Manga Realities at Ayala Museum

The traveling exhibition “Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Comics Today” opened last Tuesday at the Ayala Museum, having come from South Korea and Vietnam previously.

A project in collaboration with the Japan Foundation, the exhibition presents the work of nine renowned manga creators or manga-ka, featuring original art pages, dioramas, blown-up murals, even videos.

Among the artists featured are Tomoko Ninomiya, creator of the famous Nodame Cantabile; Harold Sakuishi, creator of Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad; and Moyoco Anno, creator of the hit Sugar Sugar Rune.

They went so far as to recreate the cramped apartment of the characters in Solanin! The “artwork” is the video you watch on the TV.

The exhibition is rounded out nicely with contributions from less mainstream creators like Taiyo Matsumoto (No. 5) and Daisuke Igarashi (Children of the Sea), who were the main reasons I was excited to see it.

Each creator gets their own section, which focuses on a particular work. This may be the only thing I can find fault with: it would’ve been nice to see a wider range of work from each creator.

Once or twice I felt the choice of work to be curious, as well. Matsumoto, for example: they could’ve chosen Ping Pong or Tekkonkinkreet instead of No. 5, since both of those books got adapted into movies, the latter even getting published in an English edition.

The Sugar Sugar Rune section was a lavish affair, with dioramas.

I do give the exhibition major props for its presentation. Most of the sections took pains to present their creator and their work in an appropriate environment: a colorful corner of dioramas for Anno’s Sugar Sugar Rune, for example, or a classroom setting for Tamiki Wakaki’s The World God Only Knows. They even went so far as to recreate the cramped apartment of the main characters in Solanin. For the music-related books, Beck and Nodame Cantabile, there are instruments set up, a full band kit and piano, respectively.

I spent the most time in the section of Matsumoto, one of my comics heroes. His linework has so much character and personality, it sometimes feels like it has a life of its own, like the “automatic illustration” of Austin Osman Spare. They positively vibrate with life.

A classroom setting was used for The World God Only Knows section, the pages posted on the wall like schoolwork. Nice touch.

It was exciting to see original artwork of his, both in black and white and in color. I marveled at the watercolors and markers he would use for his pages, amazed that they translated so well in the printing of his books. That said, it was good to discover the work of people I wasn’t familiar with, like the minimalist, spare art of Machiko Kyo.

The illustrations presented from her book Sennen Gaho are almost sketch-like in their flimsiness, yet the compositional skill and color theory are there, intact. It made me want to read the book, but unfortunately it’s not been published in English yet.

In addition to the exhibition, on the third floor of the museum there are bookshelves stocked with manga volumes of the works on display, mostly in Japanese but some with their English editions.

Matsumoto’s No. 5 section, where you can examine closely original art pages, both in black and white and color.

Had I known, I would’ve timed my visit earlier so I could sit and read a volume or 18. Maybe you, dear reader, will have better luck.

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“Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Comics Today” will be at the Ayala Museum until Oct. 2.