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Leiji Matsumoto's 80th Birthday Celebrated With New Art Exhibition
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Manga creator giant Leiji Matsumoto is showing a collection of his artwork this month at the Daimaru Tokyo department store. The exhibition opens on August 28 and will run until September 4. The event celebrates Matsumoto's 80th birthday and includes autographed watercolor, ink paintings, prints, animation cells, and other drawings for sale.
Visitors will be able to browse first edition books and original artwork available to the public for the very first time. Matsumoto himself will be at the exhibition on September 2 for autographs and a public discussion of his work.
The department store will also hold a men's clothing event at the same time where attendees can order suits with linings featuring Matsumoto's characters.
Matsumoto was born in 1938 and he debuted as a manga artist in 1953 with Michibachi no Bōken (Honeybee's Adventure) while he was still in high school. His notable works include Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, and Queen Emeraldas — all of which inspired multiple anime or live-action adaptations — and he contributed designs and created the tie-in manga for Space Battleship Yamato. He also supervised animated music videos for French electronic pop group Daft Punk's Discovery album, and the videos were strung together into the INTERSTELLA 5555 film.
Shogakukan published the Matsumoto Leiji - Mugen Sōzō Kidō book on February 28 to celebrate Matsumoto's 80th birthday, and the book contains a new chapter by Matsumoto of his Galaxy Express 999 manga. The manga was adaptated into a stage play that ran from June to July to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary.
Gainax is producing three films based on Matsumoto's works with Production GoodBook. The first is The Zero Century Emeraldas, which will open in 2020. Film World Studios has acquired the live-action rights to Matsumoto's Space Pirate Captain Harlock manga.
Source: Comic Natalie
