Studio Chizu is owned by animation director Mamoru Hosoda, his works include The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (時をかける少女), Summer Wars(サマーワーズ), Wolf Children (おおかみこどもの雨と雪) and just released last month, The Boy and the Beast (バケモノの子). I've watched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time a couple of years ago and it didn't really grabbed me but I really liked Wolf Children because the animation was really well done and it was a sad story, both at the beginning and the end.
I have yet to watch The Boy and the Beast but after going to the exhibition, I really want to see it now. It's very "other worldly" and really reminded me of Spirited Away, though I can tell the story is completely different.
I made my way up to the 9th floor of Hikarie and these pillars greeted me as I purchased my ticket to the exhibition. To be honest, the ticket price was kind of steep (1700Y) but it was worth it.
The first thing that you will see once you enter the exhibition hall is a huge poster of The Boy and The Beast, some write-ups from the director himself, both in English and Japanese, followed by storyboards, paintings and drawings of the films. The "making of"s, as most people would call it. There were human-sized drawings and also, they put up drawings on the wall. I admit, I was biased because I only took photos of Wolf Children and (kinda) ignored the rest.
The background paintings were really impressive. I'm always in awe with background paintings because it IS difficult to paint. You have to have a lot of patience (which I don't, backgrounds are the thing that fucks up my entire painting most of the time). After the drawing section, there were some sculptures. The key below is from Summer Wars. The really cute white thing in the second picture (which I'm too lazy to check the name of) is from the latest film.
The sculptures were even more impressive than the drawings. I was surprised they even had the gate from Bakemono no Ko in the last room. It's the size of an actual regular sized shrine gate.
Despite not watching the latest film, I enjoyed the exhibits for it the most. The imagery looks like something out of a dream I would definitely love to have. If I could dream of those landscapes, I would be very happy. I can't wait till I get the chance to watch it.
The final room of the exhibition made me really regret and bummed out that I was alone. There were a ton of interactive photo taking booths, something I have not seen in Japan yet. I wish there was someone with me so I could camwhore. I really wanted to take a photo with Ame and Yuki! Their booth was the cutest. How cute can this get?
Of course, before leaving the exhibition there will always be a merchandise store to rob me. I ended up buying a couple of things, only from Wolf Children and a postcard from Bakemono no Ko. Overall I was really happy with this exhibition and it helped me get out of my "I want to watch a nice animated film but I have no idea what to watch because I have watched everything else 98374756248 times." So, I would probably watch Studio Chizu's films for the next week.
Feed me inspiration please.
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