January 12th, 2015
I've always loved Shingeki No Kyojin ever since discovering it on my 2013 summer trip to Japan. I remember watching it late at night in the hotel room and it was one of the most exciting anime I have ever seen and that cliff-hanger left me only wanting more.
I have been wanting to go to the exhibition for a while now and I'm glad I waited for little sis because we always have more fun together. We got our tickets the day before at a Lawson conbini, and on the day itself, we went straight to The Ueno Royal Musuem to stand in line for about half an hour before getting in.
There was a change in atmosphere once you get into the building and you could hear the video playing in the next room while you are waiting. The sounds coming for the next room scared me a bit. Once we were allowed into the next room, there was a huge projection screen and a voice actor would be telling you what to do. The video was pretty intense, basically - you are hiding in a building from titans behind some torn curtains, a titan will pace up and down and you can see it's silhouette. It will stop suddenly and peek through the creeks of the curtain with just an eye, that's actually really freaky. It discovers that you're hiding, and pulls the curtains and another titan (looks like the one that ate Eren's mother) will be holding up a person into it's mouth and bites the person in half and disappears. Suddenly even more titans appear and they are running at you and The Survey Corps will appear slaying off these titans - the simulation ends and you are led into the next room where the exhibition begins.
The exhibition rooms looked really grim and dark - definitely captured the manga/anime well. There were original drawings by Hajime Isayama, I actually enjoyed how they placed his work and the way they decorated the exhibits with blown up sizes of the manga to fit the wall. Hajime Isayama has said a lot of times in interviews that his drawings aren't that good but there is definitely improvement in his work over the years, I think he isn't giving himself enough credit.
The red light does bring out more character for this exhibition, definitely does add an intense air to the room. There was also a room where they showcased his inspiration, some videos of him drawing a slot for the manga, and showed his original pitch for the manga. Rooms after that were more original drawings.
I especially enjoyed one of the last exhibition rooms where they displayed Annie's arc. The projection they did on one of the walls was really thought out, the light and explosions used to highlight certain parts of the manga are spot on. I actually wonder how long they took and how much experimenting they did to get it right. Another room I really enjoyed was the 4D-ish animation show where there was a bench and you had to sit infront of this projection screen. It literally felt like you were in their world, following The Survery Corps swinging around in their maneuver gear killing off titans. It is placed during Annie's arc, where they are in the forest. I wish it was a ride at a theme park like Universal Studios, that would have been really awesome but scary at the same time.
The exhibit for Annie's arc was probably the best, placement of manga strips wise. I really liked how they placed Eren vs Annie's fight manga strips on the ceiling. After the exhibition of drawings were done, you will be led to the 1st Floor again. There were showcases of some props, though I really wouldn't name it props used in the anime? But they have made a life size table where the Survey Corps would dine at during their training camp. Little sis and I laughed when we saw Sasha's potato (its only funny if you actually watch the anime).
The final room was the most mind-blowing. There was an actual sculpture of the 50ft. Colossal Titan. It gave me the chills, just standing next to it and imagining how I would actually die in the hand of this titan freaked me out a little. I am barely the size of it's finger. The face itself was really creepy, I couldn't stare at it for too long. Little sis was actually prompting me to leave because she was freaked out as well, haha.
After exiting the exhibition, there were some more showcases of art but fan made. I thought it was pretty cool that they made a section for it since some fan art are really well done. The hall also had posters of all the characters for the live action movie which is coming out this summer, I am actually not looking forward to it because it looks like it's gonna be a flop plus I hate that Kiko Mizuhara is playing my favorite SNK character, Mikasa Ackerman. Though I think her looks does suit Mikasa perfectly, her acting is something I'm not a fan of.
The was also a television playing the series which made me want to watch it all over again. AND, there IS going to be a SNK attraction starting January 23rd at Universal Studios Japan. It's a showcase of Eren vs Annie fight, they actually made the huge titans. No. fucking. way. I'm so bummed I'm going to miss it. How awesome would it be to see titans fighting and later on, going off to Hogwarts? Oh well, you can't have everything.
I didn't get any merchandise in the end because I usually throw my anime merch aside after a few months of purchasing them. I always don't use them or don't know what to do with them, so I didn't want to repeat my mistake again.
Overall, I rate this exhibition 9/10. The only thing that was missing was, HOW COULD YOU NOT PLAY THE FUCKING THEME SONG AT THE EXHIBITON?! Linked Horizon's Guren No Yamiya is probably one of the best anime theme songs of all time. What the hell is wrong with you?!
I'm pretty bummed season 2 is not going to be out for a while. I know I should just read the manga but I get bored reading manga, haven't touched reading them since I was 15. Though I hear some spoilers from Little sis here and there, she's trying her best to keep the suspense for me. Hopefully season 2 would come out faster, so I don't have to watch season 1 for the millionth time.
This exhibition was probably one of the best ones I've seen in a long time. It's amazing how much work and detail goes into this. I think Shingeki no Kyojin is going to be the last anime that I will enjoy this much since I've lost interest in anime in general. Obviously, the manga has already sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and named "once-in-a-decade-hit", and I couldn't agree more.
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