The Works of Mamoru Hosoda Exhibition

In a relatively short space of time, Mamoru Hosoda has had a significant impact on the world of anime. I have always enjoyed the look of his even when I have been ... luke-warm to some of his stories. When I saw that there was an exhibition of his work open in central London during the London Film Festival 2018 I took the opportunity to check it out.

The exhibition features displays from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, The Boy and the Beast and finally Mirai. I'm a big fan of Summer Wars and a bigger fan of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time so to be able see some of the supporting work exhibited was exciting. I had no idea what to expect but had heard through the Anime Limited blog that there was an augmented reality feature in the Summer Wars section.

I went up to see it on my own which gave me lots of time to ponder and muse over the exhibits, but I think the exhibition is best enjoyed with friends. There is a lot to see and talk about. I certainly witnessed groups talking about the exhibits and feeding off the enthusiasm of each other. (I saw Mirai in the evening as part of the London Film Festival with a friend, their first foot into Hosoda's world who I would like to go back with.)

This interaction has been built into the exhibition with opportunities for photos with characters in key scenes from his films. There was a life-size Chiaki from TGWLTT and who could not want to get involved in the Summer Wars experience? It definitely had interaction and community at the heart of the exhibition.

The exhibition took us on a journey through the films mentioned above in order and it really gives the opportunity to see them all up against each other. You could see similarities, differences and recurring ideas in some of the designs. There were life-size cut outs of his protagonists and lots of backgrounds to get lost in. One of my favourite things was the giant book!



For me, the focal point of the exhibition was an installation showing storyboards from Mirai against a backdrop of posters for Hosoda's other works. I could have spent hours pouring over them as I am fascinated by the detail that goes into the planning of animated (and live action) films.

It is a shame that it only runs up to 20 October as I would have liked to go back and look more closely at the Mirai content once I had seen the film - my next trip to the LFF is on the 21 October. If you are in central London whilst the exhibition is on I would definitely recommend you pop in and see it. You can easily check it out during a lunch break or after work. It will probably inspire you to watch his works again, it has for me.

If you want to visit the exhibition the details are:

Opening Hours: 10:00 - 18:00

Address: Noho Studios, 46 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 7PZ.

Directions: Two-minute walk from Oxford Circus Underground Station.

The exhibition will also feature a shop, where visitors can purchase merchandise that is to be made available for the first time in the UK. Entry to the event is free.