Out and About: Ghibli's Great Exhibition

Ghibli’s Great Exhibition

Alright, so the original plan was to tour the actual Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo. I still plan to do that one day. If you’re thinking about visiting the museum for yourself, keep in mind you’ll need to buy your tickets far in advance. I’m talking many, many month before you go.

Because apparently a month ahead of time isn’t enough; a sharp kick in the balls that realization was.

I wanted to have an Out and About for Ghibli Month and luckily one became available. Ghibli’s Great Exhibition showcases from the Studio’s 30 year history; from Nausicaä to its newest production Red Turtle. While not being able to go to the museum was a letdown, this made up for it in a big way.

We once again head back to the always impressive Tokyo City View in Roppongi Hill, the same venue which housed The Exhibition of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. I love going here because it’s an absolutely fantastic location for both breathtaking citywide shots of Tokyo and truly one-of-a-kind displays.

What to expect? This is a glimpse in the painstaking work that went into every Ghibli production for the past three decades. Every stroke, every line, every bit of color that goes into creating one of the world’s greatest animation line ups.

I was looking forward to this one, so here is my experience at Ghibli’s Great Exhibition.

Also, this post is going to be noticeably actual picture less. Cameras weren’t allowed inside and honestly I didn’t want to deal with the headache of trying to sneak in a few shots.

Red Turtle Room

Red Turtle had its world premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. A collaborative production between Studio Ghibli and Wild Bunch, this is the story of a man trying to escape a deserted island…and that’s all I know.

While I would love to talk about it here during Ghibli Month, Red Turtle’s Japanese release date isn’t until September 17, 2016. Therefore I’m going to have to wait a little bit long before getting the chance to see it.

After this display, there’s one thing I can say. This film looks like it’s going to be beautiful. Here was a collection of hand drawn sketches and stills of both concept and storyboard art. Though this movie will have the Studio Ghibli name attached to it, it’s clear there were other hands involved.

This section was pure promotion for the film and it did its job.

Totoro Café

This part was cool. Think of the game I Spy mixed with Ghibli.

This wasn’t big, there wasn’t a whole lot to it, and it was more an artistic display piece. However the amount of detail was what made it so fun. You could spend a good ten minutes looking at this and you’ll probably not find everything.

Right off the bat, waiting to great you behind the counter is Totoro himself. Granted he’s quite large so he did make it hard to see everything at certain angles. One glimpse at that derpy face of his made it all okay though.

The charm to this room came in the form of all the tiny knickknacks on and around the counter. Lining the walls are dozen of the little soot balls from My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. You can also see figurines of one of Laputa’s guardian robots from Castle in the Sky as well as Nausicaä standing with an Ohm.

The thing which really made me smile however was the statue of the Baron from Whisper of the Heart standing with his beloved Lady. It was incredibly sweet to see these two together.

Plus off in the corner was a small old time TV which was playing the many Ghibli film trailers. Due to the box’s age the images were very grimy, but it was a nice touch.

The Poster Room

This was far and away my favorite part of the exhibit.

You enter this giant maze like hallway and all around you see the entire collection of Ghibli theatrical posters. Thirty years of animation history together as one. There was a lot of variety to this. Every single poster I used for my reviews this month was here as well as three or four other variations.

This was impressive on its own, but what made it amazing was the inclusion of some of the rough sketches; little to no color, hand drawn, prefinalization. You’re able to see exactly where every character or backdrops were once considered; the exact placement and formatting of titles and words. This not only included the movies I did talk about, but also a number of Ghibli’s short films I didn’t.

In the long run it will probably turn out to be a good thing, but at the time I was bummed I wasn’t able to do this. In the gift shop there was the option to buy the entire collection of posters. It would have run ¥18,000 (roughly $180 US) and I neither have the money nor the space to justify such a purchase.

Storyboard Room

It would have been great if there had been more examples to look at. I might have been stuck in this section for another three hours, but I would have been okay with that.

This was the part of the exhibit I wanted to see the most; what goes into making a Ghibli film. The scene which was on display came from Princess Mononoke and it was the one where San faced off against Lady Eboshi.

This was a fast paced scene and you need to keep this in mind. Every motion, every frame was done by hand. The amount of time and effort needed to make that happen is unfathomable to me.

There was something else which caught my attention. From some of the concept art, Princess Mononoke could have been a very different movie. Based on what I saw, we could have had a San who looked gentler and much less intimidating. Well there was that and the fact she was with a giant cat creature, not a wolf.  

It’s hard to say what this possibility could have been, but it certainly wouldn’t have been the Princess Mononoke we know and love today.

The Ghibli Otaku Room

I don’t know what else to call this. Anything and everything Ghibli related was here.

I talking not just movies, not just books, but figurines, dioramas, toys, stationary, stuffed animals, tote bags, T-shirts (a lot of T-shirts, what the hell) ,and promotional items. The list could go on. 

The other cool thing about this room was the different replicas of items seen in the films. This included, but not limited to, Nausicaä’s glider, Porco Rosso’s plane (not full sized because that would be ridiculous), and the doll house from The Secret World of Arrietty.

After this, there was chance to go into a full size Cat Bus. I didn’t do this because I was by myself and that would have been awkward for everyone.

International Room

This part was pretty small and could easily be looked over.

Simply put, it was the obligatory part of the exhibition to highlight the huge international success seen by the Studio; awards and other recognitions. This is the place where you’ll see posters in other languages, Disney makes its first and only obvious appearance, and of course Ghibli’s history at the Academy Awards.

Not much to this one.

Aviation Room

This was unexpected, but once I walked in it made complete sense.

In nearly every Miyazaki film for Ghibli, an aircraft or flying device of some kind made an appearance. Sometimes flight’s role in a story wasn’t the focus, but it was often there. In this room you were able to see all the different Ghibli planes. From Porco Rosso to The Wind Rises to Castle in the Sky, the influence is undeniable.

The center piece was a giant airship with many moving parts which would rise up and down. I’m not entirely sure where this was from. If I had to guess, it was most likely pulled from Miyazaki’s original manga of Nausicaä.

If you're someone who's interested in planes and aircrafts, you'd probably get a lot more out of this section than I did. Although I appreciated what was going on, as the final display it felt a little overshadowed by everything else.

Final Thoughts

I’ll be the first to admit, Ghibli’s Great Exhibition was a little on the small side. That being said, if you get the chance, go see it. The collection runs from the publishing of this post until Sunday September 11, 2016.

It goes without saying, but you really need to have watched the vast majority of Ghibli films to get the full experience. I can now proudly say that I have. Therefore, I had a lot of fun at this one.

It took me several months to get Ghibli Month ready. What that entailed was sitting at my desk, watching movies, and writing reviews by myself in my apartment. So to then see all that in the real world together as one was a nice treat.

But I had to make sure to get something to remember it by. Therefore, I now have a little derpy forest guardian of my own.

Ghibli Month will conclude Friday with Anime Ichiban: The Top Ten Studio Ghibli Films. 

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