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Manga Museum Holds Quake Charity Art Exhibit

The Kyoto International Manga Museum is holding the "March. 11 seen through the eyes of comic artists from all over the world : Magnitude Zero" art exhibit from March 3 to May 6. The art exhibit features about 120 works from Japanese and foreign artists that appear in the Magnitude Zero Great Eastern Japan Earthquake disaster charity art book.

Participating Japanese artists include Kotobuki Shiriagari (Ano Hi Kara no Manga, Jacaranda), Kamui Fujiwara (Seirei no Moribito, Dragon Quest: Warriors of Eden), and Keiichi Koike (Ultra Heaven). Admission to the exhibit will be free, but separate museum admission is required.

After last year's March 11 disaster, the French bande dessinée author Jean-David Morvan helmed the "Tsunami" project that collected charity illustrations from comic artists around the world. The publisher CFSL Ink released the Magnitude 9 art book in France with 250 of the collected works in September.

Magnitude Zero, Asahi Shimbun Publication's Japanese edition of the book, combines about 60 pieces of art from the French book with about 60 new illustrations. The book costs 2,310 yen (about US$28), and 200 yen (US$2.50) from the sale of each copy will go to earthquake and tsunami recovery efforts. All of the museum art exhibition's works appear in Magnitude Zero. Advance sales began at the Kyoto International Manga Museum's shop when the exhibit opened.

Kyoto's Kansai French-Japanese Institute is also holding the related "Magnitude 9" art exhibit from February 26 to March 15.

[Via Comic Natalie]

Image © Hirata Hiroshi © Mangetsu