The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, a city in Western Japan, currently has a very special art exhibition for one month - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The anime is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year with collaborations and special events across Japan, and Kanazawa is kicking everything off before events open in larger cities like Tokyo.
On April 4th, 2022, the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 10th Anniversary website was launched, the same day as Jonathan Joestar's birthday. The website listed a lot of upcoming events in Tokyo for fans to get excited about. But Tokyo is not the only place celebrating, and Kanazawa opened a one-month only special art exhibition for JoJo fans on the other side of the country to enjoy.
The art exhibition originally was on display in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagasaki in previous years, attracting more than 300,000 JoJo fans, but it is the first time that it has been hosted in Kanazawa. What makes this exhibition, called 冒険の波紋 or Ripples of Adventure, exceptional is that it features original peices by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga artist Hirohiko Araki.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure follows the wild stories of the Joestar family, and is well-known (and well-loved) for its unque style and storytelling. Ripples of Adventure follows this story, showing the history of the Joestar family through paintings and drawings. Ripples of Adventure has many original drawings done by Araki's own hand, making it an incredibly special thing to see for JoJo fans.
Ripples of Adventure has many areas, each with their own focus. For example, there is one room dedicated to battle scenes, with plenty of manga pages on display showing some of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's most climatic battles. There is another area that highlights the unique and memorable fashion styles that many of the characters have. Another has original large drawings done by Araki in 2018, on display for Western Japan for the first time.
For manga fans especially, there is also a section of Ripples of Adventure that highlights Hirohiko Araki's creative process when he is writing and drawing. This area has everything from Araki's story planning and brainstorming to his sketches, showing how the artist created such memorable and dynamic characters and stories for the original manga.
Often, only the biggest cities in Japan like Tokyo and Osaka get major exhibitions, forcing fans from the rest of the country to travel to see their favorite anime displays. While Kanazawa may be getting Ripples of Adventure later than bigger cities. And fans have been pouring into the city from the region to see the art show, along with a few other JoJo's Bizarre Adventure features in the city including character-themed gold leaf ice cream. It's great to see an anime beloved by so many being made accessible for fans all over the country instead of just those lucky enough to live in the big cities.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Ripples of Adventure is in Gallery A of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa and runs from April 30 - May 28, 2022.
Source: 21st Century Museum