Interest

Feast on Tokyo Ghoul Art at Shinjuku Station

Manga artist Sui Ishida doesn't just draw the very popular Tokyo Ghoul manga; he's also active on Twitter, where he sometimes shares his digital artwork to over 880,000 followers. And now, for a limited time, fans can see a selection of Ishida's beautiful art framed in a physical gallery. This mini-museum is displayed in Shinjuku Station from June 19 to June 25. Commuters can admire the art as they walk through the north passage of the station's east exit.

Shinjuku Station is one of the busiest train stations in Japan, so there's never any shortage of onlookers. While it wouldn't surprise me if some dedicated fans showed up just to look at the gallery, it's located inside the ticket barrier and is really meant to catch the attention of those who are just passing by. In this regard, it's been a great success. The display is eye-catching enough to prompt a number of passersby to stop and take photos, even when they appear to have business elsewhere.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

As you may have noticed, each picture displays the number of retweets and favorites the images received before they were framed. Additionally, a Twitter campaign was launched on the same day this gallery was set up in Shinjuku, giving away an art print to twenty-five Twitter users living in Japan. It's a testament of just how popular Tokyo Ghoul is on social media, as well as a prime example of how art shared on social media can have a physical presence in the offline world.

Besides being a showcase of Ishida's Twitter art, the gallery was set up to promote the live action Tokyo Ghoul movie. The film is getting premiered at Anime Expo on July 3, so some fans in America may get to see it before its theatrical release in Japan on July 29.

You can follow Sui Ishida on Twitter at @sotonami.