<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Along similar lines, for some newly revealed artwork behind the unrealized concepts of Miyazaki, you may also be interested in <a href=\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/2025\/06\/28\/the-hayao-miyazaki-anime-we-never-got-new-art-book-reveals-ghibli-legends-unrealized-concepts\/\">this artbook<\/a> to be released in early July.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Exhibition information<\/strong><br \/>\nIsao Takahata Exhibition: The Man who Planted Japanese Animation \/ \u9ad8\u7551\u52f2\u5c55 \u0336\u65e5\u672c\u306e\u30a2\u30cb\u30e1\u30fc\u30b7\u30e7\u30f3\u3092\u4f5c\u3063\u305f\u7537\u3002<br \/>\nAddress: Tokyo-to, Minato-ku, Toranomon 5-8-1 Azabudai Hills Garden Plaza A, MB floor<br \/>\n\u6771\u4eac\u90fd\u6e2f\u533a\u864e\u30ce\u9580 5-8-1 \u9ebb\u5e03\u53f0\u30d2\u30eb\u30ba \u30ac\u30fc\u30c7\u30f3\u30d7\u30e9\u30b6A MB\u968e<br \/>\nDuration: June 27-September 15<br \/>\nOpen: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. (last entry at 7:30 p.m.); 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays from June 27-July 18<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azabudai-hills.com\/azabudaihillsgallery\/sp\/isaotakahata-ex\/en\/\">Website<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Source, images: PR Times (<a href=\"https:\/\/prtimes.jp\/main\/html\/rd\/p\/000000267.000048109.html\">1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/prtimes.jp\/main\/html\/rd\/p\/000000277.000048109.html\">2<\/a>)\u00a0<\/em><br \/>\n<em>\u25cf Want to hear about SoraNews24\u2019s latest articles as soon as they\u2019re published? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RocketNews24En\">Follow us on Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RocketNews24En\">Twitter<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n<div lang=\"ja\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The event features never-before-seen artwork and more to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the pioneering animation director\u2019s birth. Isao Takahata is perhaps best known to Western audiences as a founding&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}