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18-m Eva Poster, Akemi Takada Sketch on Charity Auction

Not-So-Daily Links of the Day: To celebrate the milestone of the Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance (Evangelion Shin Gekijōban: Ha) film's two millionth viewing, an 18-meter-tall (59-foot-tall) movie poster is being auctioned for charity on the Yahoo! Auctions Japan website. Co-director Kazuya Tsurumaki (FLCL, Gunbuster 2) signed the poster, since it features his storyboard sketch that has since become the iconic image of Evangelion: 2.0. The 3.5-meter-wide (11.5-foot-wide) poster, which was created with weather-resistant printing on vinyl-covered cloth, hung on the 109-2 department store building in Tokyo's Shibuya district for three weeks starting on June 13. The auction will benefit the Japan Committee Vaccines for the World's Children (JCV).

A separate 2.78-meter-tall (9-foot-tall) character poster is also being auctioned for the same charity. The second poster features an illustration of the three main Evangelion pilots by animation director Hidenori Matsubara (Ah! My Goddess!, Sakura Wars). Like Tsurumaki, Matsubara signed the second poster. This poster hung during the elaborate opening weekend event just outside a participating theater in Tokyo's Kabukicho neighborhood on June 27 and 28. Both auctions end on August 19; as of August 14, the larger storyboard poster is going for 70,000 yen (about US$734) while the smaller character poster is going for 111,000 yen (US$1,160).

In a separate development, characer designer Akemi Takada (Creamy Mami, Kimagure Orange Road, Maison Ikkoku) is one of several Japanese anime and manga creators donating sketches to support the victims of this week's flooding in Taiwan. The death toll could top 500 in the country's worst flooding in 50 years. Author Kei Sazane (Tasogareiro no Uta Tsukai) is among 20 other Japanese creators who are contributing to the cause. Takada personally initiated the donation effort; she also contributed to a similar 1999 relief effort during Taiwan's worst earthquake in modern times.

Thank you to dormcat for the news tip on the Taiwanese charity auctions.

Source: Yahoo