Hellsing, Drifters Creator's Exhibition is a Horrifyingly Good Time
by Lynzee Loveridge,
Last year, I finally crossed Hellsing Ultimate off my backlog, but my experience with the manga was close to zero when I made my way to he Kouta Hirano Super Expo inside the Sunshine City shopping center in Ikebukuro. The large-scale exhibition chronicled Hirano's work from Hellsing to Drifters, including original artwork, life-size recreations of props and costumes, and some impressive interactive photo areas!
After handling her oversized rifle myself, I have a new-found appreciation for Victoria Seras' strength.
Artwork
Hirano's artwork across both manga is amazing to see in person. The art on display ranged from sketch material to print proofs, marked with whiteout and featuring glued-on speech cutouts. I was frequently impressed by his intricately detailed line work.
Props
While the Hellsing area felt larger than its Drifters counterpart, both areas featured recreations of its respective characters' clothing and weapons. The Hellsing portion opened with 1:1-size versions of Alucard's Jackel and Casull handguns mounted on a wall across from a full-size version of Seras' Anti-Midian Cannon Hallconnen. A mannequin stood nearby clothed in her bloody uniform.
In the Drifters section, a mannequin was posed in Shimazu Toyohisa's red karuta sashinuki and additional armored pieces. What was most impressive about it was that it looked appropriate old; like it might have seen actual wear during the late Sengoku period. Nearby, a recreation of historical figure Shimazu Toyohisa's samurai armor. The armor was provided to the exhibition on loan from Hioki, a city in Kagoshima prefecture that was home to the real Shimazu samurai clan.
The event space also included several large cut-outs of characters for various photo spots, but the most striking were Alucard and Alexander Anderson flanking a diorama of the carnage from the Hellsing series' final chapters.
Overall, the The Kouta Hirano Super Expo was an amazing display of the manga artist's work over 25 years. Here's hoping he's able to return from hiatus soon!
The Kouta Hirano Super Expo
March 27, 2025 to April 13, 2025
Sunshine City Exhibition Hall A on the 4th floor of the Sunshine City World Import Mart Building in Ikebukuro
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