Sorry for the delay, I was feeling a unwell this week.
As some of you may have picked up, I watch anime. One of my favorites is Lycoris Recoil, which combined likeable and well-voiced characters in a unique world with beautiful animation and exciting fight scenes. Though that was a year ago, since August, Lycoris Recoil: Seize the Day special exhibition has been roaming the country. It opened in Fukuoka on Dec. 6 and will run until Dec. 18 at the Hankyu Building 8th Floor Event Hall in Hakata Station.
Hakata Station
Lycoris Recoil is a 2022 anime in which Japan maintains it’s near crimeless and peaceful façade through the discreet use of government-trained orphan assassins to remove potential threats, or as it’s been put on YouTube, “Anime school girl John Wick.” Two of these young assassins are odd couple Chisato and Takina, whose day job is working at a Taisho-roman (1920s) cafe and helping customers with problems big and small.
Chisato and Takina: They aren’t the boogeyman. They are who you send to kill the man you send to kill the boogeyman.
The exhibition is a mix of recreated series location and artwork visitors walk through at their own leisure, with photography but not video permitted. My favorite part was the Sweets & Café LycoReco and Kurumi’s futon closet computer bay. If you look on the counter, the Chisato Special is daring you to try it. Not because there’s a don’t touch sign but because it looks like, you know…
You see it and so do I.
They also recreate the control room, Robota’s computer desk, and the Hawaiian food truck complete with English signage. It brings to mind one of my favorite scenes, when Mizuki is sulking in the truck and an American tourist asks her a question in shaky Japanese. “I do not speak English,” she replies roughly in English. We’ve all been there, right?
For anyone who’s wanted to fish or spotted garden eel pose at the Sumida Aquarium but can’t bring themselves to do it, the exhibition also has you covered with an aquarium wall and foot prints to show you were to stand. And please, push the red button. You won’t be disappointed. “Sakana!” I watched an energetic young woman drag her guy over to the aquarium for some sealife posing shots that made me laugh quietly. It was clear which of them is the bigger fan. I came on opening day and the light crowd was a mix of everyone, young and old, male and female, not the otaku stereotype that may be pictured.
Nice attention to detail.
“I do not speak English.”
Otherwise, it has a lot of artwork from the show ranging from the commercial bumpers to illustrations from other media and artists. If this show is one of your favorites, it’s a fun albeit short time to escape into that world. It’s not that big but I spent about half an hour admiring everything and reading the wall text, of which there is a lot. Admission is 1,500 yen which is steep if this isn’t in your top ten shows. Then again, if its not, you’ve either never seen it or have poor taste in anime and we can’t be friends. (I’m joking. I don’t judge. Openly anyway.)
The exhibition’s Tokyo edition had an attached sweets café, which this one sadly does not. You will never know what the Chisato Special tastes like. It does have, and is a vehicle for, the gift shop which is loaded with both regular stuff and unique exhibition merchandise like wall scrolls and T-shirts featuring the primary exhibition art with all the characters. There’s also a Fukuoka Hakata edition keychain with Chisato and Takina around a big bowl of Hakata tonkotsu ramen.
Though most days don’t require pre-booking, the first day and a few others require it so with the aid of my helpful local Lawson clerk I bought my ticket ahead of time. If you can’t make it to Fukuoka in that time, its going to Osaka next and will be open Jan. 3-22. Check out the website for more details.
https://lycoris-recoil.com/lycorecoten/
In the hall beside LycoReco was another anime event that is also running from Dec. 6-18, the “My Dress Up Darling 5th Anniversary Exhibition.” Event website is below for more details.
Since I was in Fukuoka and had more leftover day to seize, I also visited the Fukuoka Gundam Base at the Canal City Mall. Canal City is about 15 minutes by foot from Hakata Station and once inside, about 15 minutes of traveling through its confusing, nonsensical, dare I say “whimsical,” layout to find where your wife and her friend are waiting for you.
Along the way I accidentally found the Gundam Base. It’s a sleek shopping experience with the latest and greatest Gundam products with fancy rules like “one per customer,” “one checkout per day,” and “ten items only.” It has merchandise exclusive to the Gundam Base chain and to Fukuoka only. The Fukuoka exclusive is (deep breath as I say it all at once) “The Gundam Base Fukuoka Limited Unicorn Gundam Perfectibility (Is that really a word?) (Final Battle Version) Version GSF.” If you’re not sure that’s what you want, there’s a big statue-sized one in front of the shop and the special Gundam Scramble video played against the side of the mall wall showing it crush a Neo-Zeon mobile suit against a lit-up dancing fountain and orchestral score.
The Gundam Base Fukuoka Limited Unicorn Gundam Perfectibility (Final Battle Version) Version GSF
The shop sits above the Namco Bandai store, which feels like a collection of smaller anime merchandise shops selling Namco Bandai anime goods.
Unfortunately, the life-sized Gundam is on the other side of town so I wasn’t able to see it this trip.